How to Calculate P&L for Your Trading Account: The Complete Guide

Understanding P&L is one of the most important skills for any trader. P&L shows how much you have earned or lost on your positions, allowing you to objectively assess the effectiveness of your trading strategy. The P&L analysis system was developed specifically to help you see the real picture of your results over any period—from one day to the entire duration of your account usage.

What is P&L and why is it important for a trader

P&L (Profit & Loss) is an indicator of profit and loss for your single trading account. Unlike simple balance comparison, P&L accounts for the specifics of crypto trading: you need to understand not only how much funds remain in your account but also how the value of your assets has changed, considering deposits and withdrawals.

When you deposit funds or withdraw coins, a simple comparison of “what was—what became” gives an incorrect picture. That’s why a correct P&L formula is needed, which takes all these operations into account. This allows you to answer the main question: “How much did I actually earn from trading?” regardless of how many times you deposited or withdrew funds.

Key P&L metrics you need to know

The system tracks several key P&L metrics for your account:

Daily P&L — your profit or loss over the last 24 hours. Calculated as current capital minus capital at 00:00 UTC, including all deposits and withdrawals during this period. This metric helps you see in real time how you are trading today.

7-day P&L — your result over a week. The formula is similar to the daily one but uses data from the first day of the week as the baseline. Many traders use this period to evaluate their weekly strategy.

Cumulative P&L — the total profit or loss over the entire selected period, from the very beginning to this moment. This is the most comprehensive indicator of your trading. Unlike the previous metrics, it shows not just the result in USDT but your entire accumulated P&L over time.

Cumulative P&L in percentage — the same as cumulative P&L but expressed as a percentage of your initial capital and all deposits. This metric is most convenient for comparing your performance: if you started with $10,000 and achieved +50% P&L, that means $15,000.

Daily P&L results — a detailed list of daily results in chronological order. You can export this report for further analysis and trading statistics.

How P&L is calculated over different periods

Let’s break down the exact formulas so you understand how the system calculates each metric:

For daily P&L, the formula is: Daily P&L = Current capital — Capital at 00:00 UTC — (Total deposits — Total withdrawals for the day)

For 7-day P&L: 7-day P&L = Current capital — Capital from the first day of the week — (Total deposits — Total withdrawals over the period)

Cumulative P&L over any period is calculated as: Cumulative P&L = Capital at the end of the period — Capital at the start of the period — (Total deposits — Total withdrawals)

And for percentage: Cumulative P&L (%) = (Capital at the end — Capital at the start — Net deposits) / (Capital at the start + Total deposits) × 100%

The main idea behind all these formulas is that they correctly account for your deposits and withdrawals to show your real trading result.

Practical example: calculating P&L from A to Z

Let’s consider a specific scenario to see how this works in practice.

Day 1 (T+0): BTC costs 48,000 USDT, and ETH costs 2,800 USDT. You have 1 BTC and 1 ETH in your account, so your total capital is 50,800 USDT.

Day 2 (T+1): BTC rises to 50,000 USDT, ETH to 3,200 USDT. During this day, you opened a BTCUSDT position, and your trading result was +500 USDT profit, but you also have an unrealized loss on another position of 300 USDT.

Your current capital now: (1 × 50,000 + 1 × 3,200 + 500 - 300) = 53,400 USDT

The same day, you decide to withdraw 0.5 BTC and 1 ETH.

Total withdrawal: (0.5 × 50,000 + 1 × 3,200) = 28,200 USDT

Calculation of daily P&L (T+1): P&L = 53,400 — 50,800 + 28,200 = 30,800 USDT

Cumulative P&L for the period = 53,400 — 50,800 — 28,200 = —25,600 USDT (indicating that after accounting for withdrawals, your net trading result was positive by your profit in positions)

This example shows how one operation affects different P&L metrics. The day was profitable (profit exceeded loss), but large withdrawals change the overall picture.

Where to view your P&L

To access detailed P&L analysis of your account, find it in the mobile app or on the website.

In the mobile app: go to your account assets page and tap on today’s P&L — you will see all key metrics.

On the website: open the assets section of your trading account. There, you will find a redirect to the P&L єдиного торгового акаунта page, where all your P&L data is presented with an option to export.

Regular P&L analysis will help you identify strengths and weaknesses in your trading strategy, enabling continuous improvement of your market approach.