Unrealized gain describes the change in value of unsold holdings under an assumed mark. Realized gain records the outcome of completed disposals. A wallet valuation dashboard may show both, but it cannot reconstruct your taxable history from a single snapshot.

How to work through the calculation or research

Maintain a ledger of buy lots, sell quantities, actual execution prices and transaction fees. Use a clearly stated valuation time for unsold balances; a mark may become stale. Reconcile transfers between your own wallets separately to avoid counting them as new purchases or sales.

A concrete worked example

If you purchased two units at $100 each, sold one at $130, and the remaining unit is currently marked at $90, you have a $30 gross realized gain and a $10 unrealized loss, before fees. The two numbers describe different events.

Common errors and important limitations

Transfers, staking rewards, swaps and wrapped tokens can have different tax and accounting consequences across jurisdictions. This educational worksheet is not a determination that a transaction is taxable.

Put the idea into practice with a working tool

For a practical calculation, the Realized vs Unrealized Crypto Gains Calculator lets you examine: Units originally bought, Units sold, Cost per unit, Realized sale price, Current unsold mark price. The tool documents its method as: Realized = disposed units × (sale price − basis); unrealized = remaining units × (market mark − basis).. Separates realized and unrealized nominal gains using a uniform cost basis. Scenario only; uses user-supplied values, not live rates.

Practical checks before relying on the result

  • Confirm the asset, chain, amount and date apply to your own situation.
  • Separate supplied assumptions from verifiable source data and do not treat a scenario as a live market quote.
  • Document fees, rounding rules and constraints before making an irreversible financial or blockchain decision.

Sources and further verification

These references support technical definitions and research context; they do not validate any hypothetical market price or individual investment.

Financial and blockchain information is educational. No investment advice, custody, private keys or guaranteed outcomes. Examples use illustrative inputs rather than live quotes.