If you lose 10% of an account, you need an 11.1% gain on what is left to get back to the start. If you lose 50%, you need 100%. The deeper the drawdown, the harder the climb back.
Recovery table
- -5% needs +5.3%.
- -8% needs +8.7%.
- -10% needs +11.1%.
- -20% needs +25%.
- -30% needs +42.9%.
- -50% needs +100%.
What it means for challenges
Prop firm limits stop you long before the dramatic part of the table, but the logic still applies. A trader at -6% on the 2-Step needs +16.6% to reach the 10% target, with only 2% of room left before the 8% maximum loss. Avoiding deep drawdowns is far easier than recovering from them.
Recovering sensibly
- Reduce risk per trade after a 3–4% drawdown, do not increase it.
- Aim to get back to break-even first, not straight to the target.
- Check whether the drawdown came from the strategy or from rule breaks.