What is a trading ledger?

A trading ledger is a chronological record of every credit and debit in your trading account: fund deposits, withdrawals, trade settlements, brokerage and other charges, and any adjustments, essentially the full financial history of the account rather than a summary of just trades. It’s different from a contract note, which covers a single day’s trade-specific charges, and different from a portfolio or holdings statement, which shows what you currently own, since the ledger tracks the actual movement of money in and out over time. You check the ledger when you want to understand exactly how your account balance got to its current figure, or when reconciling whether a specific deposit, withdrawal, or charge actually posted as expected. For tax filing and general record-keeping, the ledger together with contract notes forms the core documentation trail that shows exactly what happened in your account across a financial year.