# Four Charges Worksheet

*Signal Pilot Education — companion to Lesson 10: Every Trade Starts Negative.*

Every position opens at a loss, and one of the four charges keeps deepening it for as long as you hold. The spread, the commission, the slippage and the financing are all taken for reasons that have nothing to do with whether the trade works. This worksheet puts your own four on one page and turns them into the one number a breakeven formula is actually asking for.

> **Educational only.** Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Not financial
> advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Every number in
> this worksheet is one you measure on your own record; the figures are yours
> rather than the lesson's, because these four charges are the ones no course
> can look up for you.

---

## 1. Take one real trade apart

Pick **a trade you actually placed**, not a typical one. Fill in what each
charge took, in the currency the instrument trades in.

| Charge | What it took | How you know |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Spread, entry | | half the quoted spread, or the fill against the mid |
| Spread, exit | | |
| Commission, both sides | | the broker statement, not the schedule |
| Slippage, entry | | fill price minus the price when you pressed |
| Slippage, exit | | |
| Financing, per night held | | |
| Nights held | | |
| **Total** | | |

The first six rows are taken once. The seventh is taken again every night, and
it is the only one that grows while you wait.

## 2. Put the total where it belongs

| | Your number |
| --- | --- |
| Total charges, from section 1 | |
| Position size | |
| **Cost per unit** | |
| Your usual stop distance | |
| **Cost as a share of the stop** | |

The last row is the fraction of your risk that is spent before the market has
done anything at all.

## 3. Find the breakeven the charges set

| | Your number |
| --- | --- |
| Cost per unit | |
| Target distance per unit | |
| **Payoff** = target ÷ stop | |
| **Break-even hit rate** with no charges = 1 ÷ (1 + payoff) | |
| **Break-even hit rate** with the charges added to the stop | |
| **Difference** | |

That difference is the extra accuracy the four charges demand of you, and
nothing about the method changes it.

## 4. Do it again on the cheapest and dearest thing you trade

| Instrument | Total charges | Share of the stop |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cheapest | | |
| Dearest | | |
| **Ratio** | | |

If the ratio surprises you, the instrument was making a larger decision than
the method was.

---

## What you are holding when this is filled in

One total and one difference. The total is what a round trip costs you before
the trade has a direction; the difference is the accuracy the charges demand on
top of what the method already had to deliver.

*Signal Pilot Labs, Inc. — /education/curriculum/beginner/10-every-trade-starts-negative.html*