Trailing Stop Calculator: Dollar vs. Percent Trail, Giveback, and Gap Risk
A trailing stop moves its trigger only when the selected market reference moves favorably. A dollar trail keeps a fixed price distance; a percent trail keeps a proportional distance. When price reverses enough to reach the trigger, a trailing stop loss generally becomes a market order, so the fill can be worse than the calculated trigger. The calculator below estimates the current trigger, profit giveback, fill slippage, account impact, and adverse-gap scenarios for long and short positions. It does not monitor live prices, choose a trail, or guarantee an exit. Quick answer Long position, dollar trail: trailing trigger = highest favorable reference - dollar trail. Long position, percent trail: trailing trigger = highest favorable reference x (1 - trail percent). Short position, dollar trail: trailing trigger = lowest favorable reference + dollar trail. Short position, percent trail: trailing trigger = lowest favorable reference x (1 + trail percent). The trigger general...