Drawdown calculator for traders

Work out your maximum drawdown from a peak and trough or a full equity curve, and the gain it takes to recover. Free, instant and no sign-up.

Your account

Drawdown

25%

You need a 33.33% gain to get back to the peak.

Peak
12,000
Trough
9,000
Amount lost
3,000
Recovery gain
33.33%

Calculated in your browser; nothing you type is sent. The arithmetic only, not financial advice.

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The drawdown formula

Drawdown measures a fall from a high point, not a loss against what you started with. In a series of account values, maximum drawdown is the largest such fall, measured from the highest value before it.

drawdown % = (peak - trough) ÷ peak × 100
recovery gain % = drawdown % ÷ (100 - drawdown %) × 100

Worked example

Your account peaks at $12,000, then falls to $9,000 before it recovers.

  1. 1

    Find the fall

    $12,000 - $9,000 = $3,000.
  2. 2

    Divide by the peak

    $3,000 ÷ $12,000 = 25%, your drawdown.
  3. 3

    Work out the recovery

    25 ÷ (100 - 25) × 100 = 33.33%. Check it: $9,000 + 33.33% is back at $12,000. A 25% loss takes a 33.33% gain to undo.

Drawdown recovery table

The gain needed grows faster than the loss, and the gap widens the deeper you go.

Gain needed to recover from each drawdown
DrawdownGain to recover
5%5.3%
10%11.1%
20%25%
25%33.3%
30%42.9%
40%66.7%
50%100%
75%300%
90%900%

Frequently asked questions

Maximum drawdown is the largest fall from a peak to the lowest point before a new peak, as a percentage of that peak. It shows the worst loss you would have sat through, however good the final result looks.

The gain is earned on a smaller balance. Lose 50% of $10,000 and you have $5,000, which has to double to get back to $10,000. That is why the gain needed climbs faster than the drawdown.

Equity gives the truer figure, because it includes open trades. Closing balances hide any fall that happened inside a trade. Whichever you use, enter account values, not daily profit and loss.

There is no single limit. It depends on your strategy, your leverage and how much you can sit through without changing your plan. If you trade a funded account, the firm sets a hard limit that may be well below what your strategy normally produces.

No. This is a percentage fall from your own peak. Prop firms usually set a dollar floor, which can be static or trail your balance, so the two can give different answers. Our trailing drawdown guide explains how those floors move.