# Options Profit Calculator and Expected Move Calculator Source: SquawkFlow URL: https://squawkflow.com/options-profit-calculator Type: Free calculator, no account and no market data A free options profit calculator that draws the payoff at expiration for ten option positions and reports the breakevens, the maximum profit and the maximum loss, plus an expected move calculator. Everything runs in the browser from numbers the reader types. No SquawkFlow market data is involved, so unlike the other pages on this site there is no as-of timestamp: the answer depends only on the strikes, premiums and contract count entered. ## The payoff formula For each leg, per share, at expiration: ``` call intrinsic = max(underlying - strike, 0) put intrinsic = max(strike - underlying, 0) leg profit = direction * (intrinsic - premium) * contracts * 100 ``` `direction` is +1 for a long leg and -1 for a short leg. 100 is the share multiplier on US listed equity and index options. The position payoff is the sum over the legs, which makes it piecewise linear in the underlying with kinks only at the strikes. Breakevens are therefore exact rather than sampled. ## Worked example One call debit spread: buy the 100 call for 6.00, sell the 110 call for 2.00, one contract. The net debit is 4.00 a share, so 400 dollars. - Breakeven: 100 + 4.00 = 104.00 - Max profit: (110 - 100 - 4.00) x 100 = 600 dollars, at or above 110 - Max loss: the debit, 400 dollars, at or below 100 ## Formulas by position Prices below are per share. Multiply by 100 and by the contract count for dollars. Strike width means the upper strike minus the lower strike. | Position | Breakeven | Max profit | Max loss | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Long call | strike + premium | unlimited, the call gains one for one with the underlying above the strike | the premium paid | | Long put | strike - premium | strike - premium, reached only if the underlying goes to zero | the premium paid | | Covered call | share entry price - premium collected | strike - share entry price + premium collected, reached at or above the strike | share entry price - premium collected, if the underlying goes to zero | | Cash secured put | strike - premium collected | the premium collected, kept in full at or above the strike | strike - premium collected, if the underlying goes to zero | | Call debit spread (bull call spread) | lower strike + net debit | strike width - net debit, reached at or above the upper strike | the net debit paid | | Call credit spread (bear call spread) | lower strike + net credit | the net credit, kept in full at or below the lower strike | strike width - net credit | | Put debit spread (bear put spread) | upper strike - net debit | strike width - net debit, reached at or below the lower strike | the net debit paid | | Put credit spread (bull put spread) | upper strike - net credit | the net credit, kept in full at or above the upper strike | strike width - net credit | | Long straddle | two of them: strike - total debit and strike + total debit | unlimited above the strike, and strike - total debit below it | the total debit, and only exactly at the strike | | Long strangle | two of them: put strike - total debit and call strike + total debit | unlimited above the call strike, and put strike - total debit below | the total debit, anywhere between the two strikes | ## Expected move ``` expected move (1 sigma) = spot x IV x sqrt(DTE / 365) expected move (2 sigma) = 2 x the above ``` IV is the annualised implied volatility as a decimal, so 16 percent is 0.16. DTE is calendar days, not trading days, which is the convention the 365 denominator belongs to. Worked example: spot 5000, IV 16 percent, 30 days to expiry. 5000 x 0.16 x sqrt(30 / 365) = 800 x 0.286691 = 229.35, so the one sigma range is roughly 4770.65 to 5229.35 and the two sigma range roughly 4541.29 to 5458.71. ## Limits - This is the theoretical payoff at expiration and nothing else. It ignores early assignment, dividends, borrow and financing costs, commissions and slippage. - American style options can be assigned before expiry. Once that happens the payoff curve no longer describes the position, which is the usual reason a broker screen and a payoff diagram disagree. - The expected move is a lognormal approximation, not a forecast. It reads one implied volatility as if it described the whole distribution, when the volatility surface is skewed and a quoted IV belongs to a single strike. - Nothing here is investment advice, a price target or a recommendation. ## Citation Source: SquawkFlow, https://squawkflow.com/options-profit-calculator Retrieved: 2026-09-11 00:31 ET Attribution: cite the page URL rather than a copied number. Levels are recomputed every session, so a number without its date is wrong within a day. SquawkFlow publishes market-structure data and education. Nothing here is investment advice, a price target or a recommendation, and we have no order execution.