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Trading Expectancy Calculator

The number that matters more than win rate.

Percentage of trades that closed profitable.
Average return on winning trades, in percent.
Average magnitude of losing trades, positive number.
Realistic retail-broker round-trip: 0.1-0.3%. Crypto often higher.
Expectancy per trade (net)
After 100 trades (compound)
After 500 trades (compound)
After 1,000 trades (compound)
R-multiple (avg win ÷ avg loss)

The formula

Expectancy = (Win rate × Avg win) − (Loss rate × Avg loss) − Transaction cost

This is the average profit (or loss) per trade if you run the system many times. Positive = profitable system. Negative = bleeding money, no matter how clean the chart setups look.

Why this beats focusing on win rate

A 70% win-rate system with +0.5% avg win and 3% avg loss has expectancy of (0.70 × 0.5) − (0.30 × 3) = -0.55%. Loses 0.55% per trade in expectation. The "high win rate" was a trap.

Meanwhile, a 40% win-rate system with +4% avg win and 1% avg loss has expectancy of (0.40 × 4) − (0.60 × 1) = +1.0%. Makes 1% per trade. Twice the loss rate, but a positive system.

This is why high-win-rate marketing is so misleading. The win rate alone tells you nothing about profitability. Always combine it with average win and average loss to see whether the math actually works.

Realistic transaction costs

Use the realistic figure for your venue. A system that's profitable gross but breakeven net is a system that looks good and doesn't actually make money.

Want to apply this to a real published track record? SultraxAI publishes the live win rate, average win, and average loss of every BUY/SELL signal it fires. Currently 50.4% at 1h across 371 signals, with avg win 0.89%, avg loss 0.72% on BTC — expectancy +0.16% gross, roughly breakeven net of typical retail crypto fees. The honest version.