TL;DR Depot separation treats each exchange and wallet as a separate tax lot. This ensures deposits and withdrawals are recognized per wallet/exchange and allocated correctly. To avoid errors, always enter transfers fully (withdrawal before deposit). This also applies to manually created "Staking" exchanges. Staking rewards must be entered under the correct depot name. Depot separation works with multiple CoinTracking reports, including the Tax Report, Gains Report, Long & Short Report and Audit Report.
What is depot separation?
By default, CoinTracking calculates gains globally across all exchanges and wallets using purchase cost bases in chronological order. Activating depot separation changes this:
Each exchange and wallet becomes its own “depot” (or tax lot).
Every unique name in the Exchange field counts as a separate depot.
Deposits and withdrawals are automatically assigned to the correct depot.
The old manual assignment method is no longer needed or used.
What do I need to check before enabling it?
Depot separation requires all transfers between exchanges and wallets to be entered completely and correctly:
Always record a withdrawal first, then the matching deposit.
If the sequence is wrong, missing, or incomplete, warnings and incorrect balances will appear.
For help finding missing or inconsistent transfers, see: How to validate my account?
How does depot separation affect staking?
If you track staking activity using a manually created "Staking" exchange (i.e., a custom entry in the Exchange field to represent your staking platform or wallet), this exchange is treated as its own depot under depot separation, just like any real exchange or wallet.
How do I assign staking rewards to the correct depot?
To make sure staking rewards (income) are counted in the correct depot, enter them directly under the same exchange name as your staking exchange/wallet, not under the exchange you originally deposited from. This way, the reward transactions become part of that depot's balance and cost basis and aren't misattributed to the wrong depot.
Why does my balance per exchange look wrong after staking transfers?
If you move coins to a staking exchange/wallet and back, make sure withdrawals and deposits are entered in full and in the correct order (withdrawal first, deposit second), the same rule that applies to any other transfer. Balance discrepancies per exchange are usually caused by missing or incomplete staking transfers. Use the account validation check (see How to validate my account?) to find where the mismatch occurs.
How does the tax-free coins view relate to depot separation?
The Tax-free coins view (coins held long enough to qualify for tax-free sale, depending on your country's rules) is calculated per depot when depot separation is active. This means the holding period and tax-free status of your staking rewards depend on which depot they were recorded under. Incorrect depot assignment for staking transactions can cause coins to appear with the wrong tax-free status.
Which reports support depot separation?
Depot separation can be used in:
- **Tax Report
**
- Transaction Flow Chart (check warnings for missing or misordered deposits/withdrawals)
- **Realized/Unrealized Gains Report
**
- **Long & Short Report
**
- Roll Forward / Audit Report (optional setting)
Summary
Depot separation improves accuracy for users who track multiple exchanges and wallets by treating each account as a separate tax lot. It requires precise and complete transfer entries, including for manually created staking exchanges, but once configured correctly, it enhances the reliability of all major CoinTracking reports, including the tax-free coins view.