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.
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
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.