Skip to main content

2.4. A Glance at the Numbers

So far we have looked at positions one at a time. Analytics, in the Dashboard group of the menu, looks at all of them together. Let's glance at two of its views: the equity curve, and the results of the positions that have been closed.

The Equity Curve​

The equity curve draws the portfolio's value over time. Figure 2-5 shows it for our example, from the first trade on 4 October 2024 to 16 October 2026.

Analytics

Equity curve

4 Oct 2024 to 16 Oct 2026

₹30L₹40L₹50L20252026
PortfolioCapital investedNifty 50
Figure 2-5: The equity curve for the example tradebook, one point per week

There are three lines:

  • Portfolio is the value of everything at each date: the shares held, at that day's prices, plus any money from sales waiting to be used again.
  • Capital invested is the money put in from outside, added up over time. It rises in steps, each time a purchase needed more money than the portfolio had on hand.
  • Nifty 50 is what the same money would have been worth in the Nifty 50 index. Each time capital came in, the same amount is counted as buying the index on that day.

For our example, on 16 October 2026 the portfolio stood at ₹49.56 lakh, against ₹50.56 lakh of capital invested. The same capital in the Nifty 50 would have stood at ₹48.59 lakh.

Closed Positions​

A position is closed when all its shares have been sold. Its profit or loss is then realised: final, and no longer moving with the price. Our example has 207 closed positions. Of these, 38 ended with a gain and 169 with a loss. Together they came to a realised loss of ₹9,58,681.

The gains averaged 10.2% each, and the losses 9.6% each. The positions that ended in a gain were held for 122 days on average; those that ended in a loss, for 52 days.

The 24 open positions, meanwhile, carry an unrealised gain of ₹11,83,066. Realised and unrealised results together make up the portfolio's story, which is why Tradestory keeps both in view.

These figures describe one investor's record, and the book leaves the judging of it to you. Analytics has more to show, including the portfolio's makeup by sector and company size, the risk in how it is spread, and habits over time. Chapter 6 goes through it all.

One stop is left on our walk: the Playbook.