How is grid profit calculated in futures grid trading: A complete guide to P&L analysis

If you plan to use a futures grid bot for automated trading, you must understand how grid profit is formed and which indicators determine your overall return. By understanding the mechanics of profit calculation, you can evaluate the strategy’s effectiveness and make informed decisions about trading parameters.

A futures grid bot operates on the principle of automatically placing buy and sell orders within a specified price range. Each time the price moves between these levels, the bot earns profit from the difference between the buy and sell prices. However, calculating the full trading result requires considering several interconnected metrics.

In this guide, we will examine four key metrics in detail:

• How grid profit (main income from the grid) is determined
• The annual percentage rate (APR) of the grid
• The overall result including unrealized positions (P&L)
• The total annual portfolio return (Total APR)

For clarity, we will use a practical example of trader Andrey, who employs a futures grid bot with the following parameters:

• Trading pair: BTCUSDT
• Current market price: $20,248.5 USDT
• Upper boundary of the range: $30,000 USDT
• Lower boundary of the range: $10,000 USDT
• Number of grids: 5
• Grid mode: arithmetic progression
• Leverage: 2x
• Distance between grids: $4,000 USDT (calculated as (30,000 − 10,000) ÷ 5)

Basics of calculating grid profit: formula and practical example

Grid profit is the net income generated by the futures grid bot from automatic long and short positions within a single trading strategy. It is the primary indicator of grid efficiency, calculated by summing all profitable cycles minus trading costs.

The formula is as follows:

Grid profit = price interval × number of assets per grid × number of completed grids − trading commissions

Where trading commissions are calculated as:

Trading commissions = (number of long orders × commission rate × entry price) + (number of short orders × commission rate × exit price)

Let’s see how this works in practice. When Andrey’s futures grid bot starts operating, the system, considering 2x leverage, places orders as follows:

Long positions at: $18,000 (0.152 BTC) and $10,000 (0.152 BTC)
Short positions at: $22,000 (0.152 BTC), $26,000 (0.152 BTC), and $30,000 (0.152 BTC)

The trading cycle completes as follows: When BTC price drops to $18,000, the long order is triggered (position opens). Four thousand dollars higher, an opposite short order is placed. When the price recovers to $22,000, the short position is closed, and a new long order is placed below. This cycle is considered complete and yields profit:

Grid profit = 4,000 × 0.152 × 1 − 3.344 = 604.656 USDT

In this calculation:

• 4,000 — the grid interval (difference between 22,000 and 18,000)
• 0.152 — position size per grid
• 1 — number of completed cycles in the period
• 3.344 USDT — total commissions for both sides: (0.152 × 18,000 × 0.055%) + (0.152 × 22,000 × 0.055%) = 3.344 USDT

The system automatically adjusts strategy parameters so that under normal market conditions, grid profit always exceeds trading costs. This guarantees a positive outcome from the grid even after accounting for all commissions. Note that the commission rate used here is for regular users; VIP status offers more favorable rates.

From grid to annual income: how APR is calculated in grid strategies

After understanding how grid profit is formed per cycle, the question arises: what is the strategy’s effectiveness over a year? For this, the grid’s APR — annual percentage rate — is introduced.

The grid APR indicates what percentage return you would get if the grid operated with the same intensity throughout the year. This allows comparison of different strategies regardless of how many days they actually traded.

The calculation formula is:

Grid APR = [(grid profit ÷ total invested amount) ÷ trading period in days × 365] × 100%

Applying this to Andrey’s example, assuming his futures grid bot traded for 1 day (24 hours):

Grid APR = [(604.656 ÷ 10,000) ÷ 1 × 365] × 100% = 22.06%

Interpretation: if the bot earns $604.656 profit daily on a $10,000 investment, the annual return would be 22.06%.

Important: if the futures grid bot operates for less than a full day, the system conditionally considers it as one day when calculating APR. This means APR may be slightly overestimated for short-term positions but serves as a standardized metric for comparing results.

The full picture of profits and losses: what is included in total P&L

Grid profit shows only income from closed trading cycles, but with an active futures grid bot, there are always open positions with unrealized profit or loss. Total P&L (profit and loss) combines the entire trading result into one figure.

The formula for total P&L:

Total P&L = closed profit + unrealized P&L

Where closed profit includes:

Closed profit = P&L of closed positions − trading commissions ± financing fees

Continuing Andrey’s example, suppose he decides to close the futures grid bot and has the following data:

• Grid profit (closed cycles): $1,214.66
• Trading commissions (total for the period): $1.3376
• Financing commissions (funding fee): $2.5 (positive in his case, meaning he received funding)
• Unrealized P&L (open positions): −$20

Calculating total P&L:

1,214.66 − 1.3376 + 2.5 − 20 = 1,195.8224 USDT

Thus, despite a small loss on open positions (−$20) and commissions, the overall result remains positive — $1,195.82. This reflects the true profitability of the futures grid bot when considering all factors.

Financial commissions are often overlooked but can significantly impact the final outcome. When the market moves favorably, you may receive funding, increasing profit; in unfavorable movements, funding fees reduce your income.

Measuring efficiency: calculating the overall APR over the trading period

The final indicator — Total APR — reflects the complete result of the futures grid bot, including all profits, losses, commissions, and funding costs.

The formula:

Total APR = [(total P&L ÷ total invested amount) ÷ trading period in days × 365] × 100%

Using Andrey’s data, who operated the futures grid bot for 2 days and 18 hours (considered as 2 full days in calculations):

Total APR = [(1,195.8224 ÷ 10,000) ÷ 2 × 365] × 100% = 21.82%

In this case, the result is slightly below the grid APR (22.06%) because unrealized losses and additional commissions slightly reduced the overall outcome. Nonetheless, the return remains attractive.

Key rules for accurate calculation: if the futures grid bot operates more than one day but less than two days, the system considers this as a one-day period. This logic accumulates full daily periods for fairer comparison of strategies.

When you finish running the futures grid bot, all assets are automatically transferred to your main funding account. All information about grid profit, trading commissions, unrealized P&L, and funding fees is available in the “Status” section on the detailed active bot page, and the history of all operations can be viewed in the History tab.

Understanding these four key metrics will enable you to fully control the results of your futures grid bot, evaluate the effectiveness of different trading parameters, and make informed decisions about strategy adjustments. Grid profit and total P&L give you a complete picture of how effective your automated trading on the derivatives market is.