Skip to content
GetProfitable
Search

The full worked P&L table

Lesson 8 · about 10 min

This lesson is one long calculation. Take one trade in each of the common contracts, compute the P&L in ticks and in dollars, include the commission, and express the result in R. If you can reproduce every row of the final table by hand you have finished the math portion of this course; everything after it is about risk, hours and process.

The setup

Same plan for every row: a $15,000 account, 1% risk per trade ($150), a stop in ticks appropriate to the product, a target at 2R. Commission is an illustrative all-in round trip per contract: $1.20 for micros, $4.50 for full-size. Real fees vary by broker; Module 5 shows where to find yours.

Step one is contracts:

contracts = floor($150 ÷ (stop ticks × tick value))

Step two is the target in ticks, which is simply 2 × stop ticks. Step three is dollars at the stop and at the target, less commission. Step four is R, where 1R = the planned dollar risk including commission.

Row by row

MES, 24-tick stop (6 points). Risk per contract = 24 × $1.25 = $30. Contracts = floor(150 ÷ 30) = 5. Gross risk = $150. Commission = 5 × $1.20 = $6. Net 1R = $156. Target = 48 ticks = $300 gross, $294 net = 1.88R.

ES, 24-tick stop. Risk per contract = 24 × $12.50 = $300. Contracts = floor(150 ÷ 300) = 0. This row does not trade.

MNQ, 60-tick stop (15 points). Risk per contract = 60 × $0.50 = $30. Contracts = 5. Same dollar structure as MES.

MCL, 30-tick stop ($0.30). Risk per contract = 30 × $1 = $30. Contracts = 5. Commission $6. Target 60 ticks = $300 gross.

MGC, 50-tick stop ($5.00). Risk per contract = 50 × $1 = $50. Contracts = 3, risking $150. Commission = $3.60. Target 100 ticks = $300 gross.

ZN, 8-tick stop (8/64, or a quarter point). Risk per contract = 8 × $15.625 = $125. Contracts = 1. Commission $4.50. Target 16 ticks = $250 gross.

6E, 20-tick stop (10 pips). Risk per contract = 20 × $6.25 = $125. Contracts = 1. Commission $4.50. Target 40 ticks = $250 gross.

CL, 30-tick stop. Risk per contract = 30 × $10 = $300. Contracts = 0. Does not trade.

The table

Contract Tick value Stop (ticks) Risk / contract Contracts Gross risk Commission Net 1R Target (ticks) Gross at target Net at target Net R at target
MES $1.25 24 $30 5 $150 $6.00 $156 48 $300 $294 1.88R
ES $12.50 24 $300 0 — — — — — — no trade
MNQ $0.50 60 $30 5 $150 $6.00 $156 120 $300 $294 1.88R
MCL $1.00 30 $30 5 $150 $6.00 $156 60 $300 $294 1.88R
MGC $1.00 50 $50 3 $150 $3.60 $153.60 100 $300 $296.40 1.93R
ZN $15.625 8 $125 1 $125 $4.50 $129.50 16 $250 $245.50 1.90R
6E $6.25 20 $125 1 $125 $4.50 $129.50 40 $250 $245.50 1.90R
CL $10 30 $300 0 — — — — — — no trade

Two observations. First, the planned 2R target is really about 1.9R once commission is paid on both the loss and the win, and the gap grows as the stop gets tighter relative to costs. Second, the ZN and 6E rows only use $125 of the $150 budget because whole contracts do not divide evenly; that is normal and is the reason you round down rather than up.

The same table with slippage

Now assume one tick of slippage on the stop fill and none on the limit target (a limit either fills at its price or not at all). One tick per contract adds to the loss:

Contract Contracts Slippage at stop Loss with slippage Net at target Realized R at target
MES 5 5 × $1.25 = $6.25 $162.25 $294 1.81R
MNQ 5 5 × $0.50 = $2.50 $158.50 $294 1.85R
MCL 5 5 × $1 = $5 $161 $294 1.83R
MGC 3 3 × $1 = $3 $156.60 $296.40 1.89R
ZN 1 $15.625 $145.13 $245.50 1.69R
6E 1 $6.25 $135.75 $245.50 1.81R

The ZN row shows why tick value matters beyond the stop calculation: one tick of slippage on a $15.625 tick is 12.5% of a $125 risk. A single bad fill on a big-tick contract does more damage than five on a micro.

Key idea: Sizing is contracts = floor(risk budget ÷ (stop ticks × tick value)); a planned 2R is really 1.8R to 1.9R after commission and a tick of slippage. Compute the realized R, not the chart R, and use it in your expectancy.

Doing it in reverse

Sometimes you know the contract count and need the maximum stop. Rearrange:

max stop in ticks = floor(risk budget ÷ (contracts × tick value))

With 2 MES and a $150 budget: floor(150 ÷ (2 × 1.25)) = 60 ticks = 15 points. If the chart says the stop needs 20 points, the trade does not fit at 2 contracts; drop to 1 (120 ticks = 30 points available) or skip it. The chart decides the stop; the budget decides the contracts; never the other way around.

Try it: Rebuild the main table for a $6,000 account at 1% risk ($60). Which rows still trade at all? Then rebuild it for a $50,000 account at 0.5% ($250) and note how many rows switch from micro to full-size. Check each row against the pip and tick value calculator.

Recap

  • contracts = floor(budget ÷ (stop ticks × tick value)); rounding down leaves some budget unused, which is fine.
  • Commission is paid on both outcomes, so a 2R plan realizes about 1.9R.
  • One tick of slippage costs more on big-tick contracts (ZN, ES) than on micros.
  • max stop = floor(budget ÷ (contracts × tick value)) when the count is fixed; if the chart needs more, reduce contracts or skip.
  • Log realized R, after commission and slippage, in your trade log.

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

Risk and reward on one tradeA price scale showing an entry with a stop two points below and a target six points above, so the reward band is three times the risk band.PRICETARGET 106.00ENTRY 100.00STOP 98.00REWARDRISK6.00 pointsthree times the risk2.00 pointsthe most you loserisk : reward = 1 : 3
Risk and reward on one trade. One trade on a price scale: the entry sits 2.00 points above the stop and 6.00 points below the target, so the shaded reward band is three times the risk band. The ratio compares what is lost if the stop is hit with what is gained if the target is reached.
Slippage on a market orderA buy order clears four price levels, so the average price paid is worse than the price first quoted.Buy 1,000 shares at marketpricesell orders resting (bar length = size)20.04300 shares20.03200 shares20.01200 shares20.00300 sharesnothing resting at 20.02order sweeps up the bookaverage fill 20.02SLIPPAGE0.02 a share$20.00 in totalintended 20.00Each level fills at its own price; the average is what you really paid.
Slippage on a market order. You click at 20.00, but only 300 shares are resting there, so the rest of the order fills at 20.01, 20.03 and 20.04. The average price paid is 20.02, and that two-cent gap is slippage.
How a position size is worked outAccount size, risk per trade and stop distance feed into one box giving the number of shares.ACCOUNT SIZE$25,000your capitalRISK PER TRADE1%of the accountSTOP DISTANCE$0.50entry to stopPOSITION SIZE500 sharesrisk budget: $25,000 × 1% = $250position size: $250 ÷ $0.50 = 500 shares
Working out a position size. Three numbers decide how big a trade is: the account, the share of it put at risk, and the distance from entry to stop. One percent of $25,000 is a $250 budget, and a $0.50 stop divides into that 500 times.

Finished this module? Take the module quiz.