Risk & Money Management
Drawdown & Recovery Calculator
Calculate account drawdown % and the gain required to recover it, from starting and current balance — with a full 5%-90% drawdown-to-recovery reference table.
Gain required to recover
25%
- Drawdown
- 20%
- Balance needed to recover
- $10,000.00
| Drawdown | Gain to recover |
|---|---|
| -5% | +5.3% |
| -10% | +11.1% |
| -15% | +17.6% |
| -20% | +25% |
| -25% | +33.3% |
| -30% | +42.9% |
| -35% | +53.8% |
| -40% | +66.7% |
| -45% | +81.8% |
| -50% | +100% |
| -55% | +122.2% |
| -60% | +150% |
| -65% | +185.7% |
| -70% | +233.3% |
| -75% | +300% |
| -80% | +400% |
| -85% | +566.7% |
| -90% | +900% |
Recovery gain = drawdown ÷ (1 − drawdown), always larger than the loss itself.
Worked example
An account falls from $10,000 to $8,000.
- Drawdown
- ($10,000 − $8,000) ÷ $10,000 = 20%
- Recovery needed
- 20% ÷ (1 − 20%) = 25%
- Balance needed
- $8,000 × 1.25 = $10,000
A 20% drawdown needs a 25% gain — not 20% — to get back to the original $10,000.
How this is calculated
Drawdown is the percentage fall from a starting balance: drawdown = (starting − current) ÷ starting.
Recovery is asymmetric — a loss shrinks the base you have to grow from, so the gain needed is always larger: recovery = drawdown ÷ (1 − drawdown). A 50% loss needs a 100% gain; a 90% loss needs a 900% gain.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the recovery % equals the drawdown % — it's always larger because the gain is measured against a smaller post-loss balance.
- Not re-checking recovery requirements as a drawdown deepens — the required gain accelerates sharply past a 50% loss.
- Confusing account drawdown with a single trade's loss — drawdown here refers to the whole account balance from a starting point.
Frequently asked questions
- How is drawdown recovery calculated?
- Recovery % = drawdown % ÷ (1 − drawdown %). A 50% loss needs a 100% gain; a 20% loss needs a 25% gain.
- Why isn't recovery the same percentage as the loss?
- Because the recovery gain is calculated on the smaller, post-drawdown balance, not the original larger balance.
- What's considered a dangerous level of drawdown?
- There's no fixed threshold, but recovery requirements grow non-linearly — a 50% drawdown needs 100% and a 90% drawdown needs 900%, which is why many risk frameworks cap maximum drawdown well below that.
- Does this account for time to recover?
- No — it only calculates the percentage gain needed, not how long that might take at a given return rate. Use the compounding calculator to project time to recovery at an assumed return per period.
- Can I enter drawdown % directly instead of two balances?
- This tool takes starting and current balance; enter a current balance equal to starting balance × (1 − drawdown %) to test a specific drawdown %.
- Is this the same as max drawdown in a trading journal?
- Conceptually yes — it's the peak-to-current (or peak-to-trough) decline in account balance, expressed as a percentage.