# Unrealised and realised return

> Unrealised return is the gain still sitting in a position you hold. Realised return is what you locked in by selling. The holdings table shows both, and they answer different questions.

Gylder splits your gains into two columns, because a gain on paper and a gain
in the bank are not the same thing.

**Unrealised** is what a position you still hold has gained or lost against its
[cost basis](/concepts/cost-basis). It moves every day with the price and it is
not yours until you sell.

**Realised** is what you actually locked in when you sold. It is fixed. Nothing
that happens to the price afterwards changes it.

## How they are calculated

```
unrealised = current value − cost basis
realised   = proceeds from sales − the cost basis those sales consumed
```

The **return** column is the percentage version, and it means different things
on either side of the table. For a position you still hold it shows unrealised
return as a percentage of cost. For a closed position it shows the realised
return over the life of the position, because there is nothing unrealised left.

That is also why the closed positions table below the main one has its own
column selection. An unrealised figure on a position that no longer exists
would read as a dash on every row.

## What trips people up

**Selling part of a position moves value between the two.** Sell half and half
your unrealised gain becomes realised. Your total gain has not changed, but the
two columns both move, and the position's remaining unrealised figure drops in
a way that can look like a loss if you only glance at one column.

**Realised return says nothing about time.** Locking in 40% over eight years
and 40% over eight months are the same number in this column. See
[holding period](/concepts/holding-period).

**Neither includes dividends.** Cash paid out to you is not part of either
figure. It shows up in the dividend columns instead. A high yielding position
can therefore look flat here while having paid you throughout. See
[dividend yield](/concepts/dividend-yield).

**Neither is a tax figure.** Gylder does not model your tax position, and the
Dutch treatment of investment gains does not map onto these columns. Realised
return is an accounting of what happened, not a taxable amount.