Mechanism library · English
What "net of cost" means, and what it excludes
Why every figure on this platform subtracts STT, brokerage and slippage — and the two things even a net number cannot show.
The definition
A number is net of cost when the charges attached to producing it have been subtracted. A net-of-cost result of 12% means: after paying STT, exchange charges, brokerage, and a slippage estimate on every single trade, what remained was 12%. The gross number would have been higher. The net number is the only one that describes money that could actually have existed in the account.
0.025% on the sell side only. Gross return minus this line (and the others the article lists) is the number that matters.
Why it is a rule here, not a preference
Charges scale with activity. A strategy that trades fifty times a month pays the statutory and service costs fifty times, so a gross comparison between a frequent strategy and a patient one measures the difference in their bill, not the difference in their judgment. Showing net numbers removes that distortion — and on this platform the language itself is guarded: copy that presents a performance figure without the cost treatment is blocked, not warned.
What even a net number cannot show
Two things, and both matter. First, drawdown: an 8% figure, net of cost, does not tell you the account was down 30% in the middle. A number without the path it took is a destination without a road. Second, taxes: capital gains tax is owed by the investor on realized profits and varies with holding period, and no platform figure can compute your personal tax position. Net of cost is about the market's charges; it is not net of your taxes.
How to read any figure you see here
Every performance figure on this platform is net of STT, brokerage, exchange charges and a slippage model, and is shown with its drawdown and its time window. A figure without those three companions should be read as incomplete — and on this platform, it cannot be published at all.