Options Comparison Calculator
Compare strikes, premiums, and outcomes before choosing a trade.
Standard, unadjusted US equity options only: one contract = 100 shares. Adjusted contracts with other deliverables are not supported. Prices are ones you enter, or delayed Cboe quotes you choose to load; nothing on this page is a live quote, and every loaded price is labeled with its source and time.
Example loaded. These are sample inputs, not current market quotes. Choose the listed expiration you want to compare.
Selling before expiration. Before expiration an option's price depends on the time left and on implied volatility, not just the stock price, so the stock price alone cannot tell you what it will sell for. Enter the sale premium you want to test for each option. It is a hypothetical, not a forecast, and the target price below does not set it.
Enter the current price, a target, and a strike and premium for each option to see the comparison, or load the example.
How they compare
Payoff at expiration
Move along the chart, tap it, or focus it and use the arrow keys to read every alternative at one stock price.
Scenario table at expiration
Reading the comparison
Profit per contract is not return on money invested. A cheaper, higher strike option can make fewer dollars per contract and still return more on each dollar spent, because more contracts fit in the same budget. That is why the calculator can compare one contract each or the same budget for each choice, and why every percentage names what it is a percentage of.
A lower breakeven is not protection. Any bought option can expire worthless and lose its whole cost. A call with a lower strike costs more and needs a smaller rise to break even; a higher strike costs less but needs a bigger move before it is worth anything at expiration.
Maximum loss means the option position. Buying an option cannot lose more than its cost. If you exercise and hold the shares, you take on the risk of the stock itself.
Assumptions
- Only bought calls and bought puts, each treated as its own investment. No selling, spreads or combinations.
- Standard contracts of 100 shares. All options share one expiration date.
- Equal budget mode buys whole contracts only. Unused cash earns no interest. The stock comparison buys whole shares with no commission, dividends or interest.
- Expiration values use intrinsic value only. Early exercise, assignment, taxes, bid and ask spreads and margin are not modeled.
- Sell before expiration results come only from the sale premiums you enter. No pricing model is used.
Educational tool only. It does arithmetic on the numbers you enter and does not recommend any trade. Disclaimer · New to options? Take the Options basics course