Drawdown recovery calculator
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain to get back. Enter your peak and low to see the return you need, and how many trades that takes at your average.
- Drawdown
- 30.0%
- Amount to make back
- $15,000.00
- Balance remaining
- $35,000.00
- At your average
- 60 trades
Peak is the highest your account reached; low is the lowest point after it. Average profit per trade is optional and turns the recovery figure into a number of trades.
Gain needed to recover from each drawdown
The gain is measured against a smaller balance. Losing 20% of $50,000 leaves $40,000, and making back $10,000 is 25% of that.
| Drawdown | Gain needed to recover |
|---|---|
| 5% | 5.3% |
| 10% | 11.1% |
| 20% | 25.0% |
| 30% | 42.9% |
| 40% | 66.7% |
| 50% | 100.0% |
| 60% | 150.0% |
| 70% | 233.3% |
| 80% | 400.0% |
The gap widens fast past 30%. Keeping drawdown shallow keeps recovery ordinary, which is the case for small position sizes.
Drawdown recovery formula
The mental shortcut: divide 100 by (100 minus your drawdown percentage), then subtract 1. Down 20%? 100 ÷ 80 = 1.25, so 25%.
drawdown = (peak − low) ÷ peak
recovery needed = (1 ÷ (1 − drawdown)) − 1What a drawdown figure leaves out
Drawdown measures depth only. Three things that matter as much are missing from the number.
- Depth
- Peak-to-low loss as a share of the peak. The only thing it measures.
- Duration
- Three weeks and eight months read the same. The long one is where strategies get dropped.
- Cause
- Normal variance and a broken strategy look alike from inside. Only a long record separates them.
- Your limits
- On a funded account the firm's floor binds first. See trailing drawdown explained.
Size backwards from the drawdown you can sit through
Drawdown follows position size. Traders who stay under 10% mostly set that up in advance.
- 01
Pick a tolerance
The deepest drawdown you would sit through without dropping the strategy.
- 02
Count the streak
How many losses in a row it must cover. Four is common for any strategy winning under 70% of the time.
- 03
Divide
A 20% tolerance across four losses is 5% a trade, which is high. Across ten losses it is 2%.
- 04
Turn it into contracts
The position size calculator converts that percentage into contracts for your stop. Check the edge with the expectancy calculator.
Common questions
Short answers to what traders ask first. Anything else, the Help Center has it.
How do you calculate drawdown?
Subtract the lowest balance from the highest balance reached before it, then divide by that peak. A $50,000 account that fell to $35,000 has a 30% drawdown.
How much do I need to make back a 50% loss?
100%. You have to double what remains, because the gain is measured against the smaller balance.
What is the formula for drawdown recovery?
(1 ÷ (1 − drawdown)) − 1. Down 20% means 1 ÷ 0.8 = 1.25, so a 25% gain. The mental shortcut is 100 divided by (100 minus your drawdown percentage).
What is an acceptable drawdown?
The one you'll sit through without dropping the strategy, which is usually smaller than people expect. Many risk frameworks treat 20% as significant and 30% or more as a reason to stop and review.
Is maximum drawdown the same as a prop firm drawdown limit?
No. Maximum drawdown describes what happened to your equity. A prop firm's drawdown limit is a hard floor that closes the account, and it often trails behind your profits.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent, stored or logged.
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