TradingView strategy tester metrics describe a Pine strategy's simulated trades under its chosen data, cost, sizing and execution settings. Read returns, trade distribution, drawdowns and margin together. The current strategy report groups these under Metrics and Trades; older guides may say Overview, Performance Summary and List of Trades. None of these statistics verifies a broker fill.[1]
TradingView strategy metrics at a glance
Scroll horizontally to read every column.
| Current location | What it answers | Useful fields |
|---|---|---|
| Metrics: Key stats and Return details | What did the simulation earn or lose? | Net PnL, gross profit/loss, profit factor, Sharpe, Sortino |
| Metrics: Trades analysis | How were outcomes distributed? | Percent profitable, average PnL, largest profit/loss, bars in trades |
| Metrics: Equity run-ups and drawdowns | What happened between endpoints? | Intrabar and close-to-close run-ups and drawdowns |
| Metrics: Capital efficiency | How were funds and margin used? | Margin usage, margin calls and liquidated volume |
| Trades | Which simulated trade caused a result? | Entry/exit, price, size, return, excursion and duration |
The labels above follow TradingView's current Pine documentation as of 25 September 2026. Some individual help pages retain older navigation names. Follow the field's meaning and the report's description control, then use the trading metrics library for the underlying definition.[1][2]
Which settings must you record with the report?
Save the script version, inputs, symbol and data provider, chart type, timeframe, test dates, account currency, initial capital, order size, commissions, slippage and margin. Record execution settings separately. TradingView's broker emulator uses chart data and defined fill assumptions; changing those assumptions changes the experiment.[1]
| Setting or mode | Effect and limitation |
|---|---|
| Default calculation and order delay | The script calculates once per closed bar. A newly created order ordinarily first becomes fillable on the next tick, often the next bar's open. |
| On realtime bar tick |
calc_on_every_tick changes realtime calculation frequency. It does not itself supply historical tick executions. |
| On history bar tick |
calc_on_every_history_tick recalculates on available historical ticks. Detail can come from assumed OHLC paths or lower-timeframe data; these are not necessarily recorded exchange ticks. |
| High historical bar detail | The current Bar detalization control and use_bar_magnifier use available lower-timeframe prices. Data detail and script calculation frequency are distinct choices. |
| On order fill | Extra calculations after fills can expose final historical-bar values in ways unavailable at that instant in realtime. Inspect for look-ahead bias. |
| Order execution delay: None |
process_orders_on_close permits same-closing-tick fills in the emulator. A resulting external alert still cannot reproduce a past closing price. |
The current manual restricts historical-tick execution to standard chart types and Premium or Ultimate plans. It also lists those plans for high historical detail.[1] Check the available controls on your account without assuming older “On Every Tick” descriptions cover both histories.
A subtle timing limit: barstate.isconfirmed remains true on historical bars even during the historical-tick mode's intrabar executions. It does not, by itself, enforce one historical calculation at the bar's closing tick in that mode.[1] See bar confirmation and its scope.
What do the return and trade metrics mean?
| Report metric | Meaning | Definition guide |
|---|---|---|
| Net PnL; Open PnL | Realised trade result; current unrealised result, kept separate | Net result and average trade |
| Gross profit; Gross loss | Positive and negative closed-trade totals | Profit factor inputs |
| Profit factor | Gross profit divided by absolute gross loss | Profit factor |
| Percent profitable | Winning closed trades divided by all closed trades | Win rate |
| Average PnL; Expected payoff | Average cash result per completed trade | Expectancy |
| Average profit / average loss | Average winner relative to average loss magnitude, without win frequency | Payoff ratio |
| Largest profit; Largest loss | Extremes among individual completed trades, not account drawdown | Metrics comparison |
| Average bars in trades, winners or losers | Mean duration measured in chart bars for the named trade subset | Trade averages and denominators |
The report and metric help pages define these groupings.[1][2] “Gross profit” does not mean “before commissions” here: TradingView says configured commission is deducted from each winning trade before its contribution to gross profit.[3] Subtracting the same commission again would distort a reconstruction.
Average cash trade = net closed-trade result / all closed trades
Profit factor = gross profit / absolute gross loss
Payoff ratio = average win / average loss magnitude
Profit factor excludes open positions and is undefined when gross loss is zero. Payoff ratio describes sizes rather than frequencies.[4][6] If comparing R-based results, normalise each trade by its own initial cash risk before averaging.
Worked example: reconstruct a small trade sample
Illustrative, not a recommendation or strategy results. Suppose ten closed trades contain three gains of 200 USD, six losses of 50 USD and one zero result. All figures use the same cost treatment. Gross profit is 600 USD, gross loss magnitude is 300 USD and net result is 300 USD.
Percent profitable = 3 / 10 × 100 = 30%
Average cash trade = 300 / 10 = 30 USD
Profit factor = 600 / 300 = 2
Payoff ratio = 200 / 50 = 4
Loss frequency is 60%, with 10% even trades. Cash expectancy is (0.30 × 200) − (0.60 × 50) = 30 USD. TradingView includes even trades in the win-rate denominator, not its numerator. An even trade has zero net result after configured costs.[5][7]
The 30% win frequency and 4:1 payoff describe different features of this constructed sample. Neither establishes a useful strategy, and a sample this small says little about the range of future outcomes.
Why are there several drawdown and run-up fields?
Close-to-close drawdown measures the decline from a previous closing equity high to a subsequent closing low. Intrabar drawdown incorporates adverse movement while a position is open, using TradingView's specified equity reference and simulated price path.[8][9]
For a simple long position with unit point value and no currency conversion, the documented intrabar cash calculation is:
Intrabar drawdown = prior maximum equity − equity on entry + quantity × (entry price − current low)
For a short, replace the final price difference with current high − entry price. On the closing bar, which prices occurred before the exit matters. The help page explicitly accounts for the emulator's intrabar path; the entire bar's extreme may not belong to the open trade.[9]
Illustratively, use prior maximum equity of 1,200 USD, equity on entry of 1,100 USD, ten units entered at 50 USD and a relevant low of 47 USD. Drawdown is 1,200 − 1,100 + 10 × (50 − 47) = 130 USD.
With initial capital of 1,000 USD, 130 USD is 13% of initial capital. Dividing the same amount by the 1,200 USD peak gives about 10.83%. TradingView explicitly names an intrabar field Max drawdown as % of initial capital; do not relabel it as a peak-relative percentage.[10]
Run-up describes favourable equity growth rather than a realised profit promise. The report separates maximum run-up on intrabar and close-to-close bases, just as it separates drawdowns. Trade-level favourable or adverse excursion also differs from account-level drawdown.[1] Compare the drawdown and MAE/MFE guides.
How should Sharpe, Sortino and margin calls be read?
TradingView's Sharpe and Sortino help pages use average monthly returns and a configurable risk-free rate, whose documented default is 2% each year. Match the benchmark to the return period before calculating independently; an unconverted input quoted for a whole year cannot simply be subtracted from a monthly return.[11][12]
Dₜ = returnₜ − benchmark returnₜ
Sharpe = mean(Dₜ) / standard deviation(Dₜ)
Sortino = (mean period return − target) / downside deviation
Downside deviation = √[Σ min(0, rᵢ − target)² / n]
The Sortino formula above uses all n periods in its denominator and a single period-matched target. The Sharpe numerator and denominator use the same differential-return series, following William F. Sharpe's definition.[13] State those conventions instead of expecting every independently calculated ratio to reproduce a platform field.
Read Sharpe and Sortino alongside drawdown and sample length. Neither has a universal pass threshold.
Margin calls count the emulator's forced-liquidation events under the strategy's margin settings. TradingView documents its own liquidation algorithm; the count is not an MT5 broker's stop-out forecast.[1] Compare actual account rules through the margin and stop-out guide.
What should you check before using the result?
- Read individual trades. Match entries, exits, size, price and duration to the intended rule. A favourable aggregate can conceal incorrect order behaviour.
- Check export coverage. The current manual says the default range retains individual data for the latest 9000 trades while aggregate Metrics remain unaffected. Deep Backtesting retains all individual trades. A partial export may not reconcile with full-period totals.[1]
- Check costs and data. Synthetic chart prices, changed execution settings and unrealistic cost assumptions can make comparisons misleading.
- Separate research from delivery. Use the series' backtest and out-of-sample checks, then its demo reconciliation procedure.
The PineConnector converter documents that simulated and broker positions can diverge. Its adapter does not resynchronise them.[14] Verify alert delivery, processing, broker acceptance, fills and resulting positions separately. A stop's activation does not establish a completed close.
Frequently asked questions
Where is TradingView Performance Summary now?
TradingView's current Pine manual describes a strategy report with Metrics and Trades tabs. Metrics contains sections for returns, trade analysis, equity changes and capital efficiency. Older help pages may still refer to Performance Summary or List of Trades, so use the metric description to confirm its meaning.
Does TradingView profit factor include open trades?
TradingView profit factor uses realised results from closed trades, dividing gross profit by absolute gross loss. Open-position profit or loss is excluded. Configured commissions are already deducted within winning trade results used for gross profit, so avoid subtracting those same commissions again when reconstructing the ratio.
Why does TradingView maximum drawdown differ from my spreadsheet?
TradingView separates intrabar and close-to-close drawdown, and it explicitly labels a field measured as a percentage of initial capital. A spreadsheet using only closed trades or dividing by peak equity can therefore differ. Match the price path, timing, equity reference, denominator and testing range before comparing values.
What is a good TradingView Sharpe ratio?
No single Sharpe ratio establishes that a TradingView strategy is suitable for use. Interpret the value with its return period, risk-free rate assumption, sample length, costs and drawdown. A high simulated ratio can also reflect overfitting or unrealistic execution assumptions, so independent validation remains necessary.
Reviewed 25 September 2026. Facts were checked against the linked sources on that date. Nothing in this article was tested on a trading account and no code was compiled.
Related reading
- Trading metrics library
- MT5 Strategy Tester report
- Backtesting workflow
- Verify a TradingView-to-MT5 demo workflow
Sources
- TradingView – Strategies, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Strategy report metrics, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Gross profit, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Profit factor, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Percent profitable, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Average profit / average loss, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Even trades, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Max drawdown (close-to-close), accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Max drawdown (intrabar), accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Max drawdown as % of initial capital (intrabar), accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Sharpe Ratio, accessed 25 September 2026.
- TradingView – Sortino Ratio, accessed 25 September 2026.
- William F. Sharpe – The Sharpe Ratio, accessed 25 September 2026.
- PineConnector – Pine Script converter, accessed 25 September 2026.
PineConnector executes the instructions you send it. It does not select trades, manage money, or hold funds. Trading carries risk, and past performance of any strategy does not indicate future results.
