By Rohan Fernandes, Founder, Optionscanner · Updated 2026-10-04 · Educational reference, not investment advice
Pick a strategy or build your own legs, and the calculator shows the profit or loss at every stock price, both at expiration and on any date before it, with sliders for the stock price, the date and implied volatility. Leave a price blank and it is estimated from the volatility.
Hypothetical figures for education. Figures exclude commissions and fees, margin interest, bid-ask slippage beyond the modeled fill, and assignment or exercise costs.
Use this calculator inside Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
The same math answers inside your assistant through the Optionscanner MCP server, free and with no sign-in: ask it for the max loss on a spread or the chance a condor finishes profitable. Set it up in two minutes
How to use it
Type the stock price, its implied volatility and the days left to expiration. The defaults are a $100 stock, 30% volatility and 30 days.
Pick a strategy, or change any leg: buy or sell, call, put or shares, the strike, the number of contracts and the price per share. Leave the price blank and it is estimated from the volatility; the leg is marked estimated until you type a real one.
Drag the sliders, or click the chart, to see the result at another stock price, on another date or after a change in volatility. The sentence at the top says what that means in dollars.
Reading the chart
The solid line is profit or loss at expiration, when every option is worth only its intrinsic value.
The dashed line is the position's value on the date you choose, priced with the Black-Scholes model, so it still includes time value. The gap between the two lines is the time value left to lose or gain.
The shaded band is the expected move: the range of about one standard deviation the options market prices through expiration.
Profit or loss at expiration = for each leg, the intrinsic value minus the price paid (or the price received minus the intrinsic value for a sold leg), times 100 shares per contract.
Before expiration, each option is priced with Black-Scholes using its implied volatility, the days left and a 4% risk-free rate.
Maximum profit and loss are the highest and lowest points of the expiration line, checked at every strike and at the far ends; Unlimited means the line keeps rising or falling with the stock.
Chance of profit is the model's probability that the stock finishes where the expiration line is above zero: N(d2) at each breakeven, the same method as the probability of profit calculator.
At this price and date shows the dollar change for one more day, one more point of volatility and a $1 move in the stock, measured where the sliders are set. Move the date slider back to today to read today's figures.
A worked example
The default is a bull call spread on a $100 stock: the 100 call bought for $3.59 and the 105 call sold for $1.66 (both estimated at 30% volatility with 30 days left). The net cost is $193, the most it can lose. The most it can make is $307, at $105 or higher. The breakeven is $101.93, and the model gives about a 41% chance of finishing above it. Slide the date halfway and the dashed line shows how much of that payoff is reachable before expiration.
What it leaves out
The model treats every option as European style, ignores dividends and uses one interest rate. US stock options can be exercised early, and a sold leg can be assigned before expiration, as covered in options assignment explained. Real chains also price each strike at its own volatility; type a leg's real price and the calculator uses it, but the curve before expiration still assumes one volatility per leg. Commissions, fees and the bid-ask spread are not included.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the profit on an option?
At expiration an option is worth its intrinsic value: the stock price minus the strike for a call, or the strike minus the stock price for a put, and zero when that is negative. Profit is that value minus the price paid, times 100 shares per contract; for a sold option it is the price received minus that value.
Why do the solid and dashed lines differ?
The solid line is the result at expiration, when only intrinsic value is left. The dashed line prices the position on an earlier date with the Black-Scholes model, so it still includes time value. The gap between them is the time value still to be gained or lost.
What does the chance of profit mean?
It is the model's probability that the stock finishes where the trade makes money at expiration, computed from the implied volatility with N(d2) at each breakeven. It describes the odds the options market is pricing, not a forecast, and it ignores how large the wins and losses are.
Can I leave the option price blank?
Yes. A blank price is estimated from the implied volatility, the strike and the days left, and the leg is marked estimated. Typing the real price from an option chain gives the actual cost of the trade.
Educational reference. Optionscanner is a software tool. It is not a broker-dealer, an investment adviser, or a fiduciary, and nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Options involve risk and are not suitable for every investor; read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before trading. Examples use hypothetical numbers for illustration only.