How is profit share/performance fee calculated? What if there is a loss?
A. At the end of the first month after your account begins trading, if there is a profit, the broker will deduct the performance fee/profit share, technically called the “incentive fee”, that has been authorized on the Power of Attorney you sign when opening your account. Each month they will do the same. The incentive fee is a percentage of the net profits per month from the “watermark” of previous highs. If there are no profits in a given month, there are no incentive fees. The high equity point established after incentive fees are calculated creates the “watermark” which must be surpassed before any future profits may again be calculated. Example: you start with $10,000 in an account with an incentive fee of 40%, and during the month there is $4000 in gross profit. The incentive fee deducted would be 40% of $4000, which is $1600, so your net profit would be $2400, and your account would now have a “watermark” new balance of $12,400. If in the next month there was a loss of $1000, th