Drawdown recovery calculator
If your balance drops 20%, 30% or 50%, see what percent gain on the remaining capital it takes to get back.
Free · works without signing up
From numbers to practice
In the app you practise on a paper account without risking real money: a $10,000 virtual balance.
Signing up is free and takes a minute via Telegram.
What it calculates
Shows how much profit you need on your REMAINING capital to recover a loss. Loss and recovery are disproportionate: the bigger the loss, the more unfairly hard the recovery.
Formula
Profit needed% = Drawdown ÷ (100 − Drawdown) × 100%
Example
Given
- Balance — $1000
- Drawdown — 20%
- Lost: $1000 × 20% = $200. Remaining capital: $800.
- You now need to get from $800 back to $1000 — that's $200, which is 25% of $800.
- By formula: 20 ÷ (100 − 20) = 0.25 → +25%.
- Recovering -20% takes +25%, not +20%. That's where the gap starts.
Result: Getting $800 back to $1000 requires +25% profit.
Tip
The gap widens fast: -50% → +100%, -90% → +900%. Avoiding large drawdowns matters more than chasing gains. The table on the card makes this obvious.
Frequently asked questions
- What gain does it take to recover from a −50% loss?
- +100%: the remaining half has to double. Formula: Drawdown ÷ (100 − Drawdown) × 100%.
- Why does recovery need a bigger percent than the loss?
- The gain is measured on smaller capital. After −20% you have $800, and getting back to $1000 takes 25% of $800.
- How can I limit drawdown?
- Small risk per trade (1–2%), stop-losses and a daily loss limit.
Further reading
- Position size and risk/reward: the 2 questions before every tradeHow many shares to buy and whether the trade is worth it — work out both before you enter. Formulas, a worked example and the most common mistakes.
- Trading journal: what to record and how to analyse the resultsA journal isn't a notebook — it shows which of your decisions make money and which lose it. What to record, which numbers to watch, and CSV import.
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