Options Breakeven Calculator

Calculate options breakeven, premium value, max loss, and expiry payoff. Share a filled result with a URL that restores the inputs automatically.

Worked example: option type Call, position Long / Buy, strike price ₹22500, premium ₹100, quantity 75, spot at expiry ₹22700. Change any input to recalculate.

Breakeven Price
₹22,600.00
Max Loss
₹7,500.00
Max Profit
Unlimited
Premium Value
₹7,500.00
Expiry Payoff
₹7,500.00

This calculator is for educational estimates only. Verify assumptions before making trading, investing, tax, or financial planning decisions.

How to Calculate Options Breakeven Price

For a long call option, you break even when the spot price at expiry equals the strike price plus the premium paid. For a long put, breakeven is the strike price minus the premium. The option becomes profitable beyond the breakeven point (after covering the premium cost).

Long Call Breakeven = Strike Price + Premium Paid Long Put Breakeven = Strike Price − Premium Paid Expiry Payoff (Long Call) = MAX(0, Spot − Strike) − Premium Expiry Payoff (Long Put) = MAX(0, Strike − Spot) − Premium

Breakeven when you are the seller

Option sellers have the same breakeven price as the buyer on the other side of the contract, and the opposite payoff around it. A short call breaks even at strike plus premium — below that you keep the premium, above it your loss grows without a bound. A short put breaks even at strike minus premium, and this is the case most calculators get wrong.

A short put's loss is not unlimited. The underlying cannot fall below zero, so the worst case is the strike price minus the premium you collected, per unit. Sell a ₹500 put for ₹12 and the most you can lose is ₹488 a share, which on a full lot is a real number you can size a position against. Tools that print "unlimited" for a short put are describing a short call. This one bounds it correctly.

Breakeven on an index option

The breakeven price of an index option is per unit of the index, exactly as above — the lot size does not move it. What the lot size changes is the rupee amount at risk: multiply the per-unit loss by the contract's quantity to get what the position actually costs you if it expires worthless.

Take the lot size from the current contract specification rather than a number you remember. NSE has revised index derivative lot sizes more than once, and a stale figure silently misprices every position you plan with it. The exchange publishes the current value on its contract specification pages, and your broker's contract search carries the same number.

The quantity field above is a plain unit count, so it works for a single lot, several lots, or an equity option, without assuming which index you are trading.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • For option buyers (long calls or puts), the maximum loss is limited to the premium paid. For example, buying a call at ₹100 premium on a lot of 75 units caps the loss at ₹7,500 if the option expires worthless. Use the current lot size from the contract specification — NSE has revised index lot sizes more than once.
  • For short options, the breakeven is identical to the long side. A short call breaks even when spot reaches strike + premium received. Beyond that point the seller starts losing. The maximum profit for a short option is the premium received.
  • The breakeven calculated here is for options held until expiry. In live markets, options have time value (theta). If you exit before expiry, your actual breakeven is different and depends on the current option price, which includes time value and implied volatility.