Which stop mode should I use?

They are three ways of expressing the same distance, and the tool converts whichever you give it. A price is exact, a percentage scales across instruments, and an ATR multiple scales with the instrument's own recent range.

Where do the R levels come from?

One R is the distance from entry to stop. Every level on the ladder is that distance multiplied and added to the entry in the direction of the trade.

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Planning

Stop loss and take profit calculator

“From my entry and a stop defined however I prefer — where does the stop sit in price, and where are the 1R to 5R targets?”

This is the mirror of the risk/reward calculator: that one goes from levels to a ratio, this one goes from a ratio to levels. Define the stop as a price, a percentage of entry or a multiple of an ATR you supply, and the R ladder falls out of the distance.

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Free to use, nothing to sign up for, and nothing you type here is sent anywhere — the arithmetic runs in your browser.

What it computes

stop distance = |entry - stop|, or entry x stop%, or ATR x multiplier
stop price    = entry - direction x distance
target at R   = entry + direction x R x distance      for R in 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 5
move %        = (target - entry) / entry x 100

What you type in

Field	What it means	Example
Direction	Long or short.	Long
Entry price	The entry every level on the ladder is measured from.	100
Stop mode	Price (type the stop), % (a share of entry), or ATR (a multiple of a volatility figure you supply).	Price
Stop price / % / ATR x multiplier	Whichever the mode needs.	98
Account size, risk %	For the position-size column.	$25,000 / 1%

Reading the result

The stop price, whichever mode defined it, and the risk per unit that distance implies.
A target ladder at 1R, 1.5R, 2R, 3R and 5R, each with the percentage move it requires.
The position size that stop distance funds at the account size and risk percentage supplied.

Worked example

Long, entry 100, stop at 98 — a 2-point risk.

1R target 102 (+2%)
1.5R target 103 (+3%)
2R target 104 (+4%)
3R target 106 (+6%)
5R target 110 (+10%)

Inside Ledger of Alpha this calculator can hand its stop and 1R target straight to an open trade form. It never writes the entry, because that is a number you typed into the calculator rather than one it worked out.

What trips people up

ATR mode needs an ATR you supply — the tool does not fetch one, so the value and its period are yours to be consistent about.
The ladder is arithmetic on the stop distance. A 5R target is not a forecast.
Percentage stops on a volatile instrument and on a quiet one mean very different things.

Questions

Which stop mode should I use?: They are three ways of expressing the same distance, and the tool converts whichever you give it. A price is exact, a percentage scales across instruments, and an ATR multiple scales with the instrument's own recent range.
Where do the R levels come from?: One R is the distance from entry to stop. Every level on the ladder is that distance multiplied and added to the entry in the direction of the trade.

Related calculators

Risk/reward ratio calculatorFor these three prices — entry, stop and target — what is the reward-to-risk ratio, and what win rate would that ratio need to break even?Position size calculatorGiven my account size, the share of it I am prepared to lose on this trade, and where my stop is — how many shares, contracts or lots is that?Trading goal calculatorTo get from here to a target balance in a given number of trades at a given risk, what edge would that actually require?Pip and tick value calculatorWhat is one pip — or one tick — actually worth on this position?

These are the same calculators built into Ledger of Alpha, where they read your own trade history instead of numbers you re-type. See the full product

Keep the record these numbers come from

A free account logs the trades you size here, so the win rate and averages you type into these calculators come from your own history rather than a guess.

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