Realised profit and loss

The result that has stopped moving. While a position is open its result is unrealised and changes with every tick; the moment the position is closed, the difference between the opening and closing prices is fixed, multiplied by the number of units the contract covers, and written to the account balance. Balance and equity are separated by exactly this distinction: the balance records what has been realised, and equity is the balance adjusted for everything still open.

The arithmetic is direction signed. A long position realises the closing price less the opening price; a short position realises the opposite. Where the instrument settles in a currency other than the account currency, the result is converted at the rate prevailing when it is realised, which introduces a second exchange rate into an outcome that was never part of the position. Commission and any financing already applied are charged against the same position, and platforms differ over whether they are folded into the reported profit figure or listed as their own lines, which is the first thing worth checking on a statement.

Two readings go wrong. A balance can look healthy while equity is far below it, because open losses are not realised and do not appear in the balance at all, and it is equity that a margin close-out is measured against. And a realised loss is not undone by the market later returning: it is a completed transaction, and a new position taken afterwards is a separate one with its own opening price. How realised results are treated for accounting or tax differs by jurisdiction and is a matter for a qualified adviser rather than a platform statement.