The Value Added Monthly Index (VAMI) measures the performance of a hypothetical investment of $1,000 over time. Starting out at $1,000, its value is added to each month by an amount equal to the monthly percent return. Essentially, it measures the effect of compounding your returns. The VAMI is useful as it allows you to easily measure one service against another as both begin from the same starting point ($1,000).

The main graph on this page shows the VAMI for the service verses the VAMI for the particular benchmark over the selected time period. The benchmark defaults to the S&P 500 or, if the service tracks an index, to that index. You can select a different benchmark from the dropdown list.

To compare the service with another one, select the second service from the drop down box and click Compare. It will then overlay that service’s VAMI onto the chart. You can compare up to nine different services at once. To do this, choose how many services to compare: 1-3, 4-6 or 7-9.

You can also select a different time period by clicking on the appropriate button. When you do, the results for the service, the benchmark and any compared services are recalculated and displayed for that period, so you can accurately compare the performance of one with the other.

The percentage annual return is based on the change in value of the VAMI. The value of the VAMI begins with a hypothetical $1,000 investment. This amount is then compounded using the service's monthly returns from January through to December. The actual percentage change in the value of the VAMI from one year to another (effectively, from the December value of the previous year to the latest value in the current year) gives the Annual Return of the service.

The annual returns for both the service and the benchmark are shown on the second graph. When you select a different benchmark from the drop down list, the Annual Returns are displayed for that benchmark.

The values in the data-box at the bottom are the source data for the graphs. The top row (for both the service and the benchmark) shows the ending VAMI amount for each year, while the second row shows the percentage change from one year to the next. And just below the data-box is the Annualized Return for the current year. This is the annual return that the service could be expected to make if it maintains the same rate of performance for the rest of the year that it has achieved to date.

The Monthly Returns show the net percentage return achieved by the service for each calendar month it has traded. First, the return for each trade is determined - this is the percentage profit achieved on the trade. The dollar return is then worked out based on the current trading profile, which determines how many contracts or shares would have been traded. These amounts are then totalled to give a gross return. The net dollar return is the gross return minus brokerage and subscription fees. Knowing this allows for the calculation of the percentage return per month, which is the net return relative to the initial trading bank.

The graph at the top shows each monthly return for the life of the service.

Below that, each year is then displayed (please note that the yearly graphs are on different scales).

And in the data-box at the bottom, the raw data for each of the graphs is displayed, showing the net percentage return for each trading month. If a cell is blank, it means that no return was achieved for that month. This does not mean that any data is missing – only that there were no trades closed in that particular month so no return was registered.

The Reinvestment Trading Strategy calculates the amount you would have made using this service if you had reinvested your profits, while the Income Trading Strategy calculates your net cash profit per month.

To use the calculator, first enter your default trading profile in the section at the top of the page and press "Calculate". This will enter the details of your trading profile into the strategy section below, as well as calculate the result of the Income Trading Strategy. This is your anticipated cash profit per month after brokerage and subscription fees have been deducted.

To calculate the results of the Reinvestment Trading Strategy, first enter your Investment Period (in months) into the box just below the main menu. Second, decide if you want to use the standard Monthly Compound Rate of Return or the Risk Adjusted Rate of Return and then press Update. Your ending capital is then calculated for you. This is a net figure minus all your trading costs.

The Winning/Losing Months chart shows the winning and losing months stacked atop each other for each year the service has been operating.

The % Winning Months per Year gives you the percentage of winning months the service has achieved on a yearly basis.

The Winning Months for Life of Service pie chart shows the total number of winning months verses the total number of losing months the service has achieved in its life.

The Monthly CROR chart shows three different parameters. First, it gives the Monthly Compound Rate of Return. This is the actual rate of return you would have achieved had you used the service, and is therefore a key statistic. It is calculated such that, if $1,000 were compounded each month by this rate for a period equal to the number of months the service has traded, the result would equal the current VAMI figure.

The second measure is the Standard Deviation. This measures the degree by which the monthly return figures deviate from the mean (or average) Monthly Return. It is therefore a measure of volatility (or risk) of the monthly return results.

Lastly, we have the Risk Adjusted CROR. In calculating the Monthly CROR, it is important to remember that it is a "smoothed" figure which can give the illusion that there is a steady growth rate in the value of your investment. In trading, nothing could be further from the truth as it can be extremely volatile. To get a true picture of what would have happened, you need to take this volatility (or risk) into account. That is what the Risk Adjusted Monthly CROR does.

The Sharpe ratio is a risk-adjusted financial measure developed by Nobel Laureate William Sharpe. It compares a service's return (that is, any return in excess of what is deemed to be the Risk Free rate of return) to a specific measure of risk, in this instance the standard deviation. The Risk Free ROR used in our calculations is 5%/annum.

The Sortino Ratio is also a risk-adjusted ratio, this time measuring reward verses the downside deviation (or semi-deviation) rather than the full standard deviation as used in the Sharpe Ratio.

Like the Sharpe and Sortino ratios, the Sterling ratio is also a risk-adjusted financial measure. It differs from them in that it uses the Maximum Drawdown as its measure of risk. For all three of these measures, the higher value the better.

The Ulcer Index is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns (measured by percent), and was developed as an alternative to the Sharpe Ratio. The greater the drawdowns and the longer it takes to recover from them the higher the Index, so in this case a low value is preferred.

The Ulcer Performance Index is similar to the Sharpe Ratio in that it compares excess risk to return, but in this case it divides that excess by