Drawdown recovery calculator
Enter a loss to see the gain needed to get back to where you started and how many years that takes at a given return. Then see every real fall of an ETF or lazy portfolio and how long it took to return to its previous high.
How much it takes to get back
- Loss
- −30%
- Gain needed to recover
- +42.9%
- Years at 7% a year
- 5.3
- Money left of 10,000
- 7,000
| Loss | Gain needed | Years at 7% a year |
|---|---|---|
| −10% | +11% | 1.6 |
| −20% | +25% | 3.3 |
| −30% | +43% | 5.3 |
| −40% | +67% | 7.6 |
| −50% | +100% | 10.2 |
| −60% | +150% | 13.5 |
| −70% | +233% | 17.8 |
| −80% | +400% | 23.8 |
How long real falls took to recover
Loading monthly returns…
Why recovery is asymmetric
Losses and gains are not symmetric: after a fall, a smaller amount has to grow to get back to the starting point. That is why limiting deep drawdowns matters so much for compounding, and why diversified portfolios with smaller falls can catch up with riskier ones.
The historical table shows that recoveries have ranged from a few months to many years, depending on how deep the fall was and on what followed it.
Questions
Why does a 50% loss need a 100% gain to recover?
Because the gain is measured on the smaller amount left after the loss. 10,000 that falls 50% becomes 5,000, and 5,000 has to double to get back to 10,000. The deeper the loss, the faster the required gain grows: an 80% loss needs a 400% gain.
What is a drawdown?
The fall from a previous high to a later low, in percent. Maximum drawdown is the deepest such fall in a period. Recovery time is how long it took to get back to the previous high.
Why are the historical drawdowns smaller than the ones I remember?
They are measured on month-end values. Intraday and daily lows were often deeper; in March 2020, for example, the S&P 500 fell about a third from its February high on a daily basis, but much less between month-ends.
Do dividends make a difference?
Yes. The historical table uses total returns with dividends reinvested, which shortens recoveries compared with price-only charts, especially for long recoveries like the one after 2000.
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Source: MarketStack end-of-day prices, total return with dividends reinvested. Figures are historical and descriptive; they are not forecasts and not investment advice. MEDGE Capital does not recommend buying or selling any instrument. Risk disclaimer.