What Is an Equity Curve in Trading?

An equity curve is a chart of your account balance or cumulative profit over time, trade by trade or day by day.

What it shows

• Direction: whether the strategy is making money over time
• Smoothness: how steady the results are
• Drawdowns: the dips from each peak, and how long recoveries take

Reading your curve

A steady upward slope with shallow dips suggests a consistent edge. A curve that rises in jumps and then falls steadily often means a few large wins are hiding many small losses, a pattern your journal can break down by setup.

Clarity Tracking draws your equity curve automatically for every account. Related: drawdown, expectancy. See the trading glossary.