TL;DR
The purchase pool tracks all buys and sells to calculate gains. Deposits and withdrawals don’t add or remove coins—they’re just transfers. Warnings appear if coins have no cost basis (e.g., missing trades, wrong timestamps, or only one side of a transfer). With depot separation, pools are tracked per exchange; without it, one pool covers your whole account. Transaction counts may differ in tax reports because trades can split into short- and long-term parts. Always check imports, timestamps, and balances to resolve issues.
Purchase Pool Explanation
The purchase pool is the pile of coins you accumulate in the background. Coins are added from trades, income, gifts, and mining, with their asset value on the day received. Coins are removed through sales, donations, and spends, all of which trigger capital gains calculations.
The order in which coins leave the pool depends on the chosen accounting method (e.g. FIFO, LIFO). Deposits and withdrawals do not affect the pool—they are considered internal movements with no tax impact. If you enter only a deposit, the coin becomes a “ghost coin” without a cost basis. It will appear on the dashboard total but not in the purchase pool, leading to warnings when sold.
With depot separation enabled, pools are built for each exchange or wallet individually. Without it, there is just one pool per coin for the entire account. For example, if you buy 0.1 BTC twice (total pool of 0.2 BTC) and later sell 0.05 BTC, your pool shows 0.15 BTC left. If the buys are missing and only the sale is entered, you will get purchase pool warnings. To identify problems, use validation tools such as How to validate my account?.
Transaction Counts in Tax Reports
The number of transactions on the tax report overview may differ from those inside the capital gains report. On the overview, only real transactions for the tax year are counted (e.g. 4,422). Within the capital gains report, a single real transaction may split into multiple parts depending on how the pool is consumed (e.g. separating into short-term and long-term holdings). This can result in a higher number of listed transactions (e.g. 7,272).
Additionally, the group by day option can create further differences. For license limits, only the number of real transactions is counted.
Why Do These Warnings Appear?
Missing purchases or incomplete imports
Wrong timestamps (e.g. purchases dated after the sale)
Transfers not marked as “Transfer”
Margin/derivatives misclassified
One-sided tracking (e.g. only importing Exchange B, but not Exchange A where the purchase occurred)
How to Fix It
Ensure all trades, deposits, and withdrawals are imported for all your wallets/exchanges.
Use the correct transaction types, especially for internal transfers.
Check timestamps and time zones on your entries.
Audit balances with the tools under Balance by Exchange.
Example
You bought 1 BTC on Exchange A, sold it on Exchange B, but only imported data from Exchange B. CoinTracking sees no purchase → assumes a buy at £0 → shows a warning and high gain.
How is Margin Loss Δ (Delta) calculated?
When you record a margin loss in CoinTracking, there are two calculations involved:
Margin Loss: This is the actual value of the coin lost on the day the loss is charged to your account.
Example: You lose 0.001 BTC, worth $45 on that day → Margin Loss = –$45.Margin Delta (Δ): This represents the capital gain or loss from when the coin was originally purchased until the day of the margin loss.
Example: The 0.001 BTC was bought two months ago for $30. On the day of loss, it’s worth $45 → Margin Delta = +$15.
The delta can be positive or negative depending on price movements.
In terms of tax law, these deltas fall under private sale transactions. If the holding period is less than one year, personal income tax is due on the delta amount.