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Your Portfolio screen answers one question: am I up or down on the money I have put into Alpha? To answer that honestly, Alpha tracks your starting value: the total of everything you have deposited. Your portfolio balance and the chart are measured against that number. When you deposit more, the starting value goes up by the same amount. Deposits never show as gains. If the chart counted deposits as gains, adding $1,000 would make you look like a great trader. That would be lying to you. Alpha measures you against what you put in, so the chart only goes up when your trading makes money.

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Worked example

  1. You deposit $100. Starting value: $100. Portfolio balance: $100.
  2. You lose $20 trading. Portfolio balance: $80. The chart shows you down 20%.
  3. You deposit another $100. Starting value is now $200. Portfolio balance: $180.
After step 3 you have $180 in the account, but the chart still shows a downtrend, because you have put in $200 and have $180. That is correct. Adding cash did not make you a better trader, and the chart does not pretend it did. The same logic applies in reverse: withdrawing money reduces your starting value, so a withdrawal does not show as a loss.

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What the numbers mean

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Why my balance moved without a trade

  • Leverage fee. Hourly leverage fee payments add to or subtract from the margin on each open position. See Leverage fee.
  • Price moves. Unrealized PnL changes as markets move, 24/7.
  • Fees. Trading fees are deducted when an order fills.

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Your public profile uses the same numbers

The Total PnL shown on your public profile is calculated the same way, so anyone looking at your track record sees the real result, not deposits dressed up as returns.