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A breakeven price variable that updates as you manage a trade. - Feature Requests - Medved Trader Forums
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Every trader I know who uses this style complains about having to calculate breakeven price on the fly using mental math, or copy and pasting trades into a spreadsheet. Not only is this inefficient, but in the heat of the moment, it often leads to errors.
From speaking with fellow traders, the following features would reduce risk of human error and free up a large chunk of our concentration that is wasted on performing this calculation ourselves:
> A 'BreakevenPrice' variable to be made available in the hotkeys.
> An option to add this 'BreakevenPrice' as a line on the chart.
> The breakeven calculation would be based on any trades taken since you last held 0 shares for that ticker.
> The 'BreakevenPrice' would take into account any commissions incurred.
> The option to ignore any swing positions the user may have open for a ticker.
- E.g. A checkbox for each ticker that says "Ignore any positions held prior to the start of this session, when calculating a breakeven price".
(This would prevent swing positions from messing up the calculation, when trying to manage a day trade.)
Is this a possibility?
Edited January 28 by alv123
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7 answers to this question
Location: Austin, TX, USA
is that not the "base" price as used on computing Unrealized P&L on positions? right?
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4 minutes ago, Jerry Medved said:
is that not the "base" price as used on computing Unrealized P&L on positions? right?
One would think, but it doesn't appear that Unrealized P&L is calculated correctly in the condition of close and reopen a portion of the original position multiple times. For example, the "Paid" column correctly calculates the trade's break even price; however, when the price action reaches that price the Unrealized P&L will still be at a loss for some ticks beyond that price. I've tried to fool with the "P&L Calc. Method" setting under accounts, but still doesn't really do anything; I'm using "Average Cost Basis".
Can you tell us how to configure MT so that the "Paid" and "Unrealized P&L" columns are in sync? Are these columns calculated by MT (or in my case TDA)? Perhaps something needs configured on the TDA side.
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Posted January 29 (edited)
I don't know Jerry, is this base price you are referring to displayed anywhere on the platform?
The only thing I was able to find was the 'Paid' column referenced by Donald.  However, unlike Donald, my 'Paid' column doesn't calculate the breakeven price. It only updates the price if I add to the position. The price displayed doesn't change if I close a portion of the position.
Edited January 29 by alv123
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Location: Austin, TX, USA
that price is not computed, but we did add P&L per share so if you subtract that from last, it is basically it. I am just asking if that is it since if it is, would be relatively easy to add. NOTE cannot include commissions since that gets complicated.
PAID - that is returned from the broker so computation can vary drastically. Fidelity for example is all over the place.
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To be honest Jerry, I don't know if the calculation you are suggesting would return the breakeven price.
To clear up some of this confusion, today I created a google sheet which calculates the correct breakeven in all scenarios.
You can scale in and out of long or short positions, and it constantly adjusts the breakeven price with each new trade that is input.
So basically my request is for Medved to calculate the number in the 'Breakeven Price' column, without me having to manually enter each trade into the blue columns.
I have added notes to some of the cells to explain what is being calculated:
Also, I have noticed that in the help manual, the current P&L calculations are based on the entire trading session.
However, when it comes to calculating a breakeven price, I think it would be important to give the trader the option of only including trades taken since they were last flat on the ticker.
This is because lots of the traders I know treat each trade setup as unique, so we wouldn't want a profitable trade on AAPL in the morning being factored into the breakeven calculation of a completely different trade setup on AAPL in the afternoon.
Thank you for considering this request, please let me know if anything doesn't make sense or if I can help in any way.
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Location: Austin, TX, USA
the Unrealized P&L is based on base price since you were flat. I basically Play forward the transactions for the symbol from start of day in order to figure out the base price based on the settings for the account (FIFO, LIFO, Average Cost). the P&L is then based off that base price. I will make that value available in a column
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I appreciate your prompt response Jerry! That is wonderful news!
Sorry to be a pain 😖 but could that number be made available as a variable in the hotkeys?
It would also be excellent if I had the option of adding it as a line on the chart. Seeing the BEP on the chart would be a gamechanger!