How to see the profits in Points instead of Dollars?
Author: Orly24
Creation Date: 8/27/2015 8:21 AM
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Orly24

#1
I want to add a colum (or define it in the softwear) that will show me the diffrence between the entry time and the exit time in points and not in dollers (in the screenshoot it showes profit of 311.85$ and i want to see it in points).

What should I do?
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Orly24

#2
I have atteched a document
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Eugene

#3
You can neither switch to a point-based view (because it simply doesn't exist) nor define such a column in the Trades tab (as the built-in tab can not be customized). Two alternatives:

1. Quick and dirty: If your exit price is known to your system before the fact (e.g. it's some predetermined level like 20-day low), you could output the difference between the exit and the entry in the exit name column like follows:

CODE:
Please log in to see this code.


However, this has very limited usability as not all order types are supported, for example, exit price is unknown for AtMarket orders.

2. Add such column to the Trades+ visualizer which is open source. Requires development skills and Visual Studio proficiency.

You could probably ask us to modify the Trades+ tab but before looking into it I have to make sure this request makes sense. Nobody requested this before and currently it doesn't look very much practical to know the PnL in points. What's the point in this knowledge?
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Orly24

#4
Hello!

The first option isn't such useful as you just said because not all order types are supported.
In addition,the second option sounds like the only way but this way requires to much for a very simple ask.


QUOTE:
it doesn't look very much practical to know the PnL in points. What's the point in this knowledge?

In some cases the PNL(in points) is necessary in order to get the real picture.
For example, in ES(Smp-500) the profit-value has to be calculated by index value which is changing always.

I attach here an example in which i made the same enter and exits in short and long, but i got different results in the profit.
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Eugene

#5
QUOTE:
In some cases the PNL(in points) is necessary in order to get the real picture.

Sorry but that doesn't convince me into adding the extra column to Trades+ yet. The real picture is in dollars while points are only an abstraction. May you suggest a better argument after reading the rest of my answer?

By the way, your Symbol Info Manager is not yet configured to represent the actual PnL of futures trading. I assume this is why you're trying to view those points in PnL? See the User Guide > Reference > Symbol Info Manager on how to set it up.

QUOTE:
I attach here an example in which i made the same enter and exits in short and long, but i got different results in the profit.

That's perfectly expected, isn't it? It comes from the fact that price may increase by any percent (two-fold, three-fold, or even by 231,150,888.87% like hyperinflation in Zimbabwe etc.) but can not fall more than 100%.
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Orly24

#6
Can one of our traders ask you questions in Russian please?
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Eugene

#7
He might want to use Google Translate.
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Cone

#8
Re: image for the long and short trading on @ES#.
The problem is that you haven't set up this future's symbol in the Symbol Info Manager (Ctrl+Alt+F).

Enter the symbol, Type = Future, Margin (about 3000), Point Value = 50, Tick = 0.25, Decimals = 2; and make sure the menu button says "Disable Futures Mode", which indicates Futures Mode is enabled.

Then, adjust your sizing as appropriate. Start with 1 contract in Raw Profit mode, for example.

Finally, ensure your Commissions Preference is properly set up.

------ Edit ------
Eugene is faster as usual, but at least we agree!
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