Crypto profit calculator

How do you calculate crypto profit?

Work out how many coins the money bought, then value them at the exit: coins = amount / buy price and gross profit = coins x (sell price - buy price). Take away the fee on the buy and the fee on the sale and you have the net profit. Divide the net figure by the amount you put in for the percentage return.

With the default inputs, $1,000 at a price of 60,000 buys 0.01666667 coins. Sold at 66,000, those coins are worth $1,100, so the gross profit is $100. A 0.1% fee on the $1,000 buy is $1.00 and a 0.1% fee on the $1,100 sale is $1.10, which leaves a net profit of $97.90. That is a 9.79% return on a 10% rise in the price, because fees come out of the result on both sides of the trade.

The prices are whatever you type. The page fetches nothing, so you can check a trade you closed last year, test a plan at a price you are watching, or rework a result your platform showed you.

How do maker, taker and flat fees change the profit?

Most crypto platforms charge a percentage of each trade. A maker order is a limit order that sits on the order book until someone trades with it; a taker order fills straight away against an order already there. Taker rates are often higher, and a trade can be maker on one side and taker on the other, so the calculator takes a separate rate for the buy and the sale. Some apps charge a flat amount instead; choose A flat amount on each side to enter those.

The fee on the sale is charged on what the coins are worth at the exit, not on what you paid. Here is the default spot trade, $1,000 from 60,000 to 66,000, at different fee rates on each side:

At 1% a side, 21% of the gross profit goes in fees and the price has to rise by more than 2% before the trade is level. On a trade that is repeated many times, that gap is the difference that matters most.

How do you calculate profit on a leveraged crypto trade?

Leverage multiplies the size of the position, not the price move. Your own money is the margin, and the position size = margin x leverage. Every number after that, the coins, the gross result and the fees, is worked out on the full position, while the return is measured against the margin alone.

Switch to the Leveraged tab with the default figures: $1,000 of margin at 10x is a $10,000 position, or 0.16666667 coins at 60,000. A rise to 66,000 makes $1,000 gross. Fees of 0.1% are charged on $10,000 going in and $11,000 coming out, so they total $21.00, ten times the spot fees, and the net profit is $979.00, a 97.90% return on margin.

The same arithmetic runs in reverse. With $1,000 of margin and 0.1% fees each side, a 5% move either way does this:

At 20x, a 5% fall costs more than the whole margin. Platforms normally close the position out before that happens, which is why the calculator flags any loss larger than the margin instead of treating it as a real result.

How is profit worked out on a crypto short?

A short sells first and buys back later, so the sign flips: gross profit = coins x (entry price - exit price). A short gains when the price falls and loses when it rises, and because a price can rise without limit, so in principle can the loss.

Example in pounds: £500 of margin at 5x opens a £2,500 short at £3,000 a coin, which is 0.83333333 coins. The position is closed at £2,850 for a gross profit of £125.00. The entry filled as a maker order at 0.02%, costing £0.50, and the exit as a taker order at 0.05% of £2,375, costing £1.19. With £1.50 of funding paid while it was open, the net profit is £121.81, a 24.36% return on the margin.

Run the default leveraged figures as a short instead and the 10% rise from 60,000 to 66,000 works against you: the net result is a loss of $1,021.00 on $1,000 of margin, which again means the position would have been closed before the price got there.

What is the breakeven price after fees?

The breakeven exit price is the price at which the net result is exactly zero once both fees and any funding are paid. For a long with percentage fees it is (coins x entry + entry fee + funding) / (coins x (1 - exit fee rate)). For a short it is (coins x entry - entry fee - funding) / (coins x (1 + exit fee rate)). With flat fees, the costs are simply spread over the coins: entry plus (fees + funding) / coins for a long, minus for a short.

On the defaults the long breaks even at 60,120.12 and the 10x short at 59,880.12. One thing surprises many traders: with percentage fees and no funding, the breakeven price is the same at 1x, 10x or 50x. The position, the coins and the fees all grow together, so the price still has to clear the same 0.2% or so. What leverage changes is how much money is made or lost on every move past that line.

Worked examples in three currencies

The arithmetic is identical in any account currency. Enter prices in the same currency as the amount; nothing is converted.

In the euro example, 0.8 coins fall by €300 each, a gross loss of €240, and the two flat fees take it to €244. Its breakeven sell price is €2,505: €5 a coin above the buy price, because the €4 of fees is spread over 0.8 coins.

How to calculate crypto profit in Excel or Google Sheets

Put the amount in A1, the buy price in B1, the sell price in C1 and the fee rate as a decimal in D1. The net profit on a spot trade is then =A1/B1*(C1-B1) - A1*D1 - A1/B1*C1*D1. The first part is the gross profit, the second the fee on the buy and the third the fee on the sale. With 1000, 60000, 66000 and 0.001 it returns 97.9, the same as the calculator.

For a leveraged trade, multiply A1 by the leverage everywhere except in the final division for the return on margin, and subtract any funding. For a short, swap C1 and B1 inside the bracket. A plain =C1/B1-1 gives only the price change, which is not the same thing as the return once fees and leverage are counted.

What this calculator leaves out

It works on the prices and costs you enter. It does not model the spread between buying and selling prices, slippage on a large order, or a fill at a different price from the one you planned. Funding on perpetual contracts is charged or paid at intervals at a rate that changes, so enter the total your platform actually charged. Network fees for moving coins on or off a platform are outside it too, unless you add them to a flat fee.

It also does not work out where a leveraged position would be closed out, because each platform sets its own maintenance margin and fee rules for that. Tax is left out as well. Rules for crypto differ from country to country; for the tax on a gain once you sell, see the capital gains tax calculator.

Common mistakes when working out crypto profit

• Counting the fee on one side only. A round trip pays twice, and the sale fee is charged on the exit value.
• Measuring a leveraged return against the position. A $979 profit on a $10,000 position is 9.79% of the position but 97.90% of the $1,000 margin you actually put up.
• Forgetting that leverage scales the fees. At 10x, fees are charged on ten times the money.
• Ignoring funding. A position held for weeks can pay more in funding than in trading fees.
• Mixing currencies. A coin quoted in dollars and an account in pounds needs one currency for every price you enter.
• Reading a percentage price change as the profit. A 10% rise made 9.79% on the default spot trade, not 10%.

Glossary

Spot trade: buying the coin itself with your own money. Margin: your own money committed to a leveraged position. Leverage: the multiple of the margin that sets the position size. Notional or position size: the full value of the position at the entry price. Long: a position that gains when the price rises. Short: a position that gains when the price falls. Maker and taker: orders that add to the order book or fill against it, often charged at different rates. Funding: a periodic payment between long and short holders of perpetual contracts. Return on margin: net profit divided by the margin.

Frequently asked questions

Courses behind crypto trading costs

Sources and review