Options Profit Calculator

Black-Scholes pricing, the greeks, and the payoff diagram for eight common strategies, with breakevens and the most you can make or lose. Everything computed from your inputs, in your browser.

By Joey van Diest, founder and editor Updated August 9, 2026

Strategy

Spot price

Strike step

Days to expiry

Volatility %

Rate %

Net cost: …
Max profit: …
Max loss: …
Breakeven: …

Profit and loss at expiry

Legs and greeks

Leg	Price	Delta	Gamma	Theta/day	Vega	Rho

Per unit of underlying. Multiply by 100 for a standard US equity contract. Vega and rho are per 1 percentage point.

The strategies it covers

The drop-down creates 8 of the most traded options structures and will price each leg for you. There are the long call and long put for directional bets. Each option has a maximum risk equal to the premium. For income there is the covered call (long stock vs. selling a call). The bull call spread and bear put spread limit the potential payout of a directional position to create an alternative lower-cost option. The long straddle and long strangle benefit from a large movement in either direction. The iron condor is a defined-risk, range bound income strategy. After selecting an option structure, the payoff diagram, breakeven points, and maximum gain/loss will redisplay for your review prior to executing your bet.

The model

call = S·N(d₁) − K·e^−rT·N(d₂)
put = K·e^−rT·N(−d₂) − S·N(−d₁)
d₁ = [ln(S/K) + (r + σ²/2)T] ÷ σ√T · d₂ = d₁ − σ√T

Standard Black-Scholes. At the reference case every textbook uses, spot 100, strike 100, one year, 5% rate and 20% volatility, it returns a call at 10.4506 and a put at 5.5735, and the two satisfy put-call parity exactly: C − P = S − K·e^−rT. That identity is worth knowing because it is a genuine arbitrage relationship rather than a modelling assumption, so any pricing tool that violates it is broken.

A worked example

Take the default: a long call at the money, spot 100, 30 days, 25% volatility. The model prices it at about 3.02, so the position risks 3.02 per unit and breaks even around 103.02 at expiry. Being right about direction is not enough; the stock has to move roughly 3% in a month simply to return the premium. That gap between "the stock went up" and "the option made money" is the most common way new options traders lose, and the payoff diagram shows it as the flat loss region stretching all the way to the breakeven.

Now switch to the bull call spread. Selling the higher strike cuts the cost substantially, so the breakeven moves closer and the trade profits on a smaller move, at the price of a hard cap on the upside. That is the real trade being made whenever a strategy involves selling an option: you are exchanging unlimited upside for a lower cost and a nearer breakeven. Neither is better; they suit different views about how far price will travel.

Why the model is not the market

Black-Scholes assumes European exercise, no dividends, and one constant volatility for every strike. Real listed equity options are American, many underlyings pay dividends, and the market prices a volatility skew, with out-of-the-money puts typically carrying higher implied volatility than calls because crash protection is in demand. The model is still the right starting point, it is how the greeks are defined and how the market itself quotes volatility, but a difference between the number here and your broker's screen is usually the market being right about something the model omits, not an error.

Regardless of what your strategy may be, the sizing issue remains the same. How large of an exposure (of the total account) will you have in the event that this option(s) expire worthless? Options make answering that simple; with a long-position on an option, the most you can lose is the cost of the option premium. The position size calculator takes that dollar amount and converts it to the number of contract for a specific percent of capital. When trading as the option seller, the dollar amount from the max-loss calculation provided above should be used when determining your position-sizing. For un-defined risk strategies there is no cap on potential losses.

Frequently asked questions

Where do the option prices come from?: They are theoretical Black-Scholes values computed from the inputs you enter, not live quotes. No options data feed permits free public redistribution, so rather than show you a price we are not allowed to publish, the calculator prices the contract from spot, strike, time, rate and the volatility you supply. Enter the market price of the option instead if you want the payoff measured against what you would actually pay.
How accurate is it, and why does my broker quote a different price?: The model produces an exact arithmetic outcome under its own assumptions; however, in reality there are many conditions that affect how a stock behaves like an actual chain. Options listed on exchanges (American) can be exercised at any time prior to expiration, while the Black Scholes formula uses the assumption of European style options. The Black Scholes Model also assumes constant volatility for the option period; however, the volatility priced into the option by the markets will vary based upon the strike price of the option. Dividend payments, borrowing cost and the spread between the ask and bid price each result in additional movement away from the model price. To get a good representation of a specific contract, use either the current trading price of that option, or enter it using the correct implied volatility value instead of entering some type of estimate, and use the model output as a tool for understanding your position versus treating it as an exact fair value.
What does the payoff diagram show?: Profit and loss at expiry only, plotted against the underlying price, after the premium paid or received. It deliberately does not show the value of the position before expiry, which sits above the expiry line for long options because of remaining time value. A long call that is slightly out of the money at expiry is worth nothing; the same call a month earlier is not.
What is theta actually telling me?: The change in the option's value per calendar day, holding everything else constant. It is negative for long options because time value decays toward zero at expiry, and that decay accelerates as expiry approaches. It is the reason a directionally correct options trade can still lose money: you were right about the direction but not quickly enough to outrun the decay.
Are the greeks per contract or per share?: Per single unit of the underlying, which is the convention the model works in. Listed US equity options usually represent 100 shares, so multiply by 100 for a whole contract, and by the number of contracts after that. The same applies to the premium and payoff figures shown here.
Can I use it for Nifty, SPY, crypto or futures options?: Yes. The model prices a European-style option on a single underlying, so it works for index options (SPY, Nifty, Bank Nifty), equity options, and crypto or futures options, as long as you enter that market's spot, your own volatility estimate and the days to expiry. What changes between markets is the contract multiplier (US equity options are 100 shares; index and crypto contracts differ), so scale the per-unit figures here by your contract size.
Is this for binary options?: No. This prices standard (vanilla) calls and puts, the kind listed on regulated exchanges, where the payoff scales with how far the underlying moves. Binary or digital options pay a fixed amount all-or-nothing and are priced differently; many are offered by unregulated offshore platforms, so treat those with care. This calculator is not built for them.

Method and limitations

Theoretical prices and Greeks for Black Scholes are generated directly by your web browser based upon your input parameters; there is no retrieval of information or storage of what you have typed on this page. We cannot use any options data feed which would allow us to distribute its contents freely for a live options chain. The model is a European style option with no dividend yield and one volatility factor as such the results will be different than those for the same underlying traded as an American option with a skew. Only profits at expiration are shown for payoff diagrams; the models do not include the mark to market price prior to expiration. This is an educational resource and should not be used for investment decisions.

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us or stored.

For general information and education only. This is not financial advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. This tool is provided as is, with no warranty of accuracy: like any software it can contain errors, so always verify figures against your broker or the original source before acting on them. Trading and investing carry risk, including the risk of losing more than your initial outlay.

Spotted an error? Email [email protected] and it will be corrected. Maintained by Joey van Diest.