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Stock Profit Calculator
Work out exactly what a stock trade made — or lost. Enter the buy price, sell price, number of shares, and any commissions, and this calculator shows your total cost, total proceeds, profit, return on investment, and the break-even price you needed to hit just to come out even.
Estimates only, not financial advice. This calculator shows gross profit before taxes; talk to a qualified tax professional about capital gains.
How it works
A stock trade has two sides, and the profit is simply the difference between them — but each side has its own costs. On the buying side, your total cost is the price per share times the number of shares, plus whatever commission your broker charged to place the buy order. On the selling side, your total proceeds are the sell price times the number of shares, minus the commission charged to place the sell order. Subtract the total cost from the total proceeds and you have your profit. If the number is negative, the trade lost money.
Profit in dollars only tells half the story, which is why the calculator also shows ROI — return on investment. ROI is the profit divided by the total cost, expressed as a percentage. A $1,500 profit sounds great until you learn it took a $50,000 investment to earn it, which is only a 3 percent return. The same $1,500 on a $5,000 investment is a 30 percent return. ROI is what lets you compare a big trade and a small trade fairly, and it is the number most investors use to judge whether a trade was actually good.
The break-even price is the third number worth knowing, and it is the one traders check before they buy. It answers a simple question: at what sell price would I make exactly zero? The answer is your total cost — including both commissions — divided by the number of shares. If you buy 100 shares at $50 with a $10 commission on each side, your total cost is $5,020, so your break-even is $50.20 a share. Sell at $50.20 and you walk away even; sell at $50.00 and you are actually $20 in the red despite the share price looking unchanged. That is the quiet way commissions eat into a trade.
Commissions matter most on small trades. Many brokers now offer zero-commission trading, which is why the calculator defaults both commission fields to zero — but older accounts, full-service brokers, and some international markets still charge per trade, and options or foreign stocks often carry fees too. A $10 fee each way on a $500 trade takes 4 percent of your money before the stock moves at all, which means the stock has to rise 4 percent just for you to break even. On a $50,000 trade, the same $20 is barely noticeable. Always enter the real fees your broker charges, because ignoring them makes every trade look better than it was.
One thing this calculator deliberately leaves out is tax. The profit shown here is gross profit — what you made before the taxman. If you held the shares for a year or less, the gain is usually taxed as ordinary income; hold longer and it may qualify for lower long-term capital gains rates, depending on the tax rules where you live. Losses can also offset gains in many tax systems. To estimate what you actually keep, take the profit from this calculator and subtract the tax you expect to owe on it.
Worked example
Sara buys 100 shares at $50 each and later sells them at $65 each. Her broker charges no commission on either trade. Here is the math.
Step 1: Total cost — 100 × $50 + $0 = $5,000.
Step 2: Total proceeds — 100 × $65 − $0 = $6,500.
Step 3: Profit — $6,500 − $5,000 = $1,500.
Step 4: ROI — $1,500 ÷ $5,000 × 100 = 30.00%.
Step 5: Break-even sell price — $5,000 ÷ 100 = $50.00 per share.
Sara made $1,500, a 30 percent return, and she needed the shares to reach only $50.00 to break even. Now suppose her broker had charged a $10 commission on the buy and another $10 on the sell. Her total cost becomes $5,010 and her proceeds become $6,490, so her profit drops to $1,480 and her ROI to 29.54 percent, with a break-even of $50.20. Twenty dollars of fees cost her twenty dollars of profit — obvious in hindsight, but easy to miss when you only look at the share price. Try your own trade in the calculator above, fees included.
FAQ
How is stock profit calculated?
Profit equals what you received when you sold minus what you paid when you bought, with commissions counted on both sides. Total cost is buy price times shares plus the buy commission, and total proceeds are sell price times shares minus the sell commission. Profit is proceeds minus cost.
What is the break-even sell price?
The break-even sell price is the price per share at which your trade makes exactly zero profit. It equals your total cost, including both commissions, divided by the number of shares. Sell above it and you profit; sell below it and you lose money.
Do commissions really matter?
Yes, especially on small trades. A 10 dollar commission each way on a 500 dollar trade eats 4 percent of your money before the stock even moves. On a 50,000 dollar trade the same 20 dollars is a rounding error, so commissions matter most when the trade is small.
Does this calculator include taxes?
No. This calculator shows your gross profit before tax. In real life you may owe capital gains tax on the profit, and the rate depends on how long you held the shares and your income. Subtract your expected tax from the profit here to estimate what you keep.
What does ROI tell me that profit does not?
Profit is the dollar amount you made, while ROI (return on investment) is that profit as a percentage of what you put in. A 1,500 dollar profit on a 5,000 dollar investment is a 30 percent ROI; the same 1,500 dollars on a 50,000 dollar investment is only 3 percent. ROI lets you compare trades of different sizes fairly.