Drawdown calculator
How much does the stock need to recover?
After a 50% loss a stock has to rise 100% just to be back where it was. The calculator shows this for any loss and, with a ticker, the stock's drawdowns.
How much does a stock have to rise after a loss?
A loss and the rise that makes it up are not the same size, because the rise starts from the smaller amount. This applies to every stock, every fund and every portfolio.
Your assumption, not a forecast: calculated as if the price rose evenly by this amount every year.
Rise needed
+42.9%
to make up the loss
Years to make it up
5.3 years
at 7.0% a year, your assumption
After a 30% loss, $100 becomes $70. To get back to $100, those $70 have to rise 42.9%.
Loss and rise needed
| Loss | Rise needed | Years at 7.0% a year |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | +11.1% | 1.6 |
| 20% | +25.0% | 3.3 |
| 30% | +42.9% | 5.3 |
| 40% | +66.7% | 7.6 |
| 50% | +100.0% | 10.2 |
| 60% | +150.0% | 13.5 |
| 70% | +233.3% | 17.8 |
| 80% | +400.0% | 23.8 |
| 90% | +900.0% | 34.0 |
How it is calculated
- Rise needed = 1 ÷ (1 − loss) − 1. For a 30% loss that is 1 ÷ 0.7 − 1 = 42.9%.
- Years to make it up = ln(1 ÷ (1 − loss)) ÷ ln(1 + return). For a 30% loss and an assumed 7% a year that is 5.3 years.
- Largest decline = lowest close ÷ highest close before it − 1, across all trading days in the period.
- A decline ends at the first close that reaches the old high again. The duration counts the calendar days from the old high, or from the low, to that day.
- Distance from the high = last close ÷ highest close in the period − 1. The rise back to the high follows the same formula as above.
Assumptions and notes
- The calculator shows what happened. A large decline does not mean the stock is cheap now, and a price close to its high does not mean it is expensive.
- Companies may also never recover. The list only shows which declines there were in the period, not what comes next.
- Price change only: dividends are not included. With dividends reinvested, a decline is somewhat smaller and made up sooner. The percentages apply in the trading currency, prices are shown in US dollars at today's ECB rate. If you invest in another currency, stocks in a different currency also bring currency gains or losses.
- The basis is daily closing prices. During a trading day the price may have been lower.
- The period goes back as far as we have prices, at most about twenty years. A decline that started earlier only counts from the first price.
- The return in the general part is your assumption. Real prices do not rise evenly, and nobody knows in advance whether a stock will ever make up a loss.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a stock have to rise after a loss?
After a 30% loss it has to rise 42.9%, after 50% it has to rise 100% and after 80% it has to rise 400%. The rise starts from the smaller amount: after a 50% loss, $100 becomes $50, and to get back to $100 those $50 have to double. The formula is: rise needed = 1 ÷ (1 − loss) − 1.
How long does it take to make up a loss?
Nobody knows in advance. If you assume a 7% return a year, it takes 5.3 years after a 30% loss and 10.2 years after a 50% loss. Real stocks were sometimes faster, sometimes slower: Apple fell 33.4% from 26 Dec 2024 to 8 Apr 2025 and was back at its old high on 20 Oct 2025, a little over six months after the low. Tesla fell 73.6% from 4 Nov 2021 to 3 Jan 2023 and only reached its old high again on 11 Dec 2024, almost two years after the low.
What is a stock's largest decline?
The largest decline, also called maximum drawdown, is the deepest fall from a high to the following low before the price reaches that high again. The calculator measures it on daily closing prices: lowest close ÷ highest close before it − 1. It shows how much someone who bought exactly at the high would have lost along the way.
Does a large decline mean the stock is cheap now?
No. A price can have fallen for good reasons, for example because profits are collapsing, and some companies never recover. The calculator only shows what happened to the price. How the company is doing today is shown by the stock's score.
Why does the calculator use daily closing prices rather than monthly figures?
Because monthly figures miss lows in the middle of a month. Apple fell 33.4% from 26 Dec 2024 to 8 Apr 2025. Between month-end closing prices the same decline only looks like 19.8%, from the end of December 2024 to the end of May 2025, because by the end of April the price was already well above the low.
What does “not yet” in the list mean?
It means the price had not reached the old high again by the last close. In that case the calculator shows how much the stock would have to rise from the last price. That is a calculation, not an expectation.
Are dividends included?
No, the calculator shows the price change only, in the trading currency. Anyone who reinvested dividends had a somewhat smaller decline and was back at the old level sooner. This matters more for stocks with a high dividend than for stocks without one.