The Performance overview refers to the P/L of an entire account, and also on the individual position level.
Earnings are shown for a specific period in time. This can be the entire investment period from the date of account inception, to the previous day’s trading date (All Time), within the last week (1W), within the last month (1M); or a period of your choice. The slider enables you to select a period for which Historical Earnings are to be viewed.
Total Earnings
The banner below shows the total Dividends & Interest, total Costs and total Earnings for the specified chosen period e.g. YTD.
The Dividend and Interest total is the sum of the position level dividends and interest incomes. Total costs include all the costs incurred at both position level and Account level, which are summed to give the aggregated total costs. Similarly, the total Earnings are the sum of all position level Earnings calculated as total P/L ex. dividends and interest, plus total dividends and interest minus the total costs.
Account Value
The Account Value is the sum of all position values and cash on the account. The position value is the quantity of an open position multiplied by its current market price. The value of all positions is then summed, plus the cash holdings to determine the Account Value.
Total % Return
The graph below is determined by first calculating the daily percentage returns over a specified chosen period e.g. YTD. The total percentage return is a time-weighted return that is derived by multiplying the daily percentage returns together over the specified chosen period e.g. YTD.
The daily percentage returns take into account the daily net cashflows (deposits minus withdrawals) on the account. These capital inflows and outflows can distort the return on the account, by either overstating or understating the return as a result of the effects of the capital inflows or outflows. Therefore, whether the net cashflows are positive or negative, affects how the daily percentage return is calculated.
The daily percentage returns are multiplied together to calculate the time-weighted return[1], for the specified chosen period e.g. YTD.
Benchmarks
The total percentage return is an indicator of an account’s performance over a specified investment period e.g. YTD. Benchmarks are used as a yardstick against which to compare the performance of an account. Benchmarks are indexes that are made up of securities representative of a specific market. For example, the Euro Stocks 50 Index is comprised of the largest 50 companies in the Eurozone, measured by market capitalisation. Therefore, the performance of an account consisting of a number of stocks from within the Eurozone could be measured against the Euro Stocks 50 Index.
Earnings Breakdown
For the selected chosen time to be viewed e.g. YTD, the Earnings Breakdown shows the Dividends and Earnings, Costs, Earnings and % Return for the given period.
Dividends & Interest
Dividends and Interest take into account any dividend and bond coupons paid out within a given period e.g. YTD. Such payments are registered as income earned on the account. However, if the account holds CFD products, a dividend payment on the underlying stock will result in an adjustment equivalent to the dividend payment (net of withholding tax) on long positions. This would result in a positive dividend income. Whilst on short positions, an adjustment is made that impacts income negatively to the equivalent of the gross dividend payment (before withholding tax is subtracted). Note that any corrections on dividend or coupon payments could also decrease or increase the dividend and interest income, depending on whether it is an upward or downward correction.
Costs
The costs are calculated on position level. This means that all costs are related to a specific instrument that is held in the account. This includes costs incurred on a transaction, such as commission, exchange fees, withholding taxes, borrowing costs, CFD Finance fees, Holding fees, fund inducements, EFT and mutual fund external costs etc. Conversion costs are also applied when a client is trading an instrument in a currency different from the account currency. A conversion cost is charged to convert the instrument currency to account currency.
Earnings
Earnings on the position level are calculated for a specified chosen period e.g. YTD. The breakdown of P/L at position level can be viewed by clicking on the individual position:
P/L ex. Dividends & Costs - includes both realised[1] and unrealised[2] P/L at position level. The P/L is calculated as the difference between the current position value and the previous trading day’s position value; at the instrument level. The current position value of the instrument is the quantity held at the position multiplied by the market price. Whereas the previous trading day’s value of the position is the quantity held of the position at the end-of-day previous trading day; multiplied by the closing market price at the end-of-day previous trading day. Any transactions occurring within the P/L calculation period, affect the P/L. The transaction value of sell transactions is added to the current position value before subtracting the previous trading day’s position value. Where buy transactions have been executed during the P/L calculation period, the transaction value of buy transactions is subtracted from the current position value, before subtracting the previous trading day’s position value to determine instrument P/L.
Earnings - within the specified chosen period e.g. YTD, all trade-related costs and income are incorporated in the Earnings calculation. Costs incurred e.g. commissions are deducted and income earned e.g. dividend payments are added to the P/L for the period, to give position Earnings.
% Return
The % Return is calculated daily on an instrument level. The daily percentage returns are calculated as the current position Earnings divided by the previous trading day’s Position Value and adjusted for buys and sells; the ratio is multiplied by 100 to give the daily percentage return. This gives the percentage rate of return on the investment (position held).
[1] Realised P/L is incurred when a transaction is executed, either to open or close a position.
[2] Unrealised P/L is observed on open positions and affected by price movements in the market.