Basis Points Calculator

What is a basis point?

A basis point is one hundredth of one percent. One basis point (1 bp) is 0.01%, and as a plain decimal it's 0.0001. So 100 basis points make 1%, and 10,000 make 100%. This basis points calculator moves between those three forms while you type, and tells you what a number of basis points is worth on any amount.

Finance uses the unit because the numbers it cares about are small and already percentages. A mortgage rate, a bond yield, a fund's annual fee and the gap between two interest rates all live in the range where a tenth of a percent matters. On a $1,000,000 loan, 10 basis points is $1,000 a year. Nobody wants to say "zero point one zero percentage points" out loud, so they say "ten bips."

You'll see basis points in three places more than anywhere else. The first is central bank decisions ("the Fed cut 25 basis points"). The second is fund and advisory fees ("75 bps a year"). The third is spreads between two yields ("the bond trades 85 bps over Treasuries"). Each time, the question is the same. What is that as a percent, and what does it cost me?

How to use the basis points calculator

There's one screen and no button. The cursor starts in the first box.

1. Type a number into Basis points, Percent or Decimal. The other two boxes fill in on every keystroke. Type 25 in Basis points and you get 0.25 and 0.0025.
2. Paste freely. 25 bps, 0.25% and $1,000,000 all read correctly. A pasted value that carries its unit goes to that unit's box, so 25 bps dropped into Percent still lands as 25 basis points.
3. For a cut or a discount, put a minus in front: -50 bps is -0.5% and -0.005.
4. Optional: type an amount in Amount. A line appears underneath, like 75 bps of 500,000 = 3,750.00.
5. Hit Copy next to any box to take the bare number with no % or bps attached. That's the form a spreadsheet wants.

That's the whole flow. There's no account, no sign-up and nothing to dismiss before you can type. A lot of finance sites wrap this exact decimal shift in a broker account-opening funnel, or park it three scrolls below a sponsored explainer. Some sell it as one cell inside a terminal subscription billed per seat. Here it's the first thing on the page.

The formula behind basis points

Converting basis points to percent, or percent to basis points, is one decimal shift. All three boxes in the basis points calculator hold the same number with the decimal point in a different place.

Going the other way, multiply: a percent times 100 is basis points, and a decimal times 10,000 is basis points. So 4.25% is 425 bps, and so is 0.0425.

Here's a worked example. A fund charges 12.5 basis points a year and you hold $250,000 in it.

• As a percent: 12.5 ÷ 100 = 0.125%
• As a decimal: 12.5 ÷ 10,000 = 0.00125
• In money: 250,000 × 12.5 ÷ 10,000 = 312.50 a year

Type 12.5 and 250000 into the basis points calculator and it shows exactly that: 0.125, 0.00125 and 12.5 bps of 250,000 = 312.50.

Why "just multiply by 100" goes wrong

The math is simple. Computers still get it wrong, because most calculators store numbers as binary floating point, and binary can't hold 0.29 exactly. Multiply 0.29 by 100 that way and you get 28.999999999999996. Try 0.07 and you get 7.000000000000001. Try 0.57 and you get 56.99999999999999. A basis points calculator that prints 28.999999999999996 bps is broken, and the people who use one are exactly the people who notice.

This one never multiplies. It moves the decimal point in the digits you typed, so 0.29% is exactly 29 bps, 0.57% is exactly 57, and 1.1% is exactly 110. The money line works the same way, in whole cents, and rounds half up. 25 bps of 1,002 is exactly 2.505, which rounds to 2.51. A quick rounding shortcut in a lot of code returns 2.50 for that same number, which is a cent off.

Common basis point values

Most real-world numbers fall on a handful of round values. Here they are in all three forms, plus what each is worth on $100,000 and on $1,000,000. Every row comes straight from the basis points calculator. The quick bps to percent rule: move the point two places left. For basis points to decimal, move it four.

Look at the last two columns. A basis point is tiny on its own, but it scales with the balance, and fees and interest repeat every year. A 1 bp difference on $1,000,000 is $100 a year. Stretch that over 20 years of a retirement account and it's real money, which is why a fund's fee is quoted to the basis point.

The 25 row is the one you'll see in the news most. A quarter point is the standard single move for most central banks. 50 bps is a big move, and 75 or more makes headlines.

Where you'll meet basis points

Mortgages and loans

When a lender quotes you 25 bps lower, type -25 and your balance. On $400,000 the line reads -25 bps of 400,000 = -1,000.00. That's the change in one year of interest on the full balance. Your real saving is a little smaller, because the balance shrinks as you pay it down. For the monthly payment itself, use the mortgage calculator or the loan calculator and run both rates.

Fund and advisory fees

Expense ratios are where basis points quietly cost the most. Say you're comparing a fund at 18 bps with one at 4 bps, on $85,000. The calculator gives 153.00 against 34.00. That's $119 a year for what may be the same index. It's the same pattern as every per-seat software bill: a small number, charged forever, on a base that keeps growing.

Spreads between two rates

A spread is the gap between two yields, quoted in basis points. If a corporate bond yields 5.10% and the matching Treasury yields 4.25%, subtract to get 0.85%, then type 0.85 into Percent. It shows 85 bps. The calculator doesn't do the subtraction for you. It converts one rate at a time, so do the difference first. The percent change calculator answers a different question, the relative change. There, going from 4% to 5% is a 25% rise, which is 100 bps.

Edge cases and limitations

A few inputs behave in ways worth knowing before you trust a number from the basis points calculator.

• Comma decimals. The calculator reads 0,25 as an error and says "Use a dot for decimals, like 0.25. Commas only group thousands." A value like 1,250 is read as one thousand two hundred fifty, and a note says so: "Read as 1,250. If you meant 1.25, type it with a dot."
• Tiny amounts round. 1 bp of 49 is 0.0049, which rounds to 0.00. 1 bp of 50 rounds up to 0.01. A negative value rounds the same way, away from zero, so -1 bp of 50 is -0.01.
• Amounts are never negative. A minus typed into Amount is dropped. Put the minus on the basis points instead.
• Precision caps. Basis points go to 6 decimals, percent to 8, decimal to 10, and amounts to the cent. Type more and you're asked to trim the extra digits rather than having them silently rounded.
• Range. Basis points run from -1,000,000 to 1,000,000, which is -10,000% to 10,000%. Amounts go up to 999,999,999,999.99. Past that you'll see "That's past what this calculator handles. Try a smaller number."
• No currency. The amount is just a number. Dollars, euros and rupees all work, because the math doesn't care.

It's not a bond calculator. Duration, yield to maturity and price change per basis point need a coupon, a maturity and a price, which is a different job. For growth over time, the compound interest calculator is the right tool. For turning any decimal into a percent outside of finance, use decimal to percent.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use basis points in a spreadsheet formula?

Convert basis points to decimal first, then multiply. A 25 bp fee on a balance in cell A1 is =A1*0.0025, or =A1*25/10000 if you'd rather keep the basis points visible. Copy from the Decimal box and you get the bare number with no % sign. Pasting a % into a formula is the usual way a spreadsheet ends up off by a factor of 100.

What's a normal fund fee in basis points?

Broad index funds often charge under 10 bps a year. Actively managed funds commonly land somewhere between 50 and 100 bps, and some charge more. An adviser's fee usually comes on top. Add the two together, type the total with your balance, and you'll see the yearly cost in money rather than a percent that's easy to wave away.

Is a basis point the same as a permyriad?

Yes. A permyriad (‱) is one part in 10,000, which is exactly a basis point. A permille (‰) is one part in 1,000, so 1‰ is 10 bps. Finance says "basis point", while the symbols show up more in science and engineering.

How much does a quarter-point rate change move my mortgage?

For a rough yearly figure, type 25 and your balance: on $300,000 that's $750 of interest a year. The change in the monthly payment is usually a bit less than a twelfth of that, because part of every payment goes to principal, not interest. Run both rates through the mortgage calculator for the exact payment.

What does "85 bps over Treasuries" mean?

The bond yields 0.85 percentage points more than a government bond of the same maturity. If the Treasury pays 4.25%, the bond pays 5.10%. That extra 85 bps is what investors ask for the added risk of lending to a company instead of a government.

Why does the calculator say my number has too many decimals?

Each box has a fixed precision: 6 decimals for basis points, 8 for percent, 10 for decimal and 2 for amounts. They line up, so a basis point value with 6 decimals is exactly a percent with 8. Anything finer than that isn't a quote anyone uses, so the calculator asks you to trim it. It won't round it for you, because rounding without asking is the exact bug it exists to avoid.