Risk / Reward Calculator
Enter a trade idea and see the R multiple, the win rate that trade needs just to break even, and what it earns at the win rate you actually have.
- Break-even win rate
- 33.3%
- Risk per unit
- 5
- Reward per unit
- 10
- Direction
- Long
What this ratio pays at each win rate
Expectancy is what one trade is worth on average, measured in R. At +0.2R, a trader risking 500 per trade makes about 100 per trade over a long enough sample. Negative means the setup loses money no matter how good it feels.
| Win rate | Expectancy per trade | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | -0.4R | Loses money |
| 30% | -0.1R | Loses money |
| 40% | +0.2R | Profitable |
| 50% | +0.5R | Profitable |
| 60% | +0.8R | Profitable |
| 70% | +1.1R | Profitable |
| 80% | +1.4R | Profitable |
Gross of commission and slippage. Real costs push every row down, so a setup sitting a hair above zero here is a losing setup in practice.
You know the ratio you plan. Do you know the one you get?
Planned 2R and realised 0.8R is a common gap in a trading journal, and it usually comes from cutting winners early. VEXA reads your actual fills and shows you the difference trade by trade.
See plansQuestions
What is a good risk reward ratio?
There is no single good number, because a ratio only means something next to a win rate. A 3R setup you hit 25% of the time loses money over 100 trades. A 1R setup you hit 60% of the time makes money. Read the ratio and your real win rate together.
How do you calculate the risk reward ratio?
Divide the distance from entry to target by the distance from entry to stop. Entry 100, stop 95, target 110 gives 10 divided by 5, which is a 2R trade.
What win rate do I need to break even?
One divided by one plus the ratio. A 2R trade breaks even at 33.3% wins, a 1R trade at 50%, a 3R trade at 25%. Those are floors before commission and slippage, so treat them as the bar to clear rather than the goal.
Does this account for fees?
No. The numbers here are gross. Commission, slippage and partial exits all push the real break-even win rate above what the table shows, which is why traders who sit right on the line still lose money.