When Should You Use a Profit/Loss Calculator?
Use this calculator to quickly evaluate a trade before you enter or to review completed trades:
• Planning a trade and want to know the potential outcome
• Comparing different exit scenarios
• Journaling completed trades
• Teaching yourself to think in terms of risk and reward
How It Works
Enter Prices
Input the price you bought (or plan to buy) and the price you sold (or plan to sell).
Set Quantity
Enter the number of shares you are trading.
See Results
Get your total P&L in dollars and percentage, plus your total cost basis.
Example
Scenario: You buy 50 shares of MSFT at $420.00 and sell at $445.50.
Calculation: Profit per share = $445.50 - $420.00 = $25.50. Total P&L = $25.50 × 50 = $1,275.00.
Result: You made $1,275.00 on a $21,000.00 investment, a return of 6.07%. Your cost basis was $21,000.00 and your exit value was $22,275.00.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Tools
Quick Reference Table
| Entry | Exit | Shares | Profit | Return % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $55 | 100 | $500 | 10.0% |
| $120 | $132 | 50 | $600 | 10.0% |
| $200 | $240 | 25 | $1,000 | 20.0% |
| $75 | $70.50 | 40 | −$180 | −6.0% |
| $150 | $180 | 50 | $1,500 | 20.0% |