Question about unrealized P&L in IBKR

[natorgas]

Hello,
On IBKR, my unrealized P&L looks as follows:


Which I initially interpreted as "If you sell everything you have right now, you will have 342.64 Fr. more than what you deposited" Implicitly saying that I deposited
2646.54 - 342.64 = 2303.9Fr.
However when I look up all my deposits since I created the account

it adds up to 2446.81Fr, meaning that right now the actual difference between what I deposited and what I have is 2646.54 - 2446.81 = 199.73 Fr. This is clearly less than what my unrealized P&L is saying.
I am quite new to this and I would like to understand how these numbers are calculated. It seems weird to me that there is not indicator telling you the difference between the current worth of your portfolio and how much you deposited, since in the end this is what really matters. (Correct me if I am wrong)
Thank you in advance!

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Hi natorgas

Are you holding any foreign currencies? The P&L will be converted from the foreign currency to base currency at this instant. So, you have higher or lower unrealized P&L than the difference.

 

[natorgas]

Hi natorgas

Are you holding any foreign currencies? The P&L will be converted from the foreign currency to base currency at this instant. So, you have higher or lower unrealized P&L than the difference.

Well all the assets I am holding are in USD (e.g. VT), if this is what you mean. Except for that I only have 2.8Fr on my account which are not invested (this can be seen in the first picture). Also what seems to make sense is that if I add up all the P&L of my assets (which are displayed in USD) and convert that number to CHF then I get the 342.64Fr. However this does not explain why my unrealized P&L, which is displayed in CHF, is greater than the number that I get when I calculate current liquidation value - sum of all deposits (note that this is a difference of CHF values, so comparing it to the unrealized P&L makes sense).

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Yes, this is what I mean, they are calculated differently.

Example:
* You have 110 USD, with 10 USD unrealized profit
* At the beginning, 110 USD is worth 110 CHF
* But now 110 USD is only worth 100 CHF
* You 10 unrealized profit in USD is still 10 USD, but now worth about 9 CHF when converted in CHF
* But your portfolio value is 100 CHF, so if you were to sell and convert everything, you would have 0 CHF In profit

This shows that the two metrics are different things.

 

[natorgas]

Yes, this is what I mean, they are calculated differently.

Example:
* You have 110 USD, with 10 USD unrealized profit
* At the beginning, 110 USD is worth 110 CHF
* But now 110 USD is only worth 100 CHF
* You 10 unrealized profit in USD is still 10 USD, but now worth about 9 CHF when converted in CHF
* But your portfolio value is 100 CHF, so if you were to sell and convert everything, you would have 0 CHF In profit

This shows that the two metrics are different things.

I think I see what you mean, unrealized P&L captures all gains on my assets (which in this case are all in USD) an then converts this number to CHF. However this does not take into account that overall the USD has decreased in value. In some cases P&L could be positive even though my portfolio value in CHF is less than what I have deposited, i.e. even though I have lost money.
So now the question that remains is if there is any way to see my actual profit?
Thanks a lot for always replying btw, it is much appreciated!
The following is more of a note for myself, in case I ever want to look this up again, so you don't need to read this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Specifically, if one's portfolio value remains unchanged, the equation stock_gain = (USD->CHF(at time of buying))/(USD->CHF(currently)) - 1 must hold, where USD->CHF denotes the conversion rate from USD to CHF.
Example:
Deposit 1000Fr. at USD->CHF = 1 and buy USD stock with it, the exchange rate now drops by 10%, this means USD->CHF = 0.9. We can calculate the stock gain that is required such that we do not lose money with the formula above:
stock_gain = 1/0.9 - 1 = 0.11111... so about 11%
This checks out as 1000*1*1.111*0.9 ≈ 1000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

So now the question that remains is if there is any way to see my actual profit?

Unfortunately, there is no great way to do that.

You would need to know everything you have contributed in CHF and compare that to the net liquidation value in CHF. You can find the first one through activity statements, but only for a given year, I think.

 

[Riches1]

There actually is an easy way of checking this, but it's a bit hidden.

- In the top menu, go to "Performance & Reports"
- PortfolioAnalyst
- Time Period: "Inception"

Now, under "Key statistics", you can see your total deposits in CHF, and your current Portfolio balance, also in CHF.