Stop-Loss & Take-Profit Calculator

How stop-loss and take-profit planning works

The entry is the price you type. A long stop is that entry minus the stop distance. A long target is the entry plus the stop distance times the reward multiple, unless you type the target yourself. A short position mirrors both prices. Quantity, the contract multiplier and the conversion turn those distances into cash.

A reward multiple of 2 means the target is twice as far from the entry as the stop. It describes two distances. It does not describe how often a price will get there, and a 2R plan is not presented here as preferable to a 1R plan.

Stop orders and fills

A stop price is a level in this calculation. A stop-market order, once triggered, seeks the available price, which can be through the stop when the market gaps. A stop-limit order adds a limit and can remain unfilled if price trades beyond it. A take-profit order can be touched without a complete fill when liquidity is thin. Slippage you type is an assumption. It is not a cap on a live fill.

Tick size and price precision

Markets quote in increments. A share might move by 0.01. A futures contract might move by a different fraction, and that fraction is not stored on this page. When you enter a tick, stop and target snap to it. The protective policy rounds the stop toward the entry, so the planned distance does not grow, and rounds the target toward the entry, so the claimed reward does not grow. Nearest-tick rounding can move a stop farther away. The cash figures then use the rounded distance, and the ratio can change.

A worked example

A long entry of 100, a stop distance of 2, a reward multiple of 2, a quantity of 10, a multiplier of 1, a tick of 0.01 and no costs. The stop is 98 and the target is 104. Both already sit on a 0.01 tick, so rounding does not move them. Gross planned risk is 20. Gross potential reward is 40. Reward-to-risk is 2:1. The stop distance after rounding is still 2.

Common mistakes

• Using a share multiplier of 1 on a futures contract, or the reverse.
• Treating a tick, a pip and a price unit as the same increment.
• Ignoring transaction costs, then reading the price multiple as the net result.
• Switching rounding policy and assuming the planned risk is unchanged.
• Reading a risk-sized quantity as a quantity the account can finance. Margin is a separate constraint.
• Treating the stop price as a guaranteed maximum loss.
• Choosing a target multiple without noticing that it only scales the stop distance you already typed.

Limitations

Set a long or short entry, a stop distance and either a reward multiple or a target price. The workspace shows the two exit prices, the cash at risk if the stop fills, and the cash result if the target fills. Other distances stay in the scenario tables until you apply one.

How the calculation works

A long stop is the entry minus the stop distance. A long target is the entry plus that distance times the reward multiple, unless you type a target price. A short position mirrors both. The distance can be a price change, a percent of the entry, or a number of ticks when you also type a tick size. Cash risk is the rounded stop distance times quantity times multiplier times conversion, plus a round-trip fee and a slippage amount you type. Cash reward uses the rounded target distance and subtracts those same costs. The gross multiple is reward divided by risk before costs. The net multiple uses the figures after costs, and it is left blank when costs remove the gain. The protective tick policy rounds a stop toward the entry and a target toward the entry. Nearest tick can move a stop farther out, and the cash figures follow the rounded prices. If you type an account balance and a risk budget, the quantity is the same calculation as the position size calculator. A margin amount, when typed, is a separate financing cap.

Assumptions

• The entry price is above zero.
• A share or ETF multiplier is 1 unless you change it.
• A futures multiplier is the point value you type. The page does not insert an exchange specification.
• A forex pip is a tick size you type. The page does not insert 0.0001 or 0.01.
• The fee is one round-trip cash amount. Slippage is a price distance applied once, not a second copy of the same cost.
• A blank tick skips rounding. A blank account balance skips account risk and position sizing.

A worked example

A long entry of 100, a stop distance of 2, a reward multiple of 2, a quantity of 10, a multiplier of 1, a tick of 0.01 and no costs. The stop is 98 and the target is 104. Gross planned risk is 20 and gross potential reward is 40, so reward-to-risk is 2:1. The stop distance after rounding is still 2. A fee of 2 makes the net loss 22 and the net result at the target 38.

Limitations

A stop price is not a guaranteed execution price. A gap, a rejection or a halt can make the loss larger than the figure shown, and a target can be touched without a complete fill. The page does not estimate the chance of reaching either level, and it does not submit an order. The percentage of account balance is the modelled stop loss divided by a balance you type. It is not a margin schedule.

Change one input at a time if a result looks surprising. The arithmetic is only as careful as the numbers you type, and it does not know your broker’s contract size.

Stop-Loss & Take-Profit Calculator recalculates as you type. Reset restores the starting figures on that page. Those figures are an illustration of the arithmetic, not a market observation and not a record of anyone’s account. Copy and export repeat the same rounded results. Cash amounts on screen are shown to two decimal places. A conversion, a margin schedule, or a programme rule that you leave blank is not invented. A zero divisor, a stop on the wrong side of an entry, or a target-weight total other than 100 percent produces a written explanation instead of a blank or infinite number.