Cost of Violations

How much money you've lost on trades where you broke your own rules. The most painful number in Limbix, and the most useful. In Limbix, the cost of violations is the sum of net P&L on the losing trades in your period that broke a rule or had no playbook at all.

How it's calculated#

$$\text{Cost of Violations} = \sum_{\substack{\text{violating trades} \\ \text{net P\&L} < 0}} \text{net P\&L}$$

Violating trade

A trade in the period with at least one rule you marked as broken, or an impulsive trade (no playbook linked).

Net P&L

After fees, in your account currency. Only trades that lost are summed.

1. Limbix takes every trade in the period you picked on Discipline & Risk.
2. A trade is violating if you marked at least one of its playbook rules as broken, or if it had no playbook linked (an impulsive trade).
3. It sums the net P&L of the violating trades that lost money.

Each trade counts once, however many rules it broke. A trade that broke three rules and lost €500 adds €500, not €1,500.

The number is built from your trades directly, not from a separate violations log. So it's correct straight after a bulk import, before any background job has caught up. A violation of a rule you've since deleted still counts here: the break really happened.

Worked example#

You took 30 trades this month.

• 4 were impulsive: −€150, −€220, +€310, −€90.
• 5 broke at least one rule: −€300, −€180, +€240, −€60, +€120.

That's 9 violating trades. The losing ones are: −€150 − €220 − €90 − €300 − €180 − €60 = −€1,000.

Cost of Violations = −€1,000.

The three winners (+€310, +€240, +€120 = +€670) are not subtracted. The net P&L of all nine violating trades would be −€330, which hides two-thirds of the damage.

The Violating trades card below the hero reads 9, with "30% of 30 trades" under it.

When it shows "—"#

Cost of Violations never shows "—". With no violating losers in the period, the tile reads €0 in neutral ink, not red. A clean period isn't a cost.

It reads €0 in three cases: you had no trades, none of your trades broke a rule or lacked a playbook, or every violating trade made money.

What's a good cost of violations?#

€0 is the target. There is no band scale. Read it against your net P&L for the same period: if violations cost €1,000 in a month you made €800, your rules are worth more than your edge that month.

How to improve it#

1. Find the rule that leaks the most. The rule leaderboard shows each rule's own leak, weakest first.
2. Link a playbook before you enter. Impulsive trades count as violations. See link a playbook.
3. Filter the violations feed by emotion. If most of the cost sits under one tag, that's the state to plan for. See cost of violations.
4. Compare with your mistake costs. Mistake Cost prices detected behaviours such as revenge trades, which often overlap with rule breaks.

Where you'll see it#

• Discipline & Risk hero: the Violation cost tile, "Breaks and impulsive entries, priced." See cost of violations.
• Rule leaderboard (Pro): the same reading per rule, as the money each rule leaks.
• Cost per mistake (Pro): names the share of this total that your costliest tagged mistake accounts for.
• Violation cost by emotion (Pro): violation costs grouped by the primary emotion tag on each trade.

The Violation cost tile is on every plan, including Essential.

Frequently asked questions#

How much do my trading mistakes cost me?#

Cost of Violations answers that for rule breaks: it totals the losses on every trade where you broke a playbook rule or traded with no playbook. For detected behaviours like revenge trades or oversized positions, see Mistake Cost. The two often overlap, because the same trade can break a rule and be flagged as a mistake.

Why aren't winning trades that broke rules included?#

Because a win doesn't refund a broken rule. If Limbix netted wins against losses, one lucky break could make a month of careless trading look free. The metric counts only what violations cost. Profitable breaks are still listed in your violations feed and flagged, since they're the ones most likely to teach you the wrong lesson.

Does an impulsive trade count as a violation?#

Yes. A trade with no playbook linked has no plan to follow, so Limbix treats it as a violation of your process. If it lost money, its loss is included. You'll also see it in the Impulsive Trade Count card, with its own net P&L.

Does the number change with the period I pick?#

Yes. It covers the period selected on Discipline & Risk: Week, Month, Quarter or All. The Risk Score next to it always covers the last 30 days, but Cost of Violations follows your selection.