MAE & MFE
Formula
MAE ($) = worst adverse mark-to-market while the trade was open MFE ($) = best favourable mark-to-market while the trade was open MAE (R) = MAE / initial_risk · MFE (R) = MFE / initial_risk
Worked example
Long 100 shares at $100.00; price dipped to $96.00 then ran to $107.00 before you exited.
| MAE ($) | ($100.00 − $96.00) × 100 = $400 |
| MFE ($) | ($107.00 − $100.00) × 100 = $700 |
| MAE in R (risk $200) | $400 / $200 = 2.00R adverse |
| MFE in R (risk $200) | $700 / $200 = 3.50R favourable |
| Result | MAE $400 · MFE $700 |
MAE shows whether your stops are too tight or too loose; MFE shows whether you are leaving profit behind. Patterns across many trades inform stop placement and exit rules.
Excursions are derived from cached candlestick data over the hold window, so they are only as granular as the bars available. A trade with no price data leaves them blank rather than zero.
How TradeJournalOS shows it
Computed from the platform-wide OHLCV cache over each trade’s hold window and shown on the trade chart as MAE/MFE price lines, plus average MAE/MFE on the dashboard.
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Frequently asked questions
Where do MAE and MFE come from? +
From the platform-wide candlestick (OHLCV) cache. TradeJournalOS marks the worst and best prices reached during the hold window and converts them to dollars and R.
Why are MAE/MFE blank on some trades? +
If price bars are not yet cached for the hold window, the values stay blank rather than being shown as zero — numbers are never fabricated.