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Use the risk calculator

Work out what a trade risked and what it returned in R, with the exact formulas VEXA uses and how to fix a wrong contract multiplier.

Same on every platform Updated

What this does

The Risk tab turns a stop loss and a target into numbers: what the trade risked in dollars, what it stood to make, the risk to reward ratio you planned, and what you actually got in R.

Before you start

VEXA does not know your stop. Brokers do not export it, so the calculator is empty until you type it in. Nothing on this tab is filled in for you except the entry price, the quantity and the contract multiplier.

Actual R:R needs a stop loss. R is measured against what you risked, so without a stop there is nothing to divide by.

Check the multiplier before you trust anything. A wrong multiplier is a 10x or 100x error in every figure on the tab.

The fields

Position Information

FieldNotes
Entry PriceRead-only, taken from your fills.
Stop LossWhere you were getting out if you were wrong.
Take ProfitYour target.
Actual QuantityShares or contracts.

Account Risk

FieldNotes
Account Size ($)The account this trade was in.
Risk (%)How much of that account you are willing to lose on one trade.

What VEXA calculates

potential loss = |stop - entry| x quantity x multiplier
potential gain = |target - entry| x quantity x multiplier
R:R ratio      = potential gain / potential loss        shown as 1:X.XX
dollar risk    = account size x risk % / 100
actual R:R     = trade P&L / potential loss             shown as +1.42R or -0.80R

Suggested position size works backwards from your dollar risk:

suggested size = floor(dollar risk / (|entry - stop| x multiplier))

It is rounded down, so it never suggests a size that risks more than you said.

Actual R:R uses the trade’s real P&L, which is already net of commissions. A trade that hit its target exactly can still come back slightly under its planned R because of fees.

Steps

  1. Open the trade from Trades or from a Journal day card.
  2. Click the Risk tab in the left panel.
  3. Check the contract multiplier. Use the pencil next to it to correct it.
  4. Enter your Stop Loss and Take Profit.
  5. Enter your Account Size and Risk (%).
  6. Read the Calculated Risk and Actual Results blocks below.
  1. Open the trade from Metrics or from a Journal day.
  2. Open the Risk section.
  3. Check the Multiplier row and correct it if it is wrong.
  4. Enter Stop Loss, Take Profit, Account Size and Risk (%).
  5. Read Potential Loss, Potential Gain, R:R Ratio and Dollar Risk, then Actual Results underneath.
  1. Open the trade from Trades in the sidebar.
  2. Open the Risk section.
  3. Check the multiplier, then enter Stop Loss, Take Profit, Account Size and Risk (%).
  4. Read the calculated figures below.
  1. Open the trade from Metrics or from a Journal day.
  2. Tap the Risk tab.
  3. The Risk Calculator opens with the contract multiplier row at the top. Correct it if needed.
  4. Fill in Position Information, then Account Risk.
  5. Read Calculated Risk and Actual Results. Fields VEXA cannot compute yet render as --.
  1. Open the trade from Trades in the sidebar.
  2. Tap the Risk tab.
  3. Check the multiplier, fill in the stop, target, account size and risk percentage, and read the calculated figures.

The contract multiplier

The multiplier is how many units of the underlying one contract controls. It is 1 for stocks, 100 for standard options, a per-contract figure for futures, and the lot size for forex.

VEXA detects it from the symbol. It knows the common option symbol formats, a table of futures roots including ES at 50, NQ at 20, MES at 5, MNQ at 2, CL at 1000 and GC at 100, and the three standard forex lot sizes of 100,000, 10,000 and 1,000.

If it gets one wrong, override it with the pencil. A value you store always wins over detection.

The low risk to reward warning

When the planned ratio comes out under 2, VEXA shows Low Risk/Reward Ratio with a suggestion to adjust the stop or the target for at least 1:2. It is a prompt, not a rule, and it does not change any of your numbers.

What you should see

The Calculated Risk block fills in as soon as a stop is present, and Actual Results appears with it for a closed trade. The R:R ratio reads as 1:2.40, and the actual result reads as +1.42R or -0.80R.

If it doesn’t work

Actual R:R is empty. There is no stop loss on the trade. Enter one.

The numbers are out by a factor of 100. The contract multiplier is wrong. Correct it with the pencil.

Suggested position size looks too small. It is rounded down on purpose, so it never suggests a size that risks more than the percentage you set.

Related

Trade Analysis: a tour of the trade page What every part of the trade page does on each device: the header, the six tabs, the chart panel and the OPEN badge. Read the execution timeline Every fill behind a trade, what the six fill types mean, where the fees come from, and how to add a fill your broker did not export. Rate a trade The seven star ratings on a trade, what each one asks, how the overall rating is worked out, and why every trade starts at 3.0 whether you rated it or not.

Still stuck? Email support@vexatrade.ai.