P&L breakdown

Also seen as: profit and loss breakdown, P&L attribution

What the P&L breakdown splits your result into

The breakdown separates every unit of profit and loss into named components, split into a gains side and a costs-and-losses side.

• Gains (stacked upward): Realized profit, Open profit, Dividends, Interest received.
• Costs and losses (stacked downward): Realized loss, Open loss, Negative dividends, Interest paid, Costs, Taxes.

The net of the two sides is the Portfolio line — the strategy's total P&L. Realized profit and loss come from positions already closed, while open profit and loss come from positions still held; the two are kept apart because only the open side still moves with the market (see realized vs open P&L).

The Costs band here is the same charge that separates gross from net on a position — trading fees plus slippage; see gross vs net for how the two figures sit either side of it.

Defaults in Fincanva

• Each component is a coloured band; gains stack above the axis and costs and losses below it, so the height on each side shows how much came from each source.
• The breakdown responds to the Costs, Taxes, and Reinvest simulation assumptions: the Costs, Interest paid, and Taxes bands are zero when those assumptions are off, and costs are off by default for every account.
• Negative dividends and Interest paid appear only when a strategy uses short positions or borrows to fund leverage.

Worked example

A strategy ends a period with the "Portfolio" line at +4,000, and the breakdown shows line by line how it got there. On the gains side: Realized profit +3,200, Open profit +1,900, Dividends +600, Interest received +50 — a total of +5,750. On the costs-and-losses side: Costs −900, Taxes −500, Realized loss −250, Open loss −80, Interest paid −20 — a total of −1,750. The two sides net to +5,750 − 1,750 = +4,000, which is exactly where the Portfolio line finishes. Reading the bands tells you the 4,000 was earned mostly from realized and still-open gains, and trimmed by roughly 1,750 of costs, taxes, and losing positions.

These figures describe what a strategy would have done on historical data, not what it will do. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see Is this financial advice?.