Share Trading Cost & Break-even Calculator
What a share trade really costs in your market, and the price that covers it.
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- Free preview: the total cost of the round trip in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and a watermarked chart; every other figure is hidden.
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Where the cost goes
Cost of each order
How this was calculated
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For education only, not investment advice: no tool here tells you what to buy, sell or hold. Results use only the figures you enter, the files you load (read in your browser, never uploaded) and the published rules each page names. Check them against your broker's or exchange's own figures, and consider a licensed or registered adviser for advice on your situation.
About the Share Trading Cost & Break-even Calculator
The price you pay for a share is only part of what a trade costs. This calculator adds up everything a buy and a sale take from you: the broker’s commission (a fixed amount, a percentage, an amount a share, or all three, with a minimum and a maximum), the tax on that commission where a market charges one, the statutory charges of the market — UK stamp duty reserve tax and the PTM levy, Irish stamp duty, the French, Italian and Spanish financial transaction taxes, the US SEC fee and FINRA’s trading activity fee — other exchange or platform fees, and the FX fee when your account is in another currency.
It shows the cost of each order and of the round trip, the cost as a share of the trade, and the break-even sell price: the price the shares must reach before the trade makes anything. With a sell price it also gives the net profit or loss, in the trade’s currency and in your account’s. It works for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Japan; Indian charges have their own brokerage calculator.
Every rate is filled in from the official page it comes from and stays editable, so a change of rate or a broker’s own fee is one edit away. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How to use it
- Choose the market and, where the charges depend on it, the kind of share (UK shares, AIM shares, ETFs; a French, Italian or Spanish company on its tax list). London prices can be typed in pence or pounds.
- Choose a round trip, a buy or a sale, and enter the number of shares, the buy price and, if you like, the sell price. Without a sell price the sale is costed at the break-even price.
- Enter your broker’s commission: a fixed amount, a percentage and an amount a share, with any minimum and maximum. Check the tax on commission and the statutory rates the market fills in.
- If your account is in another currency, choose it and type the exchange rate (or fill in the ECB reference rate) and your broker’s FX fee.
- Read the total cost, the break-even sell price and the cost table; then copy the summary or download the table as CSV — with a pass, or after unlocking this result.
Examples
100 ABC Inc. shares bought at $50 and sold at $55, no commission; example rates: SEC fee $20.60 per $1,000,000, FINRA fee $0.000166 a share
SEC fee $0.1133 exactly, $0.12 as usually charged · FINRA fee $0.0166, $0.02 charged · round trip $0.14 · net $499.86
Both fees are charged on sales only; brokers usually round them up to the cent.
1,000 ABC plc shares at 800p, £5 commission each side
SDRT £40.00 · no PTM levy (the trade is under £10,000) · buy cost £8,045.00 · round trip £50.00 (0.625%) · break-even 805.00p
Japan: 100 shares at ¥3,000, commission ¥500 · UAE: AED 10,000 of shares at 0.15% commission
Japan: ¥500 + 10% consumption tax = ¥550 a side · UAE: AED 15.00 + 5% VAT = AED 15.75
$5,000 of DEMO shares, account in euros, 1 EUR = 1.10 USD, FX fee 0.5%
€4,568.18 debited (5,000 ÷ 1.10 × 1.005)
Common uses
- Know what a trade costs before you place it, in your own market or abroad.
- Compare brokers: a percentage commission against a fixed one with a minimum.
- See how far a share has to rise before a trade covers its costs.
- Check the stamp duty, transaction tax or US fees on a contract note.
The formulas
- Commission of an order = fixed + % × the order’s value + an amount × the shares, then raised to the minimum or cut to the maximum.
- Cost of an order = commission × (1 + tax on commission) + statutory charges + other fees.
- FX leg: the buy debits (value + costs) ÷ rate × (1 + FX fee); the sale credits (proceeds − costs) ÷ rate × (1 − FX fee).
- Break-even sell price P: shares × P − the sale’s costs at P = shares × the buy price + the buy’s costs (in your account’s currency when there is an FX leg). Minimums, maximums, thresholds and rounded fees make that equation uneven, so it is solved numerically, to a fraction of a cent.
The rates and the rules they come from:
- US: SEC fee rate advisories (the SEC fee in force, on sales) and FINRA By-Laws, Schedule A, Section 1 (trading activity fee) (on sales of shares, a share, with a maximum a trade; nil when the price is below the rate).
- UK: GOV.UK: Tax when you buy shares, GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Reserve Tax reliefs and exemptions and HMRC: stamp duty and SDRT exemption for exchange traded funds for SDRT; The Takeover Panel: the PTM levy for the levy on trades above £10,000.
- Ireland: Revenue: stamp duty on shares and rates and Revenue: market capitalisation exemption.
- France: BOFiP: taxe sur les transactions financières, rate and base, BOFiP: which purchases the TTF covers and BOFiP: the list of French companies above €1 billion.
- Italy: Agenzia delle Entrate: imposta sulle transazioni finanziarie. Spain: BOE: Ley 5/2020 del Impuesto sobre las Transacciones Financieras and Agencia Tributaria: Impuesto sobre las Transacciones Financieras.
- Tax on commission: National Tax Agency: consumption tax rates; A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, section 9-70 and GST Regulations 2019, section 40-5.12 (broking services); UAE Federal Tax Authority: VAT; Saudi Ministry of Finance: VAT at 15% and ZATCA: VAT Implementing Regulations.
- Japan’s trading unit: JPX: the standard trading unit of 100 shares.
Reading the results
- Total cost is everything the trade takes from you on top of the shares’ price: both orders for a round trip.
- Cost as a share of the trade shows how much the price has to move before you are even: a minimum commission on a small trade can cost more than a percentage of a large one.
- Break-even sell price is shown exactly and rounded up to the next cent, penny or yen (to four decimals for a price below 1), as you would price a sell order.
- With an account in another currency, the net in your account’s currency also moves with the exchange rate: type the rate you expect when you sell to see by how much.
What it leaves out
- The spread between the buying and selling price, slippage and the price impact of a large order: they cost you too, but they are not charges.
- Taxes on your gain or dividends: see the capital gains tools for your country, for example the UK and US calculators.
- Account fees that do not belong to one trade (inactivity, data or transfer fees), and financing of positions held on margin: the margin call calculator covers margin loans.
- Rules for special cases: share transfers that are not purchases, depositary receipts at 1.5% stamp duty, intermediaries’ reliefs, and the taxes of markets not listed here.
Limitations
- Statutory rates are the published ones in force, filled in as starting points: check your broker’s contract note, and change any figure that differs.
- Which companies pay the French, Spanish or Italian transaction tax depends on official lists and size tests; the calculator applies the tax only when you choose that case.
- The FX fee is applied to the whole amount converted on each side, at the rate you type; brokers that convert at their own rate show it in the rate instead.
- This is a calculation for planning, not advice on whether to trade.
Privacy
Everything is calculated in your browser. The figures you enter are never uploaded or stored on a server; only the ECB rate table is downloaded, and only when you ask for it.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Share Trading Cost & Break-even Calculator shows the total cost of the round trip in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and a watermarked chart; every other figure is hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded or copied. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
What does it cost to buy and sell shares?
Three kinds of cost: the broker’s commission (with any tax on it), the market’s statutory charges — stamp duty or a financial transaction tax on purchases in some countries, fees on sales in the US — and, when your account is in another currency, the FX fee on the money converted. The spread and slippage come on top. The calculator adds the first three for each order and for the round trip.
How much stamp duty do I pay on UK shares?
Shares bought electronically pay stamp duty reserve tax of 0.5% of the price you pay. Shares on AIM or another recognised growth market that are not listed on any market pay none, nor do exchange traded funds, and foreign shares bought outside the UK normally pay none. Trades of more than £10,000 in shares of UK companies also pay the PTM levy of £1.50, on purchases and sales.
What are the SEC fee and the FINRA trading activity fee?
Two small US fees charged on sales of shares, not on purchases. The SEC fee is a rate per $1,000,000 of the sale; FINRA’s fee is an amount a share with a maximum a trade. Both rates are changed from time to time, so the calculator fills in the rates in force and links the official pages. Brokers usually pass the fees on rounded up to the cent, which the calculator shows beside the exact figures.
Which countries charge a tax on buying shares?
Among the markets here: the UK (0.5% SDRT), Ireland (1% stamp duty on Irish shares, with an exemption for smaller notified companies), France (0.4% on French companies worth more than €1 billion), Italy (0.4% on Italian companies, halved on regulated markets and trading venues, none below €500 million) and Spain (0.2% on Spanish companies worth more than €1,000 million). The French, Italian and Spanish taxes fall on the day’s net purchase, so shares bought and sold on the same day pay none.
Is there tax on the broker’s commission?
In some markets: Japan adds consumption tax (10%), Australia GST (10%), the UAE VAT (5%) and Saudi Arabia VAT (15%) to brokerage paid as a fee. The calculator fills those in for those markets; for others the field starts at 0 and you can add one if your contract note shows it.
How is the break-even price worked out?
It is the sell price at which the money you get back equals the money you paid: the shares’ price plus the buy’s costs, against the sale price minus the sale’s costs. Because a sale’s costs depend on its price (a percentage commission, the US fees) and jump at minimums and thresholds, the price is found numerically and shown both exactly and rounded up to the next cent or penny.
Does it cover Indian brokerage, STT and stamp duty?
Not on this page: Indian trades pay STT, exchange charges, SEBI fees, stamp duty and GST on their own rules, which the India brokerage calculator works out.