How to Use This Simple Stock Profit Calculator
This simple stock profit calculator takes one long stock trade. Enter the shares, the purchase price and the selling price, then add the buy fee and the sell fee if your broker charges them. A blank fee counts as zero, and the share count can be fractional.
The result updates as you type. Load example fills in a worked trade, Reset clears the form, and Copy link keeps your numbers in the address so you can reopen the same trade.
Stock Calculator: Profit and Loss Formula
The stock calculator profit is what you receive minus what the shares cost you. Total cost is the shares times the purchase price, plus the buy fee. Sale proceeds are the shares times the selling price, minus the sell fee. Profit is proceeds minus cost, and a negative result is a loss.
Percentage return divides that profit by the total cost, so the buy fee is part of the denominator. The break-even price is the selling price at which profit is zero: total cost plus the sell fee, divided by the number of shares.
Stock Profit Calculation Example
Buy 100 shares at $50 with a $5 buy fee and sell them at $60 with a $5 sell fee. Total cost is $5,005, sale proceeds are $5,995, and the profit is $990.
The percentage return is 19.78%, because the $990 profit is measured against the $5,005 you put in. The break-even price is $50.10: a sale at that price, after the same sell fee, would return the cost and nothing more.
Understanding Profit, Percentage Return and Break-Even Price
Profit is the money difference on this trade. Percentage return says how large that difference is compared with the money the trade required, fees included. Break-even price is a price, not an amount of money: it is the sale price that would leave you level.
The three numbers answer different questions. Profit tells you the result of the price you typed. The return lets you compare this trade with another that used a different amount of money. The break-even price tells you how far the price has to move before the fees are covered.
How Trading Fees Affect Stock Returns
A fee on the buy raises your cost, so the same sale shows a smaller profit and the break-even price moves up. A fee on the sell lowers the proceeds, which does the same. In the example the two $5 fees turn a $1,000 price gain into a $990 profit and move the break-even price from $50 to $50.10.
The calculator does not add dividends or taxes. A dividend you were paid, or tax you expect to owe, is outside this result.
Comparing Different Selling Prices
Change the selling price and the profit changes with it. The table under the result does this for you: it keeps your shares and fees and tries five prices around your purchase price. With the example trade, a sale at $40 is a -$1,010 loss and a sale at $70 is a $1,990 profit.
Reading profit at several prices is the useful part of a stock price profit calculator. The prices are not a forecast. They only show what this position would return if you sold there.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Calculate Stock Profit After Fees?
Add the buy fee to the cost of the shares and subtract the sell fee from the proceeds, then subtract the cost from the proceeds. The profit line in the result is that number.
How Is Percentage Return Calculated?
Profit divided by total cost. Total cost is the shares times the purchase price plus the buy fee, so a buy fee lowers the return as well as the profit.
What Selling Price Would Let Me Break Even?
The break-even price. It is the total cost plus the sell fee, divided by the shares. In the example that is $50.10.
Can I Calculate Losses as Well as Profits?
Yes. When the proceeds are below the cost the result is labelled Loss and shown as a negative amount, and the percentage return is negative too.
Does This Include Dividends, Taxes or Options?
No. The calculator covers a long stock trade with a buy fee and a sell fee. Dividends, taxes and options are not part of the result.