Read your performance

The five figures, the curves and the breakdowns of the performance page — and how to read them without fooling yourself.

What it is for

This page analyses after the fact. It is not where you troubleshoot a missing order: for that, read the history and the errors page. Here you look at what worked and what did not, once the trades are closed.

1. Choose what you look at

My performance, then the account to analyse, the period — 7 days, 30, 90, a year or everything — and the unit: the account currency, or the percentage.

2. The five figures at the top

• Net result — what the period earned or cost.
• Closed trades — how many trades that figure rests on.
• Win rate — the share of winning trades.
• Profit factor — what you win divided by what you lose. Above 1 the strategy earns; below 1 it loses. A win rate can look excellent while the profit factor sits below 1, if the rare losses are large.
• Average gain per trade — the net result spread over the trades.

3. The curves

• Total gain — the sum of your results over time.
• Return — the same, relative to the capital.
• Drawdown — your worst fall from a peak. Read it BEFORE the gain: the drawdown is the part you have to live through, and it decides whether a strategy is one you can actually hold.

4. Find the pattern

The breakdowns answer where the result comes from: result by symbol, result by direction (buy or sell), by hour, by weekday, by month, and duration against result. That last one often settles a doubt: if your winners are short and your losers long, you are holding losses rather than cutting them.

5. The calendar

Each day of the month carries its result and its number of trades. Click a day to display only its trades.

Reading advice

A short sample proves nothing. Ten trades are not a trend, and a good month is not a strategy. Look at the breakdowns to form a hypothesis, then wait for enough trades before acting on it.

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