Profit View is the first tab of the Options Journal. It shows your portfolio performance as a set of summary cards at the top plus 6 time-series charts below. The cards give you the headline numbers; the charts show how those numbers got there. This page explains each one.
Before you start
Required:
- QuantWheel PRO or an active $1 trial.
- At least one connected broker with 30+ days of trading history (shorter histories make the charts jagged and less informative).
Time to complete: 6 minutes
Controls at the top
Before the cards, a few controls shape what you see:
- Month selector — which month anchors the view
- Resync button — forces a re-sync with your brokers; shows a status like "5/5" if all brokers are connected
- Time range — 1M / YTD / 1Y / All / Custom (applies to the charts, not the cards)
- Account filter — All Accounts, or any specific broker
- Manage Brokers link — shortcut to broker connection settings
- "Report it" bug button — submit a bug if something looks wrong
📸 SCREENSHOT: profit-view-charts-step-1.png
The 5 summary cards
Above the charts, five cards show the current performance snapshot. These reflect the selected time range and account filter.
- Net P&L — Total realized + unrealized P&L across all positions in the selected period. This is the headline number — "how much have I made?"
- Trade Win % — Percentage of closed trades that ended profitable. Higher is better, though the wheel strategy naturally has high win rates, so compare against your own history rather than a universal benchmark.
- Profit Factor — Gross profit divided by gross loss. Above 2.0 is strong. Above 5.0 is exceptional. Below 1.0 means you're losing overall.
- Avg Win/Loss — Average size of winning trades vs. losing trades. A wheel typically has many small wins and occasional larger losses; the ratio tells you whether the wins cover the losses.
- Deposits/Withdrawals — Cash moved into or out of the account during the period. Important because it affects Account Balance in ways unrelated to trading performance — see the Excl. flows toggle below.
📸 SCREENSHOT: profit-view-charts-step-2.png
The 6 charts
1. Cumulative P&L
Running sum of realized P&L over time. Starts at zero on the period's first day and climbs (or falls) as trades close. A healthy account shows a fairly smooth upward curve — steadiness suggests consistent strategy execution. Sudden cliffs or steps often indicate a single large losing trade (worth drilling into).
2. Net P&L
Per-period (daily or weekly) P&L as a bar chart. Not cumulative — each bar is that period's profit or loss in isolation. This is where you see variance. Bars clustered around zero with occasional spikes = steady wheel income punctuated by larger moves (assignments, called-away events, dividends). Wild swings = you're running something more volatile than a pure wheel.
3. Account Balance (with Excl. flows toggle)
Total account value (cash + positions) over time. The Excl. flows toggle removes the effect of deposits and withdrawals, showing pure performance. With flows included, the chart shows your actual account. Without flows, it shows the trading-only contribution — what the account would be worth if you'd never added or removed money.
When to use each: Include flows for real-account planning (what can I withdraw?). Exclude flows for honest performance evaluation (am I actually making money, or just adding it?).
📸 SCREENSHOT: profit-view-charts-step-3.png
4. Return on Investment (with Balance/Cost basis toggle)
Percentage return over time. The Balance/Cost basis toggle picks the denominator:
- Balance — ROI relative to current account balance. Dynamic; as you grow the account, the same dollar gain is a smaller percentage.
- Cost basis — ROI relative to the account's cost basis, weighted by when capital was deployed. More stable; a dollar of gain produces the same ROI regardless of current size.
When to use each: Balance ROI for "what rate am I currently earning on my capital." Cost basis ROI for "how well has this strategy performed over its full history."
5. Cash Balance
Cash-only value over time. Shows how your deployable capital has moved. A wheel trader typically sees cash drain when CSPs are sold (cash gets allocated as collateral) and refill as they expire or get assigned. Sudden drops can indicate new trades; sudden rises often mean called-away or expiration events.
6. Drawdown
Peak-to-trough percentage decline from the account's running high-water mark. Drawdown is flat at 0% when the account is making new highs; drops negative when the account is off its peak.
Why this matters more than P&L: P&L tells you the outcome; drawdown tells you what the ride was like. A 40% annual return with a 25% peak drawdown is emotionally and strategically different from a 25% return with a 3% drawdown. Drawdown is the single best measure of "can I actually stomach this strategy."
📸 SCREENSHOT: profit-view-charts-step-4.png
Time range guide
Different questions benefit from different time ranges:
- 1M — "Is this month going well?" Tactical, used weekly or biweekly.
- YTD — "How am I doing this year?" Strategic, used monthly.
- 1Y — "What's my rolling-year performance?" Evaluation horizon for most wheel traders.
- All — "What's the full picture since I connected?" Useful for showing the product to yourself when you're doubting it.
- Custom — pick a specific window. Useful for "how did I do during the March 2026 drawdown" or similar specific questions.
Common issues
Net P&L is positive but Account Balance is flat. Why?
Deposits and withdrawals. If you withdrew money during the period, the cash left the account even though the realized P&L on trades was positive. The Excl. flows toggle on the Account Balance chart cleans this up.
Drawdown shows -10% but I don't remember losing anything.
Drawdown is peak-to-trough relative to the running high-water mark. If you hit a new high on day 10 and then the account dropped 10% by day 20 before recovering, drawdown shows -10% at day 20 even if you finished the period up overall. It's not a P&L metric; it's a volatility-of-the-ride metric.
Profit Factor shows "∞" or a huge number.
This happens when you have very few losing trades in the period. Profit Factor divides by gross loss; if gross loss is near zero, the ratio becomes meaningless. Take a longer time range to get a more stable reading.
The charts look jagged and useless.
You likely have less than 30 days of data. Charts stabilize with more history. The Cumulative P&L chart is the most useful in a short window; Drawdown and ROI need longer histories to be meaningful.
Should I look at Balance ROI or Cost basis ROI?
For short-term or recent performance, Balance ROI is more intuitive. For long-term evaluation, Cost basis ROI is more honest — it doesn't flatter a shrinking account or penalize a growing one.