---
title: "P&L breakdown"
description: "The P&L breakdown splits a strategy's total profit and loss into its separate gain and cost components, stacked, so you see where the money came from."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/analysis/p-l-breakdown"
last_updated: "2026-07-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/analysis/p-l-breakdown.md"
---

# P&L breakdown

The P&L breakdown is a stacked view of a strategy's profit and loss that splits the total result into the separate gain and cost components that produced it. On the [capital chart](/docs/analysis/capital-chart)'s **P&L breakdown** view, gains stack upward and costs and losses stack downward, while a single **Portfolio** line traces the net total P&L across the whole period — so you can see not just how much a strategy made or lost, but where that money came from and where it went.

**Also seen as:** profit and loss breakdown, P&L attribution

## What the P&L breakdown splits your result into

The breakdown separates every unit of profit and loss into named components, split into a gains side and a costs-and-losses side.

- **Gains (stacked upward):** Realized profit, Open profit, Dividends, Interest received.
- **Costs and losses (stacked downward):** Realized loss, Open loss, Negative dividends, Interest paid, Costs, Taxes.

The net of the two sides is the **Portfolio** line — the strategy's total P&L. Realized profit and loss come from positions already closed, while open profit and loss come from positions still held; the two are kept apart because only the open side still moves with the market (see [realized vs open P&L](/docs/analysis/realized-vs-open-p-l)).

The **Costs** band here is the same charge that separates gross from net on a position — trading fees plus slippage; see [gross vs net](/docs/analysis/gross-vs-net) for how the two figures sit either side of it.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Each component is a coloured band; gains stack above the axis and costs and losses below it, so the height on each side shows how much came from each source.
- The breakdown responds to the Costs, Taxes, and Reinvest simulation assumptions: the Costs, Interest paid, and Taxes bands are zero when those assumptions are off, and costs are off by default for every account.
- [Negative dividends](/docs/analysis/negative-dividends) and [Interest paid](/docs/analysis/interest-received-and-paid) appear only when a strategy uses short positions or borrows to fund leverage.

## Worked example

A strategy ends a period with the "Portfolio" line at +4,000, and the breakdown shows line by line how it got there. On the gains side: Realized profit +3,200, Open profit +1,900, Dividends +600, Interest received +50 — a total of +5,750. On the costs-and-losses side: Costs −900, Taxes −500, Realized loss −250, Open loss −80, Interest paid −20 — a total of −1,750. The two sides net to +5,750 − 1,750 = +4,000, which is exactly where the **Portfolio** line finishes. Reading the bands tells you the 4,000 was earned mostly from realized and still-open gains, and trimmed by roughly 1,750 of costs, taxes, and losing positions.

*These figures describe what a strategy would have done on historical data, not what it will do. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).*