Futures contract calculator
Two long contracts of size 50, bought at 4,500 and closed at 4,512.25, make 1,225: a 12.25-point move times 50 times 2. Enter the size, both prices, the contract count and the side to get the result of a closed trade. Free in your browser.
- Free
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Your data stays on your device
Run — free
Worked example
- Contract size
- 50
- Entry price
- 4,500
- Exit price
- 4,512.25
- Contracts
- 2
- Position
- Long
- Price change
- 12.25
- Profit loss per contract
- 612.5
- Profit loss
- 1,225
- Notional entry
- 450,000
A listed futures contract is a standardized agreement to buy or sell a fixed quantity of an underlying at a future date, and the cash result of holding that agreement is not the raw price change. It is the price change scaled by the contract size and by how many contracts sit on the book. This futures contract calculator takes the contract size (the cash value of one point of movement), the entry price, the exit price, and the number of contracts, then returns the signed gain or loss of the position. A long position profits when the exit is above the entry; a short position profits when the exit is below the entry.
What futures contract profit or loss actually measures
A futures contract is not a cash stock lot. One printed point of index, oil, or metal movement maps to a fixed dollar amount defined by the exchange: that amount is the contract size, also called the multiplier or point value. The E-mini S&P 500 multiplies each index point by fifty dollars; a typical crude-oil contract multiplies each dollar per barrel by one thousand barrels; a one-hundred-ounce gold contract multiplies each dollar per ounce by one hundred.
The cash result of a closed position is therefore the price change times that multiplier times the number of contracts, with the sign of the side. A long holder is long the underlying, so a rise from entry to exit is a gain and a fall is a loss. A short holder is the opposite side of the same standardized ticket, so a fall from entry to exit is a gain and a rise is a loss.
The formula is deliberately local to the two fills: it does not discount remaining life, does not pull a live mark, and does not subtract commission or exchange fees. It answers the blotter question after the ticket is closed, which is also the worksheet question in every futures primer. Prices may be negative, because some commodity contracts have printed below zero; the arithmetic still holds.
Outcome is reported as profit, loss, or breakeven so a client can branch without re-testing the sign of the cash result.
What you can do with it
Closed-ticket blotter recap
Turn a futures fill pair into cash P and L by multiplying the price change by contract size and the number of contracts, with the long or short sign, without opening a desk spreadsheet.
Classroom and exam grading
Mark futures P and L items with a deterministic oracle that rejects zero or negative contract size and never treats a raw index point as a dollar.
FAQ
How is profit or loss on a futures contract calculated?
For a short position the price difference is reversed. The result is cash, not raw points.
How do long and short futures positions differ?
A long position gains when the exit is above the entry. A short position gains when the exit is below the entry. Omit position to default to long.
What is contract size on a futures contract?
Contract size is the cash value of one point of price movement on one contract, also called the multiplier or point value. Example: 50 dollars per index point on the E-mini S&P 500.
Are commissions and exchange fees included?
No. The result is the gross profit or loss between your two fills only. Commissions, exchange fees and margin costs are not subtracted, and no live market price is used, so deduct your costs afterwards.
Can a futures price be negative?
Yes. Some commodity contracts have traded below zero, so both the entry and the exit price may be negative. The arithmetic still holds: the price change times the contract size and the number of contracts gives the cash result.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/futures-contract \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"contract_size":50,"entry_price":4500,"exit_price":4512.25,"contracts":2}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/futures-contract", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"contract_size": 50,
"entry_price": 4500,
"exit_price": 4512.25,
"contracts": 2
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/futures-contract",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"contract_size": 50,
"entry_price": 4500,
"exit_price": 4512.25,
"contracts": 2
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/futures-contract", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"contract_size":50,"entry_price":4500,"exit_price":4512.25,"contracts":2}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"contract_size":50,"entry_price":4500,"exit_price":4512.25,"contracts":2}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/futures-contract", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"contract_size": 50,
"entry_price": 4500,
"exit_price": 4512.25,
"contracts": 2
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "fin.futures_contract",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
When contract size is zero or negative the task fails with invalid_input and is not billed, because a non-positive multiplier does not describe a listed contract.
What futures contract profit or loss actually measures
Pair the numbers with your own margin worksheet if you need variation margin over a session; this endpoint returns the closed-trade cash P and L only.
Input contract, response shape, and error behaviour
Example: two long contracts of size fifty, opened at four thousand five hundred and closed at four thousand five hundred twelve and a quarter, yield a profit of one thousand two hundred twenty-five, because twelve and a quarter points times fifty times two is that cash amount. POST a JSON body with four required fields and one optional side. contract_size is the multiplier and must be a finite number strictly greater than zero; aliases multiplier, size, point_value, and contract_multiplier map to the same field. Zero or negative contract size fails with invalid_input naming contract_size, because a listed contract cannot have a non-positive point value and those failures are not billed. entry_price is the fill at which the position was opened and must be a finite number; aliases entry and open_price. exit_price is the fill at which the position was closed and must be a finite number; aliases exit and close_price. Both prices may be negative so a commodity that prints below zero still has a well-defined result. contracts is the number of contracts and must be a finite number strictly greater than zero; aliases quantity, n, and num_contracts. position is the closed enum long or short and defaults to long when omitted; aliases side and direction. Any other string fails with invalid_input naming position. Each numeric field may arrive as a JSON number or a numeric string. Missing fields, empty strings, and non-finite values fail with invalid_input naming the field. On success the body echoes the five inputs, reports price_change as exit minus entry, profit_loss_per_contract, the full profit_loss, notional_entry and notional_exit, outcome as profit, loss, or breakeven, and a short formula string.
Where a futures contract P and L calculator earns its keep
Desks and independent traders use a futures contract calculator to recap a closed ticket without opening a spreadsheet that silently drops the multiplier. Trade-journal and backtest pipelines need a tiny parse contract that never invents a commission, never calls a quote vendor, and never drifts when someone later rewrites a four-factor product. Failed validation does not consume balance. Classroom and exam-prep platforms post contract size, entry, exit, and contracts, then pin profit_loss so a grader can mark both the arithmetic and the long-versus-short sign instead of accepting a raw price difference as if it were cash. Keep contract size strictly positive, keep the number of contracts strictly positive, keep position in the closed enum, pin the rounded profit_loss in tests, and you get a reproducible futures result for homework, blotter checks, and edge workers without standing up a clearing engine of your own.
Integration use cases
Journals and backtest fixtures
Pin profit_loss for closed futures tickets in a trade journal or continuous-integration fixture without pulling a live quote or a clearing library.
Technical questions
What happens if contract size is zero or negative?
The task fails with invalid_input. A listed futures contract cannot have a non-positive multiplier, so zero or negative contract_size is rejected and is not billed.
What does the futures contract calculator cost?
The browser tool is free. API requests use prepaid KIT balance at $0.002 per successful call; invalid input is not billed.