Maximum Drawdown Calculator
Find the largest peak-to-trough decline in a series of values or returns, and how long it took to recover.
Maximum Drawdown Calculator
One per line or comma-separated, oldest first. Up to 5,000 points.
Maximum Drawdown
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Peak (index · value)
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Trough (index · value)
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Peak to Trough
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Recovery
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Current Drawdown
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Points Analysed
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Value and running peak
Blue is the value path, dashed grey the running peak. The shaded band marks the maximum drawdown from peak (green) to trough (red).
Drawdown over time
Distance below the running peak at each point. Zero means a new high.
Worst Drawdown Episodes
| Rank | Peak index | Peak value | Trough index | Trough value | Depth | Recovered at |
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Assumptions & method
- Running peak: Pₜ = max(V₀ … Vₜ). Drawdown: Dₜ = Vₜ ÷ Pₜ − 1. Maximum drawdown = the minimum Dₜ.
- Value series: every value must be greater than zero. Index 0 is the first value you enter.
- Returns series: Vₜ = Vₜ₋₁ × (1 + rₜ ÷ 100), starting from the starting value at index 0. The first return therefore appears at index 1.
- Durations count observation steps between points. They equal calendar time only if your data are evenly spaced at the chosen interval.
- Recovery is the first point after the trough where the value is at or above the prior peak. If none exists, the drawdown is reported as not recovered.
- Data quality and sampling frequency matter: gaps, stale prices, unadjusted splits or dividends, and coarser sampling can all change the result. Intra-period lows between your points are not seen.
- Values are unit-free, so the same logic works for prices, NAVs or balances. Fees, taxes and cash flows into or out of the account are not modelled.
Results describe the history you enter. They are educational estimates, not predictions or investment advice.
What is maximum drawdown?
Average returns say little about how painful the ride was. Maximum drawdown captures the worst stretch: the biggest fall from a high to the lowest point before that high was regained. A 50% drawdown needs a 100% gain to get back to even, which is why deep losses are so hard to recover from. The drawdown chart shows how often and how long a series spent below its previous high, and the episode table lists the next-worst declines so a single event does not tell the whole story. Because the figure depends on the window and on how often the data are sampled, treat it as a description of the history you supplied rather than a limit on what could happen next.