Your investment return (or simply return) is calculated as the percentage change in net liquidation values (NLV) (i.e., account values) over a period: $$\text{investment returns} = \frac{\text{net liquidation value at the end of period}}{\text{net liquidation value at the start of period}} - 1.$$

For instance, if your net liquidation value at the beginning of a period is $100,000 and the net liquidation value at the end of the period is$102,000, then your investment return is $$\frac{102{,}000}{100{,}000} -1 = 2\%.$$

Some Technicalities

The reporting convention for investment return can differ depending on the system. Stockfuse, when computing the investment return from date $$D_1$$ to date $$D_2$$, uses the net liquidation value as of one business day before $$D_1$$ as the starting value. This is easy illustrated with some examples:

• Assume that today is August 5, 2015, then the investment return for today, i.e., from August 5, 2015 to August 5, 2015, is calculated as $$\frac{\text{NLV on August 5, 2015}}{\text{NLV on August 4, 2015}} - 1.$$ Note that the denominator is the account value as of yesterday’s market close.

• Continue to assume that today is August 5, 2015. Then your month-to-date investment return, from August 1, 2015 to August 5, 2015, is computed as $$\frac{\text{NLV on August 5, 2015}}{\text{NLV on July 31, 2015}} - 1.$$ Note that the denominator is the NLV at the end of the previous month.