Stock Profit Calculator
Find your profit or loss on a stock trade after fees, with the percent return, break-even price and annualized return.
Results
| Item | Value |
|---|
Quick Answer
Stock profit = (sell price × shares − sell fees) − (buy price × shares + buy fees). Buying 100 shares at $50 and selling at $65, with $5 fees each way, gives a profit of $1,490.00, a 29.77% return. Your break-even sell price is $50.10 a share.
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Table of Contents
- Stock Profit Calculator
- Quick Answer
- Related Calculators
- How This Stock Profit Calculator Works
- How to Use the Stock Profit Calculator
- Core Formulas
- Key Terms
- Worked Example
- Real-Life Examples
- Realized vs Unrealized Gains
- Profit on 100 Shares Bought at $50
- What Affects Your Real Profit
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Frequently Asked Questions
- References & Sources
How This Stock Profit Calculator Works
Enter how many shares you bought, the price you paid, the price you sold at or plan to sell at, and any fees. The calculator shows your profit or loss in dollars and as a percent of what you spent. Add the years you held the stock to see the yearly return.
Quick explanation: your return depends on the price change, the fees and how long you held the shares.
- Cost basis: what you paid, including buy fees.
- Proceeds: what you got, after sell fees.
- Break-even: the sell price where profit is zero.
How to Use the Stock Profit Calculator
- Enter the number of shares.
- Enter the buy price and the sell price per share.
- Enter any commissions or fees, or leave them at 0.
- Optionally, enter how many years you held the shares.
- Press Calculate and read your profit, return and break-even price.
Core Formulas
- Total cost: shares × buy price + buy fees
- Proceeds: shares × sell price − sell fees
- Profit: proceeds − total cost
- Return: profit ÷ total cost × 100
- Annualized return: (proceeds ÷ total cost)^(1 ÷ years) − 1
Key Terms
- Cost basis: what you paid for the shares, including fees.
- Proceeds: what you receive when you sell, after fees.
- Break-even price: the sell price at which you neither gain nor lose.
- Annualized return: the yearly growth rate that gives the same overall result.
- Capital gain: the profit from selling an asset for more than its cost basis.
Worked Example
You buy 200 shares at $30 with no fees and sell at $24.
- Total cost = 200 × $30 = $6,000.00
- Proceeds = 200 × $24 = $4,800.00
- Loss = -$1,200.00, a return of -20.00%
Real-Life Examples
- Planning a sale: 50 shares bought at $120 and sold at $150 earn $1,500.00, a 25.0% gain.
- Setting a target: to make $1,000 on 100 shares bought at $40, you need to sell at $50 a share.
- Checking a loss: 10 shares bought at $300 and sold at $255 lose $450.00. A realized loss can offset other capital gains for tax.
- Small trades and fees: with $10 each way, 5 shares bought at $20 and sold at $22 make only -$10.00.
Realized vs Unrealized Gains
- Unrealized gain: a paper profit on shares you still own. It can change any day.
- Realized gain: the profit you lock in when you sell.
- Taxes: in the US, you usually owe tax only on realized gains.
- Using this tool: enter today’s price as the sell price to see your unrealized gain.
Profit on 100 Shares Bought at $50
| Sell price | Profit or loss | Return |
|---|---|---|
| $35 | -$1,500.00 | -30% |
| $40 | -$1,000.00 | -20% |
| $45 | -$500.00 | -10% |
| $50 | $0.00 | 0% |
| $55 | $500.00 | 10% |
| $60 | $1,000.00 | 20% |
| $75 | $2,500.00 | 50% |
| $100 | $5,000.00 | 100% |
What Affects Your Real Profit
- Fees: most US brokers charge no commission on stocks, but some charge for trades by phone or for foreign shares.
- Dividends: add any dividends you received to see your total return.
- Taxes: gains on shares held over a year are usually taxed at lower long-term rates.
- Time: the same profit over a longer time is a lower yearly return.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Forgetting fees. Small trades can lose much of their profit to fees.
- Ignoring dividends. They are part of your total return.
- Comparing returns over different times. Use the annualized return to compare.
- Mixing up price change and return. Fees make your return lower than the price change.
- Forgetting tax. Short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income.
Frequently Asked Questions
Subtract what you paid, including fees, from what you received when you sold, after fees.
Divide the profit by the total cost and multiply by 100.
Your total cost plus sell fees, divided by the number of shares.
In the US, realized gains are taxable. Shares held more than one year usually qualify for lower long-term rates.
No. Add dividends to your profit to find your total return.
Over the long run, the broad US stock market has returned roughly 10% a year on average before inflation, but single stocks vary a lot.
Add the total cost of all purchases and divide by the total shares. Use that as your buy price here.
Yes. Enter the number of shares with decimals, such as 2.5.
Yes. The math is the same for any asset bought and sold at a price per unit.
The yearly rate that would turn your cost into your proceeds over the time you held the shares.
No. After a split, you have more shares at a lower price, but the same total value and cost basis.
In the US, capital losses offset capital gains, and up to $3,000 a year of extra loss can offset other income.
References & Sources
| Source | Used For | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Investor.gov (SEC), Stocks FAQs | How stocks, gains and broker fees work. | https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/investment-products/stocks |
| IRS, Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses | Tax rules for stock sales. | https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409 |