Educational tool only — not financial advice. Broker conditions, contract sizes, and pip values vary by instrument and account type; always confirm figures against your provider before trading.
How to use this calculator
Enter a value in each labelled field above. The defaults are sensible starting points, so you can see a complete result immediately and then adjust any single input. The tool recalculates on every keystroke, so the result cards always reflect your latest numbers — there is nothing to submit, no account to create, and no data is sent anywhere.
- Check the units first. Fields that expect a percentage, currency amount, or ratio are labelled with their unit. Mixing account currency with percentage values is the most common source of a wrong answer.
- Use your broker's real figures. Contract sizes, tick values, and margin rates differ between instruments and account types. Enter the numbers your provider publishes, not generic textbook values.
- Round only at the end. Keep full precision while inputs are being combined and round the final result to the precision your trading platform actually accepts.
- Compare scenarios. Change one input at a time — risk percentage, leverage, entry price — and watch how the outputs move. Comparing two or three scenarios side by side is usually more informative than a single calculation.
How this calculator works
The result you see is produced by a short formula that runs directly in your browser using the values you entered. There is no server round-trip: your inputs never leave this page, nothing is logged or stored, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded. The formula itself is published in the page source, so anyone can audit exactly how each output is derived.
Under the hood, the math follows standard market conventions — percentage of account equity, distance in price or points, and notional contract value. Where a calculation depends on a convention that varies by broker (pip value, minimum tick size, margin percentage), we use the most common industry default and expose the relevant number as an input so you can override it with your own broker's value.
Methodology and limitations
Every figure produced here is an estimate intended for planning and education. Real fills, spreads, swaps, financing charges, and currency conversions will move the final number, sometimes materially. Before placing an order, confirm the calculated size, margin, or P&L against your provider's own platform tools or trading agreement. Leverage magnifies losses as well as gains, and any calculation that assumes a fixed price path should be treated as a scenario rather than a forecast. This page does not constitute investment, tax, or financial advice.
Drawdown measures the real pain of a strategy: the decline from your equity high to the following low. Sustainable risk sizing usually targets maximum drawdowns under 20%.
Frequently Asked Questions
What drawdown is acceptable?
Professional mandates rarely exceed 15-20%; retail traders aiming beyond that usually over-leverage relative to their edge.
Why does drawdown matter more than returns?
Because recovery is non-linear: -50% needs +100% to return to break even - smaller drawdowns compound far faster on the way back.
Is this the same as a losing streak?
No - a drawdown can come from one bad trade or many; a losing streak is a count of trades, not an equity measurement.