Profit & loss calculator
What a trade actually made after fees — plus the break-even price you needed, which is usually further away than people expect.
The number people get wrong
Most traders can calculate gross profit in their head. Almost nobody carries the fee across, and that is the number that decides whether a strategy survives. A scalper making $12 a trade and paying $4 in round-trip costs is giving away a third of their income before tax.
The fees as a percentage of gross line at the bottom is there for that reason. Above about 20%, the strategy is working mostly for the broker.
Break-even is further than you think
On a $500 position with $5 of round-trip costs, you need a 1% move just to be flat. On options with wide spreads, the spread alone can be several percent, which is why so many small options trades feel like they should have been winners and settle as losses.
Percentage return on what?
This shows return against the capital committed to the position, not against your whole account. Both are useful and they answer different questions: position return tells you how the trade did, account return tells you how the month did.
Log the exit reason, not just the exit price
P/L tells you what happened. It does not tell you whether the decision was any good — a win from breaking your own rule is worse for you than a small loss from following them, because it teaches the wrong lesson. Recording why you exited turns a list of numbers into something you can actually learn from.
Questions
How do I calculate profit on a trade?
For a long: (exit − entry) × quantity × multiplier, then subtract fees. For a short, swap entry and exit. The multiplier is 1 for shares and crypto, and 100 for standard US equity options.
What is my break-even price?
The price where the trade covers its own costs. It is your entry plus fees per unit on a long, or entry minus fees per unit on a short. On small positions with fixed commissions this can be surprisingly far from your entry.
How do I calculate profit on an options contract?
Set the multiplier to 100. One contract at a $2.50 premium controls 100 shares and costs $250, so a move to $3.10 is a $60 gain per contract before fees.