Unrealized Gain
Categories: Tax, Stocks, Managed Funds
See realized gain.
When you have an unrealized gain, you own something (a stock, maybe), and if you sold it today you'd make a profit or gain from it. But you don't sell—so that gain is unrealized.
You don't get to fully enjoy it. Then again, the IRS doesn't get to tax it, either.
Example
You bought 1,000 shares of Planar Televisions for $2 a share; the stock now trades for $12 a share. You've made 10 bucks a share. But you haven't sold the shares yet. As it sits in your brokerage account now, this nice gain of 10 grand is "unrealized."