A green result can feel reassuring, but first ask what kind of result it is. An unrealized gain or loss belongs to a position that is still open. Its value changes as the price information changes. A realized result belongs to an amount that has actually been sold and recorded. These words describe different stages, not different levels of confidence in a prediction.

Return to our ten example units. Their investment is two hundred dollars and their displayed value is two hundred twenty dollars. The difference is a twenty-dollar unrealized gain under our no-fee assumptions. If the displayed value falls to one hundred ninety dollars while all ten units remain open, the example instead has a ten-dollar unrealized loss. Nothing had to be sold for that displayed result to change.

P and L means profit and loss. The dollar figure describes an amount; the percentage describes that amount relative to the investment used in the calculation. Twenty dollars on two hundred dollars is ten percent. Twenty dollars on two thousand dollars is one percent. A larger percentage and a larger dollar amount are not automatically the same achievement, so read both with their starting amounts.

Now imagine a separate example in which all ten units sell for twenty-two dollars each. The gross sale amount is two hundred twenty dollars. It is not two hundred twenty dollars of profit, because the position already had two hundred dollars of investment. Before fees in this simplified example, the difference is twenty dollars. Use the actual recorded costs and fees when reviewing a real result.

You can also have realized and unrealized results at the same time. Suppose four of the ten units sell at twenty-two dollars each. Their gross proceeds are eighty-eight dollars. Using twenty dollars per unit as the example cost, those four units had eighty dollars of cost and an eight-dollar gain before fees. Six units remain open, with their own changing value. A partial sale does not close the whole position.

The Portfolio display is a valuation view, not a promise of the final proceeds of a future market order. Fees, the actual execution price, and changing market conditions can make that outcome different. In Recent Fills, a sale amount and a separately labeled P and L figure also answer different questions. Keep gross money exchanged separate from the result attributed to the sale.

Match the time period when comparing screens. A current open holding, the last seven days of asset activity, and a report covering a different date range can all show different figures for sensible reasons. Check account, mode, asset, period, and fee treatment before expecting them to agree. Do not combine a percentage from one scope with a dollar amount from another.

Here is the useful habit: name the figure before reacting to it. Is this open-position value, unrealized change, sale proceeds, or recorded realized profit and loss? For our original unsold example, twenty dollars is an unrealized gain under stated assumptions. You have understood the display when you can explain both what it tells you and what has not happened yet.