Why Your Breakeven Price Is Not Your Entry Price

BullCalc Team · October 11, 2026 · 2 min read

You open a long, the price goes up, then comes back down. You close at your entry thinking you got out even. Then you check your balance and it is a little lower. The reason is fees, and it is why your real breakeven price is never your entry.

Two fees, one trade

Every trade pays a fee to open and a fee to close. With a 0.05% fee on each side, a round trip costs 0.1% of the position. To come out even, the price has to move 0.1% in your favour first. That price is your breakeven.

Why it matters more than it seems

A 0.1% move sounds trivial, but it matters in a few common situations:

• Scalping. If your target is only 0.3% away, fees take a third of the profit.
• High leverage. At 25x, a 0.1% fee cost is 2.5% of your margin.
• Stops moved to entry. A stop at the entry price still loses the fees.

Moving your stop to breakeven, the right way

Moving the stop to breakeven after the trade goes in your favour is a popular way to remove risk. To do it properly, place the stop at the real breakeven price, slightly beyond the entry, so that if it is hit you actually lose nothing.

Some traders go a little further and place it a few ticks beyond breakeven to cover slippage on the stop order.

Funding moves breakeven too

If you hold a perpetual position through funding times and pay funding, your breakeven moves further away. Receiving funding pulls it closer. For multi-day trades, add funding to your fee costs. The funding fee calculator helps with that.

Quick reference

For a long at 60,000 with 0.05% fees on both sides, breakeven is about 60,060. With maker fees of 0.02% on both sides, it is about 60,024. The breakeven price calculator gives the exact number for your fees.

This article is for education only and is not financial advice.