This one is for sellers and merchants, not cardholders. A rolling reserve does not take a fee — it takes time: a percentage of every sale sits with the processor for months, and while it sits there you cannot spend it. Enter the terms from your own merchant agreement and this calculator draws the locked-cash curve month by month, so you see the buildup phase, the month the first tranche comes back, and the balance that stays locked once releases and withholdings balance out. It prices no disputes — for that, use the Chargeback Cost Calculator.
Terms checked October 29, 2026 — the published typical figures below come from the processor's own pages, but your agreement may differ and it governs. This tool asks for no account details — never enter card or bank details into a reserve calculator.
How much of your money is locked, and for how long?
Everything is counted in your browser and never sent anywhere. Enter the figures from your own merchant agreement — not a blog post's example terms.
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What the curve means
How a rolling reserve actually releases
A rolling reserve withholds a percentage of each transaction and releases each hold after the agreed period, on a rolling basis: the oldest money comes back as new money is withheld. Stripe's own explainer puts the usual percentage at 5%–15% with a rolling period such as 180 days, and illustrates the mechanism with a $100 sale at 10% for 90 days — $10 withheld, returned after 90 days if no chargebacks or issues occur. Stripe's Connect documentation adds the mechanics underneath: a rolling plan creates a hold per charge that releases a set number of days after that charge, and a refund or dispute equal to or larger than a hold can release that hold early. PayPal's reserve help page describes the same shape with a different day count — its example is 10% held for a 90-day rolling period, with day 1's money released on day 91 — which is exactly why this calculator lets you enter your own period instead of hard-coding any one processor's calendar.
Three phases, visible in every curve this tool draws. Buildup: nothing releases yet, so the locked balance climbs every month — this is the phase that catches merchants out, because sales are rising while spendable cash is not. First release: the first month's withholding comes back, and from here releases begin. Steady state (flat volume only): releases match new withholdings and the locked balance stops growing — at reserve % × lag months of volume. Growth breaks the steady state: a growing business locks more every month, because the releasing month is always smaller than the withholding month.
The planning warning, stated plainly
A business can look solvent on paper while missing supplier payments, because the accounts show sales and the bank shows only cash received. Suppliers, payroll and stock are paid from cash received — volume minus withholding plus releases — not from volume. Before a growth push, a stock order or a supplier commitment, check the cash-received column, not the volume column. If the locked balance is larger than the cash buffer you keep for those bills, the reserve — not your sales — decides whether you can pay them.
What this tool is not
It is not a dispute pricer: it deducts no chargebacks, refunds or fees, and the locked balance shown is the gross balance before any dispute draws on it. It is not a capped-reserve model: if your agreement caps the reserve, withholding stops at the cap and this uncapped curve overstates the locked balance from that point. It is not a payout schedule: releases are grouped by month (period in days rounded up to whole months), while real releases happen per transaction on its own date. And it is not your agreement: if anything here disagrees with your agreement, your agreement wins.
Want the full story, with the sources?
The companion article works through the rolling mechanism, the buildup phase, the steady state, capped vs rolling vs minimum reserves, and the questions to ask your processor before you sign — each claim tied to its primary source. Read it here: Rolling reserves and merchant cash flow, explained.
The month-by-month locked-cash curve of an uncapped rolling reserve: withheld, released, cash received and locked balance at each month end, plus the first release month and, for flat volume, the steady-state balance.
No. Stripe's published typical figures are context only. You enter your own agreement's percentage and period, because reserves are set per agreement and your agreement governs.
In this month-grouped model, a month's withholding is counted as released lag months later, where lag is the period in days rounded up to whole months — a 90-day period releases month 1's withholding in month 4. Real releases happen per transaction on its own date.
No. The curve is the gross locked balance before any dispute or refund draws on it, and it includes no processor fees. To price a lost dispute, use the Chargeback Cost Calculator.
Sources (checked October 29, 2026): Stripe, "What is a rolling reserve?" — rolling reserves withhold usually 5%–15% of each transaction for a rolling period (e.g. 180 days); worked illustration $100 at 10% for 90 days, $10 returned after 90 days if no chargebacks or issues occur; holding period commonly six months to a year; low-risk sectors 30–90 days, higher-risk 180 days or more as typical figures, not terms. Stripe Docs, "Set reserves on your connected accounts" — rolling plan creates a hold per charge releasing a set number of days after the charge; Connect-API holds max 180 days; refunds/disputes equal to or larger than a hold can release it early. PayPal, "What are reserves?" — rolling reserve releases on a scheduled basis; PayPal example 10% held 90 days, day 1 released day 91. No $50,000/month published example was found on these primary pages, so the preset figures on this page are labelled illustrative only and carry no processor's terms. Reserves are set per merchant agreement; check your own agreement before planning.
General information only — not financial advice. This calculator models the figures you enter against your own agreement's terms, using a month-grouped release approximation. Your actual reserve, release dates and cash position depend on your agreement, your processor, and any disputes or refunds drawn against the reserve. Never enter card or bank details into any reserve calculator.
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