Stock Profit Calculator
A stock profit calculator turns a buy and a sell into a net result: profit equals shares × sell price minus sell fees, minus shares × buy price plus buy fees. Buy 100 shares at $50 with $4.95 commission and sell at $75 with $4.95: profit is $2,490.10, a 49.75% return.
Buy Details
Sell Details
Tax Estimate
Short Term = 1 year or less · Long Term = more than 1 year
Estimate only. The long-term rate here is the one usually paired with your ordinary bracket; the real 0%, 15% and 20% bands are set by taxable income, and state tax is not included.
Price Scenarios
| Sell Price | Profit/Loss | Return % |
|---|---|---|
Several positions at once
Each row is priced exactly like the single trade above: the buying fee joins the cost basis, the selling fee comes out of the proceeds, so a row and the calculator report the same return for the same trade. Leave a fee at 0 for a commission-free broker.
| Position | Shares | Buy price | Sell price | Buy fee | Sell fee | Net profit | Return | Remove this position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio total | ||||||||
How do you calculate profit on a stock?
Net profit is what the sale pays you minus what the purchase cost you, commissions on both sides included. Return percentage divides that profit by the money you actually tied up — the total cost — not by the market value of the position at the exit price.
- Total cost = shares × buy price + buy commission
- Total proceeds = shares × sell price − sell commission
- Net profit = total proceeds − total cost
- Return % = net profit ÷ total cost × 100
Worked example: 100 shares bought at $50.00 with a $4.95 commission cost $5,004.95. Sold at $75.00 with another $4.95 commission they return $7,495.05. Net profit is $2,490.10 and the return is 49.75% — not the 50.00% the raw prices suggest.
What is the break-even price after commissions?
Break-even is the sell price at which the proceeds exactly repay the total cost, so both commissions have to be earned back by the sale: break-even = (shares × buy price + buy commission + sell commission) ÷ shares. With 100 shares at $50.00 and $4.95 on each side, break-even is $50.099, so you round up to $50.10. Sell at $50.09 and you are still 90 cents down on the round trip.
How much gain do you need to recover a loss?
A loss and the gain that cancels it are never the same number, because the gain is measured against a smaller balance. Down 20% you need +25% to get back to even; down 50% you need +100%. This table assumes a $10,000 position and ignores fees.
| Price drop | Value of $10,000 | Gain needed to break even |
|---|---|---|
| −5% | $9,500 | +5.26% |
| −10% | $9,000 | +11.11% |
| −20% | $8,000 | +25.00% |
| −25% | $7,500 | +33.33% |
| −30% | $7,000 | +42.86% |
| −40% | $6,000 | +66.67% |
| −50% | $5,000 | +100.00% |
| −60% | $4,000 | +150.00% |
| −75% | $2,500 | +300.00% |
| −90% | $1,000 | +900.00% |
How much tax will you pay on a stock profit?
In the United States a gain on shares held one year or less is short-term and taxed at your ordinary income rate. Hold longer and the gain is long-term, taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%. Those three rates have their own taxable-income thresholds, which do not line up with the ordinary brackets: a long-term gain stacks on top of your other income, so one sale can be split across two of them, and the 20% threshold falls inside the 35% bracket. Read the pairing below as the usual case, not a rule. The table applies both treatments to the same $5,000 gain.
| Ordinary bracket | Short-term tax | Usual long-term rate | Long-term tax | You keep by waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $500 | 0% | $0 | $500 |
| 12% | $600 | 0% | $0 | $600 |
| 22% | $1,100 | 15% | $750 | $350 |
| 24% | $1,200 | 15% | $750 | $450 |
| 32% | $1,600 | 15% | $750 | $850 |
| 35% | $1,750 | 15% | $750 | $1,000 |
| 37% | $1,850 | 20% | $1,000 | $850 |
Which long-term rate applies depends on taxable income thresholds that the IRS updates every year; high earners may also owe the 3.8% net investment income tax, and most states tax the gain again. Treat these figures as an estimate, not tax advice.
How do dividends, splits and leverage change the result?
Dividends
The calculator measures price return only. To get total return, add the dividends per share you collected to the sell price: 100 shares that paid $0.62 four times earned $248, so enter $77.48 instead of $75.00. Dividends are taxed in the year they are paid, separately from the capital gain.
Stock splits
A split changes the share count, never the money. After a 2-for-1 split, double the shares you bought and halve the buy price — 100 at $50.00 becomes 200 at $25.00 — and the profit comes out identical. Your broker reports split-adjusted cost basis, so use those figures.
Margin and leverage
On margin the profit is still calculated on the full position, but the return you earned is measured against your own equity. Buy $10,000 of stock with $5,000 of cash and a $500 gain is 5% on the position and 10% on your money. Enter accrued margin interest as part of the sell commission so it comes out of the profit.
Sources
- IRS, Topic no. 409: Capital gains and losses — holding period and the 0%, 15% and 20% long-term rates.
- IRS, Publication 550: Investment income and expenses — cost basis, commissions and the wash-sale rule.
- Investor.gov (U.S. SEC), Wash sales — when a repurchase disallows a realized loss.
- FINRA, Stocks — how share ownership and stock orders work.
About Stock Profit Calculator
This stock profit calculator answers the question a brokerage screen rarely answers cleanly: after everything, what did that trade actually make? Enter the shares you bought, the price you paid and any commission, then the shares you sold, the price you got and the commission on that side. It returns the total cost of the position, the total proceeds, the net profit or loss, the return percentage measured against your cost, and the break-even price the stock had to reach before you made a cent. Commissions matter more than most traders assume on small positions: $4.95 on each side of a 20-share trade at $50 a share is $9.90 against $1,000 committed, a 1% headwind before the market moves at all, and the same $9.90 is close to 5% on a $10 stock.
Below the headline numbers, a tax estimate applies the two very different American treatments to the same gain. A position held a year or less is short-term and taxed at your ordinary bracket, from 10% up to 37%; a position held more than a year is long-term and taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on taxable income. On a $5,000 gain that gap is worth $350 in the 22% bracket and $1,000 in the 35% bracket, which is often the whole argument for holding a few weeks longer. A price-scenario table then shows the profit and return at nine exit prices from −30% to +100% of your entry, so you can see what a stop or a target is really worth before you place the order.
Batch mode is the part a written answer cannot replace: a whole year of closed positions priced on one screen and netted into a single portfolio return. Every figure recalculates as you type, so the honest question — was this trade worth the fees and the wait? — gets an answer before you place the next order, as an estimate for planning rather than tax advice.
Use Cases
How to use
Under Buy Details enter the shares you bought, the price you paid per share and the buy commission. Total Cost appears at the foot of the card.
Under Sell Details enter the shares sold, the sell price per share and the sell commission. Total Proceeds updates as you type.
Read the results banner: net profit or loss, return percentage against your cost, and the break-even price that repays both commissions.
In the tax estimate choose a holding period — short term for one year or less, long term for more — and pick your ordinary tax bracket from 10% to 37%.
Scan the price scenario table to see the profit and return at exit prices from −30% to +100% of your entry price.
Open "Add more positions", fill in one row per trade, then use Download CSV or Copy as table to take the result into a spreadsheet.
Pro Tips
- Use the actual fill price from your trade confirmation, not the closing price. Three cents of slippage on 1,000 shares is $30 of real profit that never existed.
- Enter a sell commission even when your broker advertises $0 trades: regulatory fees are charged on the sale side and still come out of your proceeds.
- Bought in several lots? Give each lot its own row in batch mode. A lot held 13 months and one held 11 are taxed under completely different rules.
- Select Long term only if the sale falls more than one year after the purchase trade date — the holding period starts the day after you buy, so one year and one day already qualifies. One day short of that moves the whole gain into your ordinary bracket.
- If you sold at a loss and bought the same stock back within the 30 days before or the 30 days after that sale, the wash-sale rule disallows the loss. The calculator still shows it, so check IRS Publication 550.
Frequently Asked Questions
Subtract everything the position cost from everything the sale paid. Total cost is shares × buy price + buy commission; total proceeds is shares × sell price − sell commission; profit is the difference. 100 shares at $50.00 with $4.95 fees cost $5,004.95; sold at $75.00 with $4.95 they pay $7,495.05, so the profit is $2,490.10 — a 49.75% return, not 50%.
It depends entirely on how long you held the shares. One year or less is a short-term gain taxed at your ordinary rate, 10% to 37%. More than a year is long-term, taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% by taxable income. On a $5,000 gain in the 24% bracket that is $1,200 short-term against $750 long-term. High earners may add the 3.8% net investment income tax, and most states tax the gain again.
Three things reduce the bill. Nothing is taxed until you sell — unrealized gains are not income. Long-term gains fall in the 0% band when taxable income stays under the annual IRS threshold, so a modest retiree can realize thousands tax free. And realized losses offset realized gains dollar for dollar, with up to $3,000 of net loss deductible against ordinary income each year and the rest carried forward.
The price where proceeds exactly repay the position: (shares × buy price + buy commission + sell commission) ÷ shares. Buy 100 shares at $50.00 with $4.95 each way and you break even at $50.10, not $50.00. On small positions this gap is large — the same $9.90 of commission on 20 shares pushes break-even to $50.50, a full 1% above your entry.
Not directly — it measures price return. To capture total return, add the dividends per share you received to the sell price. If 100 shares paid $0.62 in each of four quarters, that is $2.48 per share, so enter $77.48 instead of $75.00 and the profit rises by $248. Remember dividends are taxed in the year they are paid, at qualified or ordinary rates, separately from the capital gain.
A split changes the share count but not the value, so it cannot change your profit. After a 2-for-1 split, enter double the shares at half the buy price: 100 at $50.00 becomes 200 at $25.00, and both give the same $5,000 cost. Your broker restates cost basis on a split-adjusted basis, so copy the adjusted figures from the statement rather than the price you remember paying.
Profit is still computed on the whole position, but the return you earned belongs to your own money. Buy $10,000 of stock with $5,000 cash and $5,000 borrowed: a $500 gain is 5% on the position and 10% on your equity. Add the margin interest you accrued to the sell commission so it is deducted from the profit, and remember losses are leveraged in exactly the same way.
Yes. Enter the historical purchase price as the buy price and today's price as the sell price, and the calculator shows the gain that position would have produced. The scenario table then prices the same holding from −30% to +100% of your entry, and batch mode lets you line several hypothetical entries up side by side and export them.
The calculator uses the smaller of shares bought and shares sold, so entering 500 bought and 200 sold prices the 200-share round trip and leaves the rest out. That is the right basis for a partial exit. If your lots were bought at different prices, run each lot as its own row in batch mode — but check the confirmation first: unless you identified the lots at the moment of sale, your broker almost certainly sold them first in, first out, and funds are often held at average cost.
Yes. The tax is triggered by the sale, not by what you do with the money afterwards, so a gain rolled straight into another stock is still reported for that year. The exception is a tax-advantaged account: inside an IRA or 401(k) trades do not create a taxable event. Buying the same stock back within 30 days of a loss triggers the wash-sale rule instead.