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Turn a list of results in money into R multiples, and see what the average really is.
Your Result
The calculation runs in your browser. Rates used for currency conversion are indicative — check your broker for the exact figure.
R is the amount you risk on one trade. Measuring in R instead of money removes account size from the picture, so a month on a small account and a month on a large one can be compared directly, and so a run of trades taken at different sizes still adds up honestly.
The average R per trade is the single number that says whether a strategy makes money. Above zero it does, below zero it does not, and the size of the number tells you how much. Everything else — win rate, ratio, streaks — is a way of arriving at this figure.
When to use it
- When reviewing a month where position sizes were not constant.
- When comparing your record against a strategy quoted in R.
- Before scaling up, to see what the same edge produces at a larger risk.
- When a run of losses makes a working strategy feel broken.
Every result is divided by the risk taken, so a full stop loss is exactly minus one R.
Win in R = Average Win ÷ Risk
Loss in R = Average Loss ÷ Risk
Average R = (Wins × Win R − Losses × Loss R) ÷ Total Trades
Total R = Average R × Total Trades- A loss slightly larger than one R usually means slippage or a stop moved after entry. A loss much larger than one R means the stop was not honoured, and that shows up here immediately.
- Average R and expectancy in R are the same figure. This calculator works from your averages; the expectancy calculator works from win rate and ratio.
- The projection is arithmetic, not a forecast. It says what the same edge produces over more trades, and only if the edge holds.
- Risk should be what you actually risked, not what you intended to. If they differ, that difference is the first thing worth fixing.
Thirty trades at $100 of risk each: twelve winners averaging $220, eighteen losers averaging $95.
Working: the winners return 2.2 times the risk and the losers cost 0.95 of it. Twelve at plus 2.2 is 26.4 R, eighteen at minus 0.95 is 17.1 R, leaving 9.3 R over thirty trades, or 0.31 R each. The losses averaging slightly under 1 R suggests stops are being respected.
What exactly is one R?
The money you lose if the stop is hit, on one trade. If you risk $100 and the stop is hit, that is minus one R. If a winner returns $250 on the same trade, that is plus 2.5 R.
Why measure in R rather than money?
Because money mixes two things: how good the trade was and how big the position was. R removes the second, so a month of small trades and a month of large ones can be compared, and so growing the account does not make old months look worthless.
My average loss is more than 1 R. Is that bad?
It means losses are coming in larger than planned. A little over, say 1.05, is normal slippage. Well over means stops are being widened or ignored, which no amount of edge survives for long.
Is a positive average R enough to trade?
It is necessary but not sufficient. A small positive average over few trades can easily be luck, and costs must already be inside the figures. Thirty trades is a hint, a hundred is a signal.
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