Expires at the strike
Spot finishes at the 100 strike. The call expires worthless and you lose the premium. That premium is the maximum loss.
- Expiry P&L
- −10
- Implied vol (from 10)
- 23.97%
Long Call Calculator
A long call is the right to buy at a fixed strike. This long call calculator charts the expiry payoff, the breakeven, and live P&L before expiry.
Downside is the premium you pay; upside is unlimited. Click Calculate to solve implied vol, then use the sliders. Figures are theoretical and for information only. For a bearish view, open the long put calculator.
Type a symbol, then Load or leave the field. Spot, ~30-day historical realized vol, and a US risk-free proxy are filled when the ticker is found. Strikes and target are recentered near the new spot.
Delayed/free data. Historical realized vol is not implied vol from an options chain. Not investment advice.
New Option Price:
What a long call is
A long call is the purchase of a call option. You pay a premium up front for the right, not the obligation, to buy the underlying at the strike price. At expiry the call is worth the greater of spot minus strike, and zero. Your profit is that amount minus the premium you paid, times the number of options.
This long call calculator opens with Type set to Long Call. Spot 100, strike 100, premium 10, rate 1%, and 365 days are the defaults. Click Calculate to solve implied volatility, then move the sliders to reprice the same contract before expiry.
How the long call payoff is calculated
At expiry the chart uses the call payoff minus the premium. Before expiry, the sliders reprice the same vanilla Black-Scholes contract used on the option calculator and subtract the original premium.
Expiry P&L = Q × [max(S − K, 0) − V]
- V — premium paid per call
- K — strike
- S — underlying price at expiry
- Q — quantity (positive long)
- Breakeven: S = K + V
- Max loss: Q × V (the premium). Max gain: unlimited.
- Live P&L = Q × (new Black-Scholes price − V), using the slider spot, remaining time, and implied vol. Remaining time stays in the unit chosen at Calculate (days or minutes).
After you click Calculate, implied volatility is solved from V with the same bisection as the implied-vol page, rounded to two decimals. Default inputs (call, V = 10, S = K = 100, 1% rate, 365 days) imply 23.97%.
Worked examples
These expiry P&L figures use the same payoff the chart draws for a one-lot long call with premium 10 and strike 100. Type those defaults and the line should pass through these points.
Breakeven at 110
Call payoff is 10, which exactly offsets the 10 premium. Above 110 the long call is profitable.
- Expiry P&L
- 0
- Breakeven
- K + V = 110
Spot at 130
Intrinsic is 30, net of the 10 premium. Upside is unlimited; another 10 points of spot adds another 10 of profit.
- Expiry P&L
- 20
- Max loss
- 10
When to use a long call
A long call fits a view that the underlying will rise by more than the premium before expiry, when you want that loss capped at the premium. Buying the call uses less cash than buying the shares, and the option can expire worthless if the rise does not arrive in time.
- You want unlimited upside. A spread gives up that tail in exchange for a lower cost.
- You know the most you can lose before you enter: the premium times quantity.
- A strike further above the market is cheaper and needs a larger move to break even.
If the view is that the price will fall, use the long put calculator. If you expect only a modest rise, a bull call spread on the options spread calculator costs less and caps the gain. A straddle is the chart for a large move when you do not pick a direction. Invert a market price first with the implied volatility calculator if you have a quote and want the vol this page will solve.
Related calculators on this site
The long put is the other single-option purchase. Spreads cap both sides. Implied vol is the same solver this page uses after Calculate.
Long call FAQ
A long call is a purchased call. You pay a premium for the right to buy the underlying at the strike. If you never exercise that right, the most you lose is the premium. The seller of the call is the short side, charted on the short call page.
For each underlying price on the x-axis, expiry P&L is quantity times (max(spot − strike, 0) minus premium). That is the grey payoff line at maturity. The coloured line is the live Black-Scholes P&L from the sliders.
Breakeven at expiry is strike plus premium. On the default inputs (premium 10, strike 100) that is 110. At that spot, expiry P&L is zero. Below 110 you have not earned back the premium.
Maximum loss is the premium times quantity: 10 on the one-lot default. Maximum gain is unlimited. The call keeps paying one-for-one as the underlying rises, after the premium is covered.
When you expect the underlying to rise by more than the premium before expiry and you want a known maximum loss. A bull call spread on the options spread calculator costs less if you only expect a modest rise, and it caps the gain.
After Calculate, the premium is inverted with the same Black-Scholes bisection as the implied volatility calculator. The default long call (price 10, spot 100, strike 100, 1%, 365 days) implies 23.97%. The sliders then reprice at that vol unless you move them. The price has to sit strictly above intrinsic or the search stops. Pricing itself uses the vanilla Black-Scholes calculator.
Disclaimer: the contents of this website are for informational purposes only and do not constitute any investment recommendation. The visitor acts at his own risk.