What frequency really costs you per year.
Frequency is a cost multiplier: the same edge traded 5× as often pays 5× the friction before it earns anything.
Educational tool only — not financial advice. Verify figures with your broker.
The Trading Cost Calculator is a free cost-projection tool that converts your trading frequency into a running friction bill. It answers one exact question: how much do commissions, spreads and fees add up to per day and per year at your trade rate — and what return you'd need just to break even against that friction, before any profit.
The math is deliberately simple and deterministic. Cost per day is Trades per day multiplied by All-in cost per trade; Cost per year multiplies that daily figure by Trading days per year. The Return needed just to cover costs is the annual cost divided by Account equity, expressed as a percentage — the hurdle your strategy clears before earning a cent.
It depends entirely on your frequency and per-trade cost. This trading cost calculator multiplies your trades per day by your all-in cost and your trading days per year, so five trades a day at $8 each over 250 days is $10,000 in annual friction regardless of whether you profit.
Every round-trip pays the spread and commission whether it wins or loses. Frequency is a straight multiplier on friction — the same setup traded five times as often pays five times the cost before it earns anything.
The tool divides your annual cost by your account equity to show the break-even hurdle. On a $10,000 account with $10,000 of yearly costs, you'd need a 100% return just to reach zero — a signal your frequency may be too high for your size.
Keep in mind: This figure only measures friction — the cost you pay to trade. It says nothing about whether your trading earns that cost back; the same edge traded five times as often simply pays five times the friction before it earns anything, and a low cost number is not evidence of profitability.