Average time in trade

The formula

Average duration between opening and closing a trade.

How to read it

Your style (scalping, intraday, swing) and whether you hold positions as planned.

The interesting figure is not the average, it is the gap between your winners and your losers. If your losers stay open twice as long as your winners, you are cutting gains fast and hoping on losses. It is the most widespread flaw in the job, and it reads in one line.

The classic mistake

Comparing your average duration to another trader's. It means nothing outside a style and a market: ten minutes on an index future and ten minutes on an exotic pair are not the same exposure. The only useful comparison is with yourself, last month.