MyFXBook Gain vs Absolute Gain: Why They Differ

By Rise Together FX team · 7 min read

Balance scale with two pans labelled Gain and Absolute Gain, with no values shown

MyFXBook pages show two "gain" figures, Gain and Absolute Gain, and they're often far apart. This guide explains how each is calculated, why deposits and withdrawals pull them in different directions, and how to read them together.

Trading forex and CFDs is high risk and you can lose all the money you put in. Most retail CFD accounts lose money. This article is general education, not financial advice.

The short answer

Gain measures the trading. It chains together each trade's percentage result, so deposits and withdrawals don't affect it.
Absolute Gain measures the money. It divides the account's total profit by the money put in, ignoring when that money arrived or left.

If money never moved in or out after the first deposit, the two figures are usually close. When they're far apart, money moved in or out at times that made the trading percentages and the money result tell different stories. Neither number predicts what happens next.

How MyFXBook calculates Gain (time-weighted return)

MyFXBook calculates Gain using a time-weighted return (TWR). Its help page explains that each trade's profit is related to the balance the account had when that trade was opened. In general form, a time-weighted return chains these results together:

Gain = (1 + P₁/OB₁) × (1 + P₂/OB₂) × … × (1 + Pₙ/OBₙ) − 1

where P is each trade's profit or loss, and OB is the balance when that trade opened.

MyFXBook says this stops deposits and withdrawals made mid-way from distorting the figure.

Two things follow:

Gain ignores how much money was involved. A 10% gain on £100 and a 10% gain on £10,000 count the same.
Gain uses closed trades. MyFXBook's example points out that the balance only changes when trades close, so trades that are still open, and their floating losses, aren't in the figure until they close.

How Absolute Gain is calculated (profit ÷ money put in)

Absolute Gain is a more direct ratio: the account's total profit divided by the money put in. MyFXBook's own help page isn't consistent about what "money put in" means:

Its help text says the calculation uses the net value of invested funds, meaning total deposits − total withdrawals.
The formula and worked example on the same page divide by total deposits: Absolute Gain (%) = total profit ÷ total deposits × 100.

If there were no withdrawals, the two give the same answer. Where they differ, the examples below show both. Either way, MyFXBook's help says the timing of deposits and withdrawals is ignored.

Absolute Gain is closer to the question "how did the money in this account do?" But because it ignores timing, it can be pulled up or down by when money was added or taken out.

Worked example 1: one deposit, no withdrawals

Illustrative example (made-up numbers to show the mechanics; not based on any real account or on our strategy):

Deposit £1,000.

Trade 1 closes +£100. Opening balance £1,000, so +10%. Balance £1,100.

Trade 2 closes −£50. Opening balance £1,100, so −4.55%. Balance £1,050.

Gain = (1.10 × 0.9545) − 1 = +5.0% Absolute Gain = £50 ÷ £1,000 = +5.0%

With one deposit and trades that close one after another, the two figures match. Small differences can appear when several trades are open at the same time, because they share the same opening balance.

Worked example 2: how a withdrawal can make Gain look better than the money result

Illustrative example (made-up numbers; not based on any real account or on our strategy):

Deposit £1,000.

Trade 1 closes −£200. Opening balance £1,000, so −20%. Balance £800.

Withdraw £600. Balance £200.

Trade 2 closes +£60. Opening balance £200, so +30%. Balance £260.

Gain = (0.80 × 1.30) − 1 = +4.0% Money result: put in £1,000, took out £600, £260 left. Overall −£140. Absolute Gain, using net invested funds (the help text) = −£140 ÷ £400 (£1,000 − £600) = −35.0% Absolute Gain, using total deposits (the page's formula) = −£140 ÷ £1,000 = −14.0%

Gain is positive because the +30% trade counts as much as the −20% trade, even though it was made on a balance a fifth the size. The account holder still lost £140, and Absolute Gain is negative on either version. This is why a positive Gain on its own doesn't mean money was made.

Worked example 3: top-ups during a drawdown

Illustrative example (made-up numbers; not based on any real account or on our strategy):

Deposit £1,000.

Trade 1 closes −£300. Opening balance £1,000, so −30%. Balance £700.

Top up £1,000. Balance £1,700.

Trade 2 closes +£170. Opening balance £1,700, so +10%. Balance £1,870.

Gain = (0.70 × 1.10) − 1 = −23.0% Absolute Gain = −£130 ÷ £2,000 = −6.5%

Here it's the other way round. The top-up dilutes the earlier loss, so Absolute Gain looks much milder than the trading was. Gain shows that the trading fell 30% and then recovered only part of it. If you only saw Absolute Gain, or a balance chart lifted by the top-up, you'd miss how deep the loss was.

Which number to read alongside drawdown

Neither figure is enough by itself. A sensible way to read a page:

Read Gain to see how the trading performed in percentage terms.
Read Absolute Gain to see how the money in the account did.
If they're far apart, check the deposit and withdrawal history to see why.
Read the maximum drawdown next to both. A gain figure means little without knowing how far the account fell along the way. See What is drawdown in trading?
Check the open trades. Because Gain counts closed trades, large floating losses on open trades won't show in it yet. Compare balance with equity. See Equity vs balance.

Then remember the limits: both figures describe one account's past. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

FAQ

Which is more accurate, Gain or Absolute Gain?

Neither is more accurate. They answer different questions. Gain describes the trading percentages, independent of money moving in and out. Absolute Gain describes the money result relative to the money put in. Read both.

Why are Gain and Absolute Gain different when there were no deposits or withdrawals?

They can differ slightly when several trades are open at once, because each is measured against the balance at the moment it opened, before the others have closed. Large gaps usually come from deposits or withdrawals.

Can Gain be positive when the account lost money?

Yes. Worked example 2 shows a Gain of +4% on an account where the holder lost £140 overall, because the winning trade happened on a much smaller balance than the losing one.

Does Gain include losses on open trades?

Not until those trades close. MyFXBook's Gain is built from closed trades. If an account has large open losses, check equity and drawdown as well.

Is a high Gain a good sign?

On its own, it tells you very little. Look at drawdown, account age, the number of trades, deposits and withdrawals, and the monthly results. A high Gain with a deep drawdown means the account took large falls along the way, and a future fall could be larger.

What is a time-weighted return?

A way of measuring performance that removes the effect of money being added or taken out, by linking the return of each period (on MyFXBook, each trade) together. It's widely used for comparing investment performance.