Trading Cost Calculator

Fees + Slippage: What Frequent Trading Really Costs

See how small per-trade costs add up, and how far price has to move just to break even.

What this calculator does

For day traders and scalpers, fees and slippage look tiny on each trade, but they're paid every single time. Over hundreds of trades they can quietly eat a large part of your profits.
This calculator shows your total trading cost over a period and the minimum price move each round trip needs to cover its costs.

How to use it

Trade size: Enter the average amount you use per trade.
Round-trip fee and slippage: Enter the combined buy + sell fee (%) and the slippage you typically see (%).
Trades per month and period: Enter how many round trips you make per month and for how many months.
Calculate: See your total cost, cost per trade and the break-even move per trade.

Example

"10,000 per trade, 0.1% round-trip fee, 0.1% slippage, 40 trades a month for 12 months?"

Cost per trade: 20 (0.2% of 10,000)
Total trades: 480
Total cost: 9,600, and every trade must move at least 0.2% just to break even

Trade size

Round-trip fee (%)

Round-trip slippage (%)

Round trips per month

Period (months)

"Round trip" means buy + sell. If your exchange charges 0.1% per side, the round-trip fee is 0.2%. Amounts work in any currency.

Trading Cost Calculator FAQ

Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price your order actually filled at. It tends to be larger with market orders, thinly traded assets, wide bid-ask spreads and fast-moving markets.
Even at "zero commission" brokers, slippage and spreads are a real cost on every trade.

Check the fee schedule in your broker's or exchange's app or website. Crypto exchanges usually charge a maker/taker fee per side, often around 0.02-0.1% depending on your tier, so remember to double it for a round trip.
Commission-free stock brokers still have costs in the spread, so it's worth entering a small slippage figure even if your fee is zero.

Fees and slippage are charged on every trade. A 0.2% cost looks harmless once, but at 40 trades a month it adds up to roughly 8% of your trade size every month. For high-frequency strategies, this drag can decide whether you end up profitable at all.

It's the minimum price move a round trip needs just to cover its costs. If your typical target is smaller than this number, you're losing money even on "winning" trades.
Use it as a floor when setting profit targets, and as a reason to trade less often or in more liquid markets.

Using limit orders instead of market orders lets you control your fill price, which cuts slippage. The trade-off is that your order may not fill if the price moves away.
Trading liquid assets during active hours and avoiding news spikes also helps keep slippage low.

No. Capital gains taxes, stamp duty and other transaction taxes vary by country and are not included. If you trade frequently, check how short-term gains are taxed where you live, as it can add significantly to your real cost.