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Post From: Reimplementation of Trades and Trade Statistics and Period Trade Stats Tabs/Calculations

[2018-10-01 18:21:42]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
How to Ensure Accurate Daily Profit/Loss Value Calculations

The information below applies to version 1814 and higher.

With the reimplementation of the Trades list and Trade Statistics, we need to explain how to ensure an accurate Daily Profit/Loss Calculation which you will see on the Trade Window and other areas within the chart that show this value.

There is not a whole lot new here but it needs to be restated and you need to be aware of some changes in case there are problems with the Daily Profit/Loss calculation which is not unusual being this is client-side calculated from order fills. There are many things that can and do go wrong that we do not have control over. So as a matter of policy if there is a problem, other than providing a detailed explanation and background details that you need to understand how the calculation is done, we will not provide further help.

The documentation on this page is somewhat out of date with the changes:
Help With Daily Profit/Loss Value

We will be making some updates to it this week.

The most important thing is there cannot be any missing order fills during the trading day that you want the Daily Profit/loss for. To see that you have the order fills look for them in the Trade Activity Log:

Trade Activity Log: Viewing Historical Trade Activity


And the start of the day for the Daily Profit/loss is now according to the Session Times in the chart. Refer to:
Chart Session Times

So this will be the Session Times >> Start Time or the Evening Start Time if using the evening session.

It is no longer according to the Daily Stats Reset Time in Global Settings >> General Trade Settings.

To control what order fills are used in the Daily Profit/Loss calculation it is important to accurately control what is the first fill loaded into the chart. By default the first fill in newer versions is going to be the fills at or after the Date-Time of the first bar in the chart.

You can limit this further by enabling Chart >> Chart Settings >> Advanced Settings >> Load Order Fills for Current Day Only. But you need to be conscientious of what is considered the start of the day and that is according to the Session Times for the chart.

Or you can use this particular setting which is probably better:

Chart Settings: Order Fills Start Date-Time (Chart >> Chart Settings >> Trading menu)

Set this to the starting Date-Time when your position was flat for the symbol and Trade Account, just before you began trading for the current day. It may be better to use this particular setting and periodically update it. It does not need to be updated every day. If it goes back several days that is fine. But it just needs to be set to a point in time where your position was flat and there must not be any missing order fills since that time. If there is even a single missing fill this will very likely lead to a problem with the Daily Profit/Loss calculation.

The starting Date-Time for loading of the order fills is essential to understand and adjust as needed. And in version 1815 and higher you can see this date-time for a particular chart in the Trade >> Trade Activity Log >> Trade Stats for Charts tab. Look at the Order Fills Start Date-Time field.

If these instructions are not followed, then the Daily Profit/Loss can be inaccurate.

How do you know there are no missing order fills for the current trading day and the starting Date-Time for loading the order fills into the chart is correct? What you need to do is go to Trade >> Trade Activity Log >> Chart Trade Stats tab. Locate the chart in the list of charts. Not every chart will be listed but if it is not listed, an equivalent chart will be listed.

You need to then look at the Order Fills Start Date-Time column. If that is the correct date-time of an order fill which is at the start of a new Position starting from a zero Position quantity, then good. Next look at the Open Quantity field. If that is indeed your current Position Quantity for the Symbol and Trade Account of the chart, then you are good.

For an explanation of how the Open Quantity field is calculated, refer to:
Trade Activity Log: Open Quantity Field Calculation Method

If the Open Quantity field is not correct you need to make sure there are no missing order fills for the symbol and Trade account of the chart and adjust the starting Date-Time for loading order fills:

Chart Settings: Order Fills Start Date-Time (Chart >> Chart Settings >> Trading menu)
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

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Date Time Of Last Edit: 2018-10-04 19:57:39