Spread & commission cost of trading calculator

The hurdle turnover creates.

Interactive: spread & commission cost of tradingEasy

Mid price $ Quoted spread $ Position size (units) Commission per trade $ Round trips per year

Half-spread: —
Round-trip cost: —
Round trip in bp: —
Annual cost at this turnover: —
Annual cost in bp: —
Reading: —

The hurdle this creates is the honest way to read it: a strategy costing 60 bp a year in friction must beat its benchmark by 60 bp before it has done anything at all. Widen the spread to 0.30 — a small-cap or an off-the-run bond — and watch the hurdle become the strategy's main opponent.

The idea behind it

This calculator belongs to Costs & Fees, where the mechanism it computes is explained step by step, with the formula, what each input means and where the simple model stops being right. Everything is computed in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

More calculators from Costs & Fees

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Not advice. This explains how something works; it is not a recommendation, and nothing here is tailored to you. You can lose everything you put in — with leveraged instruments, considerably more. StrikeAndYield is not a regulated firm and provides no financial services.

The same in full — six points, and why each one matters

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Nothing here is tailored to you. This is written for a general audience. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation, knowledge, time horizon or tolerance for loss.
The examples are simplified. Worked examples use round numbers and leave out costs, spreads, taxes, collateral, settlement and market conventions that materially change real outcomes.
The models are teaching models. Formulas shown are standard textbook formulations. Institutions add calibration, live market data and credit, funding and capital adjustments — nothing here will reproduce a dealer’s quote or produce a valuation you can rely on.
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