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Realised profit and loss

The result locked in when a position closes, converted into the account currency and added to the balance, net of commission and any swap already charged.

Closing converts floating-pnl into cash. The figure that lands is not the raw pip result: it is that result converted at the prevailing rate, less commission on both sides and less every night of rollover the trade carried.

Partial closes realise proportionally. Closing half of a two-lot position banks half the open result and leaves the rest floating, which is why partial exits show up as several lines on a statement rather than one.

For tax and journalling purposes it is the realised number that matters, and it is worth reconciling against your own pip maths regularly. Persistent gaps usually point to swap, a conversion-fee or a markup you had not counted.

Example: a trade gains 40 pips on 1 standard lot of EUR/USD, $400 gross. Commission was $7 round trip and three nights of negative swap cost $21. Realised P&L is $372.

Related: floating-pnl, balance-vs-equity, rollover, conversion-fee

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

Rolling a futures position forwardThe March contract is sold and the June contract bought on the roll date, before March expires.5.004.754.504.254.00Contract price1 Feb15 Feb1 Mar15 Mar1 AprCalendar dateROLL DATEsell March, buy June the same dayMarch expiresMARCH CONTRACT (front month)JUNE CONTRACT (next up)Solid = the contract you hold. Dashed = the contract you do not.
Rolling a futures position forward. Every futures contract has an expiry date, so a trader who wants to stay in the market closes the front-month contract and opens the next one. That swap is the roll, and the two contracts rarely trade at the same price.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.