Stock Break-Even Calculator
Two related questions with exact answers: at what price does this position stop losing money once fees are counted — and after a given percentage loss, what gain does getting back to even actually require?
Break-even sell price
fees includedSettings
Keyboard shortcuts
| Tab / Shift+Tab | Next / previous field |
| ↑ / ↓ | Step a value by 1 (Shift: 10, Alt: 0.1) |
| Enter | Copy the primary result |
| [ / ] | Fewer / more decimal places (percent) |
| Esc | Clear the field |
Gain needed to recover a loss
gain = loss ÷ (1 − loss)| Loss | Gain to recover |
|---|---|
| -1% | +1.01% |
| -5% | +5.26% |
| -10% | +11.11% |
| -20% | +25% |
| -30% | +42.86% |
| -50% | +100% |
| -75% | +300% |
| -90% | +900% |
| -95% | +1,900% |
Break-even with fees: the formula
break-even = (shares × price + buy fee + sell fee) ÷ shares for flat fees;
a percentage sell fee moves to the denominator: cost ÷ (shares × (1 −
fee%)). Either way the answer sits above your purchase price — in the example, a
$50.00 buy needs $50.10, a 0.2% rise, before the first cent of profit.
Cheap-looking commissions are a treadmill set to a slight incline.
The loss-recovery asymmetry
The table answers the other break-even question — after a drop, how big is the climb
back? Because the gain applies to the shrunken base, gain = loss ÷ (1 −
loss) bends viciously upward: −10% needs +11.11%, −50% needs +100%, −90% needs
+900%. The curve is why "it's only down 15% more" is never a small statement, and why
risk control front-loads the work: the
position size calculator exists to keep you off
the steep end of this table. The same asymmetry in its pure percentage form — without
fees or tickers — is treated on our sibling site in
the percentage
calculator's FAQ; this page adds what generic math treatments skip: commissions,
which raise every recovery bar a little higher.
Break-even FAQ
How do I calculate the break-even price of a stock position?
Add every cost — shares × buy price, buy commission, and the commission you'll pay to sell — and divide by the share count. The example above: $5,000 of stock plus $5 in and $5 out, over 100 shares, breaks even at $50.10. With a percentage sell fee the formula divides by shares × (1 − fee%) instead, because the fee scales with the exit price.
Why does a loss take a bigger gain to undo?
The recovery acts on what's left, not on what you started with. The required gain is loss ÷ (1 − loss): lose 20% and +25% gets you back; lose 50% and you need +100%; lose 95% and only +1,900% will do. The asymmetry is pure arithmetic, no market opinion involved — and it's the deep reason capping losses matters.
Do commissions really change break-even meaningfully?
Per trade, barely; compounded, absolutely. A 0.2% round-trip hurdle cleared 50 times a year is a 10% headwind before any market movement. The classic study of 66,465 brokerage households found the most active fifth earned 11.4% a year while the market returned 17.9% — costs did most of that damage. Details and the citation in the trading-costs article.
Is the recovery table saying I should hold and wait to get even?
No — it says nothing about what a price will do, only what arithmetic requires if it happens. Behavioral research (the disposition effect) shows "waiting to get back to even" is precisely where investors systematically stick; the number that matters for the decision is the position's value today, not the price you paid. The article lays out the evidence.