The 5 numbers every trader should check every week
Net P&L after fees, profit factor, biggest loss next to your typical loss, trades after 2 losses and your worst day’s share: what each one tells you and what good looks like.
Your journal can show you dozens of stats. Most weeks, you only need five. These five numbers together tell you whether you made money, whether you did it the right way, and where the next problem is coming from. Check them every weekend, write them down, and compare them with last week.
1. Net P&L after fees
What you actually made after commissions and platform fees. It's the number your broker and your prop firm count. Also look at how much of your gross profit went to fees: if it's more than about a third, you're trading too often for the size of your edge. See why new traders should keep their costs low.
Good sign: positive, with fees a small slice of gross profit. Warning: green before fees, red after.
2. Profit factor
Total won ÷ total lost. It tells you how much you make for every dollar you lose, and it combines win rate and the size of your wins in one number. Above 1 is profitable; around 1.5 or higher is solid for a day trader. More in what's a good win rate and profit factor?
Good sign: steady at 1.3 or higher. Warning: high profit factor from one big trade, with the rest of the week below 1.
3. Biggest loss ÷ typical loss
Line up your losing trades and take the middle one: that's your typical loss. Then divide your biggest loss by it. If your typical loss is $100 and your biggest was $450, the ratio is 4.5. This one number tells you whether your stops held.
Good sign: under 1.5. Your losses all look about the same, because your stop did its job. Warning: 3 or more. One loss that size can wipe out several winning days, and on a prop account it's how a trailing drawdown gets hit.
4. Trades after 2 losses in a day
Count the trades you took after you'd already lost twice that day, and add up what they made or lost. This is the simplest measure of tilt: most bad days start with a second loss and the decision to keep going.
Good sign: zero, or a handful that made money. Warning: several trades that lost money as a group.
5. Your worst day’s share of your losses
Add up all your losing days, then see how much of that came from your single worst day. If your red days totaled $1,000 and $700 of it was Tuesday, your worst day is 70% of your losses.
Good sign: under about a third. Your losses are spread out and controlled. Warning: over half. One day did most of the damage, so one rule (a daily loss limit, or two losses ends the day) would have fixed most of your week.
Why not win rate?
Win rate on its own fools you. A 70% win rate loses money if the 30% are big, and a 40% win rate makes money if the winners are twice the losers. Profit factor and the loss ratio above tell you more. Keep win rate in your journal, but don't grade yourself on it.
A four-week tracking table
| Week | Net after fees | Profit factor | Biggest ÷ typical loss | Trades after 2 losses | Worst day share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | −$320 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 6 (−$410) | 72% |
| 2 | +$150 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 3 (−$90) | 55% |
| 3 | +$410 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1 (+$40) | 38% |
| 4 | +$380 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0 | 30% |
This made-up trader didn't find a new strategy between week 1 and week 4. They stopped trading after two losses and let their stops work. Watch how the last three columns improved first, and the P&L followed.
Get all five from a trade file
The free trading report card works these out from a trade file from TopstepX, Tradovate, NinjaTrader and other platforms, and turns them into grades with one thing to fix first. It runs in your browser, with no sign-up for your latest two weeks.
This article is for education only and isn't financial advice. The example numbers are made up to show the math. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss.