Turn a year of trading into the number that actually matters: net realized P&L after costs, and what it might cost you at your own rate.
Read this first: this is an estimator, not tax advice. How a futures trade is taxed depends on where you live and on what you actually traded, and no calculator on the internet knows either. What it does do is the part everyone gets wrong by hand — turning a messy year of trades into one honest net number, with fees and funding treated as the real costs they are.
Almost every tax system taxes closed positions. An open long sitting at +$40,000 is generally not a taxable event no matter how good it looks; the day you close it, it usually is. That single distinction is why a trader can feel rich in December and owe nothing, or feel flat and owe a lot because the gains were realized early and given back later in a new tax year.
Your trading journal is what makes this answerable — it separates closed trades from open ones and sums realized P&L per period, which is exactly the input this estimator wants.
Traders routinely enter their gross P&L and forget that they also paid taker fees on every entry and exit and, on perpetuals, funding every eight hours. In most systems those are deductible costs of the trade. On an active account they are not a rounding error: a year of 0.055% round trips plus funding can be a five-figure deduction on a six-figure notional turnover, which is the difference between an accurate return and an expensive one.
Realized losses normally offset realized gains, and many jurisdictions let an unused loss carry forward into future years. That is why the loss field here is not decoration: a $30,000 loss in a bad year can quietly reduce the bill on a good one. The rule attached to it (how long it carries, what it may offset) varies enormously, so the mechanic is universal but the limits are local.
Because there is no honest single answer. Depending on where you file, futures profit may be treated as capital gains, as ordinary income, under a special futures regime with its own blended rate, or under a flat crypto-specific rate — and within any of those, the percentage typically depends on your total income for the year, not just on trading. Anyone showing you a confident "you owe X" without knowing your country and your income is guessing. Put your marginal rate in, or ask an accountant for it, and the arithmetic above is then genuinely yours.
In most countries, yes, once a position is closed and the profit is realized. What differs is the category it falls into and the rate that applies: capital gains in some places, ordinary income in others, a dedicated futures regime or a flat crypto rate elsewhere. Check your own jurisdiction or ask a local accountant — this tool deliberately does not assume one.
Generally not. Most systems tax realized results, so an open position that is deep in profit is usually not a taxable event until you close it. A small number of regimes apply mark-to-market treatment to certain contracts or professional traders, which is one more reason to confirm your local rule rather than assume.
In most systems trading fees and net funding paid are costs of the trade and reduce the taxable result, which is why they are separate inputs here. Keep them itemised in your records — a return that lumps them into a single P&L number is much harder to justify if anyone asks.
Realized losses normally offset realized gains in the same period, and an unused balance often carries forward to future years. Enter a carry-forward amount above to see it applied. How many years it carries and what it may offset is jurisdiction-specific.
No. It is an educational estimator that does arithmetic on numbers you supply, using a tax rate you supply. It does not know your country, your income, your contract types or your filing status, and it should not be used as the basis of a return. Treat the output as a planning figure and confirm the real one with a qualified professional.
Free, no signup, runs entirely in your browser. Educational tool — not financial advice. Practice the setup risk-free on the MarginPad paper-trading terminal before putting real money behind it.