Recovery Factor Calculator

In trading reports, recovery factor means net profit divided by maximum drawdown, the largest fall from a prior peak. The tool above answers a different question: what percentage gain would restore your original capital after a loss? It has no net-profit or maximum-drawdown inputs, so it cannot calculate the trading-report ratio. The ratio uses matching money amounts from the same reporting period; the examples below separate it from the recovery gain.

Recovery factor and recovery percentage answer different questions

MetaTrader’s official report documentation defines recovery factor as gained profit divided by maximum drawdown. Use matching money amounts from the same strategy report and reporting period. That ratio describes the record’s profit relative to its worst decline.

A recovery percentage instead compares a remaining loss with the smaller amount of capital left. It answers how much that remaining capital would need to grow to return to a chosen reference amount. A high recovery percentage means a large required gain; it does not measure the quality of a trading strategy.

The drawdown definition explains the fall from a peak. If you need that starting calculation, use the maximum drawdown calculator with its stated input limits. This form cannot scan an equity history to find the worst decline.

Recovery factor formula at a glance

Recovery factor = net profit ÷ maximum drawdown, using money amounts from the same period. A net profit of ₹30,000 with a maximum drawdown of ₹10,000 gives a recovery factor of 3. Put simply, the strategy earned three times its worst fall. If net profit is negative, the ratio is negative.

Read the capital fields as a recovery scenario

• Original Capital is the reference amount you want to compare against.
• Current Capital is the remaining amount after the assumed losses.
• Target Monthly Return % is a hypothetical repeating return for a time projection. It is an assumption supplied by you.
• Risk Per Trade % feeds a simplified winning-trade estimate; it does not measure your actual trade history or win rate.

Keep deposits and withdrawals separate when choosing the capital figures. Adding money can raise the account balance without earning back trading losses. A capital comparison that includes cash movements cannot attribute the entire change to trading.

The form’s help text suggests a realistic monthly-return range, but no evidence supports that promise for your account. Choose an input only as a hypothetical assumption. The calculator cannot establish that a repeated return is achievable.

Worked example: a loss and the gain needed to recover

Suppose, in this made-up recovery example, Original Capital is ₹100,000 and Current Capital is ₹80,000, with no deposits or withdrawals. The loss is ₹100,000 − ₹80,000 = ₹20,000.

• Loss Percentage = ₹20,000 / ₹100,000 × 100 = 20%.
• Recovery % Needed = ₹20,000 / ₹80,000 × 100 = 25%.
• Check the destination: ₹80,000 × (1 + 25%) = ₹100,000.

The loss percentage uses Original Capital as its base. The recovery percentage uses Current Capital. That change of base explains why the required gain is greater than the percentage lost.

These results do not depend on a monthly-return target. Changing that target changes a projected duration, while the recovery gain needed for the chosen capital amounts stays the same.

Separate example: calculate the trading-report ratio

For a separate fictional strategy report, assume net profit of ₹30,000 and maximum drawdown of ₹10,000 over the same record. Recovery factor = ₹30,000 / ₹10,000 = 3. This is a ratio, without a percentage sign. The capital fields above do not calculate it.

A ratio alone leaves out the length of the record and the path taken between its beginning and end. If you compare strategies, keep the reporting dates, charge treatment and drawdown convention beside the result. A balance-only drawdown uses closed trades. An equity drawdown includes open profit or loss, so it can show a different decline.

Do not confuse this with the profit factor calculator, which compares gross winning and losing totals. The expectancy calculator asks another separate question about assumed average outcomes.

What is a good recovery factor?

The MetaTrader 5 documentation describes recovery factor as a measure of how much risk the Expert Advisor took to earn its profit, calculated as profit divided by maximum drawdown. It does not give a cut-off for good or bad. A value below 1 means the total profit was smaller than the worst fall. A value above 1 means the profit was larger than the worst fall.

Beyond that, any "good" threshold is a rule of thumb that varies by source. Read the number together with the length of the record, the number of trades, the costs included and how the drawdown was measured.

Why the time period changes the number

Maximum drawdown can only stay the same or grow as a record gets longer, because a longer record has more chances for a deeper fall. Profit usually grows too, so the ratio can move either way.

Here profit rose but a deeper fall in year two brought the ratio down from 3 to 2. When you compare two strategies, use the same dates.

Recovery factor, profit factor and Calmar ratio

The Calmar ratio was published by Terry Young in 1991 and uses a 36-month window. If a strategy returned 24% a year with a maximum drawdown of 12%, its Calmar ratio is 24 ÷ 12 = 2. The recovery factor uses total profit instead of an annual rate, so a long record can give a high recovery factor but only a modest Calmar ratio. Some tools define these ratios slightly differently, so check the documentation.

Where to find recovery factor in a report

In MetaTrader 5, the strategy tester report lists Recovery Factor next to Profit Factor, Sharpe Ratio and the drawdown figures. Other backtesting tools and broker platforms may show it too. If your platform does not, divide the net profit by the maximum drawdown yourself, as long as both are in the same currency and period.

OneTradeJournal does not import reports. If you export your own logged trades to CSV, you can compute net profit and drawdown in a spreadsheet, or read the drawdown from its equity curve and report pages. The figures depend on trades you entered correctly.

Loss recovery table: the gain needed to get back

The gain needed after a fall of L percent is L ÷ (100 − L) × 100. It grows faster than the loss, because the gain is earned on a smaller balance.

This is the same sum the calculator above does for you. A 50% fall needs a 100% gain. That is why traders try to limit drawdown.

Treat the extra recovery outputs cautiously

Optimistic Months to Recover assumes the entered positive monthly return repeats and compounds without interruption. Realistic Months (with setbacks) adds a fixed adjustment to that projection; it is not fitted to your account or a measured forecast. Neither label establishes how long recovery will take.

Winning Trades Needed assumes only winning outcomes with a fixed reward-to-risk relationship. It does not include a sequence of losses, changing risk amounts, fees or gaps between trades. It is unsuitable as a target for making back losses.

The Add Capital to Halve Recovery label is also misleading: its returned amount equals the capital shortfall. Depositing that amount would restore the original balance in the simple example, while the trading loss would still have occurred. Do not treat it as a verified instruction to fund an account.

Zero Current Capital is not handled reliably because it falls back to a stored value. If no capital remains, a finite percentage return on that zero amount cannot restore the account. Check that edge case outside this form.

Questions traders ask about recovery factor

Sources

• MetaQuotes: report definitions for recovery factor, profit factor and drawdown (checked 15 Oct 2026).