Why does a 50% loss need a 100% gain?

Because the gain is earned on the smaller balance that remains. Halving 10,000 leaves 5,000, and doubling that is the only way back to the starting point.

What counts as a normal drawdown?

It depends entirely on the strategy and the risk taken per trade. The practical takeaway from the table is that recovery difficulty rises much faster than the loss itself.

How is the number of winning trades estimated?

It compounds your average net gain per winning trade until the required recovery gain is reached. It ignores further losses, so treat it as a best case.

FX Vector Lab · Calculator

Drawdown recovery calculator

Losses and recoveries are not symmetrical. Enter a drawdown to see the gain needed to get back to break-even, and how far that gap widens as losses deepen.

Account currency

Starting balance

USD

Drawdown suffered

Average net gain per winning trade

Used to estimate how many compounding gains of this size it would take to get back to break-even.

Gain required to recover a given drawdown
Drawdown	Gain needed
5 %	5.3 %
10 %	11.1 %
20 %	25.0 %
30 %	42.9 %
40 %	66.7 %
50 %	100.0 %
60 %	150.0 %
75 %	300.0 %
90 %	900.0 %

Gain needed to break even

25.0 %

Capital lost: $2,000.00
Remaining balance: $8,000.00
Amount to recover: $2,000.00
Winning trades required: 11.3
Drawdown applied: 20.00 %

Recovery gain = drawdown ÷ (100 − drawdown). The asymmetry is why capping per-trade risk matters more than raising win rate.

How this calculator works

Recovery gain = drawdown ÷ (100 − drawdown). A 10% loss needs 11.1% to recover, 30% needs 42.9%, and 50% needs a full 100%.

The curve is the strongest argument for capping risk per trade: keeping losses shallow costs a little upside, while deep drawdowns demand returns that most strategies cannot realistically produce.

The trade estimate compounds your average winning trade until the required gain is met. It assumes no further losses, so real recoveries take longer.

Frequently asked questions

Why does a 50% loss need a 100% gain?: Because the gain is earned on the smaller balance that remains. Halving 10,000 leaves 5,000, and doubling that is the only way back to the starting point.
What counts as a normal drawdown?: It depends entirely on the strategy and the risk taken per trade. The practical takeaway from the table is that recovery difficulty rises much faster than the loss itself.
How is the number of winning trades estimated?: It compounds your average net gain per winning trade until the required recovery gain is reached. It ignores further losses, so treat it as a best case.