Why fees matter more than they look
A 0.5% fee on the buy plus 0.5% on the sell doesn't cost 1% of profit — it raises your break-even by about 1% of the whole position. On a $30,000 position that's roughly $300 gone before you earn a cent, and if you trade in and out frequently, fees compound into one of the biggest drags on returns. Maker fees are typically lower than taker fees, and most exchanges cut rates at higher volume tiers.
How break-even price is calculated
Break-even = buy price × (1 + buy fee) ÷ (1 − sell fee). With 0.5% fees each way, a coin bought at $60,000 must be sold at about $60,603 just to get your money back. Anything between your buy price and break-even is a loss that feels like a gain.
Don't forget the tax side
Realized crypto gains are taxable in the US whether you cash out to dollars or swap into another coin. Selling within a year of buying triggers short-term rates (same as ordinary income); holding over a year qualifies for lower long-term rates. Your true take-home profit is what's left after both fees and tax.
How to use this calculator
Enter your buy price and the quantity you bought, then the sell price you got or are considering. Put your exchange's fee percentage in the fee fields — the same figure on both sides for most spot accounts. The tool returns net profit or loss in dollars after both fees, your ROI as a percentage of the money you actually put in, and the break-even sell price you'd need just to get back to flat.
A worked example
Buy 0.5 BTC at $60,000 (a $30,000 position) with 0.5% fees each way, then sell at $75,000. Gross proceeds are $37,500; the buy fee is $150 and the sell fee $187.50, so net profit is roughly $12,162 — an ROI of about 40% measured against your actual outlay including the entry fee. Break-even sits near $60,603: sell anywhere between your $60,000 entry and that figure and you've lost money even though the price rose.