Drawdown Calculator
Paste an equity curve, get the maximum drawdown percentage, drawdown duration, recovery time, and current drawdown. Visualised on a chart with peak/trough/recovery markers.
Drawdown Calculator
How to use the Drawdown Calculator
Paste your equity curve
The "equity curve" is the running balance of your portfolio or trading account over time — one number per period (daily, weekly, monthly — doesn't matter, as long as the periods are consistent). Paste values separated by newlines, commas, spaces, or tabs. The parser is flexible — pasting from Excel / Google Sheets / brokerage CSV works. Need at least 2 data points; 30+ for meaningful metrics; 500+ for institutional-grade analysis.
Read the max drawdown
The big red number is the largest peak-to-trough decline anywhere in your equity curve, expressed as a percentage. A drawdown of -20% means at the worst point, your portfolio was 20% below its prior peak. For context: the S&P 500's worst drawdown in modern history was -55% during 2008-09; the typical bear market sees -20% to -35%. Higher drawdown = higher risk experienced. Strategy comparisons routinely use max drawdown alongside total return.
Note duration vs recovery time
Duration is how long it took to fall from peak to trough. Recovery time is how long it took to climb back to the prior peak. Bear markets typically take longer to recover than to decline — the 2007-09 S&P 500 declined over 17 months but took 49 months to fully recover. Combined duration + recovery is the "underwater period" — time during which an investor was sitting at a loss vs prior high. Longer underwater periods test investor patience and discipline.
Watch for "not yet recovered"
If the recovery time shows "Not recovered", your equity curve hasn't reclaimed the prior peak yet — you're still in drawdown. The "Current drawdown" stat shows how far below the all-time peak you are right now. This matters because: (1) Anyone who joined the portfolio AT the peak has been underwater since; (2) The math required to recover grows non-linearly — a 50% loss requires +100% to break even. For a 20% loss, only +25% recovery is needed; for 30%, +43%; for 50%, +100%; for 70%, +233%.
Drawdown — the risk metric retail investors should care about more than volatility
Standard deviation (volatility) is the textbook risk metric, but for actual portfolio owners — humans who have to live with their wealth going down — max drawdown is more meaningful. Volatility tells you average wobble; max drawdown tells you the worst single experience the portfolio actually delivered. A strategy with 15% annual return and 18% volatility might have only experienced a max drawdown of -22% (manageable) or -55% (devastating) — same volatility, completely different real-world risk. Max drawdown captures the tail experience that volatility averages away. Sophisticated investors track BOTH; retail investors who track ONE should track max drawdown.
The recovery math nobody internalises until they experience it
Recovery from drawdown isn't symmetric with the decline. A 20% loss needs +25% to break even (because you're recovering from a smaller base). A 30% loss needs +43%. A 50% loss needs +100%. An 80% loss needs +400%. This is why protecting the downside matters so much for long-term compounding — a portfolio that loses 50% in year 1 and gains 50% in year 2 is still down 25% (1.5 × 0.5 = 0.75), NOT at break-even. The math of recovery is unforgiving, and it's why "minimise max drawdown" is the dominant heuristic of risk management. Bear markets that look identical in % loss can have wildly different recovery experiences — the 2020 COVID crash (-34% drawdown) recovered in 5 months; the 2007-09 crash (-55%) took 49 months to recover.
A 50% loss requires a 100% gain to break even. The asymmetry of drawdown recovery is the single biggest reason "don't lose money" is the first rule of investing.
Drawdown across asset classes — what's normal
Different asset classes have characteristic drawdown profiles. Cash + T-bills: near-zero drawdown (capital preservation). US Treasuries: -5% to -15% historical (2022 was an outlier at -13%). Investment-grade bonds (BND): -10% to -15% in stress periods. S&P 500: -10% to -20% in typical corrections; -30% to -55% in major bear markets. Emerging markets: -40% to -60% in major dislocations (Asian Financial Crisis 1997, GFC 2008, Russia 2022). Small-cap stocks: -50% to -70%. Single stocks: anywhere from -30% (large stable companies) to -99%+ (bankruptcy). Cryptocurrencies: -80% to -90% routinely (Bitcoin saw -84% in 2018, -77% in 2022). Knowing what's "normal" for your asset class helps interpret current drawdowns — a 25% portfolio drop in a 100% stock portfolio is unremarkable; the same 25% drop in a 60/40 portfolio is unusual.
The ASEAN drawdown experience
ASEAN markets have their own drawdown history worth knowing. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis was the defining regional event — Indonesian rupiah crashed 80%, JCI dropped 65% peak-to-trough, Thai baht devalued 56%, ringgit fell heavily. Recovery took 8+ years for some markets. The 2008 Global Financial Crisis hit ASEAN markets hard but recovery was faster (3-4 years) than the West because regional economies were less leveraged. The 2015-16 commodity crash hurt Indonesia + Malaysia (commodity-exporters) more than Singapore (services-heavy). The 2020 COVID crash saw -30% to -40% drawdowns across STI, FBM KLCI, JCI, SET, PSEi — all recovered within 12-18 months. Singapore's STI has historically had max drawdowns 5-10 points smaller than emerging-market peers due to its developed-market status + heavy bank/property weighting. For ASEAN-based diversified portfolios, expect drawdowns in line with global benchmarks: -25% to -40% in normal bear markets, -50%+ in tail events. The math in this calculator applies to any equity curve regardless of currency or geography.
10 Things to Know About Drawdown
Max drawdown = the largest peak-to-trough decline anywhere in your equity curve. The single biggest "worst experience" of holding the portfolio.
A 50% loss requires +100% gain to break even. The recovery math is non-linear and unforgiving.
The S&P 500's worst drawdown was -55% in 2007-09, taking 49 months to recover. The 2020 COVID crash was -34%, recovered in 5 months.
Bear markets typically take longer to recover than to decline — recovery time is usually 2-4× the duration of the decline.
The Calmar Ratio = CAGR / max drawdown — a popular risk-adjusted return metric for trading strategies. Higher is better.
The Asian Financial Crisis (1997) saw ASEAN markets drawdown 60-80% — the worst regional dislocation in modern memory.
Bitcoin has had three -80%+ drawdowns: 2011 (-93%), 2014-15 (-86%), 2018 (-84%), 2022 (-77%). Crypto drawdowns dwarf equity drawdowns.
Investors who panic-sell at the bottom turn paper drawdowns into permanent losses. The historical record shows most bear markets recover within 5 years.
Hedge funds report "Maximum Drawdown" alongside "Annualised Return" as the two headline metrics. Many institutional mandates cap allowable max drawdown.
The longest US equity drawdown in modern history was 1929-1954 (25 years to recover from the Great Depression decline). Few investors fully internalise how long this can last.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Volatility (standard deviation) measures average wobble around the mean — how much your portfolio bounces day-to-day. Max drawdown captures the single worst peak-to-trough experience. A strategy can have low volatility but a brutal max drawdown (e.g., long-volatility hedges) or high volatility but small drawdowns (e.g., choppy markets that don't trend down). For retail investors, max drawdown often matters more emotionally because it's the worst experience you actually have to live through — not the average. Track both, but prioritise drawdown for decisions about whether you can stick with a strategy.
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Any time series of portfolio values — total account balance, fund NAV, stock price, trading account equity. The calculator doesn't care what the periods are (daily, weekly, monthly) as long as they're consistent. Daily values give the most accurate drawdown (intra-period drawdowns are missed by less frequent sampling). For monthly data, drawdowns might be slightly under-reported because the within-month worst point isn't captured. For trading strategies, use daily closing equity. For portfolio analysis, monthly is usually enough.
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Depends on asset class + strategy. Conservative bond portfolio: -5% to -10% historical. 60/40 balanced: -15% to -25% in major bear markets. 100% stocks: -30% to -55% in worst-case scenarios. Single-stock concentration: -50% to -99% possible. Crypto: -80%+ routinely. There's no universal "good" — only "appropriate for the strategy and your risk tolerance." A trading strategy returning 20%/year with -10% max drawdown is institutional-grade; the same return with -30% drawdown is acceptable; -50% drawdown might be unacceptable for most investors regardless of the return.
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Two reasons. (1) Mathematics: recovering from a 50% loss requires a 100% gain because you're climbing back from a smaller base. (2) Markets bottom slowly — the recovery phase is gradual and choppy, with multiple "false starts" before the trend resumes. The 2007-09 bear market took 17 months to decline; the recovery took 49 months — almost 3x as long. The 2020 COVID crash was a rare exception (V-shaped recovery in months). Long bear-recoveries are why time horizon matters for stock-heavy portfolios — anyone needing money within 3-5 years should avoid heavy equity exposure regardless of historical returns.
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Calmar Ratio = CAGR / abs(max drawdown). It's the "return per unit of drawdown" — how much annualised return you got per percentage point of worst pain. Example: 12% CAGR with -20% max drawdown = Calmar 0.6. Higher is better. The S&P 500's long-term Calmar is around 0.2-0.3 (high return, but also high drawdown). Trading strategies aim for Calmar 1+ (more return than drawdown, which is rare). The Calmar is popular among hedge fund allocators because it captures the trade-off retail investors care about: "how much return did I get for the worst experience the strategy gave me?"
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Several techniques exist, each with trade-offs. Diversification across asset classes (stocks, bonds, gold, real estate) — reduces drawdown by 30-50% vs concentrated portfolios. Tactical bond allocation — shift to more bonds in late-cycle periods. Trend-following rules (sell when 200-day moving average breaks) — historically reduces drawdowns by 40-60% but has whipsaw costs. Hedging with options (put options, collar strategies) — expensive insurance, reduces drawdown but cuts returns. Lower equity weight — guaranteed lower drawdown but lower long-term return. All these reduce drawdown at the cost of expected return. The "free lunch" of diversification gets you the biggest improvement per cost.
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Yes — that's a primary use case. Paste your backtest equity curve and get max drawdown, recovery time, and current drawdown. Use cases: comparing two strategies on the same data, evaluating whether a strategy's drawdown profile is tolerable, identifying the worst stretch in a long backtest. For institutional-quality backtest analysis, also compute Calmar Ratio (CAGR / max drawdown), Sortino Ratio, and underwater periods. This calculator handles max drawdown; for full risk analytics, use Python (empyrical, pyfolio) or specialised platforms (QuantConnect, Backtrader).
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The recovery period ends only when the equity curve climbs back to (or above) the prior peak that started the drawdown. If your data ends while still below that peak, the recovery hasn't completed. This is common when analysing CURRENT portfolios still in drawdown — you're sitting in unrealised losses, waiting for recovery. The historical record suggests most bear markets DO recover within 5 years, but exceptions exist (Japan's Nikkei 225 hit its all-time high in 1989, didn't recover until 2024 — 35 years). Recovery is statistically expected but not guaranteed for any specific period.
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No. All calculations + the chart rendering run entirely in your browser via JavaScript + Canvas. There's no server roundtrip — open DevTools → Network and confirm zero outbound requests as you change inputs. Your portfolio data stays on your device. Safe for confidential trading-strategy backtests, hedge fund performance review, or any sensitive financial time-series analysis.
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This calculator works at the granularity of your data. If you paste monthly closing values, drawdowns occurring WITHIN a month (and recovering before month-end) won't be captured. For trading strategies analysed at daily granularity, intraday drawdowns are similarly missed. Use the lowest granularity available: tick data for HFT analysis, daily for typical traders, weekly/monthly for buy-and-hold investors. Most retail analysis uses monthly — accurate enough for portfolio decisions, captures all meaningful bear markets.
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