EA Drawdown Recovery Calculator
If my account falls by a given percentage, how much growth is required to recover?
Drawdown recovery
Gain required to recover
42.86%
Gain required by drawdown size
The required gain rises faster than the loss. The marker shows your drawdown.
Recovery table
Estimated mathematical recovery scenario
This is a mathematical scenario, not a prediction of actual recovery time.
Methodology
Important: Estimation Only
This calculator provides mathematical projections based on the assumptions and historical/backtest statistics entered by the user. It is not a guarantee or prediction of future trading results. Actual EA performance may vary significantly due to market conditions, volatility, liquidity, spread, slippage, execution quality, commission, swap, news events, market sentiment, changes in market regime, broker conditions and differences between backtest, forward-test and live trading.
Past performance and backtest results do not guarantee future results.
Why drawdowns take more than the loss to recover
Required gain = drawdown ÷ (1 − drawdown)
A loss is taken from the full balance, but the recovery has to be earned on the smaller balance that is left. That asymmetry is small for shallow drawdowns and severe for deep ones: 10% needs 11.11%, 25% needs 33.33%, 50% needs 100% and 60% needs 150%.
Worked example
A $10,000 account that falls 30% is left with $7,000. Getting back to $10,000 means earning $3,000 on $7,000, which is 42.86%.
The optional recovery scenario uses your EA's risk per trade, win rate and reward-to-risk to estimate how many trades that could take under constant assumptions. It is a mathematical scenario, not a prediction of actual recovery time.
Frequently asked questions
How much gain is needed to recover a 30% drawdown?
About 42.86%. A 30% loss turns $10,000 into $7,000, and the $3,000 needed to get back is 42.86% of the reduced $7,000 balance.
Why is the recovery percentage larger than the loss?
The gain is earned on a smaller balance than the one the loss was taken from. The required gain is D ÷ (1 − D), which rises steeply: 50% needs 100% and 60% needs 150%.
How is the recovery time estimated?
The optional scenario uses your risk per trade, win rate and reward-to-risk to find the expected growth per trade, then counts the trades needed to return to the starting balance. It is a mathematical scenario, not a prediction of actual recovery time.
Can a 100% drawdown be recovered?
No. With a zero balance there is nothing to grow, so the calculator reports it as not recoverable.