Free calculator
Options profit calculator
Build a trade of up to four legs and read its profit and loss at expiration, with the cost of crossing each bid-ask spread counted in.
Strategy
A preset sets strikes around the underlying and prices each leg with Black-Scholes at the volatility below. Type your own fills over them.
Legs
4 of 4Fill
Mid assumes every leg fills at the middle of its quote. Halfway pays half of each leg’s width beyond the mid, and natural pays all of it.
Max profit
$92
Max loss
−$408
Breakeven
94.08, 105.92
Net credit
$92
This fill gives up $10 against filling every leg at the mid.
| Underlying | At expiration | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 82 | −$408 | −$394.98 |
| 90 | −$408 | −$241 |
| 94.08 | $0 | −$102.01 |
| 95 | +$92 | −$75.21 |
| 100spot | +$92 | −$10.31 |
| 105 | +$92 | −$92.86 |
| 105.92 | $0 | −$118.61 |
| 110 | −$408 | −$239.02 |
| 118 | −$408 | −$379.71 |
Options are priced at 100 shares a contract. The curve before expiration is Black-Scholes with no dividends and one volatility across every strike, so it reads as a guide while the expiration line is exact. American options that can be exercised early, and dividends on single stocks, move the live price away from it.
Reading the result
What each number means
Max profit and max loss
The most the trade makes or loses if you hold it to expiration, in dollars for the contracts entered. A long call gains without limit as the underlying rises and a naked short call loses without limit, so those read Unlimited. The put side stops at an underlying of zero.
Breakevens
The underlying prices at expiration where the trade nets zero after the premium paid or collected. They are the circles on the zero line. An iron condor keeps money between its two, and a straddle needs the underlying outside its two.
The two lines
The solid line is the payoff at expiration and is exact. The dashed line estimates what the position is worth today, or on the day you set with the slider, at the volatility you entered. The gap between them is time value still in the trade.
The fill
Every leg crosses a bid-ask spread, so a four-leg condor pays four of them. Enter each leg's width from your chain and pick a fill, and the credit, the maximum and the breakevens all move with it.
The address bar carries the whole trade, so a copied link opens the same legs, prices and fill for whoever you send it to.
FAQ
Common options profit questions
- How do you calculate profit on an option?
- At expiration a long call is worth the underlying price minus the strike, or zero if that is negative, and a long put is worth the strike minus the underlying. Subtract the premium paid and multiply by 100 shares a contract. A short leg flips the sign, and a multi-leg trade adds its legs together.
- What does an unlimited max loss mean?
- The payoff keeps falling as the underlying rises, which happens when the trade sells more calls than it buys or covers with stock. A naked short call is the common case. Losses on the put side always stop, since the underlying cannot fall below zero.
- Why does the line before expiration differ from my broker?
- Brokers value each strike at its own implied volatility, and single stocks carry dividends and early exercise. This calculator uses Black-Scholes with one volatility for every leg, which matches European-style index options such as SPX most closely and reads as an estimate everywhere else.
- Which fill should I pick?
- Volatlas backtests fill halfway between the mid and the side being crossed, so halfway is the default here. Mid is the best case and natural, paying the full width on every leg, is the worst.
- Does it work for SPX, SPY or a single stock?
- It works for any underlying. Type the price and the premiums from your own chain, and every contract counts as 100 shares. Preset prices come from Black-Scholes, so replace them with the quotes you see before reading the result.
Backtest the structure across years
The calculator prices a single trade against a single expiration. A backtest opens the same structure on every entry day across years of recorded quotes, charges each fill, and shows the drawdowns the payoff chart cannot. Volatlas runs that on your own machine for $49 once.