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Drawdown Recovery Calculator

A falling portfolio always needs a larger gain to get back to even. See exactly how large — and why the math gets brutal fast.

−50%

drawdown needs a full 100% gain just to break even — you must double your remaining money.

−30%

drawdown needs a 42.9% gain to recover — not 30%. The math is always asymmetric.

−10%

drawdown needs an 11.1% gain to recover — uncomfortable but achievable within a year.

−50%
+100.0%
You need to double your remaining capital.
Catastrophic. You need to double your money just to get back to where you started.
Return needed to recover — across all drawdown depths
At 10% drawdown 11.1% return needed. At 30%: 42.9%. At 50%: 100%. At 70%: 233%.

Reference table

Drawdown Return to break even Severity What it takes

Why recovery always needs more than the fall

The formula is simple: if your portfolio falls by D%, the return needed to recover is D ÷ (100 − D) × 100. A 50% fall means you are working from a base that is half what it was — so a 50% gain on that smaller base only gets you back to 75% of where you started. You need a full 100% gain on the reduced base to return to the original value.

This asymmetry is why deep drawdowns are so dangerous — and why understanding your actual drawdown history matters more than knowing your average return.

See your actual drawdown history

Upload any NAV series — an index, an ETF, a portfolio spreadsheet, or a systematic strategy — and PortBlend shows you every drawdown episode: depth, duration, and recovery status. Free, no account needed.

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