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Risk and performance

PnL:profit and loss, measured.

PnL stands for profit and loss: the money a trade or an account has made or lost. Realised PnL comes from closed positions and is fixed; unrealised, or open, PnL is the running result on positions still held, and changes with every price move. Net PnL is what remains after commission, spreads and swaps.

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Realised vs unrealised PnL

The distinction is whether the position is still open. Once a trade is closed, its gain or loss is realised - it has happened, and it no longer moves. While it is open, the gain or loss is unrealised: a mark-to-market figure that goes up and down with price, and that can turn from profit to loss before the trade is closed.

Trading dashboards usually show both. Realised PnL (sometimes labelled RPnL or R P&L) sums the closed trades; open PnL (floating PnL, OPnL) is the live result on what is still held. Equity is the balance plus open PnL.

The PnL labels you will see
LabelWhat it measuresDoes it move?
Realised PnLResult of closed positionsNo - fixed once closed
Unrealised or open PnLResult of positions still held, at the current priceYes, with every tick
Gross PnLPrice result before costs-
Net PnLPrice result after commission, spread and swap-
Cumulative PnLRunning total over a periodGrows or shrinks trade by trade

How PnL is calculated

For a single trade, PnL is the price change multiplied by the position size, in the account currency: (exit price minus entry price) times units for a long, the reverse for a short. On a currency pair the price change is usually counted in pips, and the value of one pip depends on the pair and the lot size.

The profit calculator does this for a trade you specify, including commission. It shows what a given move produces; it does not predict the move.

Gross vs net PnL

Costs sit between the price result and the money. Commission is charged per lot, the spread is paid on entry, and positions held overnight can carry a swap. On a strategy that trades often with small targets, the difference between gross and net PnL can be most of the result.

Track net PnL, and track it per trade and cumulatively. A record that is positive gross and negative net is a losing record.

Step by step

How to identify it

Read a PnL figure by asking four questions before you trust it.

  1. Is it realised, unrealised, or both combined?
  2. Is it gross or net of commission, spread and swap?
  3. Which period does it cover - one trade, one day, or cumulative?
  4. Is it in the account currency, and at what exchange rate if the instrument is priced in another?

Worked example

The concept,walked through

One trade's PnL, from gross to net

An illustrative trade described in words, using the common convention of 100,000 units per standard lot. It is not a record of a real trade.

  1. 1. TradeBuy 1 standard lot of a USD-quoted pair, 100,000 units, and close it 50 pips higher.
  2. 2. Gross PnL50 pips x 0.0001 x 100,000 units = $500.
  3. 3. CommissionAt GFN's published commission, $3.50 per side, $7 per lot round turn, one lot costs $7 for the round trip.
  4. 4. Net PnL$500 - $7 = $493, before any spread paid on entry or overnight swap.

While the trade was open, its unrealised PnL moved with every price change and could have been negative; only on closing did it become a realised figure.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Counting open profit as made

Unrealised PnL is not yours until the position closes, and it can reverse.

Judging a strategy on gross PnL

Commission, spread and swap are part of the result. High-frequency strategies are the most exposed.

Ignoring open losses because the balance looks fine

Equity includes open PnL, and most account limits measure equity, not balance.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • PnL measures what happened; it says nothing about how much risk was taken to get it. Two identical PnL figures can come from very different drawdowns.
  • A short record's PnL is dominated by a few trades and is weak evidence of a repeatable edge.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

On a GFN simulated account, the risk limits are measured on equity - balance plus open PnL - so an unrealised loss counts before the trade is closed. On a $100,000 account the daily loss limit is $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Commission comes out of the account like any loss, so plan around net PnL, not gross.

Trading rule

What is the daily loss limit?

Measured on closed and floating losses together - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Trading rule

What does trading cost?

The per-lot cost between gross and net PnL.

Trading rule

What are the profit targets?

What the account's PnL is measured against during an evaluation.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

Profit and loss. In trading it is the money a position or account has made or lost, either on closed trades (realised) or on positions still open (unrealised).

Realised PnL comes from positions that have been closed and no longer changes. Unrealised, or open, PnL is the current result on positions still held, and moves with the price.

The running total of profit and loss over a period, trade after trade. It is usually shown net of costs and plotted as an equity curve.

Keep learning

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Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Realized gain or loss - US Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2026. The definition of a realised gain or loss once a position is closed.
  2. Unrealized gain or loss - US Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2026. The definition of an unrealised gain or loss on a position still held.
  3. Foreign exchange market - Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 September 2026. The standard lot of 100,000 units of the base currency and the worked pip example.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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