Trade Profit & Loss Calculator

Know the Outcome Before You Take the Trade

Profit or loss on a stock trade is shares times the difference between exit and entry, minus commissions. Simple. The reason I still use a calculator is that I want the number in dollars and in R before I enter, not after.

Think in R, not dollars

R is your initial risk on the trade. If the stop is $1.50 away on 133 shares, 1R is about $200. A trade that makes $400 is a 2R winner. A trade that loses $100 because you got out early is a minus 0.5R. When every trade is measured in R, a $200 account and a $200,000 account are running the same scorecard, and you can finally tell whether your edge is real.

The Free Trade

Here is how I manage a winner. Sell half at the reward to risk target, usually 2R. Move the stop to entry on the rest. Now the trade cannot lose. Trail the remaining half up the Bone Zone on the 5-minute chart and exit on a close under the zone. I coined the name Free Trade. Paul Singh, my original mentor, taught me the concept. Run the numbers on both halves in this tool and you will see why partial exits are how you get paid on the big move without giving back the small one.

Longs, Shorts and Commissions

Long: exit minus entry, times shares. Short: entry minus exit, times shares. Same math, flipped. Commissions come off both sides. Most brokers are commission-free on stocks now, but if yours is not, put the real number in. A $5 round trip on a 20-share position is a quarter of a point you did not account for.

One more thing. Percent return on the trade is the number that goes on social media. Dollar return in R is the number that goes in your journal. Track the second one.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I calculate profit on a stock trade?

Shares times the difference between exit price and entry price, minus any commissions. 133 shares bought at $45 and sold at $48 is $399 before fees. Shorts use entry minus exit.

What is an R multiple?

Profit or loss divided by the dollar amount you risked at entry. Risk $200, make $400, that is 2R. Lose $100 on a $200 risk, that is minus 0.5R. It normalizes every trade regardless of account size.

What is a Free Trade?

Sell half at your reward to risk target, move the stop to entry on the rest, and trail it up the Bone Zone. Once the stop is at entry the trade cannot lose. That is what makes it free.

Do commissions really matter?

On small share counts, yes. A $10 round trip on a $200 risk is 5 percent of your R gone before the trade starts. Put the real number in and see it.

Related Tools

• Trade Journal: Log every trade in R
• Risk Calculator: Size the position first
• Break-Even Calculator: What a loss really costs