For self-employed traders and investors in the United Kingdom
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 | £960 | |
| Trading profit | £960 |
The cost of the trade, categorised as it is charged.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage fees | £36 | |
| Bank | £36 |
Income that arrives without a trade behind it.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | £260 | |
| Dividends | £260 |
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.
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