Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

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simoneb
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Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

Postby simoneb » 12 May 2023

Hi, in the Order and Position Tracker window I'm having some troubles understanding what the difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L is.

Here's a screenshot of what I see on two positions, one short of a futures contract, and one long on TSLA.

Image

Searching the forum and online I kind of understood that the difference should lie in the commissions, and possibly the theoretical entry price of the strategy versus the actual entry price on the broker, e.g. if you enter manually at a price that's worse than the strategy theoretical one, but this wasn't the case here as both entries were done by the strategy.

The difference on the future contract makes sense in terms of commissions, although I don't quite understand why one column shows the $ symbol and the other doesn't.

The difference on the TSLA stock instead doesn't make any sense to me, as the difference is too big and clearly it's not a matter of commissions.

Any thoughts?

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Kate MultiCharts
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Re: Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

Postby Kate MultiCharts » 12 May 2023

Hi simoneb,

Strategy Open P/L is calculated by the auto trading engine using the following formula:
(Current price on the chart/chart trading panel - Average Price) * Strategy Position * Big Point Value

Whether the chart (data source) price or chart trading panel (broker) price is used for calculation, depends on the setting in Format -> Strategy Properties -> Auto trading tab -> Get Real-Time Data.
Big Point Value can be checked by double-clicking the symbol in QuoteManager -> Settings tab.
Average Price and Strategy Position values can be found in OPT -> Strategy Positions tab.

Also, as you correctly noticed, Strategy Open P/L is influenced by the Commission and Slippage settings in Format -> Strategy Properties -> Properties tab.

As for the lack of the $ sign, most likely, you have Base Currency = None selected in Format -> Strategy Properties -> Properties tab.

simoneb
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Re: Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

Postby simoneb » 12 May 2023

Thanks for your answer Kate, lots of information in there, I'll take some time to process it and follow up in case I still have questions.

simoneb
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Re: Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

Postby simoneb » 12 May 2023

Hi Kate, I've looked more closely into this and I still have some doubts:

- The $ symbol: I checked and all the strategies, including the ones I showed in the screenshot, have USD as the base currency, which is the default and I never changed it, so I guess that's not the reason. Any other thoughts about what might be causing it? Wrong settings in the Quote Manager perhaps? Although those are also settings I wouldn't normally change
- Everything else is clear except that the setting "Get Real-Time Data" is still somewhat obscure to me as it's not clear what it affects exactly. Is it only the price shown in the OPT?
- It's still not clear to me in what the S Open P/L and Open P/L columns differ, besides the slippage and commissions (which in my case are all set to zero), so I still don't understand the big difference in value for TSLA.

Thanks for your help

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Kate MultiCharts
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Re: Difference between Strategy Open P/L and Open P/L

Postby Kate MultiCharts » 15 May 2023

Hi simoneb,

Please make sure USD is selected both for @MCL and MCLM3 by double-clicking the symbols in QuoteManager -> Settings tab -> Currency.

As for the difference between the values, the Open P/L value is provided by your broker. Strategy Open P/L value is calculated by MultiCharts using the formula I sent above.
So, in certain cases, the difference can be expected.
You can calculate the value yourself using the formula and compare it to the Strategy Open P/L in the OPT.

“Get Real-Time Data” will affect the Strategy Open P/L calculation. If you use “From Chart”, the current chart price will be used. If you use “From Broker”, the current price from the chart trading panel will be used.


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