Drawdown Calculator
Measure how far your account has fallen from its peak, and the gain you need to climb back. Losses and recoveries are not symmetric, and that gap grows fast.
Your account
The asymmetry of loss
| Drawdown | Gain to recover |
|---|---|
| -5% | +5.3% |
| -10% | +11.1% |
| -20% | +25.0% |
| -30% | +42.9% |
| -50% | +100.0% |
| -70% | +233.3% |
| -90% | +900.0% |
A 20% loss needs a 25% gain just to break even. This is why capping losses early matters more than chasing big wins.
Why drawdown matters
Drawdown is the drop from a peak to a trough in your account. It matters more than any single loss because recovery is non-linear: the deeper the hole, the disproportionately larger the gain needed to climb out.
Lose 50% and you need 100% to get back. Lose 90% and you need 900%. Protecting capital with the Stop Loss Calculator keeps you out of the part of the curve where recovery becomes nearly impossible.
Disclaimer
Educational tool only, not investment advice. Trading carries risk of loss.
Common questions
- What is a drawdown?
- The percentage drop from a peak balance to a later trough. It measures the worst decline an account has experienced.
- Why is the recovery gain larger than the loss?
- Because the gain is calculated on the smaller, reduced balance. A 50% loss halves your capital, so you need to double it (+100%) to recover.
- What is a safe maximum drawdown?
- It is personal, but many traders treat 20% as a serious warning and design risk per trade so a losing streak never approaches it.