Strategy Tearsheet

A single metric hides more than it reveals. A tearsheet shows cumulative returns, drawdowns, rolling Sharpe, monthly heatmap, and a metrics table - exposing regime dependence, tail risk, and decay that one number cannot.

The Problem

Reporting only Sharpe ratio misses critical failure modes. A Sharpe of 1.5 could come from steady 10 bps/day or from one massive gain followed by slow bleed. Max drawdown reveals survival risk. Rolling Sharpe reveals whether alpha is decaying. Monthly returns reveal seasonality. You need all of them.

The Pattern

WRONG

# Single number - hides everything important
sharpe = returns.mean() / returns.std() * np.sqrt(252)
print(f"Sharpe: {sharpe:.2f}")  # "Looks great!" - but is the strategy dying?

CORRECT

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

def tearsheet(returns: np.ndarray, periods: int = 252):
    """Minimal tearsheet: 4 panels + metrics table."""
    cum = (1 + returns).cumprod()
    peak = np.maximum.accumulate(cum)
    dd = (cum - peak) / peak

    # Key metrics
    sharpe = returns.mean() / returns.std() * np.sqrt(periods)
    max_dd = dd.min()
    calmar = (cum[-1] ** (periods / len(returns)) - 1) / abs(max_dd) if max_dd else 0
    win_rate = (returns > 0).mean()
    profit_factor = returns[returns > 0].sum() / abs(returns[returns < 0].sum())

    fig, axes = plt.subplots(3, 1, figsize=(10, 8), sharex=True)
    axes[0].plot(cum, linewidth=1)
    axes[0].set_title("Cumulative Returns")
    axes[1].fill_between(range(len(dd)), dd, 0, alpha=0.5, color="red")
    axes[1].set_title("Drawdown")
    # Rolling mean over rolling std. Dividing a rolling SUM by a rolling sum of
    # squared deviations inflates the result by sqrt(window) - 7.9x at 63 days.
    window = np.lib.stride_tricks.sliding_window_view(returns, 63)
    rolling = window.mean(1) / window.std(1, ddof=1) * np.sqrt(periods)
    axes[2].plot(rolling, linewidth=1)
    axes[2].axhline(0, color="gray", linewidth=0.5)
    axes[2].set_title("Rolling Sharpe (63-day)")

    print(f"Sharpe:        {sharpe:>8.2f}")
    print(f"Max Drawdown:  {max_dd:>8.1%}")
    print(f"Calmar:        {calmar:>8.2f}")
    print(f"Win Rate:      {win_rate:>8.1%}")
    print(f"Profit Factor: {profit_factor:>8.2f}")
    return fig

Required Metrics

Metric	Formula	Red Flag
Sharpe	$(\mu - r_f) / \sigma \times \sqrt{252}$	< 0.5
Max Drawdown	$\max(\text{peak} - \text{trough}) / \text{peak}$	> 25%
Calmar	CAGR / |Max DD|	< 0.5
Win Rate	$N_{\text{win}} / N_{\text{total}}$	< 40% for trend
Profit Factor	$\sum \text{gains} /	\sum \text{losses}

Always report gross and net (after costs). A gross Sharpe of 1.5 that drops to 0.3 net means costs dominate alpha.

Guardrails

• Annualize with the correct frequency: 252 (daily), 52 (weekly), 12 (monthly)
• Report net-of-cost metrics alongside gross - the gap is the cost burden
• Compare strategy Sharpe to a passive benchmark, not zero
• Use Deflated Sharpe Ratio when selecting among multiple strategies (corrects for multiple testing)

Production Implementation

ml4t-backtest generates tearsheets from BacktestResult:

from ml4t.backtest import Engine

result = Engine(feed, strategy, config).run()
equity_df = result.to_equity_dataframe()
daily_returns = result.to_daily_returns()

Checklist

• Cumulative return, drawdown, and rolling Sharpe plotted
• Sharpe, max drawdown, Calmar, win rate, profit factor reported
• Both gross and net metrics shown
• Annualization matches data frequency
• Compared to benchmark (not just absolute)