Drawdown Recovery Calculator

Losses and gains are not symmetric. See exactly what a drawdown costs you.

Peak account balance ($)

Drawdown (%)

$20,000

Below peak

$80,000

Trough balance

$20,000

Gain to recover (25.0%)

Drawdown	Gain needed to recover	On a $100,000 account
5%	5.3%	$5,000
10%	11.1%	$10,000
15%	17.6%	$15,000
20%	25.0%	$20,000
30%	42.9%	$30,000
40%	66.7%	$40,000
50%	100.0%	$50,000

Recovery math is asymmetric: a 20% drawdown needs +25%, a 50% drawdown needs +100%. This asymmetry is why daily loss limits exist.

The recovery formula

Required gain % = (1 ÷ (1 − Drawdown%)) − 1

Because each loss shrinks the base you compound from, the gain needed grows faster than the drawdown itself: 10% needs 11.1%, 30% needs 42.9%, and 50% needs a full 100% just to get back to even. This asymmetry is the entire rationale for daily loss limits — capping the drawdown is worth more than chasing the recovery.

Practical rules of thumb

Keep maximum drawdown under 20% — beyond that, recovery gets brutal
Daily loss limits of 2–5% prevent one bad day from doing a month's damage
After a 10%+ drawdown, halve your size until you recover half of it

Cap the drawdown before it happens

LogYourTrade's pre-trade guardrails warn you at 80% of your daily limit and block the trade that would breach it.

Start Free

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Drawdown Recovery Calculator

Losses and gains are not symmetric. See exactly what a drawdown costs you.

Drawdown Recovery Calculator

Peak account balance ($)

Drawdown (%)

$20,000

Below peak

$80,000

Trough balance

$20,000

Gain to recover (25.0%)

Drawdown	Gain needed to recover	On a $100,000 account
5%	5.3%	$5,000
10%	11.1%	$10,000
15%	17.6%	$15,000
20%	25.0%	$20,000
30%	42.9%	$30,000
40%	66.7%	$40,000
50%	100.0%	$50,000

Recovery math is asymmetric: a 20% drawdown needs +25%, a 50% drawdown needs +100%. This asymmetry is why daily loss limits exist.

The recovery formula

Required gain % = (1 ÷ (1 − Drawdown%)) − 1

Practical rules of thumb

Keep maximum drawdown under 20% — beyond that, recovery gets brutal
Daily loss limits of 2–5% prevent one bad day from doing a month's damage
After a 10%+ drawdown, halve your size until you recover half of it

Cap the drawdown before it happens

LogYourTrade's pre-trade guardrails warn you at 80% of your daily limit and block the trade that would breach it.

Start Free