Loss recovery maths
Internalise the asymmetry between a loss and the gain needed to undo it, which is the arithmetic behind every risk rule on this site.
Runs entirely in your browserRuns entirely on your device — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Your position falls by
Drag it from small to severe and watch the required recovery on the right.
- Note where the curve turns
Up to about 20% the relationship feels roughly fair. Past 50% it goes vertical, and past 70% it becomes something most portfolios never come back from.
- Convert it into years
At a 12% annual return, a 900% recovery takes about twenty years. That is the real cost of a 90% loss — two decades, not a percentage.
Worked example: The full curve
Drag the slider through each level and read the recovery required.
What to enter
- Your position falls by
- 10% through 90%
What it shows you
- −10%
- +11.1% to recover
- −20%
- +25%
- −33%
- +50%
- −50%
- +100%
- −70%
- +233%
- −90%
- +900%
≈ 20 years at 12% a year
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Market Basics12 minFutures and options, explained honestlyWhat derivatives are, why they exist, how leverage actually works — and the SEBI data on what happens to retail traders who use them.
- Fundamental Analysis12 minCyclicals, turnarounds and special situationsThree situations where the standard framework inverts — and where most of the permanent capital losses in Indian markets happen.
- Market Basics12 minMargin, pledging and the real cost of leverageMTF, pledging your holdings and intraday leverage all rent you money. What that rent actually costs, and why the same 10% fall behaves completely differently once you have borrowed.
- Risk & Psychology13 minAdding to something you already ownAveraging down and adding to a winner are opposite decisions behind the same button. What a top-up changes, what it cannot change, and the size rule that settles both.
- Risk & Psychology11 minAfter a big lossThe decisions taken in the weeks after a serious loss usually cost more than the loss itself. What to do first, what to avoid, and how to come back properly.