Check your risk:reward ratio and suggested position size before you enter a trade — for stocks, forex, gold or crypto. Enter your entry, stop loss and target to get an instant breakdown.
The risk:reward ratio compares how much you stand to lose on a trade against how much you stand to gain, before you enter it. It's one of the first numbers a disciplined trader checks — regardless of whether the market is stocks, forex, gold or crypto — because it turns a "gut feeling" trade into a measurable decision.
A 1:2 ratio means the potential reward is twice the amount at risk. A 1:1 ratio means they're equal. Traders generally look for ratios where the reward comfortably outweighs the risk, so that a strategy can still be profitable even if it doesn't win every time.
For a Long (buy) trade:
Risk = Entry − Stop Loss | Reward = Target − Entry
For a Short (sell) trade, the direction flips:
Risk = Stop Loss − Entry | Reward = Entry − Target
Divide reward by risk to get the ratio.
Long entry at 100, stop loss at 95, target at 115:
With ₹100,000 capital and 1% risk per trade, the max risk amount is ₹1,000, giving a suggested position size of 1,000 ÷ 5 = 200 units, for a total potential reward of ₹3,000 if the target is hit.
There's no single correct number, but 1:2 or better is a common benchmark because it gives a strategy room to be wrong more often than it's right and still come out ahead. The right ratio for you depends on your strategy's actual win rate, which brings us to the next point.
A favourable risk:reward ratio does not guarantee profitability on its own. A strategy with a 1:3 ratio but only a 20% win rate can still lose money overall, while a 1:1 ratio strategy with a 60% win rate can be solidly profitable. What matters is the combination: (Win Rate × Average Win) − (Loss Rate × Average Loss) needs to be positive over enough trades.
Instead of picking a position size and hoping the loss is bearable, professional traders work backwards from how much they're willing to lose:
This calculator does that last step for you automatically once you add your capital and risk %.
Many traders look for at least 1:2, meaning the potential reward is at least twice the amount risked. That said, the ratio only tells half the story — it needs to be considered alongside your win rate to know whether a strategy is profitable over time.
Subtract your stop loss from your entry price to get the risk per unit, and subtract your entry price from your target to get the reward per unit. Divide reward by risk — a risk of 5 and reward of 12.5 gives a ratio of 1:2.5.
No. A favourable ratio only means each winning trade earns more than each losing trade costs. Overall profitability also depends on how often the trade actually reaches target versus stop loss.
A commonly cited range is 0.5% to 2% of trading capital per trade, so a string of losses doesn't seriously damage the account. The right number depends on strategy, win rate and personal risk tolerance.
The risk:reward maths applies to any instrument. For options and futures, remember lot size and contract multipliers affect the actual currency risk per unit move — factor that into your entry, stop and target prices.
It works for any market — stocks, forex, gold or crypto — since it only needs an entry, stop loss and target price, in whichever format your platform uses.
Risk:reward compares potential gain versus loss on a single trade. Win rate is the percentage of trades that hit target instead of stop loss over time. A strategy needs both together to know if it's genuinely profitable.