Win rate is the easiest screenshot and the weakest metric
Seventy percent winners can still be a red book. Pair the rate with the payoff or do not publish it.
Win rate is the number traders quote at parties. It is also the number that hides the most.
A book that wins seven times out of ten, nicking ₹800 each time and losing ₹4,000 on the other three, is down money and feels like a winner.
Two books, one number each
Put them side by side and the illusion dies immediately. Win rate without payoff is half a sentence.
Book A — 70% win rate
- 70 wins × ₹800 = ₹56,000
- 30 losses × ₹4,000 = ₹1,20,000
- Net: −₹64,000
- Feels great, ends red
Book B — 40% win rate
- 40 wins × ₹6,000 = ₹2,40,000
- 60 losses × ₹2,500 = ₹1,50,000
- Net: +₹90,000
- Feels awful, ends green
Options inflate the count
If every leg of a spread counts as a trade, a four-leg structure that lost money can still contribute two "wins". Decide whether your unit is the fill or the strategy, then do not switch conventions in March because the stat looks better.
Filters are not skill
Remove afternoon fills and the rate jumps. Remove one bad week and it jumps again. Neither edit made you better.
Write the filter next to the number: financial year, product, broker, closed trades only. Your future self will not remember.
The 11:00 bucket looks best and has the fewest trades. Illustrative journal data, not a live book and not a performance claim.
Key takeaways
- Always pair win rate with average win and average loss.
- Define the unit: a fill or a strategy.
- Record the filter behind any rate you quote.
Not advice, not a call. NiyataBook is a personal trading journal, not a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst. Everything above looks backwards at trades that already closed. What happened in a book does not promise what happens next, and F&O can take a year’s savings in a week.