Asset Classes

Reference for the five asset classes in Tradeways — stocks, futures, crypto, forex, and CFDs — and how they affect instrument configuration, P&L calculation, and display.

What Are Asset Classes?

Every instrument in Tradeways belongs to one of five asset classes. The asset class determines how P&L is calculated, which unit labels are used, and how the instrument is auto-detected during import.

Instrument settings page showing instruments across different asset classes including futures, forex, and stocks

Supported Asset Classes

Asset Class	P&L Model	Lot Size (default)	Unit Name	Suffix	Typical Instruments
Futures	Tick-based	1	Ticks	t	ES, NQ, CL, GC, FDAX
Forex	Currency-based	100,000	Pips	p	EUR/USD, GBP/JPY, AUD/CAD
Stocks	Currency-based	1	Cents	ct	AAPL, TSLA, MSFT
Crypto	Currency-based	1	Points	pt	BTC/USD, ETH/USDT, SOL/USDC
CFD	Currency-based	1	Points	pt	US30, GER40, XAUUSD, USOIL

P&L Calculation Models

Tick-Based (Futures)

Futures use a tick-based model. Price differences are divided by the tick size to produce a tick count, then multiplied by the point value to reach a currency amount.

pnlInTicks = priceDifference / tickSize
pnlInCurrency = pnlInTicks x tickSize x pointValue

Each futures contract has a unique tick size and point value — for example, ES has a tick size of 0.25 and a point value of $50, making one tick worth $12.50.

Currency-Based (Forex, Stocks, Crypto, CFDs)

All non-futures asset classes use a currency-based model. The P&L is the price difference multiplied by the quantity and contract multiplier.

pnlInCurrency = priceDifference x quantity x contractMultiplier

The contract multiplier is typically 1 for spot instruments. The lot size affects how quantities are displayed and how commission is computed, but is not part of the P&L formula itself.

Auto-Detection

When Tradeways encounters a new symbol during import, it uses the asset class to drive auto-detection:

Asset Class	Detection Method
Futures	Matched against built-in presets (ES, NQ, CL, GC, FDAX, and 40+ others)
Forex	Any 6-character symbol or slash-separated pair where both halves are valid ISO 4217 currency codes
Crypto	Symbols ending in known quote currencies (USD, USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH)
CFD	Matched against a built-in map of common index, commodity, and metal CFD names
Stocks	Fallback — any symbol that does not match the above is treated as a stock

Filtering by Asset Class

The trade filter supports filtering by one or more asset classes. This filter is available in the trade log, dashboard, and all time-period views. The filter applies consistently across both server-side and client-side filtering.

Where Asset Class Is Used

P&L calculation — determines which formula (tick-based vs. currency-based) is applied.
Unit labels — controls whether P&L in tick modes is shown as ticks, pips, points, or cents.
Instrument auto-detection — drives the resolution chain that assigns instrument configuration to unknown symbols.
Commission — futures use exchange-level commission rates; other asset classes use per-symbol or default rates.
CFD currency resolution — CFD symbols are matched against a built-in map to determine the P&L currency.