R-multiple
An R-multiple expresses a trade's result as a multiple of the amount risked at entry, where 1R is the distance from entry to the initial stop. A trade that gains twice what it risked is a +2R trade regardless of contract size or currency.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Definition
R stands for the initial risk of a trade: the distance between the entry price and the stop, converted into currency through the contract's point value and size. The R-multiple of the trade is its net result divided by that risk. A loss that hits the stop exactly is −1R. A trade that reaches a target twice as far as the stop is +2R. The measure removes size and instrument from the comparison, which is why it is used to compare strategies with different stops or different markets.
- R-multiple = net result of the trade ÷ initial risk at entry.
- The stop must be known at entry; a trade without a stop has no defined R.
- Expectancy in R = average R-multiple over the sample, which is the mean result per unit of risk.
Reading a distribution of R-multiples
The useful object is not one trade's R but the distribution over many trades. The mean gives expectancy per unit risked; the median shows whether that mean depends on a few large winners; the share of trades at or above 1R tells how often the trade paid at least its risk back. A strategy whose mean is positive but whose median is negative is carried by outliers, and the underwater periods between them will be long.
- Same dollar result, different R: the backtest panel's own example is a +$40 trade with an 8-tick stop (5R) against the same $40 with a 40-tick stop (1R).
- Coverage: report what fraction of trades carried a stop, because the others are excluded from R statistics.
- Losses beyond −1R indicate slippage past the stop or a stop that was moved.
In Senzoukria
The backtest results panel in the desktop has an "R-multiples" chart. Its summary line reports the expectancy in R, the median, the share of trades at or above 1R and the share of trades that had a stop. Its hint gives the rule in one sentence: each trade is divided by what it risked at entry, the stop distance, and trades without a stop have no R. When no trade carried a stop, the panel reports "No trade carried a stop: no R to measure" rather than a zero.
The journal's "Previous sessions" panel reports "Expectancy / trade" in currency; the R view is the backtest panel's, where the stop distance is known from the strategy code.
Common mistakes
- Computing R against the realised loss instead of the initial stop; that hides slippage and moved stops.
- Reporting expectancy in R without the coverage: a figure built on a third of the trades is not the strategy's figure.
- Comparing R-multiples across strategies whose stops are placed with different logic, then treating the comparison as size-free; it is stop-free only if the stops are honest.
- Confusing reward-to-risk at entry (the planned ratio) with the realised R-multiple.
Related
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- How is R different from profit factor?
- Profit factor divides gross profits by gross losses over the whole sample and says nothing about how much each trade risked. R normalises every trade by its own initial risk, so two strategies with different stop sizes can be compared trade by trade. Both are reported in Senzoukria: profit factor in the journal, R-multiples in the backtest panel.
- What does a −1.4R trade mean?
- The trade lost 40% more than the risk defined at entry. That happens when the fill on the stop is worse than the stop price, or when the stop was widened after entry. A cluster of losses below −1R is a slippage or discipline signal, not a strategy property.