Win Rate Calculator
Calculate your win rate from a trade record and compare it against the rate your payoff ratio requires.
Win rate is the proportion of trades that were profitable, and a win rate calculator turns a trade record into that percentage in one step. It is the most quoted statistic in trading and the least informative on its own, because it says nothing about the size of the wins relative to the losses.
Formula: win rate = wins / total trades x 100
Your figures
Trades closed at or near the entry price.
Optional — compares your rate against the rate required to break even.
Results
Win rate
45.00%
45 of 100 trades
- Total trades
- 100
- Loss rate
- 55.00%
- Win to loss ratio
- 0.82 : 1
- Win rate required to break evenAt a 2.00:1 payoff.
- 33.33%
- Margin above the requirement
- +11.67 pts
What this means
A 45.00% win rate sits 11.67 percentage points above the 33.33% needed to break even at this payoff ratio. That gap is the part of a win rate that carries information — the rate alone says nothing, because it depends entirely on the size of the wins relative to the losses.
- A win rate measured over a small sample is unreliable. Twenty trades tell you very little about the underlying rate.
Win rate: 45.00%
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About the Win Rate calculation
A trading win percentage of 30% can be highly profitable and one of 70% can lose money. What matters is how the achieved rate compares against the rate the strategy's payoff ratio requires — and that comparison is what this calculator produces.
It also separates breakeven trades from wins and losses, because including or excluding them changes the winning percentage a record reports, and mixing the two conventions makes that record incomparable with itself.
Win Rate formula
win rate = wins ÷ total trades × 100
excluding break-even trades:
win rate = wins ÷ (wins + losses) × 100
win rate required to break even at a given payoff ratio:
required = 1 ÷ (1 + payoff ratio) × 100- payoff ratio
- The multiple of the amount risked returned by a winning trade.
- break-even trade
- A trade closed at or near the entry price, neither a win nor a loss.
- margin
- Achieved win rate minus required win rate, in percentage points.
The required win rate falls directly out of the payoff ratio. If a win returns twice the risk, then for every two losses one win breaks even — a third of trades, or 33.3%. At 3:1 it is a quarter, at 1:1 it is half.
That relationship is why a win rate carries no information in isolation. Two traders reporting 45% could be running very different systems: one with a 3:1 payoff and a comfortable 20-point margin, the other at 1:1 and losing money steadily.
Breakeven trades are reported both ways because both are legitimate. Including them gives the share of all trades that made money; excluding them gives the win-versus-loss split. The problem is only ever switching between the two.
Win Rate: a worked example
A record of 45 wins and 55 losses, on a strategy with a 2:1 payoff ratio.
- Total trades45 + 55 = 100
- Win rate45 ÷ 100 = 45.00%
- Required at 2:11 ÷ (1 + 2) = 33.33%
- Margin45.00 − 33.33 = +11.67 points
- Win to loss ratio45 ÷ 55 = 0.82 : 1
A 45% win rate sits 11.67 percentage points above the 33.33% the payoff ratio requires. The margin, not the 45%, is the figure that indicates the sample was profitable.
How to use the Win Rate calculator
- Enter the number of winning and losing trades from your record.
- Enter breakeven trades separately if you have them, rather than folding them into either column.
- Add your payoff ratio to see the win rate required to break even and the margin between the two.
- Read the margin rather than the headline rate. A win rate without a payoff ratio cannot tell you whether a strategy makes money.
Limitations of the Win Rate calculator
Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.
- A win rate from a small sample is unreliable. Twenty trades produce a figure that could easily swing 15 percentage points on chance alone.
- Treats every win and every loss as equal, which they are not. Profit factor and expectancy account for the sizes.
- The required win rate assumes a consistent payoff ratio across trades. If yours varies, use the average and treat the comparison as approximate.
- Excludes costs. Spread and commission raise the required win rate above the figure shown here.
Frequently asked questions about Win Rate
What is a good win rate?
There is no answer without the payoff ratio, and this calculator does not suggest one. A 30% win rate at 4:1 is comfortably profitable; a 65% win rate at 1:2 loses money. The margin against the required rate is the only figure that indicates anything.
Should break-even trades count as wins?
Neither, which is why they are entered separately. Both conventions are reported: the headline rate includes them in the denominator, and the second figure excludes them entirely. Pick one and use it consistently.
Why is my win rate high but my account still down?
Almost always because the average loss is larger than the average win. A strategy that takes small profits and holds losers can win most of its trades and still lose money. The expectancy and profit factor calculators show this directly.
How many trades before a win rate is meaningful?
More than most people assume. The uncertainty around a measured rate shrinks with the square root of the sample, so a hundred trades still leaves a range of several percentage points, and twenty tells you very little.
Does this work as a win loss ratio calculator as well?
It reports the win to loss ratio alongside the percentage — 45 wins against 55 losses is 0.82:1. The ratio divides wins by losses; the win rate divides wins by all trades. The two describe the same record, and neither says anything about profitability without the payoff ratio.
Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.
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