Realized P&L
Realized P&L is the profit or loss locked in when a position — or part of one — is closed. It stops being a fluctuating number and becomes a permanent change to the account balance.
Partial closes realize partially: closing 0.50 lots of a EURUSD long that is 40 pips in profit realizes 40 × $5 = $200, while the remainder keeps floating. Commissions and swap settle into the realized figure too, which is how a trade closed "at breakeven" can still realize a small loss.
Performance statistics — win rate, average win and loss, expectancy — are computed on realized results, because only closed trades are outcomes. A large floating P&L is a position, not a result.
In a prop-firm challenge
Most firms judge the profit target on closed results, so an open winner usually advances nothing until it is realized. The same logic continues at real firms after an evaluation: profit splits, commonly 75–90% to the trader, are calculated on realized profit over a payout period. In an evaluation that makes exit discipline part of the test — planned take-profit levels convert progress into numbers the rules can count, a mechanic explained in how prop-firm payouts work.