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Forex and CFD

Trade Break-Even Calculator

Break-even is not your entry price. Enter the costs already paid and see where the position actually returns to zero.

The position

What it costs you

In account currency. Already paid at entry.
Negative if you are paying it.
Break-even price—
Total cost to recover$0.00
Distance from entry—
In pips (0.0001)—
Swap so farnot entered

Break-even is where the position returns the costs already paid, not where the price returns to your entry. The gap grows every night a position is held against negative swap — which is why a long-held trade that looks flat on the chart is quietly behind.

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Why entry is not break-even

The costs are paid before the position has done anything:

break-even = entry + (spread + commission − swap) ÷ units

for a long, and the mirror for a short. A standard lot entered at 1.0850 with $12 of spread and $7 of commission needs 1.08519 to return to zero — 1.9 pips above entry.

Small, and it is the reason a "scratch" trade closed at the entry price is a loss. On a strategy with many round trips, those 1.9 pips per trade are the difference between a flat year and a losing one.

Swap makes it move

This is the part that separates break-even from a fixed number.

Spread and commission are paid once, at the start. Swap accrues every night, so the break-even price drifts further from your entry with each rollover. Hold a negative-swap position for two weeks and the level has moved meaningfully; hold it for two months and it may be beyond where you were planning to take profit.

A position sitting exactly at its entry price after a long hold is therefore not flat. It is behind, by an amount that has been growing quietly on a schedule while the chart said nothing. The swap calculator shows the accrual rate; this page turns it into the price you actually need.

The reverse is true and pleasant: a positive-swap carry position has a break-even that moves towards you every night.

What this does to "moving the stop to break-even"

The habit of moving a stop to the entry price once a trade is in profit is nearly universal, and it is off by the cost.

A stop at entry closes the position at a small loss, every time it is hit — spread, commission and any accrued swap. Over many trades that is a persistent negative drip on exactly the trades that were doing something right.

Moving the stop to the true break-even instead makes those exits genuinely flat. It is a few pips further away, and on a strategy that scratches often it is the difference between a neutral outcome and a slow bleed.

A note on which costs to enter

Enter what has actually been charged, not what you expect:

  • Spread is already inside your fill price, so enter it as a cost only if you are working from the mid or from a plan rather than from the actual fill.
  • Commission is usually per side; enter the round trip if you intend to close.
  • Swap should be the amount accrued so far, which the platform shows on the open position — negative if you are paying it.

FAQ

How do I calculate the break-even price of a trade?

Add the total costs already paid to the entry price for a long, or subtract them for a short, dividing the cost by the position size to convert money into price. A $19 cost on 100,000 units is 0.00019, or 1.9 pips.

Is break-even the same as my entry price?

No, and treating it as such is why scratch trades quietly lose money. Break-even is the entry plus everything the position has cost, which includes spread, commission and any swap accrued since.

Does swap change my break-even?

Yes, every night. Negative swap pushes the break-even further from your entry with each rollover, so a long-held position needs a larger move to return to zero than it did on day one.

Should I move my stop to break-even or to entry?

To the true break-even, if the goal is a genuinely flat exit. A stop at the entry price closes at a small loss every time it is reached, which adds up on any strategy that scratches trades frequently.

Does the spread count once or twice?

Once per round trip — you enter at one side of the quote and exit at the other. Commission is often charged per side, so a round trip is two commissions and one spread.

This is the plan. What did you actually do?

A calculator tells you the size you should have taken. It cannot tell you the size you took at 2pm after two losers, or how often your stop moved once price went against you. Drop in a statement from MT4/MT5, a broker CSV or a crypto export and see the answer for your own last 90 trades.

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