Quickly assess your potential profit or loss when short selling stocks with our real-time, easy-to-use calculator.
Short selling is a strategy where an investor borrows shares and sells them at the current market price, hoping to repurchase them later at a lower price. The profit is made when the repurchase (cover) price is lower than the sale price. However, if the stock price increases, the investor faces a loss.
To use the calculator, enter your short sale price, the number of shares you wish to short, the buy-to-cover price, and the associated commission fees. The tool instantly updates the results—displaying your total proceeds from the short sale, the cost to cover, and your net profit or loss—allowing you to make informed trading decisions in real time.
The formulas used in this calculator are:
For example, if you short sell 10 shares at $100 each with a $10 commission fee, your total proceeds are calculated as (10 × 100) - 10 = $990. If you later buy to cover at $80 per share with a $10 commission fee, your cost to cover will be (10 × 80) + 10 = $810. Thus, your net profit would be $990 - $810 = $180.