IN PLAIN ENGLISH
How much your gold, silver, platinum or palladium is up or down on what you paid.
FULL DEFINITION
The difference between what a precious-metal holding is worth today and what you paid for it.
EXAMPLE
You paid £7,000 for ten sovereigns now worth £7,630: 7,630 − 7,000 = +£630, which is +9.0% of what you paid.
HOW IT'S CALCULATED
Gain/Loss = value today − what you paid, where value today is the holding's Precious Metal Value and what you paid is the total you entered for all the items in that row. % = Gain/Loss ÷ what you paid × 100. A holding with no paid value, no price right now, or a paid value entered in a different currency (because your portfolio currency has changed since) shows no gain — it is not converted at today's exchange rate. Because the value is the metal's market price, not a dealer's buy-back price, and any premium you paid over the metal price for a coin or bar isn't counted, a newly bought holding usually starts at a loss. Gains are not part of your net worth, which only counts what things are worth.
Educational content only. It is not personal financial advice.