How import works

Recognised formats import instantly. For everything else, the mapping engine inspects your columns, derives a daily P/L, and — when it isn't fully certain — asks you to confirm in a short review panel.

Three ways to find P/L

The engine tries, in order of reliability:

MethodWhat it readsTypical source
Per-tradean explicit profit/loss columnmost broker / backtester exports
Cash flowa ledger value minus commissions and feestastytrade-style statements
Equitya running balance / account-value column, differenced day to dayequity-curve exports (e.g. Invest Studio)

All three end up at the same place: a daily P/L series.

Confidence & the review step

The engine scores how confident it is about the date column, the P/L column and the date format.

  • High confidence and unambiguous → the file is imported automatically.
  • Anything uncertain (a column inferred from content, several possible date columns, an ambiguous date order, or a P/L derived from cash flow) → a review panel opens so you can confirm before the strategy is added.

The review panel

When review is requested, you can set:

Date column
Which column holds the (close) date.
Value column
Which column holds the P/L, cash flow or equity.
Method
Per-trade, cash flow or equity (see above).
Date order
Day/month vs. month/day — resolves dates like 01/02/2024.
Split
Break the file into several strategies — see Splitting a file.
Name
The strategy name (defaults to the file name).

Each pending file shows a confidence badge — auto (ready to import) or needs review — and any warnings explaining what to check. Uploading several files at once collects all the pending ones into a single panel you can confirm or discard individually.

Ambiguous dates

01/02/2024 could be 1 February or 2 January. If VECTOR can't tell from the data, it flags the file and asks you to pick the day/month order — getting this wrong shifts every trade to the wrong date.

If something looks off after import, see Troubleshooting, which lists every warning and error with a fix.