Reference
How JouView calculates your statistics
Every figure in JouView's Statistics view comes from the closed trades in your journal. This page gives the rule behind each one, a worked example, and what the numbers can't tell you.
Two rules apply to everything below. JouView doesn't record commissions or fees, so every figure uses each trade's profit as recorded. And a trade that ended within a tenth of what it risked (±0.1R) is a break-even trade.
Which trades count
A row counts as a trade in the statistics when all of these are true:
- It is closed: it has an exit time, and the exit comes after the entry.
- It has a size (Lots/Qty is not zero).
- It has a risk. Break-even, R-multiples and excursions are all measured against risk, so a row with no stop or risk value is left out.
- It hasn't been deleted.
Trades are taken in order of entry time. Money figures use the display currency set in JouView's Settings.
Break-even trades
A trade is break-even when its result is less than a tenth of its risk, in either direction: |profit| < risk ÷ 10. The result is all that decides it. Whether the stop was moved to the entry doesn't matter.
Break-even trades are counted on their own, and are left out of the win count, the loss count, win rate, profit factor and average R:R. They stay in expectancy, net profit, drawdown and the Sharpe ratio.
Win rate
Shown as a whole percentage. A winning trade is one that made money and isn't break-even.
Profit factor
Above 1 means the winners made more than the losers lost. JouView marks a profit factor of 1.5 or more with a tick.
Average R:R
Read it with win rate: a low win rate can still pay if average R:R is high enough, and the other way round.
Expectancy
The average result per trade, in money, with break-even trades included. It's the figure that combines win rate and R:R into one number.
Sharpe ratio (simplified)
This is a simple form: profit per trade in money rather than a rate of return, the population standard deviation, no risk-free rate and no annualising. It's useful to compare your own samples with each other, not with a fund's published Sharpe ratio. JouView marks 1.0 or more with a tick.
Max drawdown and max run-up
Max drawdown is the deepest the running total of your results fell below its previous high, counting from zero at the first trade. It also counts how far each trade went against you while it was open. A trade that dipped badly and then recovered still shows in this figure, even though its final result was fine.
Max run-up is the mirror: the highest the running total rose above its previous low, counting how far each trade went in your favour while open.
Time in drawdown, streaks and duration
- Max time in drawdown is the longest time from a high in the running total until the total goes above that high again. Coming back to exactly the same level doesn't end it. A drawdown still running at the last trade is counted up to that trade.
- Win streak and loss streak are the longest runs of winning and losing trades. A break-even trade ends both.
- Average trade duration is the mean time from entry to exit.
Optimal SL size and optimal TP size
These are what-if figures. They test, on your own closed trades, which stop and which target would have made the most money in hindsight.
- Optimal SL size tries stops from 10% to 500% of the stop you used, in 10% steps. A wider stop is assumed to be traded smaller, so the money at risk stays the same. A trade whose worst point reached the new stop becomes a full loss. One that didn't is assumed to reach its original target, if it had one. JouView marks a result between 90% and 110% with a tick, meaning your stops were about right.
- Optimal TP size tries targets from 10% to 500% of each trade's original target, keeping the size the same. A trade wins at the new target if it ran at least that far in your favour; otherwise it's counted as a full loss. Trades without a target keep their actual result.
Both use only the trades you already took. Treat them as a question to look into, not a setting to change, especially on a small sample.
Charts
Alongside the figures, the Statistics view has these charts:
- performance over time, with a forecast;
- win rate as trades are added;
- profit by day, week and month;
- trades per week;
- profit by weekday and by hour;
- expectancy over time;
- the max drawdown highlighted on the equity line;
- the optimal stop simulator;
- what your break-even trades would have done.
Worked example
Six closed trades, each risking $100. Example data These are not real results.
| Trade | Risk | Profit | Worst point while open | Counts as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100 | +$200 | −$20 | Win |
| 2 | $100 | −$100 | −$100 | Loss |
| 3 | $100 | +$5 | −$30 | Break-even (|5| < 10) |
| 4 | $100 | +$150 | −$60 | Win |
| 5 | $100 | −$100 | −$100 | Loss |
| 6 | $100 | −$50 | −$50 | Loss |
| Figure | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Win rate | 2 wins ÷ (6 trades − 1 break-even) | 40% |
| Profit factor | $350 gross profit ÷ $250 gross loss | 1.4 |
| Average R:R | ($350 ÷ 2) ÷ ($250 ÷ 3) | 2.1 |
| Expectancy | $105 net profit ÷ 6 trades | $17.50 |
| Sharpe ratio | $17.50 average ÷ $117.75 standard deviation | 0.15 |
| Max drawdown | Before trade 4 the total was $105, $95 below its high of $200, and trade 4 then went $60 against you | −$155 |
| Loss streak | Trades 5 and 6 | 2 |
Without counting how far trade 4 went against you, the largest fall in closed results would be $150, from $255 after trade 4 to $105 after trade 6. JouView reports −$155, because trade 4 briefly took the total lower before it recovered.
What the numbers can't tell you
- Small samples mislead. Twenty trades can show a win rate or profit factor that a hundred more trades won't repeat. Look at how the figures change over time, not at one reading.
- Costs are missing. Commissions, fees, swaps and slippage aren't in the figures unless your recorded profit already includes them.
- The journal is only as good as its rows. A trade logged without a stop, or not logged at all, changes every figure.
- Hindsight figures are tempting. Optimal SL and TP size are fitted to trades you already took. Changing your stops to match them can fit the past and still fail on the next trades.
- Past results don't predict future ones. JouView is a journal, not investment advice.
For the journaling habit behind these numbers, the JouView blog has guides on reading your statistics and on building a checklist you can score.
See these figures for your own trades
Log trades in JouView, then open Statistics from the JouView menu on your TradingView chart.