IB Trades statement P&L in account currency not clear!

[danjuma]

Hello all. I am trading Forex (paper-trading) with IB, and my account is in USD. One issue I encounter is the lack of clarity as to my P&L. If I close say a trade on AUDNZD, my P&L is shown in some 'weird' amount other than USD, and it's quite confusing to work out my actual P&L in relation to my account balance etc. IB seems to derive pleasure in making things arduous and complicated than they should be! Why they can't just show your P&L in your account's currency like everyone else is anyone's guess.

My question is does anyone know of a free program that can download my statement and display it in a clear and easily comprehensible way and with all my trades P&L displayed as USD? Many thanks

 

[options-george]

Hello all. I am trading Forex (paper-trading) with IB, and my account is in USD. One issue I encounter is the lack of clarity as to my P&L. If I close say a trade on AUDNZD, my P&L is shown in some 'weird' amount other than USD, and it's quite confusing to work out my actual P&L in relation to my account balance etc. IB seems to derive pleasure in making things arduous and complicated than they should be! Why they can't just show your P&L in your account's currency like everyone else is anyone's guess.

My question is does anyone know of a free program that can download my statement and display it in a clear and easily comprehensible way and with all my trades P&L displayed as USD? Many thanks

Could you download the data into excel and then do a simply v-lookup formula to convert the various p/l item into your account currency?

Just in case you were not aware of it - the second currency in each cross is always the denominator so when you are trading 1 lot of AUDNZD, you are trading NZ$100k worth of Australian dollars - thus the initial p/l will be in NZ dollars. If you are trading EURGBP, then your initial p/l will be in GBP and so on. This should help you determine how the "weird" amount is determined

Thus, in the v-lookup formula you need to pick all the NZD amounts and convert them into your account currency using the fx rate between NZD and your account currency.

Apologies if you are already aware of all that - just trying to help

 

[danjuma]

Could you download the data into excel and then do a simply v-lookup formula to convert the various p/l item into your account currency?

Just in case you were not aware of it - the second currency in each cross is always the denominator so when you are trading 1 lot of AUDNZD, you are trading NZ$100k worth of Australian dollars - thus the initial p/l will be in NZ dollars. If you are trading EURGBP, then your initial p/l will be in GBP and so on. This should help you determine how the "weird" amount is determined

Thus, in the v-lookup formula you need to pick all the NZD amounts and convert them into your account currency using the fx rate between NZD and your account currency.

Apologies if you are already aware of all that - just trying to help

Options-george, thank you very much for this info/suggestion, will give it a try. Just to clarify this statement:

Thus, in the v-lookup formula you need to pick all the NZD amounts and convert them into your account currency using the fx rate between NZD and your account currency.

Will this be the rate for NZDUSD or USDNZD? Thanks

 

[options-george]

Options-george, thank you very much for this info/suggestion, will give it a try. Just to clarify this statement: Will this be the rate for NZDUSD or USDNZD? Thanks

I am not sure what your account currency is. Let's assume it's USD.

In this case the NZ$ profit/loss should be multiplied by the NZDUSD rate.
Or you could divide the NZ$ profit/loss by the USDNZD rate.

Both approaches should produce the same result, in US dollars. I suggest that you try to it both ways to develop a good understanding of it.

Let me know if you want to discuss further still.

 

[danjuma]

I am not sure what your account currency is. Let's assume it's USD.

In this case the NZ$ profit/loss should be multiplied by the NZDUSD rate.
Or you could divide the NZ$ profit/loss by the USDNZD rate.

Both approaches should produce the same result, in US dollars. I suggest that you try to it both ways to develop a good understanding of it.

Let me know if you want to discuss further still.

Many thanks.