Reading your equity curve and dashboard
Why this lesson exists
The xtree dashboard at /dashboard is where you find out whether the last few days of trading were any good. After this lesson, every stat on the page should be readable at a glance — and you should know how each number is computed, not just what label sits next to it.
We'll walk the dashboard top to bottom: hero stats, then the ChallengeProgress widget, then the active challenge section, then past attempts.
The four hero stats
Across the top of the dashboard sit four big numbers:
- Equity — your current account value, computed as balance + unrealised P&L from open positions, marked to mid-mark.
- Total P&L — lifetime realised + unrealised P&L for this challenge.
- Today P&L — realised + unrealised P&L since the last 00:00 UTC settlement.
- Open positions — count of positions currently held.
Equity is the single most important number on the page. It's the line every risk rule is measured against, it updates tick by tick from mid-mark, and it's what your MLL counter reads from.
How equity updates
Equity is not your closed-trade total. It's:
equity = balance + sum(unrealised P&L on open positions)
Where:
- balance = starting capital + cumulative realised P&L − fees paid
- unrealised P&L = (mark − entry) × size, with mark = mid-mark
Because mid-mark changes every time the bid or ask moves, equity ticks every second even when you haven't traded. This is intentional: rules are enforced against the same number you see, so there's no "the platform calculated something different from the chart" surprise.
The Realised P&L from a closed trade lands in balance the instant the close fills. The unrealised P&L from the next open position immediately starts moving equity tick-by-tick.
Today P&L resets at 00:00 UTC every day — that's the xtree daily settlement boundary. The Total P&L number does not reset; it runs for the lifetime of the challenge.
The ChallengeProgress widget
Below the hero stats sits ChallengeProgress, the widget that tells you how close you are to passing — or to breaching. Three rows:
- Profit Target — progress toward the target percentage (10% on Standard). Shows current P&L vs target P&L in USD.
- Max Loss — distance to MLL. Shows max drawdown taken vs the cushion. (See Maximum Loss Limit.)
- Trading Days — days traded vs the minimum required.
The Max Loss row is the one to watch. It shows how much room you have left before a breach, not how much you've used — keeping the headroom number visible is deliberate.
How drawdown is computed
The Max Loss row needs context. Drawdown is computed against the peak equity the account has reached, not against the starting capital.
drawdown = (peak_equity − current_equity)
drawdown_pct = drawdown / peak_equity × 100%
So if you start at $5,000, run up to $5,400, then fall to $5,200, your drawdown is $200 — not zero, even though you're up $200 from start.
This matters because of the trailing MLL — the floor follows your peak. A drawdown that's a comfortable slice at a $5,400 peak can be account-ending near your starting balance, where the floor sits just $250 below the peak. Two lessons matter here together: Position sizing sets your per-trade loss, and the MLL lesson sets the catastrophic cap.
A worked example. Standard $5,000, $250 MLL cushion (5%):
- Day 0: balance $5,000, equity $5,000, floor $4,750.
- Day 2: balance ran up to $5,300. Equity peak $5,300. Floor trails up and reaches its $5,000 cap (peak − $250 = $5,050, capped at the $5,000 starting balance).
- Day 5: drawdown back to $5,150. Headroom to MLL = $5,150 − $5,000 = $150. ChallengeProgress shows that $150 as the Max Loss headroom.
drawdown = (peak − current) / peak = ($5,300 − $5,150) / $5,300 = 2.83%
The dashboard surfaces all three numbers — equity, peak, distance — without you having to track them yourself.
Active challenge section
Below ChallengeProgress, the Active Challenge section recaps the rules of the plan you're on: starting capital, profit target, max drawdown, and min trading days. This isn't a stat — it's a reference card. Look at it on the first day, then ignore it.
Two derived figures sit here too:
- Days left — calendar days remaining in the evaluation window.
- Days traded — the count toward the minimum required.
A trading day, for the minimum-days requirement, is a day with at least one filled trade between 00:00 UTC and the next 00:00 UTC.
Past attempts
If you've had previous evaluation attempts, they appear in a Past Attempts list at the bottom of the page. Each card shows starting capital, final P&L, max drawdown taken, and the outcome (passed / breach / expired).
This is for your own pattern recognition. If three past attempts all expired with positive P&L but below target, your sizing is too conservative for the timeline. If three attempts all breached MLL in the first week, your sizing is too aggressive. The data is the most honest feedback you'll get.
Where the rule counters actually live
A quick reference for where each number you care about sits:
- Equity — top of dashboard, hero stat.
- Today P&L — top of dashboard, hero stat. Resets at 00:00 UTC.
- Distance to MLL — ChallengeProgress widget, Max Loss row.
- Profit target progress — ChallengeProgress widget, Profit Target row.
- Days traded — ChallengeProgress widget, Trading Days row.
The terminal at /trade does not duplicate these. The dashboard is the canonical view.
Recap
- Equity = balance + unrealised P&L, marked to mid-mark, ticking every second.
- Drawdown is computed against peak equity, not starting capital.
- ChallengeProgress widget shows distance to MLL and profit target — not amount used.
- Today P&L resets at 00:00 UTC; Total P&L runs for the lifetime of the challenge.
- Past Attempts is your honest feedback loop — read your own history before changing your sizing.
Next up: the cost of trading — fees and funding.
Test yourself
Next lesson: How fees and funding work on xtree — the real cost of holding a position.