I <3 Bollinger bands

Performance dashboards become misleading when they collapse every decision into a single return number. A paper fund should do the opposite. It should expose enough detail to explain why performance moved and whether that movement is consistent with the intended strategy.

For QUARCC teams, the first pass is usually straightforward: equity, day change, and a quick look at positions. The second pass is more important. Did the strategy earn returns from the market environment it was designed for? Was concentration intentional or accidental? Did beta drift while the team believed it was market neutral? Those questions separate a portfolio update from a portfolio review.

Student-run strategies improve quickly when the review surface is honest. A dashboard should make it easy to identify the strongest and weakest contributors, but it should also make regime dependence obvious. If the chart looks healthy only because one position dominated the book, the interface should reveal that immediately.

The goal of a paper-fund dashboard is not to look institutional. The goal is to make the next research decision easier and better informed.