Risk Reward Calculator
Inputs
The three prices above are an example so you can see how the tool reads before you touch it. They are not a quote — this site has no market feed. Put your own levels in.
Results
Risk to reward ratio and the win rate it needs
Every row is the same two formulas run on a different ratio. Risk to reward = the distance from entry to target ÷ the distance from entry to stop. Breakeven win rate = 1 ÷ (1 + reward per unit of risk). Neither figure includes spread, commission or slippage — see the note under the table. The row that matches the setup above is highlighted.
| Risk : reward | Reward per 1 risked | Breakeven win rate | How it works out |
|---|
Read the win rate column as a floor, not a target: it is the point where winning and losing trades cancel out. Anything above it makes money at that ratio, anything below it loses money at that ratio, before costs. A ratio you cannot actually get filled at is worth nothing, so set the target from the chart first and read the ratio second.
What this calculator covers
It covers 30 instruments — 28 currency pairs plus gold (XAUUSD) and silver (XAGUSD) — on either side of the market. Each instrument carries its own quoting convention and contract size, and the tool reads both off the instrument you pick rather than assuming one.
Prices are entered to four decimals on pairs such as EURUSD, to two decimals on JPY-quoted pairs such as USDJPY, and to two decimals on both metals. That matches the convention used everywhere else on this site. The tool tells you which one it is using as soon as you pick an instrument, so you can check it against your broker's quote before you trust the number.
It runs one trade at a time, in your browser, with no login and no signup. Nothing you type leaves the page. There is no market feed: every price on this page came from you, and the tool will not show a price it did not get from you.
How the risk to reward ratio is calculated
Two distances, both measured from the entry, and nothing else:
- Risk — the distance from the entry price to the stop loss price.
- Reward — the distance from the entry price to the take profit price.
Divide reward by risk and you have the ratio. On a long: risk = entry − stop, reward = target − entry. On a short the two swap, because the stop sits above the entry and the target below it. The tool takes the absolute distance, so the ratio stays positive on both sides and the side only decides which levels make sense.
Worked example, the one loaded when the page opens: EURUSD long, entry 1.0850, stop 1.0800, target 1.0950. Risk is 0.0050, or 50 pips. Reward is 0.0100, or 100 pips. 100 ÷ 50 = 2, so the setup is 1:2 — one unit risked for two units of reward.
The money figures use the same distances: distance × units, where units is your lot size multiplied by the contract size for the instrument. One standard lot of EURUSD is 100,000 units, so 0.0050 × 100,000 = 500 and 0.0100 × 100,000 = 1,000. Both are stated in the quote currency of the pair, which is USD here. No currency conversion is done on this page, because a conversion needs a rate and this site has no rate to give you.
How the breakeven win rate is calculated
The breakeven win rate answers one question: what share of my trades has to win before this ratio stops losing money? It comes out of setting the expected value to zero.
Winning trade: +R, where R is the reward per unit of risk. Losing trade: −1, the stop. With a win rate of p, the average trade is p × R − (1 − p) × 1. Set that to zero:
p × R − (1 − p) = 0 → p × R + p = 1 → p = 1 ÷ (1 + R)
At 1:2, R is 2, so p = 1 ÷ 3 = 33.3%: win a third of your trades and the winners pay for the losers. At 1:1, R is 1 and p = 50%. At 1:5, R is 5 and p = 16.7%. The number is arithmetic, not a forecast — it says nothing about how often you will actually win, only what you have to beat.
It also assumes every winner hits the full target and every loser takes the full stop. Trades closed early, moved stops and partial exits all shift it.
What this page leaves out on purpose
Spread, commission, swap and slippage are not in any number on this page. They are real costs and they all push the breakeven win rate up, which is the direction that matters: the figure shown here is the best case, and your true floor is higher by however much the trade costs you.
Account balance and risk percentage are not asked for, so nothing here tells you what fraction of your account a trade puts at risk. That is a different calculation and it lives on a different page — see the link at the bottom.
Index CFDs and crypto pairs are left out. Their contract size and point value differ from broker to broker, so any figure printed would be a guess. For those, read your broker's contract specification.
Price precision, and why it changes with the instrument
The number of decimals is part of the instrument, not a formatting choice. Four-decimal pairs quote to 0.0001, so a pip is the fourth decimal. JPY-quoted pairs quote to 0.01, so a pip is the second decimal — the yen is worth roughly a hundredth of a dollar or a euro, and a four-decimal pip on those pairs would be a price move far smaller than anything the market trades in. Metals quote to two decimals as well.
That is why the entry, stop and target fields change their step and their placeholder when you change the instrument: typing 157.95 into a field expecting 1.0850 gives you a wrong ratio, and the tool would rather narrow the field than quietly misread it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same thing as a risk reward ratio calculator?
Yes. Risk reward calculator, risk reward ratio calculator, risk to reward ratio calculator and reward risk ratio formula all describe the same job: comparing what you stand to lose against what you stand to gain. This page does the lot — ratio, breakeven win rate, distance in pips and the money — in one place.
What is the reward risk ratio formula?
Reward to risk = (target − entry) ÷ (entry − stop) on a long, and (entry − target) ÷ (stop − entry) on a short. Both are the same statement: reward distance over risk distance. The two conventions you will see written down are 1:2, risk first, and 2:1, reward first. They are the same trade with the numbers the other way round, so check which one a signal or a broker means before comparing figures.
How do I use it for a short?
Switch the side to Short and put the stop above the entry and the target below it. The tool checks the ordering and tells you if the levels are on the wrong side rather than returning a number built from them.
What is a good risk to reward ratio?
There is no single answer, and the table above is the honest way to see why: 1:1 needs a 50% win rate, 1:2 needs 33.3%, 1:3 needs 25%. A higher ratio buys you a lower win rate, but a target twice as far away is hit less often, so the two move against each other. The ratio is worth setting from where the trade is actually invalid and where the chart says it can go — not from a number you want to see.
Why does my stop have to be below the entry on a long?
Because that is the only way the risk distance means anything. A stop above the entry on a long is not a stop, it is a level that turns the trade into a different trade. The tool flags it instead of computing a ratio from it.
Does the ratio change if I trade a bigger position?
No. The ratio is a comparison of two distances, so it is the same on 0.01 lots and on 10. What changes with size is the money: risk and reward both scale with the number of units, which is why the money figures move and the ratio does not.
Does it account for spread and commission?
No, and no number on this page pretends to. Costs raise the win rate you actually need above the one shown here.
Related tools on this site
The lot size calculator takes the account side of this: give it your account balance, a risk percentage and the stop distance in pips, and it returns the lot size that keeps the loss inside the limit you set.
The pip calculator answers the other half — what one pip is worth on the pair you are trading, in your account currency, before and after conversion.