Commission impact
Subtracts commission, spread and fees from your expectancy to show the real edge. Use it before increasing trade frequency.
Every strategy has a gross edge and a net edge, and only the net one pays you. Costs are charged per trade regardless of the outcome, so they hit winners and losers alike and they scale directly with how often you trade. A strategy that looks strong on paper can be flat or negative once realistic commission and spread are applied, and this card is where you find that out before the account does.
Edge lost to costs is the row to focus on. It states the fee as a share of your gross expectancy. Under about a fifth is comfortable. Approaching half means costs are a partner in the strategy taking an outsized cut, and above half the broker is earning more from your activity than you are. High frequency approaches live or die on this number, which is why professional short term traders care so much about execution quality and rebates.
Cost per trade should include everything, not just the headline commission. Add the spread you cross on entry and exit, exchange and regulatory fees, and a realistic allowance for slippage, which is the difference between the price you expected and the price you got. Slippage is the cost most traders leave out and it is often the largest single component, especially on stops in fast markets.
The monthly rows connect the per trade figure to something you can feel. The same cost per trade is trivial at ten trades a month and decisive at four hundred. This is the strongest argument for trading less and better. Halving your trade count halves the cost drag while only removing your least convincing setups, which usually improves the gross edge at the same time.
If net expectancy comes out negative while gross is positive, the message is precise. The method finds something real, but the way it is being executed hands that something to costs. The fixes are wider targets, fewer trades, a cheaper venue, or a more patient entry, in roughly that order of impact.