| name | trade-accounting |
| description | Double-entry bookkeeping for trading operations with ledger management, P&L statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reporting |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"author":"agipro","version":"0.1.0","category":"trading"} |
Trade Accounting
Run your trading operation like a business. Every SOL spent, every token acquired, every fee paid, every gain realized — tracked with double-entry bookkeeping so your books always balance. Whether you trade through a personal wallet or an LLC, proper accounting turns chaos into clarity.
Core principle: Every transaction touches at least two accounts. Buy a token? Cash goes down, token holdings go up — by the same amount. This double-entry constraint catches errors automatically: if debits do not equal credits, something is wrong.
Why Traders Need Accounting
Most traders track P&L loosely — "I started with 50 SOL and now I have 62 SOL." That tells you nothing about:
- How much came from realized trades vs unrealized positions
- What you paid in cumulative fees (gas, priority fees, swap fees)
- Whether your staking and LP income covers your operating costs
- Your actual cost basis for each holding (critical for taxes)
- Cash flow timing — are you profitable but illiquid?
Proper accounting answers all of these. It also separates trading P&L (mark-to-market, useful for strategy evaluation) from tax P&L (realized gains using a specific cost basis method, required for compliance).
Account Types
A trading operation uses four account categories following standard accounting:
| Category | Normal Balance | Examples |
|---|
| Assets | Debit | Cash (SOL/USDC), token holdings, LP positions, staking deposits, receivables |
| Liabilities | Credit | Margin borrowing, accrued taxes payable |
| Income | Credit | Realized trading gains, staking rewards, airdrop income, LP fee income |
| Expenses | Debit | Trading fees, gas/priority fees, subscription costs, data feeds |
| Equity | Credit | Owner capital contributions, retained earnings, withdrawals (contra) |
Chart of Accounts
See references/planned_features.md for a full chart of accounts. A minimal setup:
1000 Assets
1010 Cash – SOL
1020 Cash – USDC
1100 Token Holdings (one sub-account per token)
1200 LP Positions
1300 Staking Deposits
3000 Income
3010 Realized Trading Gains
3020 Staking Rewards
3030 Airdrop Income
3040 LP Fee Income
4000 Expenses
4010 Trading Fees (DEX swap fees)
4020 Gas & Priority Fees
4030 Slippage Cost
5000 Equity
5010 Owner Capital
5020 Retained Earnings
5030 Owner Withdrawals (contra-equity)
Double-Entry Bookkeeping
Every transaction records equal debits and credits. Debits increase asset and expense accounts; credits increase liability, income, and equity accounts.
Entry Examples
Buy 1000 BONK for 0.5 SOL (0.001 SOL gas fee):
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Token Holdings – BONK | 0.501 SOL | |
| Cash – SOL | | 0.501 SOL |
Or with the fee broken out explicitly:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Token Holdings – BONK | 0.5 SOL | |
| Gas & Priority Fees | 0.001 SOL | |
| Cash – SOL | | 0.501 SOL |
Sell 1000 BONK for 0.8 SOL (cost basis was 0.5 SOL, 0.001 SOL gas):
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Cash – SOL | 0.799 SOL | |
| Gas & Priority Fees | 0.001 SOL | |
| Token Holdings – BONK | | 0.5 SOL |
| Realized Trading Gains | | 0.3 SOL |
Receive staking rewards of 0.05 SOL:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Cash – SOL | 0.05 SOL | |
| Staking Rewards | | 0.05 SOL |
Receive airdrop of 5000 JUP (valued at 2.1 SOL at receipt):
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Token Holdings – JUP | 2.1 SOL | |
| Airdrop Income | | 2.1 SOL |
Collect LP fees of 0.03 SOL:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Cash – SOL | 0.03 SOL | |
| LP Fee Income | | 0.03 SOL |
Partial close — sell half a position:
If you hold 2000 BONK at cost basis 1.0 SOL and sell 1000 for 0.7 SOL:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|
| Cash – SOL | 0.699 SOL | |
| Gas & Priority Fees | 0.001 SOL | |
| Token Holdings – BONK | | 0.5 SOL |
| Realized Trading Gains | | 0.2 SOL |
The cost basis of the sold portion (0.5 SOL = half of 1.0 SOL) is removed from the asset account.
Transaction Types
The ledger handles these trading flows:
| Flow | Accounts Touched |
|---|
| Fund account | Cash (debit), Owner Capital (credit) |
| Withdraw funds | Owner Withdrawals (debit), Cash (credit) |
| Buy token | Token Holdings (debit), Cash (credit), Gas Expense (debit) |
| Sell token | Cash (debit), Token Holdings (credit), Realized Gains (credit or debit for loss), Gas Expense (debit) |
| Partial close | Same as sell, pro-rated cost basis |
| Swap token for token | Token B (debit), Token A (credit), fees |
| Staking deposit | Staking Deposits (debit), Cash (credit) |
| Staking reward | Cash (debit), Staking Rewards (credit) |
| Airdrop received | Token Holdings (debit), Airdrop Income (credit) |
| LP fee collected | Cash (debit), LP Fee Income (credit) |
| Trading fee | Trading Fees (debit), Cash (credit) |
| Gas/priority fee | Gas & Priority Fees (debit), Cash (credit) |
Reports
Profit & Loss Statement
Shows income minus expenses for a period:
═══════════════════════════════════════════
P&L Statement: 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28
═══════════════════════════════════════════
INCOME
Realized Trading Gains ........ 4.200 SOL
Staking Rewards ............... 0.150 SOL
Airdrop Income ................ 2.100 SOL
LP Fee Income ................. 0.090 SOL
─────────
Total Income 6.540 SOL
EXPENSES
Trading Fees .................. 0.120 SOL
Gas & Priority Fees ........... 0.045 SOL
Slippage Cost ................. 0.030 SOL
─────────
Total Expenses 0.195 SOL
═══════════════════════════════════════════
NET INCOME 6.345 SOL
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Balance Sheet
Shows the accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity.
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Balance Sheet: 2026-02-28
═══════════════════════════════════════════
ASSETS
Cash – SOL .................... 32.450 SOL
Cash – USDC ................... 0.000 SOL
Token Holdings ................ 12.300 SOL
LP Positions .................. 5.000 SOL
Staking Deposits .............. 10.000 SOL
─────────
Total Assets 59.750 SOL
EQUITY
Owner Capital ................. 50.000 SOL
Retained Earnings ............. 3.405 SOL
Net Income (current period) ... 6.345 SOL
─────────
Total Equity 59.750 SOL
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Assets - Equity = 0.000 SOL ✓ Balanced
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Cash Flow Statement
Tracks where cash came from and where it went:
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Cash Flow: 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28
═══════════════════════════════════════════
OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Trading proceeds .............. 8.500 SOL
Token purchases ............... (4.300) SOL
Fees paid ..................... (0.195) SOL
Staking rewards received ...... 0.150 SOL
LP fees received .............. 0.090 SOL
─────────
Net Operating Cash Flow 4.245 SOL
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
LP deposits ................... (5.000) SOL
Staking deposits .............. (2.000) SOL
─────────
Net Investing Cash Flow (7.000) SOL
FINANCING ACTIVITIES
Capital contributions ......... 10.000 SOL
Withdrawals ................... (1.000) SOL
─────────
Net Financing Cash Flow 9.000 SOL
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Net Change in Cash 6.245 SOL
Beginning Cash Balance 26.205 SOL
Ending Cash Balance 32.450 SOL
═══════════════════════════════════════════
Trading P&L vs Tax P&L
These are different numbers and serve different purposes:
| Aspect | Trading P&L | Tax P&L |
|---|
| Purpose | Strategy evaluation | Compliance, filing |
| Unrealized gains | Included (mark-to-market) | Excluded (until realized) |
| Cost basis method | Average cost (simple) | FIFO, LIFO, or specific ID (jurisdiction-dependent) |
| Timing | Real-time | At disposal event |
| Airdrops | Valued at receipt | Ordinary income at FMV on receipt |
| LP IL | Tracked as unrealized loss | Not a taxable event until withdrawal |
The ledger in scripts/trading_ledger.py tracks realized gains using FIFO by default. For trading P&L, you can overlay mark-to-market valuations on open positions.
See references/planned_features.md for detailed worked examples of how the same trades produce different P&L under FIFO vs average cost.
Entity Considerations
Traders operating through an LLC or S-Corp should track additional accounts:
- Management fees — if the entity charges a management fee
- Distributions — payments from entity to owner (not the same as withdrawals from a trading account)
- Payroll expenses — S-Corp officer salary
- Tax provisions — estimated quarterly tax payments
The accounting principles are identical; the chart of accounts simply expands. The scripts in this skill focus on the trading-level ledger, which is the foundation for entity-level reporting.
Quick Start
from trading_ledger import Ledger, Amount
ledger = Ledger(base_currency="SOL")
ledger.record_funding(amount=50.0, memo="Initial capital")
ledger.record_buy(
token="BONK",
quantity=100_000,
cost_sol=0.5,
fee_sol=0.001,
memo="Entry on volume spike"
)
ledger.record_sell(
token="BONK",
quantity=100_000,
proceeds_sol=0.8,
fee_sol=0.001,
memo="Target hit"
)
ledger.record_income(
income_type="staking",
amount_sol=0.05,
memo="Epoch 580 rewards"
)
ledger.print_pnl(start="2026-02-01", end="2026-02-28")
ledger.print_balance_sheet(as_of="2026-02-28")
Run the demo script to see a full month of trading activity with all report types:
python scripts/trading_ledger.py --demo
Use Cases
- Track real P&L — Know exactly how much you made after all fees, not just entry/exit prices
- Tax preparation — Hand your accountant a clean ledger with cost basis and realized gains
- Fee analysis — Discover that gas and priority fees are eating 3% of your gross profits
- Strategy comparison — Compare net P&L across strategies, not just win rates
- Cash flow planning — Know if you have enough liquid SOL for the next trade
- Audit trail — Every number traces back to a dated, memo-tagged journal entry
Prerequisites
- Python 3.10+
- No external dependencies (the ledger uses only the standard library)
Files
| File | Description |
|---|
references/planned_features.md | Chart of accounts, double-entry examples, report formats, trading vs tax P&L |
scripts/trading_ledger.py | Double-entry ledger with P&L, balance sheet, and demo mode |
Disclaimer: This skill provides accounting structure and calculations for informational and organizational purposes only. It is not tax advice, legal advice, or financial advice. Consult a qualified tax professional or CPA for guidance on your specific tax obligations. Cryptocurrency tax treatment varies by jurisdiction and changes frequently.
