Unrealized Profit & Loss in Crypto Trading

Unrealized Profit & Loss occur when you have an open position in a security whose value has increased or depreciated.

What are unrealized profits and losses?

Unrealized gains and losses occur when you open a trade in a security whose value has risen or depreciated. This is also known as a paper profit or loss because you don’t actually realize that gain until you sell the security.

Investment-related gains or losses result from holding a particular investment position, but are not realized until the position is sold. It can be used to calculate the present value of any available investment funds.

If present value exceeds the original purchase price, it is an unrealized gain. Conversely, if the present value of the asset is less than the original purchase price, it is an unrealized loss.The unrealized profit or loss is also called paper profit.

Example of unrealized profit and loss

For an example, suppose an investor purchases 100 shares of XYZ stock at $50 per share (a $5,000 investment). After holding the stock for 10 years, its value rose to $100 per share. The unrealized gain on this investment would be:
100 shares x ($100 – $50) = $5,000 unrealized gain.

This is the profit or loss that occurred on a commodity contract, futures contract, options contract, or any other financial instrument, but has not been realized because the position is still open.

For example, if you bought EUR/USD at 1.2510, and it is now trading at 1.2600, you have made a profit of 90 pips (1.2510 – 1.2600 = -0.0090 = 90 pips). But you had not yet closed the trade, so your profit is unrealized and could turn into a loss if the market turns against you and you decide to close the trade at a lower price (1.2600 – 1.2700 = -0.0100 = 100 pips loss).

Unrealized gains and losses are usually tracked as part of the mark-to-market accounting process. Trading requires constant attention.

If you keep track of how much money you made on each trade, that’s called your realized profits and losses.But you can also track unrealized profits and losses

Traders often focus on realized gains and losses because they represent real (i.e. realized) gains or losses that can be used for tax purposes and reinvested in future trades. Unrealized gains and losses do not affect taxes or account balances.However, an experienced investor or trader never makes the mistake of thinking it does not matter.