Calculators

Sixteen calculators, and the formula behind every one

Brokerage and charges, margin, position sizing, SIP, goal planning, deposits and loans. Each one shows the arithmetic it used, takes every figure from you, and nothing on this page reaches the network or reads a price feed. The ones that depend on a rate let you edit the rate, because every rate here is amended from time to time and a figure printed on a web page goes stale.

At a glance

Calculators16Each with its inputs, its outputs and its formula on the same screen.

Groups3Trading, investing, and savings and loans.

Nothing to wait forInstantResults update as you type. No sign-in and no network call.

Rates are editableYours to setBecause every one of them changes, and a stale default would mislead you.

These are arithmetic tools, not advice and not forecasts. A rate of return you type into a calculator is an assumption you have made, not a return anybody can offer you: nobody in this market may promise, indicate or guarantee one. The charge rates pre-filled in the brokerage calculator are indicative and are amended by circular and by each Finance Act, so confirm them against the current circular before relying on an output. Margin requirements are computed by the clearing corporation from its own risk parameters and change through the day, so a percentage you supply is not a substitute for its file. Investments in securities are subject to market risks; read all the related documents carefully. For anything that turns on your own tax position, ask a chartered accountant.

Pick one

The calculators

Choose from the list, change any figure, and the result updates as you type. Every calculator can show you the formula it used, and each one has its own link, so you can send somebody straight to the one you were looking at.

Every line on a contract note

Brokerage & charges

Works out brokerage, every statutory levy and the goods and services tax on a round trip, then tells you the net profit and the move the price has to make before you are square. Every rate is an editable field, because every one of them is amended from time to time.

SegmentQuantityShares, or units of the contract. For options, the total number of units of premium.Buy price (₹)Sell price (₹)

Rates and assumptions used here

Every rate below is editable. They are amended by circular and by each Finance Act, so confirm them against the current circular before relying on an output.

Brokerage modelFlat fee per executed order (₹)Brokerage, percent of order value (%)Cap per executed order (₹)Zero means no cap.STT or CTT (%)Exchange transaction charge (%)SEBI turnover fee (%)Stamp duty, on the buy side (%)GST (%)Depository charge, per scrip on a delivery sell (₹)

The formula this uses

Brokerage, per executed order = flat fee, or min(percent x order value, cap)
STT or CTT = rate x (the side it is levied on)
Exchange transaction charge = rate x turnover
SEBI turnover fee = rate x turnover
Stamp duty = rate x buy value
GST = rate x (brokerage + exchange charge + SEBI fee + depository charge)
Net profit = (sell price - buy price) x quantity - total charges
Break-even = total charges / quantity

Net profit after every charge₹4,725.37A round trip of 100 at ₹1,000.00 and ₹1,050.00 is a turnover of ₹2.05 L. The gross profit is ₹5,000.00, charges come to ₹274.63, and the price has to move ₹2.75 a unit before you are square.

Brokerage 14.6%STT or CTT 74.6%Exchange and SEBI 2.3%Stamp duty 5.5%GST 3.0%Depository 0.0%

Turnover, both sides₹2,05,000.00

Gross profit before charges₹5,000.00

Total charges₹274.63

Break-even move, per unit₹2.75

Charges as a percentage of turnover0.134%

Brokerage₹40.00

STT or CTT, on both sides₹205.00

Exchange transaction charge₹6.09

SEBI turnover fee₹0.21

Stamp duty, buy side₹15.00

Depository charge₹0.00

GST₹8.33

Rates are amended by circular and by each Finance Act, so the figures in the rates panel are indicative and are to be confirmed against the current circular before you rely on an output. Options are computed on premium turnover. Physical settlement, auction charges, call and trade fees, and any charge specific to a particular order type are not included.

Trading

Behind the brokerage calculator

How a charge on a trade is actually built up

Seven lines, levied by four different parties, each on a different base. Knowing which base each one uses explains why two trades of the same value can carry different charges, and why an options trade costs so much more than its premium suggests.

The charges on a trade, what each is calculated on, who levies it and which segments it applies to
Line	Calculated on	Levied by	Where the current rate is published
Brokerage	Each executed order. Either a flat fee or a percentage of the order value, usually capped.	Yukti	The published tariff sheet
Securities transaction tax	Delivery, on both sides. Intraday and futures, on the sell side only. Options, on the sell side premium, with a separate basis on exercise.	Government	Notified rate, in the Finance Act
Commodities transaction tax	The sell side of a commodity derivative, on the basis prescribed for the contract.	Government	Notified rate, in the Finance Act
Exchange transaction charge	Turnover in that segment. The rate differs sharply between segments and is the reason options look expensive.	Exchange	The exchange circular in force
SEBI turnover fee	Turnover, at a notified rate per crore.	Regulator	The SEBI notification in force
Stamp duty	The buy side only, at a rate that differs by segment.	Government	Notified rate, under the Stamp Act
Goods and services tax	Brokerage, the exchange transaction charge, the SEBI fee and the depository charge. Not on the value of the securities and not on STT or stamp duty.	Government	Notified rate
Depository charge	A delivery sell, per scrip, per day. It does not scale with the value, which is why it hurts a small sale most.	Depository	The published tariff sheet

Options are charged on premium, not on the contract

The exchange transaction charge on options is an order of magnitude higher than on futures, and it is applied to the premium turnover rather than to the value of the underlying contract. That combination makes a cheap option expensive to trade in percentage terms, which is why the break-even line on the calculator matters more there than anywhere else.

In the calculator: enter the premium as the price and the total units as the quantity.

A flat fee changes what is worth doing

When brokerage stops being a percentage, a small order carries a disproportionate charge and a large one carries almost none. Run the same trade through the calculator at a quantity of ten and at a quantity of a thousand and watch the charges as a percentage of turnover: that single number is the whole argument about order size.

Try it: change only the quantity and read the charges-as-a-percentage row.

The break-even line is the one to read

The total charge figure is abstract. The move the price has to make before you are square is not: it is in rupees per unit and you can compare it directly against the spread and against the move you are actually expecting. If the break-even is a meaningful fraction of your target, the trade is paying for itself before it pays you.

Especially for: intraday, where the move expected is small and the charges are not.

Read this once

What every calculator on this page assumes

A calculator is only as honest as the assumptions it hides. These are the ones that apply across the page, stated rather than buried, so you know what the output is and is not.

A constant rate, applied evenly

Every investment calculator applies the rate you typed in each and every period. Nothing does that. A plan that averages the rate you assumed will still spend whole years well below it, and the sequence in which the good and bad years arrive changes the outcome considerably, particularly when money is being withdrawn.

Consequence: treat the output as a shape rather than a figure, and revisit it against what actually happened.

Before tax, unless a calculator says otherwise

None of the investment or deposit calculators deducts tax. Deposit interest is income in each year it accrues and is subject to deduction at source above a threshold. Gains on securities are taxed under their own rules. What you keep is lower than what these figures show, and by how much depends on your own position.

We are not tax advisers. For your own position, ask a chartered accountant.

Costs other than the ones named are excluded

The investment calculators do not deduct an expense ratio or an exit load. The loan calculator does not include a processing fee or anything sold alongside the loan. The brokerage calculator covers the lines in its own table and nothing beyond them, so auction charges, physical settlement and call-and-trade fees are not in it.

Consequence: every output is a best case on costs. Reality is a little worse in each instance.

Nothing here reads a price or a rate

No calculator on this page fetches a quote, a margin file, an interest rate or anything else. Every figure comes from you, which means nothing can be silently out of date, and it also means nothing is filled in for you. The defaults are starting points chosen to be plausible, not current values.

Check: the rates panel in the brokerage calculator against the current circular before you rely on it.

Conventions are stated, because they differ

A SIP here takes instalments at the start of the month. A recurring deposit compounds quarterly, as banks do. PPF treats the contribution as made at the start of the year. Other calculators elsewhere use different conventions and get slightly different answers, and neither is wrong: each formula is shown so you can see which one was used.

Where to look: the show-the-formula button on each calculator, and the full list below.

None of this is advice

A calculator tells you what follows arithmetically from figures you supplied. It takes no view on whether a trade is sensible, whether a rate is achievable, whether a loan is affordable or whether any instrument suits you. Those are judgements about your own position, and a tool that pretended to make them would be the problem rather than the help.

Nothing on this page is investment advice, tax advice or a recommendation to deal in any security.

Nothing hidden

Every formula on this page

The arithmetic each calculator performs, written out. If an answer here differs from one you got elsewhere, this is where to look: it is nearly always a difference of convention rather than a mistake, and knowing which convention was used settles it in a minute.

Brokerage & charges

Brokerage, per executed order = flat fee, or min(percent x order value, cap)
STT or CTT = rate x (the side it is levied on)
Exchange transaction charge = rate x turnover
SEBI turnover fee = rate x turnover
Stamp duty = rate x buy value
GST = rate x (brokerage + exchange charge + SEBI fee + depository charge)
Net profit = (sell price - buy price) x quantity - total charges
Break-even = total charges / quantity

Every line on a contract note. In the trading group.

Margin required

Contract value = price x quantity
Margin required = contract value x margin percent
Leverage = 100 / margin percent
Adverse move that exhausts the margin = margin percent, as a percentage of price
Mark to market at a stated move = contract value x move percent

What a position ties up. In the trading group.

Position size & risk

Risk per trade = capital x risk percent
Risk per unit = |entry price - stop price|
Quantity = floor(risk per trade / risk per unit)
Position value = quantity x entry price
Reward to risk = |target - entry| / |entry - stop|

How many, given what you can lose. In the trading group.

Stock average

Average price = sum of (quantity x price) / sum of quantity
Total invested = sum of (quantity x price)
Profit = (current price - average price) x total quantity

Average price across purchases. In the trading group.

Target & stop-loss

Target price = entry x (1 + target percent / 100)
Stop price = entry x (1 - stop percent / 100)
Profit at target = (target price - entry) x quantity
Loss at stop = (entry - stop price) x quantity
Reward to risk = target percent / stop percent

Prices for a stated gain or loss. In the trading group.

SIP future value

i = annual rate / 12 / 100
n = years x 12
Future value = P x (((1 + i)^n - 1) / i) x (1 + i)
Invested = P x n
Gain = future value - invested

A monthly amount, compounded. In the investing group.

Lumpsum future value

Future value = P x (1 + r / 100)^n
Gain = future value - P
Absolute return = gain / P x 100

One amount, left alone. In the investing group.

SIP needed for a goal

Target in future rupees = target x (1 + inflation / 100)^n
i = annual return / 12 / 100, m = n x 12
Monthly amount = target in future rupees x i / (((1 + i)^m - 1) x (1 + i))

The question in reverse. In the investing group.

Systematic withdrawal

Each month: balance = balance x (1 + i) - withdrawal, where i = annual rate / 12 / 100
Total withdrawn = withdrawal x months paid
The corpus is exhausted in the first month the balance would go below zero

Drawing from a corpus. In the investing group.

CAGR

CAGR = ((final / initial)^(1 / years) - 1) x 100
Absolute return = (final - initial) / initial x 100

The rate that connects two values. In the investing group.

Compound interest

Future value = P x (1 + r / (100 x f))^(f x t)
Interest = future value - P
Effective annual rate = ((1 + r / (100 x f))^f - 1) x 100

With a frequency you choose. In the investing group.

Inflation impact

Future cost = amount x (1 + inflation / 100)^n
Today's value of a future amount = amount / (1 + inflation / 100)^n
Purchasing power lost = (1 - 1 / (1 + inflation / 100)^n) x 100

What money will be worth. In the investing group.

Fixed deposit

Maturity = P x (1 + r / (100 x f))^(f x t)
Interest = maturity - P
Effective annual rate = ((1 + r / (100 x f))^f - 1) x 100

Maturity on a term deposit. In the savings & loans group.

Recurring deposit

i = annual rate / 400, n = months / 3
Maturity = R x ((1 + i)^n - 1) / (1 - (1 + i)^(-1/3))
Interest = maturity - (R x months)

A monthly deposit with a bank. In the savings & loans group.

Public provident fund

Maturity = A x (((1 + r / 100)^n - 1) / (r / 100)) x (1 + r / 100)
Invested = A x n
Interest = maturity - invested

An annual contribution, compounded. In the savings & loans group.

Loan EMI

i = annual rate / 12 / 100, n = months
EMI = P x i x (1 + i)^n / ((1 + i)^n - 1)
Total payment = EMI x n
Total interest = total payment - P

Instalment, interest and total cost. In the savings & loans group.

Rates, bases and thresholds used by the charge and deposit calculators are set by SEBI, the exchanges, the depositories, the Finance Act and the institution concerned, and are amended from time to time. The formulas above describe how the calculation is performed; the rate you put into it is yours to confirm.

Questions

Commonly asked about these calculators

Why are the charge rates editable rather than fixed?

click to see the answer

Because every one of them is amended from time to time: securities transaction tax by the Finance Act, exchange transaction charges by exchange circular, the SEBI turnover fee by notification, stamp duty by the Stamp Act and brokerage by the tariff sheet. A calculator with a rate hard-coded into it is wrong the first time any of those changes and gives no sign of it. Making them fields means the number you get is the number your inputs produce, and the only thing you have to keep current is the rate itself, which is published.

My SIP answer differs slightly from another calculator. Why?

click to see the answer

Almost certainly the instalment timing convention. This page takes the instalment at the start of each month, which is the usual Indian convention and gives a slightly higher figure than taking it at the end. Over ten years at twelve percent the difference is roughly one month's growth. Other common sources of difference are compounding monthly rather than annually, and whether the final instalment is credited before or after the last period's growth. The formula button on each calculator shows exactly which was used.

Why does the margin calculator ask me for the margin percentage?

click to see the answer

Because nobody can compute it from a price. SPAN and exposure margins are produced by the clearing corporation from its own risk parameters, differ between contracts, differ between a naked position and a spread, and are published in a file that is updated through the trading day. A calculator that invented a percentage would give a confident answer that was wrong for your contract. Take the figure from the clearing corporation's file or from the order window and put it in.

Is the return I type into the SIP calculator achievable?

click to see the answer

That is exactly the question a calculator cannot answer, and anybody who tells you it can is selling something. Nobody in this market may promise, indicate or guarantee a return. What the calculator does is tell you what follows arithmetically if a rate held, which is useful for comparing plans and for seeing how sensitive a plan is to the assumption. The sensible use is to run it at a rate you would defend, then run it again several points lower and see whether the plan still works.

Why is the options charge so much higher than for futures?

click to see the answer

Two reasons compounding each other. The exchange transaction charge on options is an order of magnitude higher than on futures, and it is levied on premium turnover rather than on the value of the contract, so a position with a large notional exposure and a small premium pays a charge that is enormous relative to that premium. Securities transaction tax on the sell side of options is also levied on the premium. Run an option through the brokerage calculator and read the break-even row: it is usually the number that changes somebody's mind.

Do these calculators account for tax?

click to see the answer

The brokerage calculator includes the goods and services tax on brokerage and on the exchange and depository charges, and it includes securities transaction tax and stamp duty, because those are charges on the trade itself. None of the calculators deducts income tax or capital gains tax on your result, because that depends on your own position, your holding period, your other income and the law in force for the year. For that, your accountant will give you a better answer in ten minutes than any calculator will.

Can I link to one particular calculator?

click to see the answer

Does anything I type here get sent anywhere?

click to see the answer

Why does the position size calculator sometimes tell me the position is too large?

click to see the answer

Because a tight stop and a sensible risk percentage can produce a quantity whose value exceeds your capital, which would need leverage you may not have. It is not an error in the arithmetic; it is the arithmetic telling you that the trade as specified does not fit. The three ways out are a wider stop, a smaller risk percentage, or accepting a smaller quantity than the risk rule allows. The first is usually the right answer and the one people resist.

I think a result is wrong. What should I do?

click to see the answer

Open the formula on that calculator first, because the commonest cause is a convention difference rather than an error, and the second commonest is a figure entered in the wrong unit, such as a monthly rate where an annual one was expected. If the formula looks right and the answer still does not, tell us through the contact page with the inputs you used and what you expected, and we will look at it. A calculator that gives a wrong number is worse than no calculator, so we would genuinely rather know.