Quick Answer
Start with a large enough sample of trades (a few dozen at minimum), then check win rate, profit factor, and expectancy together rather than any single metric alone. Break results down by setup, instrument, or session to see where performance actually comes from, and review on a regular schedule rather than only after a big win or loss.
Metrics Worth Checking
| Metric | What It Measures |
|---|---|
| Win Rate | Percentage of trades that closed profitably |
| Profit Factor | Gross profit relative to gross loss |
| Expectancy | Average expected result per trade, combining win rate and average win/loss size |
| Drawdown | Decline from a peak in account balance or equity |
| Risk-to-Reward Ratio | Average potential reward relative to risk taken per trade |
A Practical Workflow
- Make sure you have enough closed trades to draw conclusions from — a handful of trades won't tell you much either way.
- Check overall win rate, profit factor, and expectancy together, since any one of these alone can be misleading.
- Break results down by setup, strategy, instrument, or session to see whether performance is concentrated in specific conditions.
- Look at drawdown and risk-to-reward to understand not just whether you're profitable, but how much risk that profitability required.
- Review on a regular schedule (weekly or monthly, depending on trade frequency) rather than only right after a big win or loss.
One good or bad week rarely means much
A short losing streak can be normal variance even for a strategy with a real statistical edge. The full guide below covers how to tell ordinary variance apart from a genuine problem with the strategy or its execution.
Key Takeaways
- Analyze performance on a large enough sample of trades — a few trades don't establish a pattern.
- No single metric tells the whole story; win rate, profit factor, and expectancy are more informative together.
- Breaking results down by setup or instrument often reveals more than the aggregate numbers.
- A losing streak isn't automatically a sign something is wrong — some variance is expected even from a working strategy.
How Wrytics Can Help
Wrytics calculates win rate, profit factor, expectancy, and other statistics automatically from your logged or synced trades, and lets you break results down by setup, symbol, or time period without building spreadsheet formulas yourself.