Drawdown calculator
Find the maximum drawdown of your account or backtest, and see how much you need to gain to get back to the peak.
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Gain needed to recover
| Drawdown | Gain needed |
|---|---|
| −5% | +5.3% |
| −10% | +11.1% |
| −15% | +17.6% |
| −20% | +25% |
| −25% | +33.3% |
| −30% | +42.9% |
| −40% | +66.7% |
| −50% | +100% |
| −60% | +150% |
| −75% | +300% |
| −90% | +900% |
How it works
What drawdown is
Drawdown is the fall from the highest account value so far (the peak) to a later low (the trough). Maximum drawdown is the largest such fall, in money or in percent of the peak.
Losses and gains are not symmetric
Gain needed = loss ÷ (1 − loss). After a 20% drawdown you need +25% to get back; after 50%, +100%; after 75%, +300%. That is why limiting drawdown matters more than the extra return of more risk.
Drawdown in a backtest
The maximum drawdown of a backtest is one path through history. Live trading will meet a different order of trades, and the next drawdown can be deeper. Plan for more than the backtest showed.
Questions
How is maximum drawdown calculated?
Track the highest value reached so far. At each point, drawdown is that peak minus the current value. The maximum drawdown is the largest of those, often shown as a percent of the peak.
How much do I need to gain after a 50% loss?
100%. Half of the account has to double to return to where it started.
What is a good maximum drawdown?
It depends on what you can live with. Many traders size positions so that the expected maximum drawdown stays below 20–30% of the account.
Drawdown in money or percent?
Percent compares accounts of different sizes; money tells you what you actually lost. This calculator shows both.
Test the idea on years of data, not one trade
AlphaPrime generates and backtests futures strategies on your GPU, with contract specs, trading costs and sessions built in, then exports the strategy code for your trading platform.
For education. Not investment advice. Check the exchange before you trade.