How is drawdown recovery calculated?

Recovery is asymmetric. To recover from a drawdown of D%, you need a gain of D / (100 − D) × 100 percent. A 10% drawdown needs 11.1% to recover; a 20% drawdown needs 25%; a 50% drawdown needs 100%. This is why controlling drawdown depth matters more than chasing returns.

How many losses can a funded account survive?

It depends on your risk per trade. At 0.5% per trade, roughly 20 consecutive losses reach a 10% maximum drawdown; at 1% about 10 losses; at 2% about 5 losses. Because losing streaks are statistically normal, lower risk per trade dramatically increases the number of losses your account can absorb.

Drawdown Calculator

See how far a losing streak draws down your account — and the gain required to climb back. Recovery is asymmetric, which is exactly why drawdown control matters.

Account Balance ($)

Risk Per Trade (%)

Consecutive Losses

Drawdown

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Dollar Loss

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Remaining

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Gain to Recover

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The Recovery Asymmetry

The deeper the hole, the disproportionately larger the climb out. This is pure arithmetic — and the single strongest argument for keeping risk per trade small.

Drawdown	Gain Required to Recover
5%	5.3%
10%	11.1%
20%	25.0%
30%	42.9%
50%	100.0%
75%	300.0%

Go Deeper

Drawdown is the constraint that ends most funded challenges. Understand exactly how the different drawdown types are calculated — including trailing/high-water-mark models — and how to manage them proactively.

Drawdown Explained → Risk Management Hub