Calculating the Profit & Loss On Your CFD Account

In this section, we will show you how to calculate profits and losses on a fictitious DAX 30 CFD trade. The platform does it automatically for you, but its important to know the basics.

Example 1: Buying D30EUR

In this example, D30EUR is currently trading at levels 13171.6/13173.5. Let us assume that a trader wishes to buy 1 unit of the CFD, thinking that the price will move higher. D30EUR has a margin rate of 3%, which means that the trader has to only pledge 3% of the position’s value as collateral to open the position.

In this case, the trader’s position margin will be EUR3952, which is (3% X 10 units contract size X 13173.5 buy price). However, if the price moves against the predictions, it is possible that the trader may end up losing more than the initial position margin of EUR3952.

Outcome A: Profitable Trade

If the trader’s prediction turns out correct and the price rises over the next one hour to 13271.6/132735.5, then he can decide to close the position by selling at 13271.6, which is the new selling price.

The price has moved 98.1 points (13271.6-13173.5) in favor of the trader. This should be multiplied by the contract size (10) per 1 lot to calculate his profit which is EUR981.

Example 2: Selling D30EUR

In this example, D30EUR is trading at 13171.6/13173.5. Let us assume that a trader wants to sell 1 CFD (10 units) because he thinks that the price will go down. D30EUR has a margin rate of 3% which means that he only has to put forward 3% of the total position’s value from his funds as a margin.

In this example, the collateral the trader pledges will be EUR3951 (3% x 10 contract size x 13171.6 sell-price)). We note that if the price moves against the predictions of the trader, then it is possible to lose more than the initial position margin of EUR3951.

Outcome A: A profitable trade

If the trader’s prediction turns out correct and the price falls over the next days to 12171.6/12173.5, then the trader decides to close the trade by buying back at 12173.5, which is the new buy price.

Here the price has moved 998.1 points (13171.6 - 12173.5) in his favor, thus we multiply this by the size of the position which is 10 contracts (EUR10 per point) to calculate the profit which is EUR9981.

Outcome B: A losing trade

Unfortunately, if the trader’s prediction turns out incorrect and the price of D30EUR rises over the next days to 13371.6/13373.5, he shall decide to cut his losses and buy at 13373.5, which is now the new buy price to close the position.

The price moved 201.9 points (13171.6 – 13373.5) against him; multiplying this by the size of the position which is 10 contracts (EUR10 per point) nets his loss which is EUR2019.