MT5 floating profit vs realised profit: what each one tells you

Open positions float and closed ones are fixed. See where each number lives in MetaTrader 5 and how to review both honestly.

The number at the end of the Trade tab changes every second, and the number in the History tab does not. Both are called profit, but they describe different things. This page explains floating profit and loss in MetaTrader 5, where to see it in real time, how it differs from realised profit, and why mixing them up leads to wrong conclusions in a trading review.

Floating versus realised profit

A position that is still open has a floating result: the profit or loss it would have if it were closed at the current price. It moves with every tick and it is not yet part of your balance. A position that has been closed has a realised result, which has been added to the balance and will not change. Equity is balance plus floating profit, so equity moves while a trade is open, and balance moves only when a position closes or money is deposited or withdrawn. If you watch the balance only, an open loser is invisible. If you watch equity, you see it.

	Floating profit	Realised profit
Position	Open	Closed
Changes	Every tick	Never, once closed
Part of balance	No	Yes
Part of equity	Yes	Yes (through balance)
Where to see it	Trade tab	History tab

Where to see real-time profit and loss in MetaTrader 5

Open the Terminal window with View, then Terminal, or press Ctrl+T, and choose the Trade tab. Each open position is a row with columns for symbol, ticket, time, type, volume, price, stop loss, take profit, current price, swap and profit. The profit column updates live. Below the rows, a summary line shows balance, equity, margin, free margin and margin level, with the total floating profit at the end of that line on many builds. If a column is missing, right-click the header row to choose which columns to show. Some builds also let you choose how profit is displayed. Exact options differ between builds and brokers, so check your own terminal.

On the chart itself, the position's entry level can be shown as a line, and in the chart settings the option to show trade levels adds the stop and target lines as well. Dragging those lines is a way to modify the order, so be careful where you click. The page on trade history on chart shows how to draw closed deals.

Equity minus balance is the floating total

When the account has no credit or bonus, equity minus balance equals the total floating profit of all open positions, including swap and, on some servers, commission already charged. That makes a quick check possible: if balance is 1,000 and equity is 1,042, the open positions are worth about +42 combined. If equity is 960, they are about -40. The page on balance versus equity goes through this with a table.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader starts the day with a balance of 2,000. Position A is a gold buy that is currently +65. Position B is a sell on another symbol that is -20. The total floating result is +45 and equity is 2,045. The trader closes A at +65. The balance rises to 2,065, B is still open at -20, so equity is 2,045 again. Nothing changed in equity at the moment of closing, because the +65 was already counted. What changed is that it is now locked in, and B is the only open risk. Later B is closed at -30. The balance falls to 2,035 and there is no floating profit left. The day's realised result is +65 - 30 = +35. A trader who only looked at the History tab at noon would have seen +65 and missed the open -20.

Why this matters for a trading review

The History tab lists closed trades. It cannot show the drawdown a position went through before it finally closed. A trade that was down 80 for two hours and then closed at +10 has a realised result of +10 and a very different story. If your review uses only closed results, you will rate that trade as a small win and miss that your stop was nearly hit. This is a real limit of any journal built from account history. AI Trading Journal reads closed positions from your MetaTrader 5 history and records one entry per position, dated by the last exit with the result calculated as profit plus commission plus swap. It does not record the floating profit of trades while they are open, so note the worst floating loss in the notes if you want to review it.

A short routine for floating results

Before opening a trade, decide the maximum floating loss you will accept and set the stop to match.
While a trade is open, look at equity and margin level, not only the profit of the one position.
After closing, write the worst floating point you remember in the notes of that trade.
At the weekly review, compare the realised average loss with the stops you planned. See the drawdown tracking page for the equity side.

Common mistakes

The first is treating floating profit as money in the bank and sizing the next trade as if it were. If the open position reverses, the cushion disappears. The second is closing winners early and letting losers float, because the realised column looks better than equity. The third is assuming the profit column includes everything. On a closed position the net result is profit plus commission plus swap, and the pieces appear in different columns, as the page on MT5 commission shows. The fourth is comparing the Trade tab total with the History tab total at the end of the day without allowing for open positions.

Limits

Floating profit is a snapshot and can change before you act on it.
Which columns and options exist in the Trade tab depends on your build and broker.
A journal built from closed trades cannot reconstruct what the open result was at each moment.
This page explains how to read the numbers. It is not advice about when to close a trade.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I see real-time profit and loss in MT5?

In the Trade tab of the Terminal window. Each open position has a live profit column and the summary line shows balance, equity and margin.

What is floating profit?

The profit or loss an open position would have if closed at the current price. It is not part of the balance until the position closes.

How do I find total floating profit?

With no credit on the account, equity minus balance equals the total floating profit of open positions.

Does the journal app show floating profit?

No. It reads closed positions from your history, so floating results of open trades are not recorded.

Why is my History profit different from the Trade tab?

The Trade tab shows open positions that are still moving. The History tab shows closed ones, which are fixed.

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