Monthly Returns
Monthly Returns
The Monthly Returns chart breaks down your strategy's performance by calendar month, revealing seasonality patterns and consistency of returns.
How Returns Are Calculated
- Trades are grouped by their exit month (when the trade closed)
- Monthly P&L = sum of all trade P&L within that month
- Monthly Return % = Monthly P&L / Initial Deposit × 100
- Average Monthly Return = sum of all monthly returns / number of months
- Average Yearly Return = Average Monthly × 12 (annualized)
Reading the Chart
The bar chart shows:
- Green bars — months with positive returns
- Red bars — months with negative returns
- Bar height — magnitude of return (%)
- Text below — average monthly return and annualized return
Interpreting Patterns
Consistent Returns
Most bars roughly the same height, mostly green → reliable, repeatable strategy.
Seasonal Bias
Consistently good/bad in certain months → strategy may depend on seasonal patterns (e.g., crypto tends to be bullish in Q4 historically).
Clustered Returns
All profit concentrated in 1-2 months → unreliable. Strategy may depend on a specific market event rather than a repeatable edge.
Increasing Volatility
Bars getting taller over time (both green and red) → position sizing may be compounding aggressively.
Key Metrics
| Metric | Description | |--------|-------------| | Avg Monthly Return | Average percentage return per month | | Avg Yearly Return | Annualized return (monthly × 12) | | Profitable Months | Count and percentage of positive months | | Best Month | Month with highest return | | Worst Month | Month with largest loss |
Consistency Score
The percentage of profitable months feeds into the StratBase Score calculation:
- 80%+ profitable months — excellent consistency
- 60-80% — good
- 40-60% — average (mixed results)
- Below 40% — strategy loses more often than it wins on a monthly basis
Tip: A strategy with 60% monthly win rate but 2:1 average win/loss ratio can still be very profitable. Don't judge solely by the count of green vs red months — the magnitude matters.
FAQ
Q: Why do some months show zero? A: If no trades closed in a particular month, that month has zero return. The strategy may have had open positions but no exits.
Q: Is annualized return just monthly × 12? A: For display purposes, yes. For periods less than 12 months, the annualized figure is an extrapolation, not a guaranteed projection.