> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.surgecardano.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.surgecardano.com/orders-and-transactions/pnl.md).

# Profit and loss (P\&L)

Surge measures profit from **actual on-chain fills only**, per completed round trip, and reports "unknown" rather than a guess when it cannot measure. Realized P\&L that feeds the dashboard and portfolio totals is computed for **Grid, Arbitrage and Rule-based**. Cadence shows a realized cash-flow figure on its own page (ADA from filled sells − ADA spent on buys − fees) that is not included in the totals. DCA reports volume and fees, not profit. Nothing is marked to market except the grid's own unrealized figure and the portfolio value tile.

### What realized P\&L means

There is no average-cost or FIFO accounting. Each strategy pairs an opening trade with its closing trade at the moment the closing trade fills and records the ADA difference, minus that pair's Surge, batcher and network fees. Analytics then simply add those numbers up.

| Strategy   | A "round trip" is                               | Realized P\&L formula                                                                                         |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Grid       | One rung's open leg and close leg (a cycle)     | ADA received − ADA paid − Surge fee − batcher fee − network fee (both legs)                                   |
| Arbitrage  | The buy leg and the sell leg of one opportunity | ADA received (net of the returned deposit) − ADA spent − round-trip Surge, batcher and network fees           |
| Rule-based | Each filled order contributes on its own        | Sells: ADA received − fees; buys: −(ADA spent + fees). So a plan that only buys shows negative until it sells |

Pool fees are **not** subtracted, because they are already inside the fill prices. The 15% safety buffer that grid and arbitrage use when *deciding* to trade is a gate only and is never subtracted from realized P\&L.

### Coverage: measured and unmeasured

Every P\&L figure carries a coverage count: how many round trips were **measured** and how many closed but could not be measured (for example a filled sell whose received amount was never recorded). The dashboard's P\&L tiles and the Portfolio page's strategy breakdown show this. A strategy with zero measured round trips shows **no** P\&L number, not zero.

### Wins and win rate

Win rate = measured round trips with positive realized P\&L ÷ measured round trips. For rule-based plans, every buy counts as a negative contribution, so a buy-heavy plan's win rate is structurally low; compare it only with other rule-based plans.

### Unrealized P\&L

* **Grid Overview** shows unrealized P\&L: tokens currently held by open cycles, valued at the reference pool's mid price, minus the ADA those cycles paid.
* **Portfolio value** on the dashboard and Portfolio page is the current market value of all strategy wallets' holdings — a valuation, not a P\&L.
* Arbitrage partials, unsold rule-based buys and DCA holdings are not valued anywhere as P\&L.

### Where each number appears

| Screen                   | Number                                                                                  | Source                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Dashboard stats          | Today's and 30-day realized P\&L with coverage; portfolio value                         | Realized: sum over measured round trips closed in the window. Value: wallet balances × current prices                                                                                                        |
| Dashboard strategy table | P\&L per strategy                                                                       | The same "estimated P\&L" the strategy page shows; realized if measured, otherwise blank                                                                                                                     |
| Strategy page            | Current P\&L, win rate, fees paid                                                       | Realized P\&L for that strategy; fees paid sums Surge + batcher + pool + network across all its orders                                                                                                       |
| Portfolio page           | Realized 30-day P\&L, all-time and 7-day return, per-strategy breakdown, daily calendar | Realized series by close date; return = realized ÷ total ADA ever spent on buys across **all** strategies (including DCA and Cadence, which have no P\&L), so it reads low if you run un-measured strategies |
| Activity calendar        | Realized ADA per day                                                                    | Same daily series                                                                                                                                                                                            |

### Expected differences

* **Fees paid vs P\&L** on a strategy page differ by the pool fees (included in the first, inside prices in the second).
* **Recorded Surge fee vs paid** on orders under \~489 ADA — the recorded fee has a 0.978 ADA minimum, so P\&L on small round trips is slightly understated. See [The Surge fee and its minimum](/fees-tiers-and-staking/surge-fee-and-minimum.md).
* **Grid realized P\&L uses Surge's standard batcher and network fee figures**, not the exact on-chain amounts; treat it as accurate to a fraction of an ADA per cycle.
* **Refunded rule-based attempts** contribute nothing to P\&L, including their fees; the plan's "fees paid" does count them.
* **Parallel arbitrage** can end a round trip holding slightly more or fewer tokens than it started with; that difference is recorded but not valued.
* **Portfolio value** excludes your connected browser wallet and any token whose decimals are unknown (those show a "No decimals" badge).

### Dates

Realized P\&L is dated by the day the round trip was **closed** (the day the closing fill was recorded, which is normally the fill day). Days with no closes are absent from the series rather than zero.


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