Stock Profit Calculator
Calculate your net profit or loss from a stock trade — including brokerage fees, taxes, and dividends.
Net Profit / Loss
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Return on Investment
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Gross Profit / Loss
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Net Profit per Share
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Total Investment
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Total Exit Value
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Total Brokerage Paid
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Capital Gains Tax
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Break-Even Exit Price
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Total Dividend Income
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Calculation Details
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How to use this calculator
Eight fields. Here’s what each one does and where the numbers come from.
Currency — Select your trading currency. The calculator formats all outputs accordingly. The math is identical regardless of currency.
Position type — Long or Short. Long means you bought shares expecting the price to rise, then sold. Short means you sold shares you didn’t own (or borrowed), expecting the price to fall, then bought back. For short trades, Entry Price is your initial short-sell price and Exit Price is your cover/buyback price. Profit on a short position comes when exit is lower than entry.
Entry price (per share) — The price per share when you opened the position. For long trades, this is your buy price. For short trades, your initial sell price. Use the actual execution price, not the price you were watching when you decided to trade.
Exit price (per share) — The price per share when you closed the position. Your sell price for a long trade, your buyback price for a short trade.
Number of shares — Total shares in this trade. If you averaged into a position across multiple purchases, use total shares and weight your entry price accordingly.
Brokerage fee (%) — The commission charged by your broker as a percentage of trade value. Discount brokers typically charge 0.1–0.3%. Full-service brokers charge 0.5–1.0%. Some platforms charge a flat fee per trade rather than a percentage — convert it: flat fee ÷ total trade value × 100. Brokerage is typically charged on both the buy and the sell leg.
Capital gains tax (%) — The tax rate applied to your profit. In India: STCG (Short-Term Capital Gains, held under 12 months) = 15%, LTCG (Long-Term Capital Gains, held over 12 months above ₹1 lakh) = 10%. In the US: short-term gains are taxed at your ordinary income rate (up to 37%), long-term gains at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income. Enter 0 if the account is tax-advantaged (ISA, Roth IRA, etc.) or if you’re exempt.
Dividend per share (optional) — Total dividends received per share during the holding period. Leave 0 if none. Dividends are added to your return as they represent real income from the position.
The calculator outputs gross profit, total brokerage cost, tax on profit, dividend income, and final net profit or loss — with a percentage return on your initial investment.
Quick example — long trade, 50 shares
Entry: ₹100 / Exit: ₹130 / Shares: 50 / Brokerage: 0.1% / Tax: 15% / Dividend: ₹0
Buy value = 50 × ₹100 = ₹5,000 Sell value = 50 × ₹130 = ₹6,500 Gross profit = ₹1,500
Brokerage (buy) = ₹5,000 × 0.1% = ₹5.00 Brokerage (sell) = ₹6,500 × 0.1% = ₹6.50 Total brokerage = ₹11.50
Taxable profit = ₹1,500 − ₹11.50 = ₹1,488.50 Tax = ₹1,488.50 × 15% = ₹223.28
Net profit = ₹1,500 − ₹11.50 − ₹223.28 = ₹1,265.22
Return on investment = ₹1,265.22 ÷ ₹5,000 = 25.3%
If your broker charges a flat fee (e.g. ₹20 per order), convert it to a percentage for this field: (₹20 ÷ trade value) × 100. On a ₹5,000 buy, that’s 0.4%. On a ₹50,000 buy, it’s only 0.04%. Flat-fee brokers become dramatically cheaper as position size grows.
Why gross profit misleads more often than it should
The gap between “what the trade made” and “what you actually keep” has four components — and most retail investors track only one of them.
The price difference (exit minus entry times shares) is the gross figure. It’s what appears in a basic P&L and what gets shared on social media. But brokerage fees apply twice — once on the buy, once on the sell. Tax applies to the profit. And if you held a dividend-paying stock, those payments were real income that should factor into your total return calculation.
A trade that shows ₹1,500 gross profit on a ₹5,000 investment (30%) becomes ₹1,265 net (25.3%) after fees and tax. That 4.7 percentage point difference doesn’t sound dramatic until you’re evaluating whether to hold a position, comparing two trade ideas, or calculating how many winning trades you need to cover a losing one.
The calculator exists because the gap matters for decisions — and the gap is almost always larger than traders expect.
Long vs short — how the position type changes the math
Most retail investors trade long: buy first, profit if price rises, lose if it falls. Short selling flips this: you sell first (shares you borrow from a broker), profit if the price falls, and close by buying back cheaper.
The profit calculation for both is structurally identical — it’s just the direction that inverts.
For long trades, a higher exit price is good. For short trades, a lower exit price is good. The calculator handles both — just select the position type before entering prices.
One practical difference: short positions don’t collect dividends (the shares are borrowed, not owned). If the stock pays a dividend while you’re short, you typically owe that dividend to the lender. Enter dividends as 0 for short trades.
Short selling also carries borrowing costs (the fee paid to the broker for lending shares) that this calculator doesn’t include. For short-duration trades these are negligible. For positions held weeks or months, the borrow rate — which can range from 0.5% to 50%+ annually on hard-to-borrow stocks — meaningfully reduces net profit. Check your broker’s borrow rate for any short position held beyond a few days.
The formulas
The order matters: brokerage comes out first, then tax is applied to the post-brokerage profit. Calculating tax on gross profit before deducting brokerage slightly overstates your tax bill. The difference is small on any individual trade, but over many trades it accumulates.
Capital gains tax — what rate to enter
Tax treatment of stock profits varies by country, holding period, and account type. Getting this input right is the difference between a realistic net profit figure and a misleadingly optimistic one.
| Country / Region | Short-term rate | Long-term rate | Holding threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| India (STCG) | 15% | — | Under 12 months |
| India (LTCG) | — | 10% (above ₹1L) | Over 12 months |
| USA (ordinary income) | Up to 37% | — | Under 12 months |
| USA (LTCG) | — | 0% / 15% / 20% | Over 12 months |
| UK (basic rate taxpayer) | 10% | 10% | Any |
| UK (higher rate taxpayer) | 20% | 20% | Any |
| Australia | Full marginal rate | 50% discount applied | Under/over 12 months |
| Germany | 25% + solidarity surcharge | 25% + surcharge | Any |
| Singapore | 0% | 0% | Any (no CGT) |
Enter 0 for tax-sheltered accounts: ISAs in the UK, Roth IRAs in the US, and any account where gains are explicitly tax-free. Enter 0 if your total gains for the year fall below your annual exempt amount (£3,000 in the UK for 2024/25, ₹1 lakh LTCG exemption in India).
Tax on dividends is separate from capital gains tax and not handled by this calculator. In India, dividends are added to income and taxed at your slab rate. In the US, qualified dividends are taxed at long-term CGT rates. For a complete picture of after-tax return, calculate dividend tax separately and reduce the dividend income figure accordingly before entering it.
Real-world examples
Long trade with brokerage and tax — Indian market
A retail investor buys 200 shares of a stock at ₹450 and sells 8 months later at ₹610. Broker charges 0.3%. Short-term capital gains tax applies at 15%.
Buy value = 200 × ₹450 = ₹90,000 Sell value = 200 × ₹610 = ₹1,22,000 Gross profit = ₹1,22,000 − ₹90,000 = ₹32,000
Brokerage = (₹90,000 + ₹1,22,000) × 0.3% = ₹636
Taxable profit = ₹32,000 − ₹636 = ₹31,364 Tax (15%) = ₹31,364 × 15% = ₹4,705
Net profit = ₹32,000 − ₹636 − ₹4,705 = ₹26,659 ROI = ₹26,659 ÷ ₹90,000 = 29.6%
Gross looked like 35.6%. Net is 29.6%. The 6-point gap is entirely fees and tax.
Dividend stock — long-term hold
An investor holds 100 shares of a blue-chip stock for 14 months. Entry ₹800, exit ₹920. Brokerage 0.1%. LTCG at 10% (profit above ₹1 lakh threshold — assume threshold not crossed, so full 10% applies for illustration). Dividend: ₹12 per share received during holding period.
Buy value = 100 × ₹800 = ₹80,000 Sell value = 100 × ₹920 = ₹92,000 Gross profit = ₹12,000
Brokerage = (₹80,000 + ₹92,000) × 0.1% = ₹172
Tax (10%) on ₹11,828 taxable profit = ₹1,183
Dividend income = 100 × ₹12 = ₹1,200
Net profit = ₹12,000 − ₹172 − ₹1,183 + ₹1,200 = ₹12,845 ROI = ₹12,845 ÷ ₹80,000 = 16.1%
Without the dividend, net profit would have been ₹11,645 (14.6% ROI). The ₹1,200 dividend added 1.5 percentage points of return — meaningful on a 14-month hold.
Short trade — profiting on a falling stock
A trader shorts 300 shares at ₹500, expecting a fall. Stock drops to ₹430 and they cover. Brokerage 0.2%. STCG 15%.
Initial sell value = 300 × ₹500 = ₹1,50,000 Buyback value = 300 × ₹430 = ₹1,29,000 Gross profit = ₹1,50,000 − ₹1,29,000 = ₹21,000
Brokerage = (₹1,50,000 + ₹1,29,000) × 0.2% = ₹558
Tax (15%) on ₹20,442 = ₹3,066
Net profit = ₹21,000 − ₹558 − ₹3,066 = ₹17,376 ROI = ₹17,376 ÷ ₹1,50,000 = 11.6%
The stock fell 14%. The trader kept 11.6% after costs. That gap — between price movement and actual return — is exactly what this calculator shows.
Break-even check — how much does the stock need to move?
An investor wants to know at what exit price they’d break even on a 500-share position. Entry ₹200, brokerage 0.25%, tax 15%.
Buy value = 500 × ₹200 = ₹1,00,000 Brokerage on buy = ₹1,00,000 × 0.25% = ₹250
At break-even, net profit = 0. Working backwards:
Exit price needed ≈ Entry price + (Entry price × brokerage % × 2) + (price gain × tax rate)
Approximate break-even exit = roughly ₹200.60–₹201 per share depending on exact tax treatment.
Enter different exit prices into the calculator until net profit hits zero. The result shows that even a “flat” trade costs you money — brokerage on both legs means you need a small positive price movement just to break even.
The costs traders consistently underestimate
Brokerage compounds across both legs. Every trade has two transactions — open and close. A 0.3% brokerage rate costs 0.3% on the buy and another 0.3% on the sell. Total round-trip cost: 0.6% of your position size before any price movement. On a ₹1,00,000 position, that’s ₹600 gone before the market has done anything.
Tax changes the actual return by more than the percentage implies. A 15% STCG tax doesn’t reduce a 20% gross return to 17% — it reduces it to 17% of the post-brokerage profit. On a ₹30,000 gross profit with ₹600 brokerage, the taxable amount is ₹29,400 and the tax is ₹4,410. The effective reduction is 14.7 percentage points from gross to net — not 15%.
Brokerage on losing trades is a real cost. If you buy and sell at the same price (no gain, no loss), you still pay brokerage on both legs. That loss is real. It means your actual break-even exit price is always slightly higher than your entry price.
Short-term vs long-term holding changes your tax bill dramatically. In India, holding a position for one extra day past the 12-month mark drops your tax rate from 15% to 10%. In the US, the difference between short and long-term gains can be 17–22 percentage points of your profit. Holding period is a tax planning decision, not just an investment decision.
The return you calculate before fees and tax is the return the market gave you. The return after fees and tax is the return you actually got. For frequent traders, the gap between those two numbers is the single biggest drag on long-term performance — bigger than most losing trades.
What to do with the result
Use net ROI for position comparison, not gross. If you’re choosing between two trade ideas, compare their net ROI — after your actual brokerage rate and tax situation. A trade with a higher gross return but shorter holding period might have lower net return than a slower mover held long enough to qualify for long-term rates.
Work backwards to set price targets. If you need a 15% net return to make a trade worthwhile, enter your entry price, share count, brokerage, and tax rate, then adjust the exit price until net ROI hits 15%. That’s your real target — not a percentage above entry.
Track cumulative brokerage across all trades. The calculator shows per-trade brokerage. If you’re an active trader running 20–30 trades a month, total annual brokerage is worth calculating explicitly. At 0.3% round-trip on ₹50,000 average position size and 25 trades/month, that’s ₹4,500/month, ₹54,000/year — a real cost that needs to be covered by profits before you’re in positive territory.
Factor dividends into hold/sell decisions. If a stock pays ₹15/share annually and you hold 500 shares, that’s ₹7,500 per year in income. If your capital gain from selling now is ₹12,000 after tax, you’re giving up 62% of one year’s dividend to exit. The calculator quantifies that trade-off precisely.
Your net profit figure is reliable when: brokerage includes both legs (buy and sell), the tax rate matches your actual applicable rate for this trade’s holding period, and dividends reflect total per-share payments received during the hold — not projected future dividends. Get those three inputs right and the output is what you’d actually see in your account.
The bottom line
A stock trade has four components that determine what you keep: the price movement, brokerage on both legs, tax on the profit, and any dividend income collected. Tracking only the price movement — which is what most quick calculations do — overstates return by a margin that varies from minor to significant depending on your broker, your tax rate, and your holding period.
The calculator handles all four simultaneously. Enter your actual numbers — not rounded, not approximated — and use the net profit figure for decisions: whether to hold or exit, how to compare two opportunities, and whether a trade that looks attractive on gross return is still attractive after the costs you can’t avoid.
Every number going in matters. Every number coming out is what the trade is actually worth.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is net profit different from gross profit on a stock trade?
Gross profit is the raw price gain — (Exit − Entry) × Shares. Net profit deducts brokerage fees on both legs, subtracts capital gains tax, and adds dividend income. Net profit is the actual money you pocket, which is always less than gross profit when fees and taxes apply.
What brokerage rate should I enter?
Discount brokers (Zerodha, Angel One, Robinhood, Trading 212) typically charge 0%–0.1% or a flat per-order fee. Full-service or traditional brokers may charge 0.3%–0.5% per leg. If your broker charges a flat fee (e.g. ₹20/order), approximate it as a percentage of your trade size.
How do I enter prices for a short position?
For a short, "Entry Price" is the price at which you opened the short (your initial sell price — the higher price). "Exit Price" is the price at which you covered/bought back (the lower price). If you shorted at ₹500 and covered at ₹420, enter Entry = 500 and Exit = 420.
Is tax calculated on the full sale value or just the profit?
Only on the profit. Capital gains tax applies to your net profit before tax. If you made a loss, no capital gains tax is owed — the calculator automatically sets tax to zero if the pre-tax net is negative.
What is the break-even exit price and why does it matter?
The break-even price is the exit price at which you cover your brokerage costs and end up with exactly zero profit or loss. For a long trade it is slightly above your entry price; for a short it is slightly below. Knowing this helps you set realistic targets and avoid exiting at a nominal gain that is actually a net loss after fees.
Can I use this for intraday (day trading) as well as long-term investing?
Yes. For intraday, select the short-term tax rate applicable to your jurisdiction and enter your broker's actual fee rate. For long-term investments, select the LTCG rate (10% in India for equity above ₹1 lakh) and include any dividends received over the holding period.
Does the currency selector convert between currencies?
No — the currency selector only changes the symbol displayed (₹, $, €, £) and the number formatting locale. All inputs must be in the same currency. If you traded a foreign-listed stock, convert prices to your home currency before entering them.
What is a realistic annual return on stock investments?
The S&P 500 has historically returned an average of 10% annually (before inflation) over long periods, or about 7% in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Individual stock returns vary enormously — from large losses to multi-hundred-percent gains. A single trade's ROI is not comparable to annualised returns; to compare across time periods, always annualise: annualised return = (1 + total return)^(1/years) − 1.
How do I calculate return on investment (ROI) as a percentage?
ROI (%) = (Net Profit / Total Cost of Investment) × 100. Where Net Profit = (Exit Value − Entry Value + Dividends − Fees − Tax). Example: bought 100 shares at ₹200 (₹20,000 invested), sold at ₹260 (₹26,000), fees ₹100, no tax: Net Profit = ₹6,000 − ₹100 = ₹5,900. ROI = (5,900 / 20,000) × 100 = 29.5%.
What is the wash sale rule and does this calculator account for it?
The wash sale rule (US IRS) disallows claiming a capital loss if you buy the same or substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale. The disallowed loss is added to the cost basis of the new purchase. This calculator does not model wash sales — it calculates the P&L and tax on the individual trade entered. Consult a tax advisor for wash sale scenarios or tax-loss harvesting strategies.
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