A crypto trade is charged twice: once when you buy and once when you sell. Add a network or withdrawal fee and a small move in price can still leave you with less money than you started with, which is the part a simple percentage gain hides.
Profit after fees
$14,625.00
1 coins bought at $30,000.00 and sold at $45,000.00
Fees are charged twice on a round trip, once when buying and once when selling, so a position that moves 1% can still lose money.
| Scenario | Sell price | Net proceeds | Profit or loss | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Break even | $30,301.51 | $30,150.00 | $0.00 | 0% |
| −50% | $15,000.00 | $14,925.00 | -$15,225.00 | -50.5% |
| −25% | $22,500.00 | $22,387.50 | -$7,762.50 | -25.75% |
| Unchanged | $30,000.00 | $29,850.00 | -$300.00 | -0.99% |
| +25% | $37,500.00 | $37,312.50 | $7,162.50 | 23.76% |
| +50% | $45,000.00 | $44,775.00 | $14,625.00 | 48.51% |
| Double | $60,000.00 | $59,700.00 | $29,550.00 | 98.01% |
The break-even row is the price that only gets your money back. Everything below it is a loss even though the coin still has a price.
| Fee each way | Fees paid | Profit or loss | ROI | Break-even price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0.00 | $15,000.00 | 50% | $30,000.00 |
| 0.1% | $75.00 | $14,925.00 | 49.7% | $30,060.06 |
| 0.25% | $187.50 | $14,812.50 | 49.25% | $30,150.38 |
| 0.5% | $375.00 | $14,625.00 | 48.51% | $30,301.51 |
| 1% | $750.00 | $14,250.00 | 47.03% | $30,606.06 |
| 2% | $1,500.00 | $13,500.00 | 44.12% | $31,224.49 |
Fees are charged on both sides of the trade, so the round-trip cost is roughly twice the headline rate. On a small position with a 1% fee each way, the price has to move more than 2% before there is any profit at all.
This calculator takes the amount of coins, the buy and sell prices, the fee on each side, any extra costs and an optional tax rate, then reports the net profit, the return on the money actually committed, and the selling price that only gets your money back.
Money in = coins × buy price + buy fee + other costs. Money back = coins × sell price − sell fee − other costs. The profit is the difference, and the return is that profit divided by the money in.
The break-even price solves money back = money in, which is why it sits above the price you originally paid: the selling fee has to be covered before anything is recovered.
Spot exchange fees typically run from about 0.1% to 0.6% per trade, and the spread on a thin pair can be wider than the fee itself. On a round trip that is a cost you pay in full even if the price does not move.
Network and withdrawal fees are flat amounts rather than percentages, so they hurt small positions far more: moving $50 of a coin off an exchange can cost a meaningful share of the position, while the same fee on $50,000 is noise.
In the United States, crypto is treated as property: a sale realises a gain or loss, gains on coins held a year or less are taxed as ordinary income, and longer holdings qualify for the 0%, 15% or 20% long-term rate, with the 3.8% net investment income tax on top above the threshold.
The tax field here applies a flat rate to a profit and ignores losses, wash-sale style rules and the interaction with your other income. It is a rough net figure, not a tax return, and it deliberately does not model staking rewards or multiple positions.
Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.
Profit after fees
$7,312.50
0.5 coins bought at $30,000.00 and sold at $45,000.00
Both fees come off the profit even though the trade was a winner. The fees table shows what the same trade looks like on a cheap venue and on an expensive one.
Loss after fees
-$41,224.00
2 coins bought at $60,000.00 and sold at $40,000.00
The loss is larger than the price fall alone, because the fees were paid on the way in and are paid again on the way out.
Profit after fees
$16,933.00
1 coins bought at $25,000.00 and sold at $42,000.00
A low-fee venue and a 15% long-term rate leave a very different result from the same price move with expensive fees and short-term tax treatment.
Subtract everything you paid from everything you received: (coins × sell price − sell fee) − (coins × buy price + buy fee + other costs). If the result is positive you made money in cash, regardless of what the price chart shows.
Because you have to sell to get the money back, and selling costs money. The break-even price is the cost basis plus both fees, spread over the coins, so a coin bought at $30,000 with 0.5% fees each way needs roughly $30,300 just to stand still.
In the United States, yes: crypto is treated as property, so a sale at a profit is a taxable event. Held a year or less, the gain is taxed as ordinary income; held longer, it qualifies for the 0%, 15% or 20% long-term rate, plus 3.8% net investment income tax above the threshold. Trading one coin for another is also a sale for tax purposes.
Capital losses can usually be used to offset capital gains and up to $3,000 of ordinary income a year, with the remainder carried forward. This calculator applies the tax rate only to profits, so it does not model loss offsets or the wash-sale rules that apply to repurchasing the same asset.
The taker fee your exchange charges for a market order, plus the spread if you trade a thin pair. Add a separate figure in other costs for network or withdrawal fees. If you moved the coins to a private wallet, that fee is real money and belongs in the calculation.
No: it models one buy and one sell. For several purchases, use the crypto DCA calculator for an average cost basis, or run each sale separately and add the results.
Because the fees come out of both sides of the trade, and they are charged on your money rather than on the profit. On a round trip costing 1% each way, a 10% price rise leaves roughly an 8% return, and a 2% rise is a loss.
Last reviewed 2026-09-14. This page is an estimate tool, not financial, tax or legal advice.Read the full disclaimer.