The present invention relates to an optical coherent receiver and an apparatus for and a method of monitoring performance thereof. The apparatus for monitoring performance of the optical coherent receiver makes use of a first signal and a second signal from the optical coherent receiver to monitor performance of the optical coherent receiver, and comprises a first subtracter, for subtracting the second signal from the first signal to obtain a first subtraction result; a squarer, for obtaining a square of the first subtraction result; a delayer, for delaying the first subtraction result; a multiplier, for multiplying the first subtraction result with the delayed first subtraction result; and a second subtracter, for subtracting the result of the multiplier from the result of the squarer.