Risk & Money ManagementClosed Profit and LossBooked P/L
Realised P&L
The profit or loss locked in when a position is closed, net of spread, commission and financing costs.
What Realised P&L means
When a position is closed, its floating result stops fluctuating and is booked to the account balance as a realised amount. The realised figure is the honest one because it necessarily incorporates every cost the trade incurred: the spread paid on entry and exit, commission on both sides of the round turn, and the cumulative swap credited or debited for each night the position was carried. Partial closes realise a proportional share while the remaining volume continues to float.
Realised results are the basis of trading journals, performance statistics and, in most jurisdictions, tax reporting, since unrealised movements are typically disregarded until closure. The practical caveat is the gap between the pip result shown on a chart and the amount that actually lands in the balance. A trade that looks like a clean 25-pip winner can shrink noticeably once a round-turn commission and several nights of negative swap are subtracted, which is why costs belong in the plan rather than in the post-mortem.
Worked example
Closing that one-lot EUR/USD long at 1.0875 after entering at 1.0850 realises 250 dollars gross. After 7 dollars of commission per side and 4 dollars of negative swap, the booked result is 232 dollars.
Related terms
- Floating P<he unrealised profit or loss on open positions, marked to the current market price and changing with every tick.
- Account BalanceThe cash value of an account reflecting only completed transactions, before open positions are marked to market.
- CommissionAn explicit per-trade or per-lot fee charged by the broker in addition to, or instead of, a marked-up spread.
- SwapThe interest credited or debited for holding a forex position overnight, based on the two currencies' rate differential.
- Round TurnA complete trade cycle of opening and closing one position, used as the unit for quoting commission.
Frequently asked questions
What does Realised P&L mean in forex trading?
The profit or loss locked in when a position is closed, net of spread, commission and financing costs.
How does Realised P&L work in practice?
Realised results are the basis of trading journals, performance statistics and, in most jurisdictions, tax reporting, since unrealised movements are typically disregarded until closure. The practical caveat is the gap between the pip result shown on a chart and the amount that actually lands in the balance. A trade that looks like a clean 25-pip winner can shrink noticeably once a round-turn commission and several nights of negative swap are subtracted, which is why costs belong in the plan rather than in the post-mortem.
What is an example of Realised P&L?
Closing that one-lot EUR/USD long at 1.0875 after entering at 1.0850 realises 250 dollars gross. After 7 dollars of commission per side and 4 dollars of negative swap, the booked result is 232 dollars.
Trade with a regulated broker
Understanding the terminology is the cheap part. The expensive part is choosing a counterparty whose execution, financing and withdrawal behaviour match what the marketing implies. Every broker below has been reviewed with a funded live account, and each review states which legal entity and which regulator applies to the account you would actually open.
Check the licence on the regulator's own register before you deposit — our regulators directory explains what each authority enforces, from leverage caps to compensation limits.