After a position is opened, positions in the corresponding direction are held. When the position is not closed, the PNL floating with the volatile price is unrealized PNL.
- Long position = (1/opening price-1/current price) * amount of holding positions;
- Short position = (1/current price-1/opening price) * amount of holding positions;
Unrealized PNL cannot be cashed out. After the position is closed, this part of unrealized PNL is settled into available balance of the contract account to be used as margin for opening a position or to be cashed out.
Example of PNL:
Zhiming goes long 1,000 BTCUSD contracts at an average entry price of 1,000 USD. The current BTCUSD mark price is 1,250 USD, and the last price is 1,500 USD. Unrealized PNL are calculated based on the mark price, and realized PNL are calculated based on the actual trading price.
- Unrealized profit = ($1/$1,000 - $1/$1,250) * 1,000 = 0.20 BTC
- Zhiming decides to sell 500 BTCUSD contracts at $1,500 to realize some profit.
- Realized profit = ($1/1,000 - $1/$1,500) * 500 = 0.17 BTC