Calculate your Ethereum profit or loss
Use the free TokenTax Ethereum profit calculator to estimate how much an ETH investment gained or lost between two dates. Enter your investment amount, choose your buy and sell dates, and see your estimated dollar return and percentage gain or loss.
You don’t need to connect a wallet or create an account. You can use the calculator to review a past ETH investment or test different historical dates before making a decision. Results are estimates, not a substitute for your actual purchase and sale records.
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How to use the Ethereum profit calculator
To use the calculator:
Choose your currency: Select USD or another available base currency.
Enter your investment: Add the amount you invested in Ethereum.
Choose your buy date: Select the date you bought ETH.
Choose your sell date: Select when you sold ETH, or the historical date you want to compare against.
Review your results: See the estimated profit or loss in your selected currency and the percentage return for your chosen period.
You can change the amount or dates to compare different ETH investment scenarios.
How to calculate Ethereum profit
For a completed ETH sale, the basic tax calculation is:
Gain or loss = Proceeds - Cost basis
Your proceeds generally equal the amount you received from selling your ETH, reduced by qualifying transaction costs associated with the sale. Your crypto cost basis generally starts with what you paid for the ETH, including qualifying acquisition costs.
For example, suppose you buy ETH for $2,000 and pay a $20 qualifying purchase fee. Your starting basis is $2,020. You later sell the ETH for $3,000 and pay a $10 qualifying selling fee, leaving $2,990 of proceeds.
$2,990 - $2,020 = $970 gain
That $970 is the capital gain before considering any other applicable tax rules or adjustments.
The IRS uses the same basic proceeds-minus-basis framework for digital-asset gains and losses. See the IRS digital asset FAQs for additional guidance.
Realized vs. unrealized Ethereum profit
An ETH investment can show a profit even when you haven’t sold anything yet. That is an unrealized gain.
If you bought ETH for $2,000 and it is now worth $3,000, you have a $1,000 unrealized gain as long as you continue to hold it. Buying and holding ETH does not create a capital gain for federal income tax purposes. Staking rewards are a separate case, taxed as income when you gain control of them (Rev. Rul. 2023-14).
A gain or loss generally becomes realized when you sell, swap, spend, or otherwise dispose of ETH. The IRS treats digital assets held for investment as property, so those disposals can create capital gains or losses.
Learn more about how to calculate your crypto taxes and review the IRS’s digital asset guidance.
Do Ethereum gas fees affect your profit?
Yes. Ethereum gas fees and other transaction costs reduce your economic return, but their tax treatment depends on why you paid them.
Certain transaction costs incurred when acquiring ETH can increase your cost basis. Qualifying costs tied to a sale or other disposition can reduce your amount realized. Paying gas in ETH is itself a disposal of that ETH, so it can create a small gain or loss.
Moving ETH between two wallets you own is not a taxable event, but the ETH you spend on gas for that transfer counts as disposed of, so it can produce a small gain or loss (IRS Digital Asset FAQ A81). The fee also isn’t added to the basis of the ETH you moved (FAQ A53).
That distinction is one reason the return shown by a simple Ethereum calculator may differ from the gain or loss that ultimately appears on your tax return.
Ethereum profit vs. taxable capital gain
The profit shown by an Ethereum calculator and the capital gain reported on your taxes are not always the same number.
A simple calculator estimates how an investment's value has changed. Your taxable gain or loss is based on your actual amount realized and adjusted basis for the specific ETH you disposed of.
Your tax calculation can also depend on:
Qualifying acquisition and disposal costs
The specific ETH lot you sold
Your cost basis method and records, tracked separately for each wallet and account since January 1, 2025
How long you held the ETH
Whether the transaction was a sale, swap, spend, or another type of disposal
If you held ETH for one year or less, a capital gain is short-term and taxed at your ordinary income rate. If you held it for more than one year, it is long-term and taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%. For 2026, the 0% rate applies to taxable income up to $49,450 for single filers and $98,900 for joint filers, and the 15% rate applies up to $545,500 and $613,700 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
TokenTax’s crypto tax rates guide explains the current rules in more detail.
How are Ethereum profits reported on your taxes?
If you sell or otherwise dispose of ETH held as an investment, you generally report the resulting capital gain or loss on your federal income tax return.
The IRS directs taxpayers to use Form 8949 for sales, exchanges, and other dispositions of digital assets held as capital assets. Those totals generally flow to Schedule D.
Our updated guide explains how to fill out Form 8949 for cryptocurrency, including the digital-asset boxes and Form 1099-DA reporting rules.
For sales made after 2025, brokers generally must report basis on Form 1099-DA, but only for covered digital assets, meaning ETH acquired after 2025 in that same custodial account. Basis may still be missing for noncovered ETH, including certain assets transferred into a broker.
You can review the current IRS Form 1099-DA instructions for more information.