Read an account's track record properly

Three numbers that matter more than return

A high return is attractive, but on its own it says little. Look at these three next to it:

1. Largest drawdown: the biggest fall of the account from a previous peak to the following low. A fifty percent drawdown means half of the capital was lost at some point.
2. Losing months: how many months lost money, and how much each one lost.
3. Length of record: three months of profit can be luck. A record of a year or more gives a more realistic picture.

Declared or verified?

On PAMM Iran, every figure carries a data label:

• Declared: the manager reported it.
• Verified: it comes straight from the account's own data, through the investor password or a reviewed official broker statement.

Take verified figures more seriously. We explain the difference fully in reading an account page.

Simple maths you should know

Losses and recoveries are not symmetrical:

So an account with large drawdowns needs much larger gains afterwards just to return to where it was.

An exercise

Open three accounts from the account list and write down, for each one, the largest drawdown, the number of losing months, the length of the record and the data label. An account with a lower return but also a lower drawdown is usually the calmer choice.