For self-employed traders and investors
The business of trading, on the books.
Your broker already tells you what a position is worth. Nothing tells you what the year actually cost you, or what you owe on it.
Platform fees, data subscriptions and a dozen small charges that quietly eat the edge — plus realised results that have to be reconstructed at tax time from a year of statements.
Three messages, and the ledger they write
These are messages you could send today. Underneath each one is exactly what LedgerChat posts — the real accounts, the real directions. Every entry has two sides, and both sides balance.
A closed position, booked as the income it is.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | $1,200 | |
| Trading profit | $1,200 |
The cost of the trade, categorised as it is charged.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage fees | $45 | |
| Bank | $45 |
Income that arrives without a trade behind it.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | $320 | |
| Dividends | $320 |
Questions self-employed traders and investors ask
- Does it track my open positions?
- No, and it will not pretend to. LedgerChat has no asset accounts, so it cannot hold a position at cost, work out your basis, or mark anything to market. Your broker does that, and does it better. This keeps the books around it — realised results, fees and income — which is the part your broker does not keep.
- So what is it actually for?
- The money side of trading as a business: what came in, what it cost to earn, and a categorised year you can hand to whoever files for you. Most traders have position data and no expense records; this is the missing half.
- Can I record a loss?
- Record it as a cost and it is posted like any other. Every entry is double-entry and dated, so the year adds up whichever way it went.
- Is it worth it if I only trade occasionally?
- Probably not. If your fees and subscriptions are a handful a year, a spreadsheet is fine. This earns its keep when the charges are constant and the year is otherwise unreconstructable.
Your ledger is one message away.
Free to start. No app to install. English, العربية and ten more languages.