Cost basis opening balances
A cost basis opening balance is the starting point of a token's cost basis timeline: how much of it you held on a given date, and what that holding cost. Nothing is calculated for a token until one exists.
Open Cost Basis. The list has a row per token with a Set or Not set badge, the opening date, the type, the period, and the opening balance and cost.
Not the same as a token card opening balance
A token card opening balance starts the ledger for one token in one wallet. This one starts cost basis for a token across the whole entity. They are separate records, set in different places, and one does not create the other.
Creating one
Open the token from the list, then Create opening balance.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Date | The date the opening position is as at. Future dates are disabled. |
| Cost basis type | AVCO, FIFO, LIFO or HIFO. See cost basis types. |
| Period | Monthly or Yearly. Sets how this token's period summaries are grouped. |
| Balance | The opening quantity. AVCO only. |
| Cost | What that quantity cost, in your entity currency. AVCO only. |
Choosing FIFO, LIFO or HIFO replaces Balance and Cost with a notice: those types start from a nil opening position, and both figures are set to zero. This is a current limitation rather than a choice you are making, and cost basis types explains why.
The suggested balance
For AVCO, SimplyLedger suggests the balance rather than leaving you to work it out. The suggestion is the sum of every token card's closing balance on the day before the opening date. Opening on the 1st means closing on the last day of the previous month.
The Suggested balance panel expands to show the arithmetic: one row per contributing token card, with its wallet, chain or exchange, availability and closing balance.
The field stays editable. Type over it and the panel notes that the balance no longer matches the suggestion, so an edited figure is visible as a deliberate override rather than mistaken for the computed one.
When token cards are missing a balance
Cards with no stored closing balance for that day are listed separately, under No closing balance on the date concerned, and they are not counted in the suggested total. This is the part worth checking before accepting a suggestion: a total that looks low usually means cards are missing rather than that the holding was small.
Two ways to fix it, both offered on that list:
- Refetch balances pulls the on-chain closing balance for that date for each missing card. It reports how many it fetched and how many it could not.
- Add manual balance opens the token card so you can enter one by hand. Your part-filled form is preserved, and returning to it refreshes the suggestion with what you added.
Exchange cards cannot be fetched over RPC. The app says so explicitly and they always need a manual balance on the token card.
If no card has a balance for that day, or the token has no cards at all, the panel says so and you enter the opening balance yourself.
Changing or removing one
There is no edit. Delete opening balance on the token's page removes it, and the confirmation warns that it cannot be undone.
Deleting and recreating is how you change the date, the type or the period. Everything derived from it (the transaction timeline, running average price, realised PnL and the period summaries) recomputes from the new opening position.
Check what has already been posted
Realised PnL you have already posted is not rewritten when the opening balance changes. If a period has been posted, reconcile the postings against the new figures deliberately.
Who can set them
Creating and deleting opening balances need write access. Viewers and guests see the values without the actions. See roles and permissions.
Next
With an opening balance in place, transactions and summaries covers the timeline it produces.