📊Trade Planning

Futures Profit Calculator

Enter your trade details to calculate profit or loss on any futures contract.

Instrument

1 index point = $2

Direction

Contracts

Entry price

Exit price

Estimated P&L

+$100.00

50 points × $2/pt × 1 contract

Point values are for standard CME contracts. Always verify with your broker — some brokers use different tick sizes. Bond futures use full-point values for simplicity.

Futures tick values and P&L for prop traders

Futures trading differs from forex and equity trading in how profit and loss is calculated. Instead of pips or points, futures use ticks — the minimum price increment for a given contract. Each tick has a fixed dollar value, set by the exchange, making P&L calculation precise and deterministic once you know the tick value and number of contracts traded.

Common futures contracts used by prop traders

The most popular futures contracts among prop firm traders are:

ES (E-mini S&P 500): Tick size 0.25, tick value $12.50. One full point = $50.

NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100): Tick size 0.25, tick value $5.00. One full point = $20.

MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500): Tick size 0.25, tick value $1.25. One-tenth the size of ES.

MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100): Tick size 0.25, tick value $0.50. One-tenth the size of NQ.

CL (Crude Oil): Tick size 0.01, tick value $10.00. One full point = $1,000.

GC (Gold): Tick size 0.10, tick value $10.00. One full point = $100.

Why tick value matters for prop firm accounts

When trading futures on a prop account, your daily loss limit is in dollars, not in points or ticks. This means you need to translate your stop loss — which you set in ticks — into a dollar value before placing the trade. If you are trading 3 NQ contracts with a 20-tick stop loss, your risk is 3 × 20 × $5 = $300. If your daily limit is $1,000, this trade uses 30% of your daily risk budget.

Many futures prop firm traders get caught out by scaling up contracts without recalculating their dollar risk. Two contracts instead of one doubles the P&L on every tick — both winning and losing. This calculator forces you to make that calculation explicit before you trade.

Micro contracts for evaluation accounts

Several prop firms that focus on futures (Apex Trader Funding, TopStep, Earn2Trade) allow trading of micro contracts (MES, MNQ, M2K) during the evaluation phase. Micro contracts are one-tenth the size of their standard equivalents, which makes them ideal for traders learning to manage the emotional and risk aspects of futures trading before committing to full-size contracts. If you are new to futures prop trading, start with micros to protect your drawdown buffer while you build consistency.

Commissions on futures trades

Unlike forex, futures have explicit commission costs per contract, per side. Typical costs range from $0.25 to $2.50 per contract per side, depending on the firm and clearing arrangement. A round-turn trade (open and close) on 5 ES contracts at $1.50 per side costs $15 in commissions. Over hundreds of trades, commissions become a meaningful factor in your net P&L. Some prop firms include commissions in their P&L tracking; others do not. Always clarify this with your firm.

Tick values are based on standard CME specifications. Always verify current contract specifications on the CME Group website and with your prop firm before trading.