Risk/reward and break-even win rate calculator
Enter the entry, stop-loss and take-profit of a trade to see its reward-to-risk ratio and the share of winning trades you need just to break even.
How it's calculated
- Risk = |entry − stop-loss|, reward = |take-profit − entry|. Long at 100 with a stop at 95 and a target at 110: risk 5, reward 10.
- Reward : risk = reward ÷ risk = 10 ÷ 5 = 2, written 1 : 2.
- Break-even win rate = (risk + costs) ÷ (risk + reward). Without costs: 5 ÷ 15 = 33.33%. With 10 units and $5 of costs per trade: ($50 + $5) ÷ ($50 + $100) = 36.67%.
- Average result per trade = win rate × (reward − costs) − loss rate × (risk + costs). At the break-even win rate it is exactly zero.
Questions
What is a good reward-to-risk ratio?
There is no universal number: a ratio only means something together with your win rate. A 1 : 3 trade breaks even with 25% winners, a 1 : 1 trade needs 50%. The calculator shows the win rate your ratio requires.
Why do costs raise the break-even win rate?
Costs are paid on every trade, winning or losing. They make each loss bigger and each win smaller, so you need more winners to come out even. With small targets the effect is large.
Do I need to enter the position size?
No. Without it the calculator works in price units. Enter it to see risk and reward in money and to include your costs per trade.
What does the average result per trade tell me?
It is the expected profit or loss per trade if your win rate and the sizes of wins and losses stay as entered. It is a statistical average, not a forecast for any single trade.