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P&L breakdown

TermAnalysisIntermediate

The P&L breakdown is a stacked view that splits a strategy's total profit and loss into the gains and costs that produced it. On the capital chart's P&L breakdown view, gains stack upward, costs and losses downward, and a Strategy line traces the net total.

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

How does Fincanva handle it?

  • 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.

What does the P&L breakdown split your result into?

Every unit of profit and loss goes into a named component, on a gains side or 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.
Strategy=gains−costs and losses\key{1}{\text{Strategy}} = \key{2}{\text{gains}} - \key{3}{\text{costs and losses}}
  • the Strategy line — the strategy's total P&L
  • the sum of the bands stacked upward
  • the sum of the bands stacked downward

Realized profit and loss come from positions already closed, open profit and loss from positions still held; they are kept apart because only the open side still moves with the market (see realized vs open P&L). The Costs band is the same charge that separates gross from net on a position — trading fees plus slippage; see gross vs net.

What does it look like in practice?

A strategy ends a period with the "Strategy" 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 Strategy 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.

Used in 13 pages

UPDATED 2026-10-06

Fincanva is for education and illustration only. It is not personalised financial advice, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones. Read the Terms Addendum

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