Early in my trading I lost 20% of an account in a bad month. My recovery plan was simple: make 20% back. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise the maths does not work that way. A 20% loss needs a 25% gain to recover, because the gain is earned on the smaller balance that is left. I was aiming at the wrong target for weeks.
In this article
The Drawdown Recovery Gain Calculator above exists so you never aim at the wrong target. Enter your loss and your account size. It tells you the real gain you need, the dollars it represents, and where your equity stands now.
Why a loss and its recovery are never the same size
Losses and gains are measured from different starting points. Lose 20% of $100,000 and you have $80,000. The $20,000 you must win back is now a quarter of what you have, not a fifth. The hole is always deeper than it looks from the top, and every extra percent of loss makes the climb steeper than the last one.
This asymmetry is the reason risk management people obsess over avoiding the first 10% rather than engineering brilliant comebacks. A comeback is always the harder trade. For the habits that keep you out of the hole, read what to do after failing a prop firm challenge alongside this calculator.
The recovery formula
Write the loss as a decimal, so 10% becomes 0.10. The gain you need, also as a decimal, is:
Multiply by 100 for the percentage. For a 10% loss: 0.10 divided by 0.90 is 0.1111, or 11.11%. The table below breaks down what each symbol means:
| Variable | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| L (loss) | Your drawdown as a decimal | 0.10 (a 10% loss) |
| 1 − L | The fraction of the account that remains | 0.90 |
| G (gain) | The recovery gain as a decimal | 0.1111 |
| G × 100 | The recovery gain as a percentage | 11.11% |
The denominator is the whole story. As the loss grows, the remaining fraction shrinks, and the required gain accelerates. That is the curve in the next section.
Where the curve turns brutal
Up to about 10%, the recovery gain is barely above the loss and nobody panics. Past 20%, the curve bends hard. Memorise the shape of it, because your emotions will not do this maths for you in a drawdown:
| Loss | Gain needed to recover | How it feels |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | 5.26% | A rounding error |
| 10% | 11.11% | Annoying but routine |
| 20% | 25.00% | A serious project |
| 30% | 42.86% | The hole owns you now |
| 40% | 66.67% | Months of perfect trading |
| 50% | 100.00% | You must double the account |
The jump from 20% to 30% of loss adds nearly 18 points to the required gain. That is why my personal circuit breaker sits well before 20%. I would rather take a week off at minus 12% than discover what minus 30% demands. A plain-language definition of the term sits in the Investopedia drawdown guide.
A $100,000 account with a 10% hole
Here is the worked case the calculator runs by default. Account $100,000. Loss 10%.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Dollars lost | $100,000 × 10% | $10,000 |
| Remaining equity | $100,000 − $10,000 | $90,000 |
| Gain needed | 10 ÷ (100 − 10) | 11.11% |
| Check | $90,000 × 11.11% | $10,000 ✓ |
| Target | $90,000 + $10,000 | $100,000 |
The trap at this point is sizing up to “recover faster”. If you double your risk and lose again, the hole is now roughly 19%, and the required gain jumps to about 23%. Chasing recovery with bigger risk is how a 10% problem becomes a 30% problem. Keep the risk percentage fixed and let the maths work at your normal pace.
Using the Drawdown Recovery Gain Calculator step by step
Fill the two fields at the top of this page, then press Calculate.
| Input field | What to enter | Sample figure |
|---|---|---|
| Loss / drawdown (%) | How far the account has fallen | 10 |
| Account size ($) | The balance before the loss | 100000 |
The results show the gain needed to recover, the dollars to recover, your remaining equity and the target to get back to. The bar visualises the depth of the hole, and the status line states the gain plainly. While you climb out, the Max Daily Drawdown Calculator guards the floor and the Prop Firm Consistency Rule Calculator keeps any recovery spike from breaking your payout eligibility. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is stored.
Questions traders ask about drawdown recovery
Why is the recovery gain always bigger than the loss?
Because the gain is earned on the smaller remaining balance. After a 20% loss you have 80% left, and the missing 20% is a quarter of that 80%. The formula is G = L ÷ (1 − L), so the required gain grows faster than the loss every step of the way.
I lost 50%. Is recovery realistic?
Honest answer: rarely on the same account. You must double what remains, which at normal risk takes many months of near-perfect trading, and one more bad week ends it. Most traders in that hole are better off resetting with a smaller account and treating the tuition as paid.
Should I increase risk to recover faster?
No. Bigger risk makes the asymmetry work against you twice: the next loss digs a deeper hole and the required gain climbs even faster. I keep my risk percentage exactly fixed during recovery and accept that it takes longer. Slow and certain beats fast and dead.
Does the recovery formula change on prop firm accounts?
The maths is identical, but the constraints are tighter. A prop account has hard floors, so a deep recovery attempt can breach the account before the gain arrives. Check your overall floor with a max overall drawdown calculator before you commit to a long climb.
What is a realistic recovery plan after a 10% drawdown?
Mine is: stop for a day, review the losing trades, then return at normal risk with a written weekly target. At 1% a week, 10% takes about ten good weeks. It feels slow, and that is the point. The traders who recover are the ones who stop the hole from growing first.
