Drawdown calculator
What a run of losing trades does to your account, and how many winners it takes to climb back.
- Drawdown
- 9.61%
- Total lost
- 960.79
- Gain needed to recover
- 10.63%
- Winning trades to recover
- 3
- 10%11.1%
- 20%25.0%
- 30%42.9%
- 40%66.7%
- 50%100.0%
- 60%150.0%
- 70%233.3%
- 80%400.0%
- 90%900.0%
Why recovery takes longer than the loss
Each loss is a percentage of what is left, so the balance shrinks a little less with every trade. Getting back is harder: after a 50% loss you need a 100% gain to return to where you started.
Winning trades are counted the same way, each one earning your risk percentage times the reward to risk on the balance at that moment.
Balance after n losses = start × (1 − risk %)ⁿGain to recover = loss ÷ (100% − loss)Winning trades = ln(start ÷ balance) ÷ ln(1 + risk % × reward : risk)
Questions
What is drawdown?
The fall from the highest point of your balance to the lowest point before it recovers. It is usually given as a percentage of that high point.
What drawdown is acceptable?
Many traders aim to keep it under 20%. Prop firms often stop an account at 5% in a day or 10% overall, so their traders keep risk per trade well under 1%.
How do I keep drawdown small?
Risk a small, fixed percentage on each trade, cut that size after a few losses in a row, and avoid holding several trades that move together, such as EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
Trade the same, pay less
Every lot you trade pays spread or commission. Open your account through AutoFXRebate and the broker pays part of that cost back to you as a rebate.
Trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of losing money. These tools give estimates for planning and education, not investment advice.