Options Profit Calculator
Profit and loss at expiration for a single call or put — bought or sold. Get the break-even price, the most you can make, the most you can lose, and a payoff diagram you can share with a link.
The contract
Price range to plot
How to use this calculator
1. Describe the contract
Choose call or put, then whether you are buying it or selling it. Buying pays the premium out of your account and caps your loss at what you paid. Selling brings the premium in and hands you the obligation, which is where the open-ended risk lives.
2. Enter the strike, the premium and the size
Quote the premium per share the way your broker shows it — 3.50, not 350. The contracts box applies the standard 100-share multiplier, so two contracts at 3.50 is a 700 dollar debit.
3. Set the price range you care about
Auto fit draws a window around the strike and today's share price. Widen it when you want to see how ugly the tail gets on a short position, or narrow it to read the zone around break-even closely.
4. Read the payoff diagram
The flat grey line is zero. Wherever the payoff line sits above it you finish the trade ahead; below it you finish behind; the crossing point is the break-even price. Drag the what-if slider to price any single outcome, and download the ladder as a CSV if you want to keep it.
Options payoff FAQs
How is option profit at expiration calculated?
At expiration an option is worth only its intrinsic value. A call is worth the stock price minus the strike, floored at zero; a put is worth the strike minus the stock price, floored at zero. A buyer's profit is that intrinsic value minus the premium paid. A seller's profit is the premium collected minus the intrinsic value. Multiply the per-share figure by 100 shares per contract, then by the number of contracts.
What is the break-even price of an option?
For a call it is the strike plus the premium. For a put it is the strike minus the premium. The formula is the same whether you bought or sold the contract: past that price the buyer starts making money and the seller starts losing it.
Why is the maximum loss on a short call unlimited?
A share price has no ceiling, so a call you sold without owning the shares keeps losing more as the stock climbs. A covered call is different because the shares you already own rise alongside the assignment obligation. This calculator prices the single option leg on its own, so a short call shows an unbounded loss — read it as the option half of the trade, not the whole position.
Does this calculator include time value?
No. It models the payoff at expiration, the one moment when extrinsic value is zero and the contract is worth exactly its intrinsic value. Before expiry an option can trade well above the line drawn here, and implied volatility, interest rates and dividends all move that price.
What does return on premium mean?
It is the profit or loss divided by the premium at stake, either the debit you paid or the credit you collected. A long option that expires worthless returns -100%. A short option that keeps the entire credit returns +100%. The figure is not annualized and it ignores the cash or shares a short position ties up as collateral, which is why a 100% return on a cash-secured put is a far smaller number measured against the cash actually reserved.
What does one contract control?
One standard US equity option contract covers 100 shares, so a premium quoted at 3.50 per share costs 350 dollars for one contract. This calculator uses that 100-share multiplier for every result. Adjusted contracts after a split or a merger can cover a different number of shares — check the contract details if yours looks unusual.