> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercora.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Walk through a trade
> Follow one sugar trade from its first documents to its P&L, then see what happens when an aluminium trade's documents don't match.
This page follows one trade through Mercora from start to finish, so you can see how the pieces connect before you read about each one. Every step links to the page that covers it in detail.
## The trade
Veltana Commodities SA, a trading house in Geneva, buys white refined cane sugar from a Thai mill and sells it to a food distributor in Singapore. The trade, **VCS-S-2026-0714**, is already open in Mercora, but carries nothing beyond its reference. Everything else on it comes from its documents.
| | Purchase | Sale |
| - | - | - |
| **Counterparty** | Kanchana Siam Sugar Co., Ltd. | Meridian Foodstuffs Pte. Ltd. |
| **Contract** | VCS-P-2026-0688 | VCS-S-2026-0714 |
| **Price** | USD 528.00/MT FOB Laem Chabang | USD 565.00/MT CIF Singapore |
| **Value** | USD 14,256.00 | USD 15,255.00 |
The cargo is 27 MT in one container on the vessel KITI BHUM, under B/L RCLLCH2607841. Meridian Foodstuffs pays under letter of credit ILC26SG04582.
> [!NOTE]
>
> The screens below come from a workspace with every module on. If an area such as Shipments, Contracts or P\&L is missing from your sidebar, it's turned off for your workspace or your role. See [Modules](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/modules.md).
## From documents to P\&L
**1. Documents arrive**
Twelve documents come in for the trade: both contracts, the L/C, two commercial invoices, the packing list, the B/L, the certificates of origin, phytosanitary, quality and weight, and the insurance certificate. Upload them on the **Upload** page, or let them arrive by [email](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/email-ingestion.md) if your workspace has it set up. Leave **Document Type** on **Auto-detect** and **Associate with Trade** empty: Mercora works out both. See [Uploading documents](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/uploading.md).
Uploading B/L RCLLCH2607841, with the document type left on Auto-detect and no trade chosen.
**2. Mercora reads and classifies them**
Each document lands in the **Inbox**, under **Needs you**, tagged with its type: **CONTRACT**, **LC**, **B/L**, **COO**, **INVOICE · AR** for Veltana's own invoice and **INVOICE · AP** for the mill's. Mercora reads each one's fields, such as parties, quantities, prices, ports and references. Eleven documents cite VCS-S-2026-0714, so they're already on the trade and wait under **Ready to approve**, marked **Clean**. See [Processing](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/processing.md).
All twelve sugar documents in the Inbox: eleven ready to approve, one purchase contract to match.
**3. Mercora matches them to the trade**
The purchase contract carries its own number, VCS-P-2026-0688, rather than the trade's, so Mercora doesn't link it on its own. It recommends VCS-S-2026-0714 instead and gives its reason, and the document waits under **Match**. Click **Match** to link it and run its checks. See [Matching documents to trades](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md).
Purchase contract VCS-P-2026-0688: Mercora recommends trade VCS-S-2026-0714 and waits for you to click Match.
**4. You review the fields beside the PDF**
Open the sales contract. The original is in the middle, with a box around every value Mercora read, and the review panel on the right lists the fields: 27 MT, CIF, unit price 565, buyer Meridian Foodstuffs Pte. Ltd. Click a field to find it on the page, double-click it to correct it, or hold Option (Alt on Windows) and drag a box to read a value Mercora missed. See [Reviewing a document](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md#reviewing-a-document).
Sales contract VCS-S-2026-0714: the original in the middle, the fields Mercora read on the right, matched and checked with no differences.
**5. You approve, and the legs are created**
Approving a contract opens a short flow, because it shapes the trade. Mercora recommends **Match to existing trade** for VCS-S-2026-0714, then proposes a new **Sale** leg to Meridian Foodstuffs for 27 MT at 565 USD; click **Approve document**, and approve the purchase contract the same way to add the purchase leg at 528 USD. The other documents approve straight from the review panel with **Approve** or Enter, and a missing required field, such as an invoice's due date, is marked in red until you set it. See [Approving contracts and recaps](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md#contracts-and-recaps).
Approving the sales contract creates the sale leg to Meridian Foodstuffs: 27 MT at USD 565/MT.
**6. Discrepancies are checked**
Mercora checks each document against the trade when it's matched, and again whenever another document on the trade is approved. The sugar documents agree on the weights, container, ports and vessel, and by the end the trade has no open discrepancies. When a value does differ, the review panel shows a card with the trade's value beside the document's, and you choose **Approve**, **Decline** or **Note…**, as on the aluminium trade further down this page. See [Discrepancies](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md).
A discrepancy card, from the aluminium trade: the seal on the weight certificate, GSL7152207, against GSL7152270 on the trade.
**7. The trade page: overview and financials**
With both contracts approved, VCS-S-2026-0714 has its two legs, and the **P\&L** card on the **Overview** tab fills in: **Contracted** $999.00 from the contracts, **Invoiced** $999.00 from the two invoices, and **Realized** empty until payments are recorded. The **Discrepancies** tab reads 0. The **Financials** tab lists the two invoices behind the invoiced figure, $15,255.00 receivable and $14,256.00 payable, and is where you record payments. See [Trades overview](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/overview.md) and [Trade financials](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/financials.md).
VCS-S-2026-0714 on the Overview tab: \$999.00 contracted and invoiced, with the sale and purchase legs.
**8. The trade page: documents and the expected-documents checklist**
The **Documents** tab lists all twelve documents, approved and linked to the trade. Above them, **Expected documents** is the checklist Mercora built from the document requirements in the contract and the L/C, marked **Contract/LC**. It reads **Required documents 10/10** and "All expected documents received"; anything still missing would show here, unticked. See [Expected documents](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md#expected-documents).
Every document the contract and L/C ask for has arrived: 10/10.
**9. The trade page: shipments**
Reviewing the B/L in the Inbox gives the trade its shipment: KITI BHUM, B/L RCLLCH2607841, one container of 27,000 kg, loading at Laem Chabang for Singapore. It shows on the trade's **Shipments** tab and on the **Shipments** page with its status. A **Needs review** label means something about the shipment is worth a check, and the shipment's page gives the reason. See [Shipments](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/shipments.md).
The Shipments page: KITI BHUM, B/L RCLLCH2607841, loading at Laem Chabang for Singapore.
**10. The P\&L**
The **P\&L** page shows the margin on every deal in your book. With the B/L approved and invoices on both sides, VCS-S-2026-0714 counts as **realized** on its invoices: AR $15,255.00 minus AP $14,256.00, **+\$999** for FY 2026, under White Refined Cane Sugar, Thailand. That's a gross margin: freight and insurance come off it once their invoices are filed on the trade. See [P\&L](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/pnl.md).
The P\&L page for FY 2026: +\$999, realized on the invoices of VCS-S-2026-0714.
## When something doesn't match
The sugar trade already existed and its documents agreed. Here's a deal where neither is true. Veltana Metals SA buys 500 MT of primary aluminium ingots from Altamira Metals DMCC at USD 2,540/MT and sells them to Extrunord Metallwerke GmbH at USD 2,585/MT, both CIF, shipping from Jebel Ali to Rotterdam on CORMORANT BAY. No trade exists for it yet.
### Create a trade from a purchase contract
> [!NOTE]
>
> **Create contract** and new deals need the **Contracts** module. Without it, the approval flow offers **Create a new trade** instead. See [Modules](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/modules.md).
**1. Mercora proposes a new trade**
Purchase contract P-2026-0893 carries the reference ALU-2026-0012, but no trade has it yet. So the **Match** step recommends **New trade from this contract**, and notes that the other side, sales contract S-2026-0517, is waiting in the Inbox. Click **Approve**: nothing is created until you finish the approval. See [Starting a trade from a contract](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md#starting-a-trade-from-a-contract-or-recap).
No trade carries ALU-2026-0012 yet, so Mercora recommends a new trade from purchase contract P-2026-0893.
**2. Create the contract and its deal**
Under **Where should this document go?**, **Create contract** is recommended and **Purchase** is pre-selected, with the contract's fields filled in: Veltana Metals SA buying from Altamira Metals DMCC, 500 MT at 2540 USD, CIF, Jebel Ali to Rotterdam. Leave **Start a new deal with this contract** ticked, with deal reference ALU-2026-0012, and click **Approve document**. Mercora saves the purchase contract and opens trade ALU-2026-0012 around it. See [How trades are created](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/overview.md#how-trades-are-created).
Start a new deal with this contract opens deal ALU-2026-0012 with this purchase as its first side.
**3. Approve the sale side**
Now sales contract S-2026-0517 has a trade to go to: Mercora finds ALU-2026-0012 for it, and approving it adds the sale leg to Extrunord Metallwerke at USD 2,585/MT. The trade shows both legs and a contracted margin of **\$22,500.00**, and its **Discrepancies** tab already counts two.
ALU-2026-0012 with a purchase at $2,540/MT and a sale at $2,585/MT: \$22,500.00 contracted margin.
### Resolve a discrepancy
**1. See what's open**
The trade's **Discrepancies** tab lists two open warnings, raised by the weight certificate and the packing list on a container seal. Click a row to open that document in the Inbox, where you resolve it. Documents that describe the cargo are also checked against the shipment, so shipment CORMORANT BAY (B/L CBAY-JEA-RTM-88213) keeps its own list on its **Discrepancies** tab. See [Discrepancies on a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md#discrepancies-on-a-trade).
Two open seal warnings on ALU-2026-0012.
**2. Decide on each one**
Each card shows the field, its severity and both values: here the weight certificate's seal GSL7152207 against GSL7152270 on the shipment and the trade, and a discharge port of Rotterdam on the document against Antwerp on the shipment. Against the trade, choose **Approve** to accept the difference, **Decline** if the document must be fixed at the source, or **Note…** to record why. Against the shipment, **Keep doc value** updates the shipment and **Keep shipment value** leaves it as it is. Approving the document accepts whatever is still open, and the line beside **Approve** says how many. See [Reviewing discrepancies](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md#reviewing-discrepancies-in-the-inbox).
The weight certificate's review panel: its seal checked against the shipment and the trade, and its discharge port against the shipment.
## Next steps
> **[Upload your documents](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/uploading.md)**
>
> Start your own trade the same way: with its documents.
> **[The Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md)**
>
> Everything about reviewing, approving and correcting documents.
> **[Mercora by role](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/by-role.md)**
>
> What to read next for your job.
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