Equity Curve
Account value plotted over time — the shape of a strategy's life, not just its endpoint.
What it means
Two systems can end at the same +30%: one climbing steadily, one flat for months before a single spike. The equity curve shows the difference — smoothness, drawdown valleys, dead periods, and whether recent behavior still resembles the past.
Reading it is diagnostic: a curve whose character changes (steady grind, then chop) often marks a regime the strategy no longer fits; a curve carried by one vertical jump is an outlier wearing a strategy's clothes.
Why traders care
- Reveals path risk that summary KPIs compress away.
- The fastest visual test of "would I have kept trading this?".
Related terms
Educational content, not investment advice. Engine details describe how TraderWe computes this value; other platforms may define it differently.