Kalshi P&L Glossary

Short definitions for the terms used across these guides, with links to fuller explanations.

Every Bit Works · Sources checked October 5, 2026

Realized P&L: The gain or loss on contracts you have closed by selling or that settled: proceeds or payout minus purchase cost and trading fees. Once recorded, it doesn’t change. See Realized vs. unrealized P&L.
Unrealized P&L: The current gain or loss on positions you still hold, comparing their present value with what you paid. It changes with the market until you sell or the market settles. See Realized vs. unrealized P&L.
Portfolio value: Kalshi defines it as your cash balance plus the displayed value of your positions. It includes deposited money, so it is not the same as profit, and position values are not guaranteed sale prices. See Why P&L doesn’t match your balance.
Cash balance: The cash in your Kalshi account. It changes with deposits, purchases, sales, settlements, withdrawals, fees, and other adjustments. Kalshi notes that it can differ from the amount available to withdraw. See Why P&L doesn’t match your balance.
Cost basis: What you paid for the contracts in a position. When a position is closed, cost basis is subtracted from proceeds to find the realized result. When contracts were bought at different prices, the cost-basis method decides which ones count as sold.
FIFO: First in, first out: a cost-basis method that treats the earliest contracts you bought as the first ones sold. Kalshi says its P&L statement uses FIFO. See The Kalshi P&L statement.
Settlement: When a market’s outcome is confirmed and finalized, Kalshi settles it and pays winning contracts to your cash balance. For a simple binary contract, that is $1 per winning contract and $0 otherwise. Kalshi charges no settlement fee. See Your Kalshi trading history.
Position: The net number of contracts you hold in a market. An open position has unrealized P&L; a closed or settled one has realized P&L. See Your Kalshi trading history.
Fill: A completed trade. Kalshi’s API documentation says “a fill is when a trade you have is matched.” One order can produce several fills. See Your Kalshi trading history.
Order: An instruction to buy or sell contracts at a price. Kalshi’s API reports orders as resting, canceled, or executed. Only the parts of an order that fill affect your P&L. See Your Kalshi trading history.
Maker: The side of a trade whose order was already resting on the order book. Kalshi charges trading fees on resting orders only in markets listed with maker fees. See How fees affect your profit.
Taker: The side of a trade whose order matched immediately against a resting order, removing liquidity from the book. Kalshi’s general trading fee applies to taker orders. See How fees affect your profit.
Trading fee: Kalshi’s charge for a matched trade, based on the number of contracts and the price, and highest near $0.50. It is a trading cost and is included in net P&L. See How fees affect your profit.
Rebate: An amount returned to you that reduces your net cost. Kalshi’s API documentation describes the net fee as the trade fee plus any rounding fee minus any rebate, and Kalshi says its P&L statement includes rebates. See How fees affect your profit.
Deposit: Money you add to your account. It raises your cash and portfolio value but is funding, not a trading gain. See Why P&L doesn’t match your balance.
Withdrawal: Money you take out of your account. It lowers your balance but is not a trading loss. See Why P&L doesn’t match your balance.
Credit: Money Kalshi adds to your account outside a trade, such as rewards and promotions. Kalshi lists paid credits under Account → Activity → Credits and says credit balances are already included in cash. See Why P&L doesn’t match your balance.
Return: A result expressed relative to an amount, such as profit divided by the money committed. Different tools use different bases, so compare returns only when you know what each one is measured against.
Profit: A positive trading result after costs. For Kalshi trading, that means realized and unrealized gains net of trading fees, excluding deposits, withdrawals, and credits. See How much have I made?.
Loss: A negative trading result after costs, such as contracts that settled at $0 or were sold for less than you paid, including fees. See How much have I made?.

Primary sources

Sources checked October 5, 2026. Kalshi can change its products, fees, and documents; its current pages take precedence over this guide.