An R multiple calculator expresses a trade's result relative to your initial risk, where 1R equals the distance between your entry and stop-loss price.
Enter your entry, stop-loss, and actual exit price, plus trade direction, and the calculator shows the trade's result as an R multiple, a consistent way to compare trades regardless of position size.
This calculator is for educational purposes only. Results are estimates and may vary depending on market conditions, spreads, commissions, platform settings, and exchange rates. It should not be considered financial advice.
An R multiple expresses a trade's result as a ratio of your initial risk, where 1R equals the distance between your entry price and your stop-loss. A trade that made twice what you risked is a +2R result, a trade that lost exactly what you risked is a -1R result, this lets you compare trades of very different sizes on a single, consistent scale.
Rand profit and loss doesn't tell you whether a result was good relative to the risk taken, a R2,000 win means something very different if you risked R500 versus if you risked R5,000. R multiples normalise every trade to its own risk, making your results genuinely comparable across trades of different position sizes, instruments, and account growth stages.
A negative R multiple means the trade lost money, and the magnitude tells you how much relative to your planned risk. A -1R result means you lost exactly what you'd planned to risk (your stop-loss was hit cleanly), while a result worse than -1R (like -1.5R) typically means slippage or a gap caused your actual loss to exceed your intended stop distance.
Not accurately in the traditional sense, R multiples specifically depend on having a defined risk distance (entry to stop) to use as the 1R baseline. If you trade without a formal stop-loss, you could still calculate a notional R multiple using where you WOULD have placed a stop based on your normal approach, but this is a less precise, retrospective estimate rather than a true R multiple.
Expectancy is typically calculated using the average R multiple across many trades, multiplied by your win rate, giving your expected result per trade in R terms. Tracking individual R multiples in your trading journal is the raw data that feeds directly into a meaningful expectancy calculation over a larger sample.
There's no universal target since it depends heavily on your win rate, a strategy with a 40% win rate needs a considerably higher average R multiple on winners than a strategy with a 60% win rate to be profitable overall. Focus on your overall expectancy (average R multiple combined with win rate) rather than the R multiple of any single trade or even the average win alone.
R-multiples normalise every trade to your initial risk, making it possible to genuinely compare a R500-risk trade and a R5,000-risk trade on equal footing, something raw Rand or percentage figures alone don't allow.
A positive average R-multiple indicates overall profitability relative to risk taken, many solid strategies target an average somewhere around 0.3R to 0.5R or higher per trade, though this varies by style and market.
No, by definition, a losing trade produces a negative R-multiple, reflecting the actual loss relative to your initial risk, a trade closed for less than your initial risk (a partial loss) would show a smaller negative R-multiple.
Yes, R-multiple reflects your actual realised result relative to initial risk, regardless of whether you closed at your full target, partially, or early, it captures whatever the genuine outcome was.
Risk-reward ratio is typically your planned target relative to your planned risk before the trade, R-multiple is your actual realised result relative to that same initial risk after the trade closes, planned versus actual.