MAE & MFE Calculator
This MAE & MFE Calculator measures how far one entered trade moved against and in favour of its entry price. It converts the observed low-high range into price distance, pips, percentage and account-currency amounts without reconstructing missing tick data or recommending future stops and targets.
Enter one trade’s observed range
Use the lowest and highest prices actually observed while the position was open. The entry must sit inside that inclusive range.
Select the currency of the entered pip value.
Choose the direction of the position being reviewed.
Enter the position’s entry price.
Use the lowest price actually observed during the trade.
Use the highest price actually observed during the trade.
Verify the symbol’s pip convention before calculating.
Enter the volume represented throughout this simplified excursion scenario.
Enter the account-currency value of one pip for one lot.
Observed trade excursion
Entered Trade Diagnostics 1.0.0.
| Excursion | Price distance | Pips | Account-currency amount | % of entry |
|---|
How MAE and MFE are calculated
Short MAE = Observed high − Entry; Short MFE = Entry − Observed low
Excursion pips = Price distance ÷ Pip size
Maximum adverse excursion is the largest entered price movement against the position while it was open. Maximum favourable excursion is the largest entered movement in the position’s favour. Both distances are nonnegative because the entry must sit within the observed low-high range.
Version 1.0.0 converts those distances with one entered pip size, position volume and pip value per lot. It also shows percentage of entry and a descriptive MFE-to-MAE ratio when MAE is greater than zero.
Worked example from the audited fixture
The audited long example enters at 1.1000, reaches a low of 1.0975 and a high of 1.1060, with a 0.0001 pip size, one lot and USD 10 per pip.
- MAE = 1.1000 − 1.0975 = 0.0025 = 25 pips = USD 250, or about 0.227273% of entry.
- MFE = 1.1060 − 1.1000 = 0.0060 = 60 pips = USD 600, or about 0.545455% of entry. MFE ÷ MAE = 2.4.
Reproduce it: select “Load audited example” above to use the immutable Batch 33 reference values.
How to interpret the result
- MAE describes the deepest entered adverse movement, not the trade’s final realized loss.
- MFE describes the furthest entered favourable movement, not the amount actually captured at exit.
- A ratio above or below one is not graded. Interpretation requires a consistent price-path source, instrument convention and sample across many trades.
Assumptions and limits
- The model measures one manually entered trade and does not retrieve tick or bar history.
- The high and low do not reveal which occurred first.
- One constant volume and pip value are assumed; scale-ins, partial exits and changing conversion rates are excluded.
- Spread, commission, financing, gaps and execution sequencing are excluded.
- No optimal stop, target, strategy grade, forecast, signal or recommendation is produced.
Effective leverage vs slippage vs MAE/MFE
These tools share a manual, privacy-safe diagnostic layout but answer different questions. Keep the account snapshot, execution record and observed trade path separate so one value is not silently used as evidence for another.
| Measure | Evidence unit | Calculation | Main boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effective leverage | Account snapshot | Gross notional ÷ equity | Does not calculate broker margin. |
| Fill slippage | One completed transaction | Expected price vs execution price | Does not include total trading costs. |
| MAE/MFE | One observed trade range | Entry vs intratrade low and high | Does not reconstruct path order or recommend levels. |
Frequently asked questions
- Maximum adverse excursion is the furthest entered price movement against the position from entry while the trade was open.
- Maximum favourable excursion is the furthest entered price movement in the position’s favour from entry while the trade was open.
- The lowest observed price while open is subtracted from the long entry price.
- The short entry price is subtracted from the highest observed price while open.
- For a long, entry is subtracted from observed high; for a short, observed low is subtracted from entry.
- A valid intratrade low-high range must include the entry observation; otherwise the entered evidence is internally inconsistent.
- No. MAE is an intratrade adverse extreme, while realized profit or loss depends on the actual exit, volume path and costs.
- No. This page measures one entered trade and does not infer path order, optimize levels, forecast future movement or recommend a trade decision.
Sources and methodology
- TradingView — Adverse Excursion — Official direction-aware entry-to-low/high adverse-excursion example.
- TradingView — Favourable Excursion — Official entry-to-observed-extreme favourable-excursion example.
Continue the trade-path review
Compare the account and execution records behind your inputs
Before interpreting entered exposure, fills or trade-path extremes, confirm that contract specifications, account currency, volume, price records and cost conventions match the broker statement or platform history you used.
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