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    Why Is My Closed P&L a Loss When My Unrealized Profit Was Positive?
    bybit2024-04-01 14:57:10

    Understanding your profit and loss (P&L) in trading is crucial for making informed decisions and managing your investments effectively. After closing a position, you may find that your Closed P&L differs from your Unrealized P&L or Realized P&L. This article will help you understand how to interpret your position P&L information.

     

     

    In essence, discrepancies between Unrealized P&L, Realized P&L, and Closed P&L can be attributed to fee factors such as trading fees and funding fees. The table below summarizes these differences, providing valuable insights into the nuances of your financial outcomes and refining your approach to trading closures. 

     

     

     

    Unrealized P&L

    Realized P&L

    Closed P&L

    Position P&L 

    Yes

    Yes

    Yes

    Fee to open position

    No

    Yes

    Yes

    Funding Fees

    No

    Yes

    Yes

    Fee to close position

    No

    Yes

    Yes

    Update Frequency

    Real-Time

    Update when realized

    Update when a position is closed

     

     

    Let us first understand what P&L informations are shown inside your Positions tab on the trading pair page.

     

     

     

     

    Unrealized P&L

     

    The Unrealized P&L shown inside the Positions tab has the following key characteristics: 

     

    1) It is purely meant as a quick estimate of a position's estimated P&L. This is not the final position P&L.

     

    2) This estimated P&L is calculated based on the platform's Last Traded Price (LTP). When the LTP fluctuates, the unrealized P&L will also increase or decrease accordingly. 

     

    3) The Unrealized P&L does not take into consideration any trading fees and funding fees that have been paid out to open and hold the position.  

     

    4) The formula to calculate the P&L can be found inside our help center articles. 

    • For Bybit Inverse Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.
    • For Bybit USDT Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.
    • For USDC Perpetual and Futures P&L calculation, please refer to this article.

     

     

     

     

    Realized P&L

     

    The Realized P&L shown inside the Positions tab has the following key characteristics:

     

    1) It captures your realized assets inflow or outflow arising from the position until the position for that direction is fully closed. 

     

    2) This includes the fee to open the position or add position size, the fee to partially close the position, funding fees, and realized P&L from a partially closed position.

     

    3) This will be reset upon the full closure of the position and you can refer to the closed P&L for the ultimate P&L outcome.

     

    4) The formula to calculate the P&L can be found inside our help center articles. 

    • For Bybit Inverse Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.
    • For Bybit USDT Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.
    • For USDC Perpetual and Futures P&L calculation, please refer to this article.

     

     

     

    Next, let us understand what is the Closed P&L.

     

     

     

    The Closed P&L of each position is accessible by clicking on Orders → Derivatives Orders Or Unified Trading Orders → Closed P&L and has the following key characteristics. 

     

    1) On Closed P&L history, it shows the final position P&L considering the fee charges after closing the position. You can see two types of Closed P&L:  Closed Positions and Closed Orders. 

    2) For Closed orders, it shows the realized P&L of every single closed transaction, including the proportionate transaction and funding fees if it is a partially closed position. 

    3) For Closed Position, you can review a comprehensive log of your closed Long and Short positions. It includes details from the initial opening order to the final closing order and shows the full P&L for that position calculated based on the Average Exit Price. 

     

     

    4) The formula to calculate the P&L can be found inside our help center articles. 

    • For Bybit Inverse Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.
    • For Bybit USDT Perpetual P&L calculations, please refer to this article.

     

     

    Notes: 

    — The leverage will affect your P&L ROI % due to the difference of initial margin used to hold position but not the P&L amount itself. Please refer to this article for more information.

    — To get a better estimate of your Closed P&L before closing the position, you can analyze your current Unrealized P&L and Realized P&L. If subtracting your Realized P&L from your Unrealized P&L leads to a loss, you can expect a negative Closed P&L when closing your position.

     

     

     

    Lastly, let’s refer to an example: 

     

    1) Unrealized P&L and Realized P&L calculation breakdown

     

     

     

    LTP = 43,696.60

    Entry Price = 43,807.30

    Qty: 0.002

    Unrealized P&L = 0.2214 USDT (The positive unrealized P&L inside the image above shows up to 4 decimal places)

    Realized P&L = - 0.0339 USDT (It will include the fee to open, all the funding fees incurred if any as well as an estimated fee to close (for which the taker fee rate will be used))

     

     

     

    2) Trading Fee and Funding Fee calculation breakdown

     

     

    Fee to open = (0.002/43,807.30) x 0.055% = 0.04818803 (Truncated at 8 decimal place)

    Fee to close = (0.002/43,704.00) x 0.055% = 0.04807440 (Truncated at 8 decimal place)

     

    Total Trading Fee (Red Box) = 0.04818803 + 0.04807440 = 0.09626243 

     

    Total Funding Fee (Yellow Box) = -0.01420107 

     

     

     

    3) Closed P&L calculation breakdown

     

     

    Average Final Exit Price = 43,704.00

    Average Entry Price = 43,807.30

    Qty: 0.002

     

    Position P&L = 0.002 x (43,807.30 - 43,704.00) = 0.2066 

     

    Closed P&L = Position P&L - Total Trading Fee - Total Funding Fee

    = 0.2066 - 0.09626243 - (-0.01420107) 

    = 0.12453864 USDT

     

     

     

    Disclaimer: The example above is given for illustrative purposes only and uses the trading fee rates applicable to a non-VIP account at the time of writing. Please refer to the following articles to consult the current trading fee rates applied on Bybit and to know more about funding fees.

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