[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":738},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fguides\u002Fmonthly-returns-table-explained":3,"\u002Fguides\u002Fmonthly-returns-table-explained-surround":728},{"id":4,"title":5,"authors":6,"badge":12,"body":14,"date":717,"description":718,"draft":719,"extension":720,"image":721,"meta":723,"navigation":719,"path":724,"seo":725,"stem":726,"updated":717,"__hash__":727},"posts\u002F3.guides\u002F15.monthly-returns-table-explained.md","Reading a Monthly Returns Table: What Twelve Cells Reveal About a Strategy {YEAR}",[7],{"name":8,"to":9,"avatar":10},"ShowMyTrades Team","https:\u002F\u002Fshowmytrades.com",{"src":11},"\u002Ficon-512.png",{"label":13},"Reporting",{"type":15,"value":16,"toc":703},"minimark",[17,21,24,32,37,48,59,66,78,82,85,168,186,198,204,208,211,229,236,242,253,261,278,285,289,292,314,321,324,335,341,346,350,353,422,425,432,450,454,457,472,483,489,494,502,512,516,519,545,552,567,570,574,607,611,617,623,629,640,646,652,656,682,685,696],[18,19,20],"p",{},"Someone sends you a track record. Last year's row is twelve green cells and a large yearly total.",[18,22,23],{},"The useful question is not whether that total is real, but what shape produced it: two accounts can print an identical yearly figure and be completely different things to own. The monthly table is where the shape shows — how often the strategy loses, whether it ever stopped trading, and how much of the year came from one good quarter.",[18,25,26,27,31],{},"This guide covers how the table is built on ShowMyTrades, what the empty cells mean, and how to compare two rows that share a yearly number and nothing else. Reference figures come from the ",[28,29,30],"strong",{},"public accounts on ShowMyTrades that have trading history"," (August 2026); the platform carries 10,000+ connected accounts and 15,436,464 synchronised trades.",[33,34,36],"h2",{"id":35},"️-one-row-per-year-twelve-cells-two-totals","🗓️ One Row per Year, Twelve Cells, Two Totals",[18,38,39,40,43,44,47],{},"The layout is deliberately boring: rows are calendar years, oldest at the top, columns are Jan through Dec, then a ",[28,41,42],{},"Year"," column and a ",[28,45,46],{},"Total"," row that closes the table.",[18,49,50,51,58],{},"By default every cell is a ",[52,53,55],"a",{"href":54},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-time-weighted-return",[28,56,57],{},"time-weighted return"," for that month: deposits and withdrawals do not move it. There is a percent\u002Fcurrency toggle in the module header — switch it and the same grid shows the month's profit in account currency instead.",[18,60,61,62,65],{},"Colour does the rest: green for a positive month, red for a negative one, grey for ",[28,63,64],{},"No Activity",", with the legend at the foot of the module.",[18,67,68,69,72,73,77],{},"One thing surprises people: the Year cell is ",[28,70,71],{},"not the sum"," of the twelve cells to its left, and the Total row is not the sum of the Year cells. Both are compounded. ",[52,74,76],{"href":75},"\u002Fguides\u002Freading-a-trading-account-dashboard","The full dashboard walkthrough"," covers the modules that sit around it.",[33,79,81],{"id":80},"percentages-compound-currency-adds","➕ Percentages Compound, Currency Adds",[18,83,84],{},"This is where most people misread a row without noticing.",[86,87,88,104],"table",{},[89,90,91],"thead",{},[92,93,94,98,101],"tr",{},[95,96,97],"th",{},"Month",[95,99,100],{},"Cell",[95,102,103],{},"Equity from a $10,000 start",[105,106,107,119,130,141,152],"tbody",{},[92,108,109,113,116],{},[110,111,112],"td",{},"Jan",[110,114,115],{},"+8.00%",[110,117,118],{},"$10,800",[92,120,121,124,127],{},[110,122,123],{},"Feb",[110,125,126],{},"+6.00%",[110,128,129],{},"$11,448",[92,131,132,135,138],{},[110,133,134],{},"Mar",[110,136,137],{},"−12.00%",[110,139,140],{},"$10,074",[92,142,143,146,149],{},[110,144,145],{},"Apr",[110,147,148],{},"+5.00%",[110,150,151],{},"$10,578",[92,153,154,159,164],{},[110,155,156],{},[28,157,158],{},"Year cell",[110,160,161],{},[28,162,163],{},"+5.78%",[110,165,166],{},[28,167,151],{},[18,169,170,171,174,175,185],{},"Add the four cells and you get +7.0%. The account actually made +5.78%. The gap is not rounding: you lost 12% on a bigger base than you gained 8% on, and the effect widens with every point of volatility. The same arithmetic-versus-geometric gap appears one level down, per trade, in the ",[28,172,173],{},"Advanced Statistics"," module as the distance between ",[52,176,178,181,182],{"href":177},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-ahpr-and-ghpr",[28,179,180],{},"AHPR"," and ",[28,183,184],{},"GHPR",".",[18,187,188,189,192,193,197],{},"Switch the table to currency mode and the behaviour flips: monthly profits ",[28,190,191],{},"do"," add up to the yearly profit, because money is money. Percentages compound, dollars accumulate. Run a few rows through the ",[52,194,196],{"href":195},"\u002Ftools\u002Fcompounding-calculator","compounding calculator"," to see how far apart the two numbers drift over several years.",[18,199,200,201,203],{},"Practical rule: quote the ",[28,202,158],{},", never the sum of the months. Anyone who quotes the sum is either careless or hoping you are.",[33,205,207],{"id":206},"a-year-with-no-red-cell-is-a-warning-not-a-boast","🚩 A Year With No Red Cell Is a Warning, Not a Boast",[18,209,210],{},"Twelve consecutive green cells looks like the best row in the table. Read it as the most suspicious one.",[18,212,213,214,217,218,221,222,228],{},"Every cell is built from ",[28,215,216],{},"closed"," trades. A position that is never closed books no loss, so it cannot darken a cell — it surfaces on the ",[28,219,220],{},"Drawdown"," chart and as the widening gap between the balance and equity lines on the ",[52,223,225],{"href":224},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-equity-curve",[28,226,227],{},"Equity Curve",", both of which include floating profit and loss. Grid systems, martingale add-ons and \"no stop loss\" strategies produce exactly this signature: a clean monthly row and an ugly drawdown chart.",[18,230,231],{},[232,233],"img",{"alt":234,"src":235},"A balance line staying smooth while the equity line falls away beneath it, the gap between them marked as open losses that were never closed","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fequity-vs-balance.svg",[18,237,238],{},[239,240,241],"em",{},"A monthly cell is built from the balance line alone, so the whole gap can stay out of the table.",[18,243,244,245,248,249,252],{},"Before admiring an unbroken row, check what the same page says about the pain. Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), the ",[28,246,247],{},"median deepest drawdown is 9.7%"," and the ",[28,250,251],{},"median time-weighted return is +3.2%",", with 63.0% of accounts positive. Within that same group, 38.5% never went more than 5% underwater, 38.2% went past 20% and 17.6% past 50%.",[18,254,255,256,260],{},"A row of twelve green cells attached to a 2% drawdown is not impossible — it simply sits at the far edge of that distribution, and claims at the edge need the rest of the page behind them. The ",[52,257,259],{"href":258},"\u002Fguides\u002Fverifying-trading-performance-claims","checklist for verifying performance claims"," is the fast way to check.",[18,262,263,264,267,268,272,273,277],{},"The worst cell also matters ",[28,265,266],{},"more than the best",". The best month tells you what the strategy does when everything cooperates; the worst tells you what it does when nothing does, and the second event repeats far more reliably. ",[52,269,271],{"href":270},"\u002Fguides\u002Fmaximum-drawdown-explained","Recovery is asymmetric",": a −20% month needs +25% to reach the old high, roughly ten months of +2.2% ones, and a −50% month needs +100%. Put your own numbers through the ",[52,274,276],{"href":275},"\u002Ftools\u002Fdrawdown-calculator","drawdown calculator"," if that curve is not intuitive yet.",[18,279,280,281,284],{},"There is a trap in the calendar itself, too: ",[28,282,283],{},"drawdowns do not respect month boundaries",". Two consecutive −9% months are a 17.2% fall that never appears as a single red cell. This is why the monthly table should be read with the Drawdown chart open next to it — the table gives you frequency and rhythm, the chart gives you depth and recovery time.",[33,286,288],{"id":287},"️-dashes-zeros-and-no-activity","🕳️ Dashes, Zeros and \"No Activity\"",[18,290,291],{},"Empty cells are not all the same, and the difference is deliberate.",[293,294,295,302,308],"ul",{},[296,297,298,301],"li",{},[28,299,300],{},"A dash (—)"," means there is no data for that month and no earlier month in that same year produced any either: the months before the account's first activity of the year, and months that have not happened yet.",[296,303,304,307],{},[28,305,306],{},"0.00%"," means the month has passed, the year had already started producing returns, and nothing was booked. That is a real, deliberate zero — the account was connected and did not trade, or traded exactly to breakeven.",[296,309,310,313],{},[28,311,312],{},"The grey \"No Activity\" legend"," at the foot of the module exists because those states are worth telling apart.",[18,315,316,317,320],{},"A gap in the middle of a row is information, and it is usually the information nobody volunteers. The common explanations: a pause after a heavy loss, an expert advisor switched off, a strategy being re-optimised, or a month the owner would rather not show. The record is continuous because the ",[28,318,319],{},"connection"," is continuous — a read-only investor password or the ShowMyTrades expert advisor for MT4 and MT5, OAuth for cTrader, stored credentials for TradeLocker — so a missing month is usually a decision, not a data problem.",[18,322,323],{},"Gaps also cost sample size: a row with six zeros and six green cells is six months of evidence in a twelve-month frame.",[18,325,326,327,330,331,334],{},"An idle month is not a free month, either. The public accounts on ShowMyTrades have paid ",[28,328,329],{},"$862,547 in swap",", and among those with any swap activity ",[28,332,333],{},"86.3% pay net negative swap",". Positions left open through a quiet month keep paying rollover while the cell sits at 0.00%.",[18,336,337],{},[232,338],{"alt":339,"src":340},"An account losing value every night from Monday to Friday while the price itself stays flat, with Wednesday's triple swap charge marked","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fswap-bleed.svg",[18,342,343],{},[239,344,345],{},"None of this arrives as a trade or a red cell; it just shows up as a slightly smaller number each morning.",[33,347,349],{"id":348},"️-same-yearly-cell-different-shape","⚖️ Same Yearly Cell, Different Shape",[18,351,352],{},"Two rows with an identical yearly figure. The numbers are an illustration, not real accounts.",[86,354,355,367],{},[89,356,357],{},[92,358,359,361,364],{},[95,360],{},[95,362,363],{},"Account A",[95,365,366],{},"Account B",[105,368,369,378,389,400,411],{},[92,370,371,373,376],{},[110,372,158],{},[110,374,375],{},"+19.6%",[110,377,375],{},[92,379,380,383,386],{},[110,381,382],{},"Best month",[110,384,385],{},"+2.4%",[110,387,388],{},"+21.0%",[92,390,391,394,397],{},[110,392,393],{},"Worst month",[110,395,396],{},"−0.9%",[110,398,399],{},"−14.0%",[92,401,402,405,408],{},[110,403,404],{},"Red months",[110,406,407],{},"2 of 12",[110,409,410],{},"5 of 12",[92,412,413,416,419],{},[110,414,415],{},"Months to recover the worst",[110,417,418],{},"1",[110,420,421],{},"4",[18,423,424],{},"Same headline, very different thing to own. Nothing in the yearly cell separates them, which is precisely why it is the least informative number in its own row.",[18,426,427,428,431],{},"Two checks separate them in seconds. First, ",[28,429,430],{},"delete the best month mentally",": if removing one cell turns the year negative, that is not a strategy, it is one trade with eleven months of noise around it.",[18,433,434,435,438,439,181,442,445,446,449],{},"Second, read the row against ",[28,436,437],{},"Avg Monthly %"," in the stats panel and against ",[28,440,441],{},"Standard Deviation",[28,443,444],{},"Sharpe Ratio"," in Advanced Statistics. The median Sharpe ratio across the public accounts with history is ",[28,447,448],{},"0.05",", so half of them sit below it — and B's shape is what a low Sharpe looks like when it happens to end the year in the green.",[33,451,453],{"id":452},"what-one-month-can-actually-prove","🔬 What One Month Can Actually Prove",[18,455,456],{},"Very little on its own, and the public-account data says why.",[18,458,459,460,463,464,467,468,185],{},"The median public account has ",[28,461,462],{},"171 closed trades"," in its entire history — not per month, in total — and the ",[28,465,466],{},"median average trade length is 2.4 hours",". Cut a history like that into monthly slices and a single green cell can rest on a couple of dozen trades. Luck dominates samples that small: a short row of green cells is a sample, not a ",[52,469,471],{"href":470},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-track-record","track record",[18,473,474,475,478,479,482],{},"The payoff profile makes it worse. The ",[28,476,477],{},"median win rate is 68.8%"," while the ",[28,480,481],{},"median profit factor is 1.28",". The middle public account wins roughly seven trades in ten and still only makes about $1.28 for every $1 lost — small wins, occasional large losses.",[18,484,485],{},[232,486],{"alt":487,"src":488},"A median win rate of 68.8% shown beside a median profit factor of 1.28 across public ShowMyTrades accounts","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fwin-rate-vs-payoff.svg",[18,490,491],{},[239,492,493],{},"This is the payoff shape that fills a row with green cells and still ends the year barely up.",[18,495,496,497,501],{},"That profile prints green months easily, right up until the month that contains the loser cluster: the green run is what the payoff shape predicts, not evidence of edge. ",[52,498,500],{"href":499},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftracking-trading-performance","Tracking your own performance properly"," means watching expectancy and profit factor alongside the monthly row, never instead of it.",[18,503,504,507,508,511],{},[28,505,506],{},"Seasonality claims"," deserve the same discipline. \"August is always flat for us\" is a claim about a ",[239,509,510],{},"column",", not a cell, and a two-year table gives you two Augusts. Two observations support no conclusion — and a flat August may simply be a 0.00% cell because the trader was on holiday. The Calendar view tells the two apart: a month of empty day cells is a break, not a season.",[33,513,515],{"id":514},"️-reading-the-table-inside-showmytrades","🖥️ Reading the Table Inside ShowMyTrades",[18,517,518],{},"The Monthly Returns module on an account page has four views, switched from its header.",[293,520,521,527,533,539],{},[296,522,523,526],{},[28,524,525],{},"Table"," — the classic grid: one row per year, twelve months, Year column, Total row.",[296,528,529,532],{},[28,530,531],{},"Chart"," — one bar per month across the whole history, green above the axis and red below. The fastest way to see whether losses are scattered or clustered.",[296,534,535,538],{},[28,536,537],{},"Calendar"," — one month at a time, one cell per day, showing that day's return, trade count and win rate, plus a weekly total column down the right side. Cells are shaded by size, so a single dominant day is impossible to miss.",[296,540,541,544],{},[28,542,543],{},"Summary"," — Today, This Week, This Month and This Year as four tiles, each with profit, gain, trades, win rate and lots.",[18,546,547,548,551],{},"The percent\u002Fcurrency toggle applies to the table, chart and calendar. In the Calendar view, ",[28,549,550],{},"clicking a day opens its trade list",": open and close time, type, symbol, volume, prices, stop loss and take profit (highlighted when the trade actually closed there), duration, and net P\u002FL including swap and commission. Owners can attach a note to any trade from that same list, and the notes stay readable on the public page.",[18,553,554,555,562,563,566],{},"Two more things worth knowing. A ",[52,556,558,561],{"href":557},"\u002Fguides\u002Fcustom-analysis-and-filter-presets",[28,559,560],{},"Custom Analysis"," filter"," — date range, symbols, magic numbers, day of week, hour of day, trade duration, lot size, profit range, comment keywords — rebuilds the monthly table on the filtered trades, so \"what did this row look like without the gold trades?\" becomes answerable, and the combination saves as a preset. The module is also available as an ",[28,564,565],{},"embeddable widget",", so the same table can live on a website or forum post without a screenshot.",[18,568,569],{},"One caveat: an owner can hide individual sections, Monthly Returns included, from the account settings. A missing module on an otherwise complete page is a choice.",[33,571,573],{"id":572},"️-five-ways-this-table-gets-misread","⚠️ Five Ways This Table Gets Misread",[575,576,577,583,589,595,601],"ol",{},[296,578,579,582],{},[28,580,581],{},"Adding the cells."," The months compound. The sum is always the wrong number, and it flatters volatile rows the most.",[296,584,585,588],{},[28,586,587],{},"Reading the best month as the strategy and the worst as bad luck."," It is the other way round. The worst cell is the one that will happen again.",[296,590,591,594],{},[28,592,593],{},"Treating a dash and a 0.00% as the same thing."," One means \"no history here yet\", the other means \"connected, present, and nothing happened\".",[296,596,597,600],{},[28,598,599],{},"Judging a row without the drawdown."," A calendar-month table cannot show a fall that straddles two months, and 38.2% of public accounts have been more than 20% underwater at some point.",[296,602,603,606],{},[28,604,605],{},"Counting green months instead of counting trades."," Twelve green cells built on forty trades is a coin that came up heads a lot. Check Total Trades before you check the colours.",[33,608,610],{"id":609},"faq","❓ FAQ",[18,612,613,616],{},[28,614,615],{},"Why doesn't the Year cell equal the sum of the twelve months?","\nBecause returns compound. The Year cell is the account's time-weighted return for that year, and the Total row compounds the yearly figures. In currency mode the cells do add up, since profits are absolute amounts.",[18,618,619,622],{},[28,620,621],{},"Why does one empty month show 0.00% and another show a dash?","\nA dash means no earlier month that year had activity either, or the month has not happened yet. A 0.00% means the month passed with the account already trading that year and nothing was booked.",[18,624,625,628],{},[28,626,627],{},"Can I see which trades produced a month?","\nYes. Switch to the Calendar view and click any day: you get every trade for that day with net P\u002FL, prices, stop loss, take profit and duration.",[18,630,631,634,635,639],{},[28,632,633],{},"Is a year of all-green months automatically fake?","\nNo, but it is a prompt to check the Drawdown figure, the equity-versus-balance gap on the Equity Curve, and whether the account carries the verification badges. ",[52,636,638],{"href":637},"\u002Fguides\u002Fverified-vs-unverified-track-records","Verified and unverified records"," are worth very different amounts here.",[18,641,642,645],{},[28,643,644],{},"How many months do I need before a row means anything?","\nEnough months to contain a bad one. Twelve is a floor, twenty-four is better, and check the trade count either way — the median public account has 171 closed trades in total, so many rows are thinner than they look.",[18,647,648,651],{},[28,649,650],{},"Does the monthly table respect Custom Analysis filters?","\nYes. With a filter set active, the whole table — monthly cells, yearly totals and grand total — is recomputed on the filtered trades.",[33,653,655],{"id":654},"related-guides","🔗 Related Guides",[293,657,658,664,670,676],{},[296,659,660,663],{},[52,661,662],{"href":75},"How to read a trading account dashboard"," — every other metric that sits around the monthly table",[296,665,666,669],{},[52,667,668],{"href":258},"How to verify trading performance claims"," — the forensic pass to run before you trust a row",[296,671,672,675],{},[52,673,674],{"href":637},"Verified vs unverified track records"," — why the badges change what the table is worth",[296,677,678,681],{},[52,679,680],{"href":499},"Tracking your trading performance"," — the metrics to watch month to month on your own account",[683,684],"hr",{},[18,686,687,690,691,695],{},[28,688,689],{},"Go and read some real rows."," Every account page on ",[52,692,694],{"href":693},"\u002Fexplore","Explore"," is broker-synced and public, gaps and red months included.",[18,697,698,702],{},[52,699,701],{"href":700},"\u002Fsignup","Connect your account free"," and your monthly table builds itself from the first synchronised trade.",{"title":704,"searchDepth":705,"depth":705,"links":706},"",2,[707,708,709,710,711,712,713,714,715,716],{"id":35,"depth":705,"text":36},{"id":80,"depth":705,"text":81},{"id":206,"depth":705,"text":207},{"id":287,"depth":705,"text":288},{"id":348,"depth":705,"text":349},{"id":452,"depth":705,"text":453},{"id":514,"depth":705,"text":515},{"id":572,"depth":705,"text":573},{"id":609,"depth":705,"text":610},{"id":654,"depth":705,"text":655},"2026-08-19T00:00:00.000Z","Twelve cells a year say more than the yearly total: why a row with no red month is a warning, what the empty cells mean, and how much one month can prove.",true,"md",{"src":722},"\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fmonthly-returns-table-explained-hero.svg",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Fmonthly-returns-table-explained",{"title":5,"description":718},"3.guides\u002F15.monthly-returns-table-explained","EASytgKCFugJ5f72tGVqB5K88AG9S6F42PRYjYOBoog",[729,733],{"title":730,"path":270,"stem":731,"description":732,"children":-1},"Maximum Drawdown Explained: The Number That Tells You What It Felt Like {YEAR}","3.guides\u002F14.maximum-drawdown-explained","Two accounts both finished up 40%: only one was survivable. Here is what maximum drawdown measures, the recovery maths, and what thousands of real accounts show.",{"title":734,"path":735,"stem":736,"description":737,"children":-1},"How to Audit What Your Broker Really Costs You {YEAR}","\u002Fguides\u002Fbroker-cost-audit","3.guides\u002F16.broker-cost-audit","Spread, commission and swap decide whether a profitable strategy pays you. Here is how to measure each one per lot, and compare two brokers on the same strategy.",1787415687134]