- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Completion
Related terms
The use of a guaranteed stop that limits the risk.
Placing a position for the current bid or ask price.
Any money you gain from your trades that increase your accounts original capital.
What you are essentially willing to lose on your account when actively placing a trade.
Properly maintaining discipline within your trading and knowing how to manage your trades with little to no risk to your account overall.
An order you set with your broker to close out your trade if price goes in the opposite direction and hits your pre-determined exit price.
An order you set for your broker to close your trade once your pre-determined exit out of the market is reached.
-
BeginnerEarly Stages for Beginners8 Topics
-
Forex Terminology11 Topics
- Major and Minor Currency Pairs
- Basic Forex Terminology
- Pips & Ticks
- The Broker & The Spread
- What is a Lot?
- Stop Loss & Take Profit
- Margin & Leverage
- Retracement & Reversal
- When Can I Trade Forex? Sessions - Market Open and Close
- 3 Types of Analysis (Technical, Fundamental, Sentiment)
- 3 Ways a Market Can Go (Up, Down, Sideways)
-
Margin & Leverage2 Topics
-
Personal Psychology Questions2 Topics
-
Psychology for Beginners7 Topics
-
IntermediateIdentifying Scams2 Topics
-
Brokers for Beginners5 Topics
-
Technical Analysis13 Topics
- Types of Charts
- Understanding Japanese Candlesticks
- Candlestick Patterns For Beginners
- Single, Double & Triple Candlestick Patterns
- Support and Resistance
- Confluences w/ Candlesticks & Support & Resistance
- Trendlines
- Counter Trend Trading/ Counter Trend Lines
- Fibonacci
- Moving Average
- Top-Down Analysis
- Fakeouts
- Consolidation Trading (Breakout, Retest, Continuation)
-
Market Structure5 Topics
-
CompletionRisk Management for Beginners8 Topics
-
Fundamental Analysis9 Topics
-
AdvancedUsing Indicators6 Topics
-
Technical Analysis (Part 2)8 Topics
What is Risk-to-Reward Ratio
Think of making a trade with anything in life. Whether it be sports, the car dealership, or even buying something from the store (exchanging money with what you perceive its value is worth). When you’re trading something, you want something of equal or greater value. When it comes to the market, your risk is what you are willing to lose if your trade goes against you, whereas your reward is what you will gain if the trade goes in your favor.
A 1:1 Risk to Reward ratio means with this particular trade, you’re willing to lose the same amount you’re willing to gain. If your stop loss is set at -$50, your take profit is set at $50. If your stop loss is set at -$100, your take profit is set at $100. 1:1. This is the MINIMUM you should be trading with because if you used a R:R of anything less, it would be pointless. Would you trade DOWN for something? Would you trade your iPhone 12 for an iPhone 8? No. Make sure you’re not risking 90 pips, just to gain 30 pips. That’s backwards.
NOTE: With this R:R ratio, you HAVE to win more than 50% of your trades just to be slightly profitable, and more than 70-80% to be really profitable. The reason being is you’re losing what you’re making every time. So you HAVE to win 7 out of 10 trades, or 8 out of 10 trades, or 9 out of 10 trades. Doing so may be hard which is why most people like to have a higher R:R ratio.
A 1:2 R:R is the same thing. If your stop loss is set at -$50, your take profit is set at $100. If your stop loss is set at -$100, your take profit is set at $200. 1:2! The good thing about this is, even if you have to lose TWO TRADES, all you have to do is win one trade and you’re back at breakeven.
EXAMPLE:
R:R Ratio: 1:2.
SL: -$100
TP: $200
TRADE #1: LOSS -$100
TRADE #2: LOSS -$100
TRADE #3: WIN $200
PROFIT at the end of the week: $0. You broke even. In this scenario, you still would have to win close to 50% of the time to be profitable. 5 wins and 5 losses would look like this:
5 WINS at $200 = $1000.
5 LOSSES at $100 = -$500
PROFIT at the end of the week: $500.
You see! A higher R:R ratio allows some breathing room with your trading, even if you lose.
Using a 1:3 or higher is exactly the same. If you’re risking -$200, your goal is a reward of $600. 1:3! You only have to win one trade even if you lose 3 in a row!
EXAMPLE of a 1:3 R:R Ratio and you won 50% of the time.
5 WINS at $600 = $3000.
5 LOSSES at $-200 = -$1000.
PROFIT at the end of the week: $2000.
That in a nutshell is Risk-To-Reward Ratio. Now you see why it’s so important? Imagine if you won 70% of the time. It would be crazy!
NOTE: It’s not as easy as it sounds. Just like there are winning streaks, there are losing streaks, so you must always plan!
Now, we do have traders who take on trades with greater risk, than reward. If that sounds silly, it’s because it is.

So before you place a trade, you need to focus on a few things.
- Lot Size
- Entry
- Stop Loss
- Profit Target
Now, look at the space and distance between your entry and stop loss. That’s how much you’re RISKING.
Do the same on the opposite end. Look at the distance between your entry and profit target. That’s your reward!
Dividing your risk by your reward determines your R:R.
Example
Buy Entry Price: 1.25000
Profit Target: 1.25750
Potential Reward: 75 pips
Stop Loss: 1.24750
Potential Risk: 25 pips (-$2.50)
75 pips / 25 pips = 3. Your R:R ratio is 1:3.

To cut out all the hard work, you can use the short and long position tool on Tradingview. It will do the calculations for you. Not everyone can be a Math-Magician!