The performance heatmap (also called return heatmap) shows how much return your portfolio or a single holding made in each month, quarter and year. This lets you spot strong and weak phases at a glance.

Each cell stands for a period, i.e. a month, a quarter or a year. The value in the cell is the return generated in exactly this period. Green stands for gains, red for losses. The stronger the color, the bigger the movement. The “Total” column shows the return for the whole year.

This is the most important difference from the performance chart on the dashboard: on each day, the chart shows the return since the start of the selected period. The heatmap, on the other hand, starts again at 0% every month. So it’s like a separate performance chart for each individual month.

Example: If March 2026 shows “+3.35%”, your portfolio rose by 3.35% from March 1 to March 31. Whatever happened before doesn’t matter for this cell.

The heatmap is available in the web app and in the mobile app.

If you click a cell, you see the details for this period:

With a subscription, “Go to portfolio for this interval” takes you straight to the dashboard for this period. In the holding view, the link is called “Activate this interval”.

Parqet hides years without any return, for example because you had no holdings. Click “Show …” to show them again.

For each cell, Parqet divides your net gains in the period by the adjusted start value:

Performance = net gains / adjusted start value

Why “adjusted”? If you invest money during the month, the value of your portfolio goes up. But that isn’t a gain, it’s just your own money. That’s why it’s added to the start value and doesn’t count as return. If you sell something, the part you sold is taken out of the start value again.

If you sell shares in the period that you already held before the period started, Parqet recalculates the start value internally once more. The percentage in the cell can then no longer be recalculated exactly from the values in the detail window.

Important: When and at what price you originally bought doesn’t matter for the heatmap. Parqet assumes that you bought your portfolio on the first day of the period at its value at that time.

Your portfolio is worth €9,977 on January 1 and €10,770 on January 31. You didn’t buy or sell anything in January, and there were no taxes or fees.

Now the same portfolio, but you invest an additional €100,000 at the end of January. The end value is then €110,770.

In both cases, you earned €793. The €100,000 doesn’t count as a gain. But it increases the base the return refers to. That’s why the percentage is smaller. It’s the same principle as with the capital-weighted return.

The heatmap is most meaningful if your portfolio has a reference account. Then dividends and sale proceeds stay in the portfolio and are fully captured. More on this: How does the reference account affect performance?

A period runs from the first to the last day of the month, quarter or year. As the start value, Parqet uses the closing prices from the previous day, i.e. from the last day of the previous period. In the current month and year, the period ends today.

For comparison, set the dashboard to exactly the period of the cell, for example March 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026. Then there are two remaining reasons for differences:

You can’t compare the heatmap directly with TTWROR (true time-weighted rate of return) and IRR (internal rate of return), because both calculate differently. TTWROR, for example, ignores when and how much you invest. The heatmap doesn’t (see calculation example).

Each cell is calculated on its own, including the year cell. You can’t add up percentages from individual months, because each month refers to a different start value. An example: +10% in January and −10% in February don’t add up to 0%, but to 1.10 × 0.90 − 1 = −1%. If you deposit or withdraw money during the year, the base changes as well. That’s why the sum of the months almost always differs from the annual value.

The selected period doesn’t. The heatmap always shows all months, quarters and years. Filters and views, however, do: if you use “Add filter” to filter, for example, by one or more holdings, a sub-account or an asset class, the heatmap in the Analysis tab only shows this part of your portfolio. In the Overview, the selected portfolios count.

Very large percentages occur when the adjusted start value is very small, zero or negative. Typical cases:

Even a few euros of gain then result in a very high percentage. In such cases, click the cell: the amounts in euros show you how big the movement really was.

Incorrect activities are often behind this, too. So check the activities in this period, especially:

If you correct a wrong activity, the heatmap usually adjusts automatically. If you can’t find an error, contact us.

Still have questions about the heatmap? Then write to us via parqet.com/help and choose the topic “Portfolio (Calculation, Display Errors)”.