> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.turtlemetrics.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # MAE / MFE Analysis > Analyze how far price moves for and against your trades to improve exits and stop placement. MAE/MFE analysis answers two of the most important questions in trade management: **how far did price move against me before I exited?** and **how much of the favorable move did I actually capture?** These metrics reveal patterns that P\&L alone can't show — like whether you're consistently cutting winners short, holding losers too long, or placing your stops well. ## What MAE and MFE mean **MAE (Maximum Adverse Excursion)** is the furthest price moved against your trade during its lifetime, measured in points. For a long trade, it's how far price dropped below your entry before you exited. For a short, it's how far price rallied above your entry. **MFE (Maximum Favorable Excursion)** is the furthest price moved in your favor. For a long, it's the highest point above your entry. For a short, the lowest point below your entry. Both are always positive numbers — they measure distance, not direction. ### Why this matters Consider two traders who both made \$200 on a trade. Trader A's position never went more than 2 points against them and reached 10 points in their favor — they captured 4 points of the move. Trader B's position went 8 points against them before recovering and reaching 6 points favorable — they captured 4 points too, but endured far more pain to get there. P\&L says they had identical trades. MAE/MFE tells a completely different story about risk management and execution quality. ## The MAE/MFE analysis page Navigate to **Analysis → MAE / MFE** in the sidebar to access this view. ### Summary cards At the top, five cards give you an overview: * **Avg MAE** — Your average adverse excursion in points. Lower is better — it means price doesn't move far against you before you exit * **Avg MFE** — Your average favorable excursion in points. Higher means you're taking trades that have room to move in your favor * **MAE:MFE Ratio** — Average MAE divided by average MFE. Below 0.5 is excellent, 0.5–1.0 is acceptable, above 1.0 means you're typically enduring more pain than gain * **MFE Efficiency** — What percentage of the maximum favorable move you actually captured as profit. 100% would mean perfect exits at the best price. Low values suggest you're exiting too early or giving back profits before closing * **Trade Count** — How many trades have MAE/MFE data in the selected period ### Scatter plot The main visualization is a scatter plot where each dot represents one trade: * **X-axis** = MAE (how far price went against you) * **Y-axis** = MFE (how far price went in your favor) * **Green dots** = winning trades * **Red dots** = losing trades Hover over any dot to see the trade's symbol, setup, and P\&L. **How to read the scatter plot:** Trades in the **top-left** (low MAE, high MFE) are your best executions — price moved in your favor without much drawdown. Trades in the **bottom-right** (high MAE, low MFE) are your worst — lots of pain with little reward. A cluster of red dots with high MAE suggests you're holding losers too long. Green dots with high MFE but low captured P\&L suggests you're cutting winners short. ### Trade details table Below the scatter plot, a sortable table lists every trade with MAE/MFE data: date, symbol, side, MAE, MFE, setup, and net P\&L. This lets you drill into specific trades that caught your eye on the scatter plot. ## Filtering You can filter MAE/MFE analysis by: * **Date range** — Last 7, 30, 90, or 365 days * **Symbol** — Focus on a specific contract (e.g., just ES or just MNQ) * **Account** — Via the sidebar account switcher Symbol filtering is particularly useful here since MAE/MFE values are inherently symbol-specific — 2 points of MAE means something very different on ES ($100/contract) vs. MES ($10/contract). ## Which contracts have MAE/MFE data? MAE and MFE are calculated automatically for **ES, MES, NQ, and MNQ** trades — the contracts where TurtleMetrics stores intraday price data. The calculation runs in the background using 1-minute candle data, so there may be a short delay before values appear on newly closed trades. Trades on other contracts won't have MAE/MFE values. They'll show "—" in analysis tables and won't appear on the scatter plot. ## Actionable insights Here are some common patterns to look for: * **High avg MAE + winning trades**: You're right about direction but getting in too early or placing stops too tight. Consider wider entries or better timing * **High MFE + low efficiency**: You're in the right trades but giving back profits. Your exits may need work — consider trailing stops or target-based exits * **MAE:MFE ratio above 1.0**: On average, price moves further against you than in your favor. This is a structural problem worth addressing * **Red cluster at high MAE**: You're holding losers too long. Your stop loss discipline may need tightening ## Related Track your planned risk vs. actual reward per trade. Compare MAE/MFE across your trading setups.