Free calculator
Risk reward calculator
Enter your entry, stop and target to see the trade's reward to risk, written as an R multiple, and how often a plan like it has to work just to break even.
Reward-to-risk calculator
EstimateThe example is a long at $60,000 with the stop at $58,800 and the target at $62,400. Change any number.
Fix the highlighted field to see the result.
Break-even win rate is 1 divided by (1 + R): how often a plan like this has to hit its target, instead of its stop, just to come out even. Before fees and slippage, so the real number is a little higher.
How it works
Example: a long at $60,000 with the stop at $58,800 and the target at $62,400. Risk is $1,200 per coin and reward is $2,400, so the trade is 2R. It has to reach the target about 1 time in 3, or 33.3%, just to break even before fees.
Break-even win rates
| Reward to risk | Break-even win rate |
|---|---|
| 0.5R | 66.7% |
| 1R | 50% |
| 1.5R | 40% |
| 2R | 33.3% |
| 3R | 25% |
A bigger R is not automatically better. A far target is reached less often, so what matters is the R together with how often trades like it actually reach the target. Logging your trades in a paper-trading journal is how you find out.
Common questions
What is a good reward to risk?
Many traders look for 2R or more, so they can be wrong more often than right and still come out ahead. The target still has to sit somewhere price can realistically reach, like the next level where the market turned before.
What does R mean?
R is the amount you risk on the trade. A 2R winner made twice what you risked, and a full stop-out is −1R. Measuring in R lets you compare trades of any size.
How do I size the trade once the R looks right?
Use the position size calculator: it turns your stop and the share of the account you are willing to lose into a position size.