Before entering an options trade, it helps to see exactly how it plays out at expiry — where you break even, how much you can lose, and whether your upside is capped or open-ended. This calculator plots the payoff of a single call or put position, bought or sold, across a range of underlying prices at expiry.
Choose call or put, buy or sell, enter the strike price, premium and lot size, and the chart updates instantly to show your profit/loss curve, breakeven price, and maximum profit and loss.
Options Payoff Calculator
See the profit/loss of a single option position at expiry, across a range of underlying prices.
Payoff shown is at expiry only (not mark-to-market before expiry), excludes brokerage/STT/taxes, and uses a simplified European-style settlement. For actual trades, confirm lot size and margin with your broker.
How option payoffs work
A call option gives the buyer the right to buy the underlying at the strike price, so a call buyer profits once the underlying rises above strike plus premium paid, with loss capped at the premium paid and profit theoretically unlimited. The call seller (writer) takes the opposite side: profit capped at the premium received, with loss growing as the underlying rises further past the breakeven.
A put option gives the buyer the right to sell at the strike price, so a put buyer profits as the underlying falls below strike minus premium, with loss capped at the premium paid; the put seller’s profit is capped at the premium received, with loss growing as the underlying falls (bounded at zero, since the underlying can’t go below ₹0).
Why this matters for F&O traders
Options sellers (writers) take on undefined or large risk in exchange for a capped, upfront premium — which is exactly why SEBI’s margin framework requires sellers to post significantly more margin than buyers. Seeing the payoff shape before placing a trade, especially for selling strategies, makes that asymmetric risk concrete rather than abstract.
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Frequently asked questions
Does this show P&L before expiry or only at expiry?
Only at expiry. Before expiry, an option’s value also includes time value and is affected by implied volatility changes, so the actual mark-to-market P&L can differ meaningfully from this expiry payoff chart.
Why is my max loss or max profit shown as ‘Unlimited’?
Buying a call has theoretically unlimited profit potential (the underlying can keep rising), and selling a call has theoretically unlimited loss potential for the same reason. Selling a put has bounded loss because the underlying can’t fall below zero.
Does this include brokerage, STT or other charges?
No, this is the raw payoff based on strike, premium and lot size only. Use our F&O Margin & Brokerage Calculator alongside this to estimate transaction costs.
What’s the difference between buying and selling (writing) an option?
Buying an option costs a premium upfront with limited, defined risk. Selling (writing) an option collects the premium upfront but carries larger, sometimes unlimited risk if the market moves against the position — which is why option selling requires substantially higher margin.