Account and conversion
Drawdown recovery calculator
Losses and gains are not symmetrical. After a loss, the smaller balance must grow by a larger percentage to get back to where it started. The deeper the drawdown, the faster the required gain rises, which is why many risk rules focus on limiting drawdowns.
Result
- Gain needed to recover
- 25.00%
| Drawdown | Gain needed |
|---|---|
| 5% | 5.26% |
| 10% | 11.11% |
| 20% | 25.00% |
| 30% | 42.86% |
| 40% | 66.67% |
| 50% | 100.00% |
| 60% | 150.00% |
| 70% | 233.33% |
| 80% | 400.00% |
| 90% | 900.00% |
How it is calculated
Required gain = 1 ÷ (1 − loss) − 1, with the loss as a fraction
Worked example
After a 50% drawdown, 10,000 becomes 5,000, and it takes a 100% gain to return to 10,000. A 20% drawdown needs 25%.
Assumptions and practical examples
A 50% loss reduces an illustrative 10,000 balance to 5,000. Recovering the missing 5,000 is a 100% gain on that smaller balance. A 20% loss leaves 8,000, so the 2,000 recovery is 25%.
A single losing trade and maximum drawdown are different measurements. Maximum drawdown follows a peak-to-trough path over a series; this calculator only converts a chosen percentage loss into its mathematical recovery requirement.
Questions
Why is the required gain larger than the loss?
The gain is earned on a smaller balance, so it must be a bigger percentage to restore the same amount of money.
What is maximum drawdown?
The largest fall from a peak balance to a later low before a new peak is reached.
Does this include deposits?
No. It measures recovery from trading results alone.
Results are estimates for education; your broker's contract specification and prices decide the real values. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of losing money.