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Drawdown Calculator

Calculate how consecutive losing trades impact your account balance.

Drawdown Scenario

USD
%

This shows why proper risk management (1-2% per trade) is crucial. Higher risk = faster account blowup.

Remaining Balance $9,039.21 9.61% drawdown
Total Loss $960.79
Recovery Needed 10.63%
Trades to Recover (at 2%) 6 trades

Why Drawdown Matters

  1. Non-linear recovery – A 50% loss requires 100% gain to recover!
  2. Psychology – Deep drawdowns cause emotional trading and bigger losses.
  3. Risk 1-2% max – This limits drawdowns and keeps you in the game.
  4. Losing streaks happen – Even with 60% win rate, 5+ losses in a row will occur.

What is a Drawdown Calculator?

A drawdown calculator shows how consecutive losing trades impact your trading account. It demonstrates the non-linear relationship between losses and recovery—the deeper your drawdown, the harder it is to recover.

This is one of the most important risk management concepts. A 50% drawdown requires a 100% gain just to break even. This is why professional traders limit risk per trade to 1-2% of their account.

Key Features

  • Consecutive loss simulation
  • Compound drawdown calculation
  • Recovery percentage needed
  • Trades to recover estimation
  • Visual drawdown demonstration
  • Risk percentage impact analysis

Frequently Asked Questions

Drawdown is the peak-to-trough decline in your account balance during a losing period. It's expressed as a percentage: if your account drops from $10,000 to $8,000, that's a 20% drawdown.

Because math is asymmetric. If you lose 50% of $10,000, you have $5,000. To get back to $10,000, you need to gain $5,000—which is 100% of your current $5,000 balance. This is why capital preservation is crucial.

Most professional strategies aim for maximum drawdowns under 20-25%. Retail traders should target even lower. A 30%+ drawdown is psychologically and mathematically very difficult to recover from.

Risk 1-2% per trade maximum, use proper stop losses, diversify across uncorrelated strategies, and reduce position size during losing streaks. Also consider taking breaks when drawdown exceeds your comfort level.