Stock Profit Calculator

Working out whether a trade made money sounds trivial — subtract what you paid from what you got — but the answer changes once costs are counted properly, and the percentage return tells you more than the dollar figure does. A trade can look profitable in cash terms and still be a poor use of capital once its return is set against the risk and time involved. Start with total cost. That is the buy price multiplied by the number of shares, plus the commission on the purchase. Then take the net proceeds: the sell price times the shares, minus the commission on the sale. The difference is your net profit or loss, and it is the only figure that reflects what actually happened to your money. Ignoring commission is the most common way people overstate a small trade's return, because a fixed fee hits a small position far harder than a large one. The percentage return puts the result in context. Dividing the net profit by the total cost gives the return on investment, and it is the number to compare against alternatives. A hundred dollars of profit on a thousand invested is a ten per cent gain; the same hundred dollars on ten thousand is one per cent, which may not even cover inflation. Always compare like with like: a return earned over a month is not the same as one earned over a year. Break-even is the price at which the trade neither makes nor loses money after costs, and it is higher than the buy price once commissions enter the picture. Knowing it keeps you honest about when a position has genuinely turned profitable. For larger holdings, taxes on gains and any currency conversion also come off the top, and they can turn a modest winner into a wash. This calculator shows total cost, net proceeds, gross and net profit, the percentage return and the break-even price for a simple long trade. It covers buying and later selling shares; it does not handle short selling, dividends, multiple purchases at different prices, or taxes, so use it for the arithmetic of a single round trip.

This calculator returns estimates for general information only. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it cannot replace guidance from a qualified professional who knows your circumstances. Figures such as loan payments, investment growth and retirement projections are simplified models based on the inputs and assumptions you provide, not guarantees of future results.