How much is a $1 move worth on 1 lot of gold?

One standard lot of XAUUSD is 100 troy ounces, so a $1.00 price move equals $100 profit or loss. A mini lot (0.10) makes $10 per dollar of movement and a micro lot (0.01) makes $1. A typical $20 intraday range is therefore worth $2,000 per standard lot.

How do I calculate profit on a gold trade?

For a buy: Profit = (exit price - entry price) x 100 oz x lots. For a sell, reverse the prices: (entry - exit) x 100 x lots. Example: buying 0.10 lots at $3,300 and closing at $3,315 gives $15 x 100 x 0.10 = $150 profit.

How do I calculate profit when shorting gold?

Same formula with the prices flipped: Profit = (entry - exit) x 100 x lots. Selling 0.50 lots at $3,320 and buying back at $3,305 gives $15 x 100 x 0.50 = $750. If the price rises instead, the same math produces a negative number — your loss.

How much does swap cost on gold positions?

Long gold swap is negative at almost every broker — commonly $10-30 per standard lot per night, with a triple charge on Wednesday to cover the weekend. Holding 1 lot long for two weeks can cost $150-400 in swap alone, which is why swing traders must include it in their profit math.

How much does the spread cost on XAUUSD?

Typical gold spreads are $0.15-0.35, paid the moment you enter. At a $0.20 spread, one standard lot starts $20 underwater, and 0.10 lots starts $2 down. Spreads widen sharply during news releases and the Asian session, so the same trade can cost two or three times more depending on timing.

Why is my actual profit different from what the calculator shows?

The calculator shows gross P/L from price movement only. Your broker deducts the spread on entry, commission if you use a raw-spread account (about $6-7 per lot round turn), and negative swap for every night held. Slippage on fast moves adds another gap. Net profit is always a little lower than gross.

Is one pip of gold $0.01 or $0.10?

Both conventions exist, which is why pip-based gold calculations go wrong so often. Most MT4/MT5 brokers treat $0.01 as one pip ($1 per standard lot), while many spec sheets use $0.10 ($10 per lot). The reliable approach is to ignore pips and calculate gold P/L directly from dollar prices.

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XAUUSD Profit Calculator

Gold P/L in dollars — built around the 100 oz contract, no pip confusion

Currency Pair

Direction

Lot Size

Open Price

Close Price

Account Currency

Profit

+$1500.00

Pips

+1500

XAU/USD (Gold) · 1 lot(s)

How It Works

Enter the opening and closing prices of your trade along with the lot size. The calculator will compute your profit or loss in both pips and your account currency. For buy trades, profit = (close - open). For sell trades, profit = (open - close). Exchange rates are updated daily.

How Gold Profit Is Calculated

One standard lot of XAUUSD is 100 troy ounces — not the 100,000 currency units a forex lot represents. That changes the profit math completely. For a long (buy) trade:

Profit = (Exit Price − Entry Price) × 100 oz × Lots

For a short (sell) trade, flip it: Profit = (Entry − Exit) × 100 × Lots. The takeaway worth memorizing: every $1.00 the gold price moves is worth $100 per standard lot, $10 per mini lot (0.10), and $1 per micro lot (0.01).

One word of warning about gold "pips": some brokers call a $0.01 move one pip, others use $0.10 — a 10x difference that breaks pip-based calculators. Skip the debate and work directly in dollar prices, which is exactly what this calculator does.

Worked Examples

A few realistic trades at prices around $3,300, including a losing one — because the formula works the same way in both directions:

Direction	Entry	Exit	Lots	Calculation	P/L
Buy	$3,300	$3,315	0.10	$15 × 100 × 0.10	+$150
Sell	$3,320	$3,305	0.50	$15 × 100 × 0.50	+$750
Buy	$3,310	$3,295	0.20	−$15 × 100 × 0.20	−$300
Sell	$3,290	$3,302	0.30	−$12 × 100 × 0.30	−$360

Notice the second trade: a $15 move on 0.50 lots produces five times the result of the same move on 0.10 lots. On gold, lot size — not direction-picking — is what decides whether a normal $20 intraday swing is a good day or a margin call.

The Costs This Calculator Doesn't Show

The formula above gives gross profit. What lands in your account is gross minus three costs that hit gold harder than most forex pairs:

Spread

Gold spreads typically run $0.15–0.35 on decent accounts (wider during news and the Asian session). At $0.20, that's $20 per standard lot paid on entry, every trade. Scalpers feel this most — a 10-trade day at 1 lot each is $200 in spread alone. Our XAUUSD spread cost calculator puts exact numbers on it.

Swap (overnight interest)

This is the one that surprises people. Because gold pays no interest while the dollar does, long gold swaps are almost always negative — commonly $10–30 per standard lot per night, tripled on Wednesdays to cover the weekend. Hold one lot long for two weeks and swap can quietly eat $150–400. If your strategy holds gold for days or weeks, swap belongs in your profit math, not as a footnote.

Commission

Raw-spread accounts charge roughly $6–7 per lot round turn instead of marking up the spread. Whichever model your broker uses, the lesson is the same: net P/L ≠ gross P/L. A trade this calculator scores as +$150 on 0.10 lots might land at +$144 after spread and commission — and less if it ran overnight.

More Gold Trading Calculators

Profit is the last number in the chain — lot size comes first. Use the XAUUSD lot size calculator to size the position from your risk limit, then come back here to project the P/L. The XAUUSD pip value calculator settles the 0.01-vs-0.10 pip question for your broker, and the XAUUSD spread cost calculator shows what each entry really costs.

Trading more than gold? The full profit calculator covers major forex pairs, gold and crypto. And if you trade gold with EAs, our automated trading tools track this P/L math live on every position.