if you get a 5% long term capital gain what is it based on the value of the stock price?

Answer 1

What you got for the stock when you sold it (proceeds) minus what you paid for it when you bought it (basis).

Answer 2

sale price minus basis. Basis is purchase price adjusted for any splits, reinvested dividends you already paid the tax on, and commissions.

Answer 3

In simple terms, capital gain is the difference between the current price and the price the stock was bought at.  So a 5% capital gain for a stock means it is now worth 5% more than when it was purchased.  For example if the stock was bought at $50 and is now worth $52.50, it has a 5% capital gain.  The capital gain is not "realized" until the stock is actually sold.

"Long term" means that it was purchased more than a year ago.

Answer 4

Capital gains is the selling price (minus commissions) minus the purchase price (plus commissions).

So if you sell stocks for say $10000 and it costs you $50, your net money is $9950.

If you purchased that same stock for $7500 and again, you paid $50, your cost basis is $7550.

Your capital gains in this case is $9950 - $7550 = $2200.  Your capital gains as a percentage is $2200 / $7750 * 100 = 28.4%.