What Is Win Rate in Trading?

Win rate is the percentage of your trades that close in profit.

Formula

Win rate = Winning trades ÷ Total trades × 100

Why win rate alone can mislead

A 70% win rate loses money if average losses are three times average wins, while a 35% win rate can be very profitable with large winners. Win rate only means something together with your reward-to-risk.

Breakeven win rate

The minimum win rate needed to break even is 1 ÷ (1 + reward-to-risk). At 1:2 it is about 33%; at 1:3 it is 25%.

Read how to calculate win rate and risk-to-reward. Related: expectancy, risk-to-reward ratio. See the trading glossary.