Dividend Capture Calculator
After-tax yield, required recovery and break-even for short-term dividend trades.
Dividend capture trades held under 61 days don't qualify for the long-term capital gains rate — the dividend is taxed as ordinary income. Layer that on top of round-trip commissions and slippage and the question becomes: how much does the price actually need to recover for the trade to break even?
Background reading: dividend capture strategy explained and ex-dividend, record & payment dates.
Rankings →
Tickers ranked by reliability, speed, signal and yield.
Upcoming events →
Dividend capture opportunities in the next 60 days.
Methodology →
Formulas, data sources and known limitations.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this calculator default to ordinary tax instead of the qualified-dividend rate?
Pure dividend-capture trades typically hold for less than 61 days, so the dividend does not meet the holding-period rule for the lower long-term capital gains rate (0/15/20%) and is taxed at the trader's ordinary income bracket. If you hold for 61+ days within the 121-day window centered on the ex-date, you may use the qualified rate — just lower the «Tax rate» field.
What slippage should I use?
For large-cap liquid tickers, 0.05–0.10% per leg is a reasonable estimate (so 0.10–0.20% round-trip). For mid-cap or thinly traded names it can be 0.30–1.0% per leg. The calculator uses round-trip slippage as a single percentage of share price.
How does the calculator decide what “price recovery required” means?
It computes the smallest post-ex price increase (as a percentage of the share price) such that gross gain plus dividend equals total round-trip cost plus tax on the dividend. If the actual recovery is below that number, the trade loses money even after collecting the dividend.
Why is annualised after-tax yield different from the headline dividend yield?
Headline yield is annual income divided by price. Annualised after-tax yield reannualises the after-tax dividend over the actual holding period (e.g. 5 trading days), then subtracts round-trip cost. For short holding periods this can magnify a small dividend into a high apparent annual rate — but it also magnifies costs and tax drag.
Does this calculator account for market risk?
No. It models the deterministic costs and tax. Actual recovery is uncertain — the gap may not close within your holding window, especially in falling markets. See the per-ticker simulator on each /companies/{ticker}/dividend-capture page to backtest realised recovery against historical events.