Track Investments and Commodities in Ledger

Ledger handles investments by treating securities as commodities with prices. A stock purchase looks like this:

2024/01/15 Buy AAPL
    Assets:Brokerage    10 AAPL @ $185.00
    Assets:Checking     $-1850.00

This records buying 10 shares of AAPL at $185each.Ledgernowknowstheaccount‘Assets:Brokerage‘holds10AAPL,anditpaid$185 per share.

Updating prices: Add price entries to track market values over time:

P 2024/03/01 AAPL $190.00
P 2024/06/01 AAPL $210.00

Reporting with market values: Use --market (or -V) to value holdings at the most recent price:

ledger -f journal.ledger balance Assets:Brokerage --market

Gains reporting: Use --gain (or -G) to show unrealized gains:

ledger -f journal.ledger balance Assets:Brokerage --gain

Selling: Record the sale with the actual sale price:

2024/06/15 Sell AAPL
    Assets:Checking      $2100.00
    Assets:Brokerage    -10 AAPL {$185.00}
    Income:Capital:Gains

The {$185.00} is the lot price (cost basis). Ledger calculates the capital gain automatically.

This same mechanism works for any commodity — foreign currencies, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, or anything with a unit price.