Return above the risk-free rate divided by the volatility of those returns — reward per unit of risk.
Last verified 13 September 2026 · written by the DexLadder team
What it means
Return above the risk-free rate divided by the volatility of those returns — reward per unit of risk.
Why it matters when you trade
Two strategies returning 40% are not comparable until you know what they put you through. Sharpe normalises for that. Its weaknesses matter in crypto: it punishes upside volatility as harshly as downside, assumes roughly normal returns when crypto returns are fat-tailed, and is easily flattered by short samples or leverage. Read it beside maximum drawdown, never alone.
Worked example
25% return, 5% risk-free, 30% volatility → (0.25 − 0.05) / 0.30 = 0.67. A 15% return with 8% volatility scores 1.25 and is the better engine.
See it on live markets
DexLadder runs sharpe ratio against live market and pool data, with simulated capital, so you can watch it act on an order instead of reading about it — no account, no wallet, nothing installed.