Losses compound too
A losing period shrinks the base, so the next gain is calculated on less. A 20% loss followed by a 20% gain does not return you to even. It leaves you down 4%.
Small, repeated gains turn into numbers that do not look real. The calculator shows the ideal curve, and this page is honest about the one assumption that breaks it.
That single shift, from a fixed base to a growing one, is what turns linear into exponential.
Compounding means each period's gain is applied to the balance you ended the last period with, not the amount you started with. The base keeps growing, so the same percentage produces a larger absolute gain every time.
It is why a modest, consistent return is more powerful than an occasional large one. The power is not in the percentage. It is in the repetition without interruption.
The catch is the word consistent. The calculator assumes every period is a gain. Real trading does not work that way, which is the honest part most compounding pages leave out.
Enter a starting balance, a gain per period and how many periods. The result is the best case, with no losing periods.
A period is whatever you want: a trade, a day, a month or a year. Keep the gain and the period count in the same unit.
This is the ceiling. A single losing period resets the base the next gain compounds from. Final = Start × (1 + Gain%) ^ Periods
Compounding only works in one direction. The same maths that builds the curve up tears it down on a losing period.
A losing period shrinks the base, so the next gain is calculated on less. A 20% loss followed by a 20% gain does not return you to even. It leaves you down 4%.
The calculator assumes an unbroken run of gains. One real drawdown and the curve you projected is gone. Treat the result as a ceiling, not a plan.
The percentage gets the attention, but the number of uninterrupted periods is what actually drives the result. Protecting the streak matters more than maximising the gain.
The gap between the projected curve and the real one is the most useful number in trading, and it is the one a calculator can never show you.
Built automatically from synced broker trades, including every losing period the calculator pretends does not exist.
See your actual gain per month or per week, so the input you would type here is replaced by the number you really produced.
Maximum drawdown shown next to the curve, so you see exactly where compounding got interrupted and what it cost.
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Compounding means each period's gain is calculated on the new, larger balance rather than the original one. A fixed percentage applied to a growing base produces exponential rather than linear growth. The final balance is the start multiplied by one plus the gain rate, raised to the number of periods.
A period is whatever unit your gain rate applies to: a trade, a day, a week, a month or a year. The maths is the same. Just make sure the gain percentage and the number of periods use the same unit.
The maths is real but the assumption rarely is. It assumes a constant gain every period with no losing runs. Real trading has drawdowns, and a single bad period resets the base the next gain compounds from. Treat the result as a ceiling, not a forecast.
The calculator shows the ideal curve. Tracker Fx builds your real equity curve from synced trades, including the drawdowns the calculator ignores, so you can compare what compounding assumed against what actually happened.
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