Risk to Reward Ratio Calculator
Is the trade worth taking? Get the ratio, the money at stake both ways, and the win rate your plan needs - before you click buy.
Costs optional - your ratio after fees
Your win rate optional - your expectancy
You risk 100.00 USD to make 240.00 USD.
Where your target must sit
Your plan says 1 : 2.40. Your fills say otherwise.
Connect your account and see your true average risk to reward across every real fill - the number this plan promises vs the one you actually take.
Show my real risk to rewardWhat the risk to reward ratio tells you
Every trade is a bet with two prices attached: the one where you admit you were wrong (the stop) and the one where you take your profit (the target). The risk to reward ratio is simply how those two distances compare. It answers the only question that matters before entry: if this plan plays out many times, does the math work in your favor? A trade that risks 25 pips to make 60 carries a 1:2.4 ratio - every dollar you put at risk is aiming at $2.40.
short: risk = stop - entry · reward = entry - target
ratio = reward / risk
Ratios get written several ways - 1:2, 2:1, and plain 2R can all describe the same trade - which is why this calculator always pins the risk side to 1 and says the sentence in full: you risk this much money to make that much. No decoding required, no mistaking which side is which.
The breakeven win rate
The ratio only becomes useful when you connect it to a win rate. The higher your reward relative to your risk, the less often you need to be right. The relationship is exact: breakeven win rate = 100 / (1 + reward per unit of risk).
| Risk : reward | Win rate to break even |
|---|---|
| 1 : 1 | 50.0% |
| 1 : 1.5 | 40.0% |
| 1 : 2 | 33.3% |
| 1 : 3 | 25.0% |
| 1 : 4 | 20.0% |
| 1 : 5 | 16.7% |
Read the table as a floor, not a goal. Hitting exactly the breakeven win rate means you made nothing - and after spreads and commissions, slightly less than nothing. That is why the calculator carries an optional costs field: a theoretical 1:2 with a one-pip spread and normal commissions is really closer to 1:1.8, and your true bar moves accordingly. Almost no free calculator models this; the difference compounds over hundreds of trades.
Worked example: EURUSD in pips
Say you plan a long with a 25 pip stop and a 60 pip target, risking 1% of a $10,000 account - a $100 budget. The ratio is 60 / 25 = 1:2.4, so the target pays $240 against the $100 at risk, and you break even winning 29.4% of the time. The calculator also sizes the position for you: $100 across 25 pips at $10 per pip per lot is 0.40 lots. Ratio, money, win rate and size, all from one set of inputs.
Worked example: gold
Gold trades in 100 oz lots, so every $0.01 move is worth $1 per lot. A long with a $2.50 stop and a $5.00 target is 1:2.0 regardless of the contract - but the money depends on it: with $100 risked the position sizes to 0.40 lots and the target pays $200. Futures work the same way through their tick values: an E-mini S&P trade risking 10 ticks ($12.50 each) to make 30 is 1:3.0, and a $500 risk budget sizes to exactly 4 contracts. The calculator carries the contract specs so you never have to remember them.
Scaling out changes your real ratio
Most plans do not exit at one price. If you take half off at 1:2 and let the rest run to 1:4, your blended ratio is 1:3 - and that blended number, not the headline target, is what your win rate has to support. Add up to three targets with their allocations and the calculator computes the weighted ratio and the blended breakeven win rate for the whole plan.
From ratio to expectancy
If you know your win rate, the ratio turns into a forecast. Expectancy per trade = win rate x reward - loss rate x risk. A 40% win rate at 1:2 with $100 risked expects $20 per trade - $2,000 over 100 trades. Type your win rate into the optional field to see it. One honest caveat: a typed win rate is a guess. Your journal knows the real one, per setup, to the decimal - that is the difference between this page and the product behind it.
Size the trade next
The ratio says whether the trade is worth taking; your position size decides what it costs when it fails. The position size calculator derives your exact lot size from the same three inputs - balance, risk and stop - for every market this tool covers.