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Drawdown Recovery Calculator
See the gain required to recover any loss.
Gain required to break even25.0%After a 20% loss, you need a 25.0% gain on the reduced balance just to return to where you started. This asymmetry is why capital preservation matters more than chasing returns.
Why losses and gains are asymmetric
A loss and the gain required to recover it are not symmetric. If you lose 10%, you need an 11.1% gain on the smaller balance to get back to even. Lose 50%, and you need a 100% gain. The deeper the drawdown, the more punishing the math becomes — which is why experienced traders treat capital preservation as the priority.
The formula is required gain = drawdown ÷ (100 − drawdown). This is the single clearest argument for strict risk limits: avoiding a large drawdown is far easier than recovering from one.
Learn more about understanding drawdowns and managing trading risk.