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ROI (Open) Explained: How Are Your Current Holdings Actually Doing?

ROI (open) measures the return on the capital you currently have invested. Learn how Turbobulls calculates it, why it differs from Lifetime ROI, and when each one matters.
ROI (Open) Explained: How Are Your Current Holdings Actually Doing?
You see your portfolio is worth $50,000 and you invested $40,000. Easy math: +25%. But what if you've also closed positions in the past? What if part of that gain was already locked in? ROI (open) is the number that focuses on what you're holding right now.
The simplest investing question - "how are my current holdings doing?" - is harder than it looks. The number you really want is the return on the capital you have invested right now, not muddled by past trades or money you no longer have in the market. ROI (open) is exactly that number.
Built for every reader. This article works whether you're brand new to investing or you've been doing it for decades. Anything marked For the math curious is optional - skip it if formulas make your eyes glaze over.

The One-Sentence Definition

ROI (open) is the return on the capital sitting in your currently-held positions, computed as the unrealized gain divided by what you paid for those open positions.

ROI (open) is calculated automatically in Turbobulls, updated with every transaction. See it on your dashboard →

The Intuition: Just Your Open Lots

Person A: Holding $40k → worth $50k

Bought stocks for 40,000. They're now worth 50,000. ROI (open) = 25%. Clean and intuitive - matches what most people expect.

Person B: Same numbers, but with closed trades

Also holding 40k worth 50k. But they also closed positions last year for a 10k profit. ROI (open) is still 25% on the open positions. The 10k closed gain is not in this number.

ROI (open) is deliberately narrow. It answers one question precisely: how are my open holdings performing? Past trades, locked-in gains, sold winners - all excluded.

This is the most reconciliation-friendly metric on the dashboard. If you see Market value = 50k and Invested = 40k, the ROI (open) is (50 − 40) / 40 = 25%. You can verify it with mental math.

What the Portfolio Badge Means

Inside Turbobulls, every metric carries a small scope badge that tells you what data feeds it. ROI (open) carries the Portfolio badge.

That means it looks at only your invested positions:

  • Open lots at every broker, in every currency
  • Market value at today's price, in your project currency
  • Cost basis from when you bought (net of taxes and fees on those lots)

It deliberately ignores wallet cash, debt, broker cash, income, and anything else outside your tracked open positions.

Other Portfolio metrics include Lifetime ROI, MWR, Annualized MWR, Sharpe ratio, Cost efficiency, and Open Win Rate. They all answer questions about how your invested capital is performing.

How to Read the Number

ROI (open)What it typically means
NegativeOpen positions are down. The market or your picks are working against you right now.
0% - 5%Modest gain. Either you're early in your holding period or markets have been flat.
5% - 15%Solid. Around the long-run stock market average per year (if held over a year).
15% - 30%Strong. Either a good year, lucky timing, or concentrated bets paying off.
> 30%Exceptional. Suspiciously high if you've been holding for less than a year - verify it's not a small-position fluke.

See Your Open-Position Return at a Glance

Turbobulls computes ROI (open) automatically. Reconciles cleanly with your Market value and Invested tiles - no spreadsheets required.
View Your Dashboard

ROI (Open) vs Lifetime ROI: The Key Difference

This is the most important caveat. Turbobulls shows two ROI numbers and they answer different questions:

ROI (open)
Return on currently-held capital only. Excludes closed positions and realized gains entirely. Reconciles with (Market value - Invested) / Invested.
Lifetime ROI
Return on all capital ever deployed, including closed positions. Includes realized gains in the numerator and previous cost basis in the denominator.
If you've sold positions in the past, Lifetime ROI is usually lower than ROI (open) because closed lots add to the denominator. Use ROI (open) when you want to evaluate your current holdings; use Lifetime ROI when you want to evaluate your full trading history.

How Turbobulls Calculates ROI (Open)

In plain words: Turbobulls takes the unrealized gain on your open positions and divides it by what you paid for those positions (net of taxes and fees).

For the math curious
The actual formula:

ROI (open) = (unrealizedCapitalGain + unrealizedCurrencyGain) / openCostBasis × 100

Step by step:
1

Find the unrealized capital gain. For each open lot: (current price - buy price) × quantity, converted to project currency.

2

Find the unrealized currency gain. The FX effect: how much the exchange rate has moved since you bought, applied to your position.

3

Find the open cost basis. Sum of (cost basis - taxes - fees) for all currently-held lots.

4

Divide. Total unrealized gain divided by open cost basis, times 100.

Currency gain is separated from capital gain because, for a multi-currency portfolio, you can have a stock that didn't move in its home currency but still gained value to you because the FX rate moved in your favour.

When ROI (Open) Matters - and When to Ignore It

Care about ROI (open) when...
  • Evaluating current holdings. How are my live positions doing? This is the cleanest answer.
  • Reconciling with tile values. Math should match (Market value - Invested) / Invested.
  • Comparing across brokers. Each broker's holdings can be filtered to see segment-level ROI.
  • Quick mental math. Easy to verify with just two displayed numbers.
Ignore ROI (open) when...
  • You want a full trading history view. Use Lifetime ROI - it includes closed positions.
  • You care about timing. Use MWR instead - ROI ignores when capital was added.
  • You want risk-adjusted return. Use Sharpe ratio - ROI ignores volatility.
  • Your open positions are tiny. A 100% ROI on a 10 position is just 10 dollars of gain.

The Full Picture: Pair ROI (Open) With These

ROI (open) tells you how current holdings are doing. Pair it with these for the full performance picture:

Quick Links

Lifetime ROI - the return including closed positions you've already sold

Money-Weighted Return (MWR) - includes timing of your deposits and withdrawals

Sharpe ratio - return adjusted for the risk you took to earn it

Stop Guessing How Your Current Bets Are Doing

Turbobulls computes ROI (open) automatically across your portfolio. Reconciles cleanly with your Market value and Invested tiles - no manual math required.

  • Automatic ROI (open) on every open position
  • Per-broker, per-asset-type, and per-currency breakdowns
  • Pairs with Lifetime ROI, MWR, and Sharpe for full performance analysis
  • Multi-currency portfolios handled natively with FX gain isolation
  • Real-time updates as you log transactions
  • Zero manual calculations - no spreadsheets, no formulas
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