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Understanding Portfolio Performance

Rallies tracks your portfolio performance so you can see how your investments are doing. This guide explains all the metrics, charts, and insights available to help you understand your returns.

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Performance Overview

When you open your Portfolio, you’ll see key performance numbers at a glance:

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Total Value

The current market value of all your holdings combined. This is simply:

(Shares of Stock A × Current Price A) + (Shares of Stock B × Current Price B) + …

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Today’s Change

How much your portfolio value has changed today:

• Dollar change: The actual dollar amount up or down
• Percentage change: The percentage move

A green number means you’re up today. Red means you’re down.

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Total Gain/Loss

Your overall profit or loss since you bought your positions:

• Dollar gain/loss: Total profits minus total losses in dollars
• Percentage return: Your overall return as a percentage

⚠️ Note: Total gain/loss requires cost basis data. If you didn’t enter purchase prices (or your brokerage didn’t provide them), this may not display.

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Performance Chart

The interactive chart shows your portfolio value over time:

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Timeframes

• 1D: Today’s movement
• 1W: Last 7 days
• 1M: Last 30 days
• 3M: Last 3 months
• 6M: Last 6 months
• 1Y: Last 12 months
• All: Since you started tracking

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Reading the Chart

• Upward slope: Portfolio value increasing
• Downward slope: Portfolio value decreasing
• Hover/tap: See exact value at any point

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Benchmark Comparison (Pro)

Compare your performance to benchmarks like:

• S&P 500: Broad US market
• Nasdaq: Tech-heavy index
• Dow Jones: Blue chip stocks

Toggle benchmarks on the chart to see if you’re beating or lagging the market.

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Individual Holdings Performance

Each holding shows its own performance:

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Green vs. Red

• Green: Position is up (profitable)
• Red: Position is down (at a loss)

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Sorting Options

Sort your holdings by:

• Largest position (by value)
• Best performers
• Worst performers
• Alphabetically
• Today’s change

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Key Performance Metrics Explained

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Simple Return

The most straightforward calculation:

(Current Value - Cost Basis) / Cost Basis × 100%

Example: Bought for $1,000, now worth$1,200 = 20% return

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Time-Weighted Return (Pro)

Adjusts for when you added or removed money. More accurate if you’ve made deposits or withdrawals over time.

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Money-Weighted Return (Pro)

Also called Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Accounts for the timing and size of cash flows.

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Realized vs. Unrealized Gains

• Unrealized: Gains on positions you still hold (paper profits)
• Realized: Gains from positions you’ve sold (actual profits)

Your portfolio shows unrealized gains. Realized gains matter for taxes but require sell transaction data.

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Portfolio Allocation

Understand what you own beyond just performance:

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By Position

See what percentage each stock represents:

• Helps identify concentration risk
• Flag if one stock is too large a portion
• Visualized in a pie or bar chart

Example:

• AAPL: 25%
• MSFT: 20%
• NVDA: 15%
• Others: 40%

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By Sector

See your exposure to different industries:

• Technology
• Healthcare
• Financials
• Consumer
• Energy
• etc.

Useful for understanding diversification.

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Pro Allocation Features

With Pro, you also get:

• Risk analysis: How volatile is your portfolio?
• Correlation data: Do your holdings move together?
• Concentration warnings: Alerts if too weighted in one area

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Performance Factors

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Why Your Performance May Differ from Individual Stocks

Your portfolio return isn’t just the average of your stocks’ returns. It depends on:

1. Position sizes: Larger positions have more impact
2. When you bought: Same stock, different purchase dates = different returns
3. Dividends: Reinvested dividends affect returns
4. Cash holdings: Cash doesn’t grow but is part of total value

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Why Your Return May Differ from What You Expected

• Cost basis accuracy: Incorrect cost basis = incorrect return calculation
• Missing transactions: Not all buys/sells may have synced
• Dividends: May or may not be included depending on data
• Fees and taxes: Rallies shows pre-fee, pre-tax returns

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Understanding the Numbers

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Is My Return Good?

Context matters:

• Compare to your benchmark (S&P 500 returned X%)
• Consider the time period (market conditions vary)
• Account for risk taken (did you take more risk for less return?)

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Beating the Market

If your return is higher than the S&P 500 over the same period, you “beat the market.” But:

• Short periods may be luck
• Higher returns often come with higher risk
• Consistent outperformance is difficult

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Red ≠ Bad, Always

Being down doesn’t mean you made a mistake:

• Markets go down sometimes (that’s normal)
• Paper losses aren’t realized until you sell
• Long-term matters more than short-term

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Portfolio Insights (Pro)

Pro users get AI-powered portfolio insights:

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Ask the AI About Your Portfolio

“How is my portfolio doing compared to the market?”

“What’s my biggest risk right now?”

“Am I too concentrated in any sector?”

“Which stocks are dragging down my performance?”

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Automated Insights

The AI may proactively surface:

• Concentration warnings
• Earnings exposure (holdings reporting soon)
• Unusual volatility
• Rebalancing suggestions (informational, not advice)

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Tips for Tracking Performance

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1. Ensure Accurate Cost Basis

Performance calculations depend on knowing what you paid:

• Connected brokerages usually provide this
• For manual entry, include purchase price
• Update if you’ve made additional purchases

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2. Check Regularly, But Don’t Obsess

• Daily checking can increase anxiety without improving results
• Weekly or monthly reviews are healthier for most investors
• Focus on long-term trends, not daily noise

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3. Use Benchmarks Wisely

• Compare to an appropriate benchmark (don’t compare a tech-heavy portfolio to the Dow)
• Remember that benchmarks don’t reflect your personal goals
• Beating the benchmark isn’t always the goal

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4. Remember What Matters

• Performance is one factor; your financial goals matter more
• Risk-adjusted returns matter more than raw returns
• Your timeline and needs are personal

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Why doesn’t my portfolio show total return?

Total return requires cost basis (what you paid for shares). If your brokerage didn’t provide this, or you didn’t enter it manually, returns can’t be calculated. Add cost basis to see returns.

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Why is my portfolio return different from my brokerage?

• Different calculation methods (time-weighted vs. money-weighted)
• Timing differences in data sync
• Dividend handling may differ
• Cash balances may be included differently

For official performance, use your brokerage’s numbers. Rallies provides an estimate based on available data.

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Does Rallies account for dividends?

If your brokerage provides dividend data, it may be included. If not, dividends might not be reflected in your return calculations.

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Can I see historical performance from before I connected?

We can only show performance from when we started receiving data. Historical performance before connection isn’t available.

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How often is performance updated?

• Portfolio values: Multiple times daily during market hours
• Pro users: Near real-time with real-time price data
• Free users: Based on 15-minute delayed prices

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Related Articles

• Setting Up Your Portfolio
• Connecting Your Brokerage Account
• Portfolio Allocation Analysis
• Portfolio Data Security