Crypto Break-Even Price Calculator

How to use it

Enter the amount you spent, the buy price, the buy and sell fees in percent, any fixed fees in dollars, and a target profit. Percentage fees cover exchange commissions and spreads; fixed fees cover things like the blockchain fee to withdraw coins to your wallet or a flat withdrawal charge. The break-even price, the required move and the price for your target appear immediately.

If you are not sure what your fees are, a quick way to measure the spread is to compare the price you were quoted with the mid-market price at the same moment. A $100 purchase that delivers $98.50 worth of coins has a 1.5% effective buy cost.

The break-even formula

The buy fee reduces the coins you receive; the sell fee reduces the proceeds; fixed fees must be covered on top.

Example: why small trades need bigger moves

Spend $1,000 on BTC at $65,000 with 0.5% fees on each side and a $5 network fee. You receive 0.0153 BTC; the break-even sell price is about $65,983 — a 1.51% rise just to get back to zero. A 10% profit target requires about $72,549, an 11.6% move.

Now do the same with $100. The fixed $5 network fee is suddenly 5% of the trade: break-even jumps to about $68,938, a 6.1% rise. Fixed costs punish small amounts far more than percentage fees do, which is why consolidating small purchases or choosing a cheap network matters.

How round-trip fees raise the bar

The table under the calculator shows the price rise needed to cover only percentage fees. Two 0.1% fees need about +0.2%; two 1% fees need about +2.03%; two 2.5% fees need about +5.2%. Because fees compound, the required move is always slightly more than the sum of the two fees.

• Low-fee spot exchanges: roughly 0.1–0.2% per side for takers.
• Instant-buy buttons and card purchases: often 1–4% once the spread is counted.
• Swaps between networks or coins: the quote usually includes the spread; compare the amount you will receive.
• Network fees: fixed per transaction; see the Gas Fee Calculator and the Stablecoin Fee Comparison for typical costs.

Using break-even in practice

Place your mental stop for “am I in profit?” at the break-even price, not at your entry. For several purchases, take the average entry from the Average Price Calculator as the buy price. For the final profit figure at a specific sell price, use the Profit Calculator. If you plan to lock in gains in a stablecoin, compare the cost of different routes before you sell — a cheaper route lowers break-even directly.

Break-even for swaps and conversions

Many people never pay an explicit “fee” — they swap one coin for another and the cost is hidden in the rate. To use the calculator for a swap, compare the amount you received with what the mid-market price would have given you: if $1,000 of BTC turned into USDT worth $992, the effective cost of that leg was 0.8%. Enter that as the fee for the corresponding side. Do the same for the way back, and the break-even shows how far the price has to move for the round trip to pay off.

The same logic explains why frequent switching between coins is expensive: every hop pays a spread and often a network fee. If you plan to move between assets several times, add up the costs of all legs, or use the profit calculator once per leg.