The percentage of your trades that close profitably — one half of the equation that determines profitability.
Win rate is simply the percentage of your trades that end as winners. If you take 100 trades and 55 close in profit, your win rate is 55%. It's an easy number to calculate and an easy number to obsess over — which is why so many beginners chase it instead of focusing on the math that actually matters.
Win rate alone tells you nothing. A 90% win rate with 0.5R wins and 5R losses is a losing strategy. A 35% win rate with 5R wins and 1R losses is a wildly profitable strategy. The combination of win rate AND average reward-to-risk determines expectancy, which determines whether you make money.
Most professional trend-following strategies have win rates between 35% and 50%. Most professional mean-reversion strategies have win rates between 60% and 75%. Both can be profitable. The trick is matching your win rate to your reward-to-risk so the expectancy works out positive.
Famous trend-follower Ed Seykota has had win rates as low as 30% over multi-year periods — but his winners are so much bigger than his losers that he's compounded billions. The math, not the win rate, makes the trader.
Frequently asked about win rate
What is a win rate in trading?+
The percentage of your trades that close profitably — one half of the equation that determines profitability.
When will I see win rate used in real trading?+
On every trading journal, every prop firm dashboard, and every strategy backtest report. Almost always the first metric beginners look at.
What is the most common mistake traders make with win rate?+
Pursuing high win rate at the expense of expectancy. Tightening stops and widening targets to "win more often" usually destroys the math. Win rate is a result, not a goal.
What do experienced traders know about win rate that beginners don't?+
If you're obsessing over your win rate, you're focused on the wrong number. Track expectancy in R-multiples. A strategy with positive expectancy is profitable regardless of whether the win rate is 40% or 70%.
Read the lesson here. Mark the chart on TradingView. Compare brokers with the checklist.
TradingView is the chart workspace most learners already recognize: watchlists, alerts, drawings, and clean multi-market charts. Broker research stays methodology-first: jurisdiction, costs, platform, withdrawals, and risk before any account decision.