R-Multiple Calculator

An R-multiple measures a trade's result in units of its initial risk: what it stood to lose if it went to the stop. That amount is 1R.

R-multiple = profit or loss ÷ initial risk

From prices, the risk is the distance from the entry to the stop. On a long trade:

R = (exit − entry) ÷ (entry − stop)

On a short trade, both differences turn round:

R = (entry − exit) ÷ (stop − entry)

Position size cancels out of the price version: a hundred shares or a thousand, the R-multiple is the same.

A long trade bought at 50.00, with its stop at 48.50, and sold at 54.50:

Risk per share (1R)

50.00 − 48.50 = 1.50

Result per share

54.50 − 50.00 = +4.50

R-multiple

4.50 ÷ 1.50 = +3.00R

The same trade, if the price had gapped through the stop and the exit had filled at 47.90:

Risk per share (1R)

50.00 − 48.50 = 1.50

Result per share

47.90 − 50.00 = −2.10

R-multiple

−2.10 ÷ 1.50 = −1.40R

A fill past the stop costs more than 1R, here −1.40R. From amounts, the same idea with fees in it: a loss of 186.00 after commission on a trade that risked 150.00:

R-multiple

−186.00 ÷ 150.00 = −1.24R

• +1R means the trade made what it risked; +2R, twice that.
• −1R means it lost what it risked, which is what a stop filled at its price does.
• Worse than −1R means the exit came after the stop: slippage, a gap, or a stop that moved.
• Because R divides by the risk, trades of different sizes read on one scale.

• Fees. From prices, R is before commission. For R after fees, choose From amounts and enter the profit or loss net of fees.
• Scaling in and out. Use the average entry and the average exit, each weighted by size, and the stop for the whole position.
• Everything but your numbers. It is plain arithmetic on what you type. It does not know your trades or the market, and it is not advice.

To combine R-multiples across many trades, the trading expectancy calculator takes a win rate and the average win and loss, in money or in R.