Let's say I made 100 SPY points. Do I need to take the value of the SPY for the entry of my first trade or the value of the SPY at the beginning of the day when I made my first trade ? Example first trade entry SPY value 1020 100/1020 = 9.8 % Value of SPY at the beginning of the trade day 1000 100/1000 = 10 % What is the industry standard used for such ?
Rate Of Return = 100% * (Account size at close - Account size at open) / (Account size at open) Leverage makes no difference.
Seems I was not clear enough. There is no account with $$ ! I made calls and the result of those calls,signals are 10 SPY points. Now,to translate those 10 SPY points into unleveraged % returns , I need to know what SPY value I have to put in the denominator of the following ( 10/ SPY )*100 What value of the SPY I have to use ? Value of the SPY at the moment of the entry of my first trade or value of the SPY at the beginning of the day of my first trade ? or another value ?
Don't feel bad. Not one single 'Elite' trader (nor system vendor) has stepped up to the plate to solve this very similar and basic question posed on another thread. http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=172580 Understanding that problem will avoid a lot of future problems related to understanding why your account balance may not match what you expected.
You need to use your account value at the time you initiated your position. The account balance should be at least minimum margin required to open position. What is the minimum margin required to open SPY position?