How to read your trade history
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 5 min
In short
Your trade history records what you bought or sold, when, at what price, in what quantity, and what you paid in fees. It is the starting point for tax filing, for understanding your own results, and for any query you raise with support. Most exchanges let you export a date range as CSV or similar — save a copy at least once a year, and ideally every month.
Key points
- The core fields are execution time, pair, side, price, quantity and fee
- 'Order history' and 'execution history' are different — the former includes orders that never filled
- Deposit and withdrawal records usually live on a separate screen; you need both for the full picture
- How far back you can view or export may be limited, so save your own copies regularly
Definition
The list of every execution in your exchange account. It is the primary record used for tax calculations and for reconciling balances.
First, know that there is more than one kind of history. Typically an 'order history' lists every order you placed, while an 'execution' or 'trade history' lists only what actually filled. Deposits and withdrawals of yen and crypto usually sit on yet another screen, and recurring-buy purchases or assets received through a campaign may be recorded separately again. Names vary, but thinking in terms of three streams — orders, executions, transfers — keeps you oriented.
In the execution history, the fields to read are the timestamp, the pair, the side, the executed price, the executed quantity and the fee. A single order that filled in several pieces appears as several rows; more rows than orders, with the quantities adding up, is normal. Whether the fee is shown as a separate line or is already built into the price depends on the method.
Exporting usually works by choosing a date range, generating a file and downloading it. Some services build the file in the background and send you a link by email or notification afterwards. CSV is the common format, but column order and field names differ by operator, so if you use several exchanges, expect that the files will not simply add together.
A small habit pays off here: name each file with the exchange and the year-month, and keep a folder per year. When filing season arrives you are not hunting through downloads. And once you close an account — or once an operator shuts a service down — you may no longer be able to retrieve anything. Whether you kept your own copy decides how painful that is.
For tax purposes you need more than the trade history: transfer records and acquisition-cost information matter too. What is taxable and which records to keep are covered in 'Crypto and tax: the basics' and 'Keeping records'. For your own filing, consult a tax professional or your tax office.
Watch out for
- · Whether timestamps are shown in Japan time or UTC differs by operator — this matters most for trades near a year boundary
- · There may be a limit on how far back you can view or export; save older records before they drop out of range
- · Totals shown on screen are for reference and may not match how tax is actually calculated. Confirm your filing with a professional
Frequently asked questions
My history does not match my balance.
You may be looking only at trades. Deposits, withdrawals, fees, assets received in campaigns and recurring purchases are often recorded on separate screens, so check them all together. If it still does not reconcile, raise it with support.