PnL World Rating (PWR) Explained: How Traders Are Ranked
How the PnL World Rating (PWR) ranks traders: points for places against real opponents, format weight, field strength, divisions — and no expiry.
The PnL World Rating (PWR) is the number next to every trader on the PnL World Rankings. It answers one question: how consistently does this trader finish ahead of real opponents?
Not "how much money did they make once". Not "how big is their account". PWR measures one thing that can't be bought, borrowed or screenshotted: places earned against other traders, under identical conditions, in tournaments the platform itself scores.
This guide explains exactly how PWR is earned, what makes it move, and why it is built the way it is.
Why trading needs a rating at all
Every serious competitive discipline has a public ranking. Tennis has the ATP and WTA rankings. Golf has the Official World Golf Ranking. Chess has FIDE ratings. A ranking turns scattered results into a single, comparable record — and gives everyone the same ladder to climb.
Trading never had one. Results live in screenshots, private broker statements and marketing claims. Two traders cannot be compared, because they never traded under the same rules, on the same markets, at the same time.
PnL World tournaments fix the conditions — the same bankroll, the same live markets, the same clock — and PWR turns the results into a ranking.
How you earn PWR
Every rated tournament you finish adds points — even last place adds a little. The points for one result are:
points = format weight × place share × field strength
1. Format weight
Longer tournaments carry more weight, because a result held over a longer period says more about skill than a lucky hour.
| Format | Length | Points to the winner* |
|---|---|---|
| Free Arena | always on | 0 — practice, not rated |
| Hourly | 1 hour | 25 |
| 4-Hour | 4 hours | 40 |
| Daily | 1 day | 75 |
| Weekly | 7 days | 250 |
| Monthly Major | 1 month | 1,000 |
| Quarterly Final | 3 months | 3,000 |
| World Championship | 1 year | 10,000 |
*Current values. They are published as a table and any change is announced, never applied silently.
One Monthly Major win is worth as much as forty Hourly wins. That is deliberate: the league is won over distance.
2. Place share
The winner takes the full format weight; places below take a share of it. The curve is steep at the top, the way it is in tennis or golf:
| Place | Share of the winner's points |
|---|---|
| 1st | 100% |
| 2nd | 65% |
| 3rd | 45% |
| 4th | 35% |
| 5th | 28% |
| 6th–10th | 22% → 11% |
| 11th–15th | 8% |
| 16th–20th | 5% |
| 21st and below | 3% |
3. Field strength
Winning against a large field of strong, verified traders is worth more than winning a near-empty table. Every result is multiplied by the strength of the field: how highly rated the opponents are, how many of them are verified, and how big the field is.
This is the core protection of the rating. A "win" against two inactive accounts is worth almost nothing; a top-ten finish in a deep Monthly Major is worth a lot.
Points never expire
Your PWR is the sum of every rated result you have ever posted. Nothing decays and nothing is reset each season — your number reflects your whole career on the platform, the way a career record does in any sport.
So that an inactive champion does not sit at the top of a live board forever, a trader with no rated tournament for 180 days is marked Inactive on the Rankings. Their points are untouched, and the mark disappears with their next rated tournament.
Current form is visible separately: besides the all-time board, the Rankings show Today, Week and Month, which count only points earned inside that window.
Divisions
After your first five rated tournaments you are placed in a division, from Bronze up to World Class. Divisions are milestones on the same PWR scale: as your rating grows, you climb. The top of the ladder is designed to take a long stretch of strong results in the longest formats — not a single good week.
Verified to rank
Anyone can play. To appear on the public World Rankings, a trader confirms they are a real, unique person (phone verification). One person, one rating: a second account cannot be used to farm points against yourself or to hide a bad record.
Verification is private. On the board you appear as your handle with a ✓ — your real name is never shown unless you choose to show it.
What does not count
- Account size and deposits. Every trader in a tournament starts from the same virtual bankroll. Only decisions are ranked.
- Prize money. PWR counts places, not payouts.
- Paid visibility. Promotion of a profile, now or in the future, buys visibility — never rank.
- Raw profit. Your place in a tournament is set by a risk-adjusted result: return divided by (1 + maximum drawdown). An all-in gamble that happens to work does not beat a controlled, steady result. See how tournaments work.
Why ranking points, not Elo
Chess-style Elo ratings are built for one-on-one games: they move a little after every game and converge on a stable estimate. That is a poor fit for a league of tournaments with fields of dozens or hundreds, where the meaning of a result depends on the size and strength of the field and the length of the event.
Ranking-point systems — the ATP, the Official World Golf Ranking — were designed for exactly that: events of different weight, fields of different strength, and a career that accumulates. PWR follows that model.
FAQ
Can I lose PWR? No. Points are only ever added, and they never expire. A weak result adds few points; inactivity adds a mark, not a penalty.
Do free tournaments count? Free Arena is practice and does not count. Rated tournaments count whether or not they have an entry fee.
Why is my PWR lower than the format weight after a win? Because of field strength. On a young platform fields are small and opponents are still building their ratings, so the multiplier is below one. It rises as the league grows.
Is the formula secret? No. The format weights, the place curve and the field-strength rule above are the whole rule. Results, places and the rating are public and permanent.
PnL World tournaments are simulated: trades are executed against live market data, but no real-money positions are opened on any exchange. Nothing here is financial advice.