Enter your buy price, quantity and segment. This break-even calculator finds the exact sell price that covers every charge, so you know the minimum move needed before a trade turns a real profit.
Break-even Calculator
Equity delivery or intraday, with Zerodha’s published charges or your own figure.
Break-even is found by testing sell prices until profit after every charge is exactly zero, not by a shortcut formula.
Your trade in detail
| Item | Value |
|---|
Same buy price, different segment
| Segment | Break-even price | Move needed |
|---|
Illustrative estimates based on Zerodha’s published charge list. Verify current rates with your broker.
Buy at ₹1,000 and sell at ₹1,000, and you have not actually broken even. Charges eat into both sides of the trade, so the real break-even sell price is closer to ₹1,002.38 for a typical delivery trade. A break-even calculator finds that exact number instead of assuming zero cost.
How do you use this break-even calculator in 3 steps?
- Choose equity delivery or equity intraday, then enter your buy price and quantity.
- Leave charges on the Zerodha estimate, or switch to your own total from a contract note.
- Read the break-even sell price, the percentage move needed, and the comparison across segments.
Stock Charcha’s break-even calculator searches for the exact price where profit after every charge is zero, rather than using a shortcut formula that can miss small but real costs. It recalculates live, so changing the quantity or the segment updates every number on the page together.
How does the break-even calculator find the exact price?
Charges change with the sell price too, since brokerage, STT and GST are all percentages of the trade value. A simple formula that ignores this feedback loop can be slightly wrong, so the calculator tests prices until the numbers balance.
Break-even price = the sell price where (Sell value − Buy value − Charges) = 0
It checks a price, works out the exact charges at that price, and adjusts up or down, repeating until profit after charges lands at zero. The same approach works whether you let it estimate Zerodha’s charges or type in your own figure, and it holds even for an unusually low-priced stock where a flat charge like the DP fee can dominate the maths.
What does a worked example look like?
Take 100 shares bought at ₹1,000 on delivery. These figures are illustrative.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Buy value | ₹1,00,000 |
| Estimated charges | ₹238 |
| Break-even sell price | ₹1,002.38 |
| Move needed from buy price | 0.24% |
A 0.24% move looks small, but it is the floor, not the goal. Any profit target has to clear that line first, and the break-even calculator shows exactly where that line sits for your own buy price and quantity.
How much does delivery versus intraday change your break-even?
The two segments carry different charges on the same trade. Here is the same ₹1,000, 100-share trade under each.
| Segment | Break-even price | Move needed |
|---|---|---|
| Equity Delivery | ₹1,002.38 | 0.24% |
| Equity Intraday | ₹1,000.83 | 0.08% |
Delivery carries STT on both the buy and sell side plus a DP charge, so its break-even sits higher. Intraday avoids the DP charge and pays STT only on the sell side, which is why the move needed is smaller here, even though intraday brokerage can add its own cost at higher trade sizes. Stock Charcha shows both segments side by side so the comparison does not need a second calculation.
Why does trade size change the percentage move needed?
Some charges are flat, like the DP charge, so they matter more on a small trade than a large one. Here is the same ₹1,000 delivery buy at different quantities.
| Quantity | Break-even price | Move needed |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | ₹1,003.76 | 0.376% |
| 100 | ₹1,002.38 | 0.238% |
| 1000 | ₹1,002.24 | 0.224% |
| 10000 | ₹1,002.23 | 0.223% |
At 10 shares the flat DP charge is a bigger share of a smaller trade, so the move needed is higher. By 10,000 shares the break-even settles close to its floor, because the flat charges become negligible against a large trade value. This is the same pattern Stock Charcha’s brokerage calculator shows for small trades generally, here focused purely on the price you need to clear.
What does this break-even calculator leave out?
It does not include income tax on any profit, which our stock profit and loss calculator and share capital gains tax calculator both cover. It assumes Zerodha’s published charges unless you enter your own, and real contract notes round each line item.
This is an estimate, not a trading recommendation, and it does not account for slippage between your order and the price actually filled. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risks. Read all related documents carefully before trading.
Where should you go after using the break-even calculator?
For the full charge breakdown on a trade, see the brokerage calculator. For profit after tax, use the stock profit and loss calculator, and for position sizing from a stop-loss, the position size calculator.
The Trading section of the Charcha Knowledge Hub has more. Run the break-even calculator before every trade, so the floor is a number you know, not one you assume is zero.
Related calculators
- Brokerage calculator
- Stock profit and loss calculator
- Position size calculator
- Risk-reward ratio calculator
Last updated: 3 October 2026. Charge rates checked on 2 October 2026 (Zerodha charge list). Review whenever charges are revised.
Founder of Stock Charcha. Stock market enthusiast, actively investing since November 2022. About the author
Educational content only. Charges shown are estimates, not a quote from any broker, and this is not personalised financial advice. Confirm final figures on your contract note. Please do your own research or speak to a SEBI-registered adviser, and read our disclaimer. Stock Charcha is not affiliated with Zerodha.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my break-even price not the same as my buy price?
Because charges apply on both the buy and sell side of a trade. Brokerage, STT, exchange charges, stamp duty and GST all reduce your proceeds, so the sell price needs to clear your buy price by a small margin just to cover them.
Does the break-even calculator include brokerage?
Yes, along with STT, exchange transaction charges, stamp duty, SEBI charges, GST and the DP charge for delivery trades. You can switch to your own total if you already know the exact figure from a contract note.
Why is the break-even percentage higher for small trades?
Some charges, like the DP charge, are a flat rupee amount rather than a percentage. On a small trade that flat amount is a bigger share of the total, which pushes the percentage move needed higher than it would be on a larger trade.
Is delivery or intraday cheaper to break even on?
It depends on the trade, but intraday often needs a smaller percentage move on the same price and quantity, since it avoids the DP charge and pays STT only on the sell side. Intraday brokerage can offset part of that at higher trade sizes.
Does the break-even calculator include tax on my profit?
No. It only covers transaction charges, not income tax on any gain. Once you know your break-even price, use the share capital gains tax calculator or the stock profit and loss calculator to see the after-tax picture.