> ## 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. # Trades > Find a trade in the trade book, open it, and work through its contracts, documents, discrepancies, shipments and money. A trade (also called a deal) groups everything about one physical transaction: the purchase and sale contracts, the documents that arrive for it, the shipments that carry the cargo, and the invoices and payments that settle it. The **Trades** page is your trade book. This page helps you find a trade, read it, and close it out. The examples follow Veltana Commodities SA's sugar trade **VCS-S-2026-0714**: 27 MT of white refined sugar bought FOB Laem Chabang from Kanchana Siam Sugar at USD 528/MT and sold CIF Singapore to Meridian Foodstuffs at USD 565/MT. To see how it was built from its documents, follow the [walkthrough](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md). > [!NOTE] > > Available when the **Trades** module is turned on for your workspace. It is on by default. Ask your workspace admin. ## The trade list Open **Trades** in the sidebar to see the running book. ![The Trades list with the search box, the Active, Complete, Terminated and Cancelled chips, and the Counterparty and Owner filters](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/trades/trades-list.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=fd9a4684640ae68db7aba59c732c48b3) The Trades list with VCS-S-2026-0714 at the Loaded stage, bought from Kanchana Siam Sugar and sold to Meridian Foodstuffs. Each row shows: | Column | What it shows | | - | - | | **Ref** | The deal reference. A cancelled trade is struck through. | | **Counterparties** | Who you buy from and who you sell to. | | **Product** | The commodity on the trade. | | **Stage** | Where the cargo is: Contract, Pre-ship, Loaded, In transit, Delivered or Complete. Cancelled and terminated trades say so. | | **Laycan** | The loading window agreed in the contract. | | **Issues** | Open discrepancies (for example "2 discrepancies"), or **Missing docs** when a document the trade should already have hasn't arrived. | | **Updated** | When the trade last changed. | | **Owner** | The teammate responsible for the trade. | ### Filter the list * **Search** matches the reference, counterparty or product. * **Status chips**: **Active**, **Complete**, **Terminated** and **Cancelled**. Only **Active** is on when you first open the page, so finished and cancelled trades stay out of the way until you switch their chip on. * **Counterparty** and **Owner** narrow the list to the parties or teammates you pick. * **Clear filters** resets everything. Filters live in the page address, so you can bookmark a filtered list or send the link to a colleague. Sort order and column widths are remembered in your browser. ## How trades are created Mercora doesn't create trades on its own. A trade appears when someone on your team creates or approves one: * **From the Inbox.** When you approve a contract or recap that doesn't belong to an existing trade, you can start a new trade from it. See [Reviewing documents in the Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md) and [Matching documents to trades](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md). * **With New deal.** When your workspace uses standalone contracts, the Trades page has a **New deal** button. See [Create a deal from contracts](#create-a-deal-from-contracts) below. * **From Deal Capture.** Deal terms captured from email or chat are confirmed in the Inbox. See [Deal Capture](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/deal-capture.md). ### Create a deal from contracts > [!NOTE] > > **New deal** is available when the **Contracts** module is turned on for your workspace. Ask your workspace admin. **1. Open the dialog** On **Trades**, click **New deal**. **2. Link the contracts** Under **Contracts**, search for the purchase and sale contracts to link, or create a new one in place. Each side can hold several contracts, for example one purchase sold through two sales. When you create the second side, the form is prefilled from the first so a back-to-back contract takes seconds. **3. Check the reference, owner and book** **Deal ref** is filled from the contract numbers. Edit it to override. Pick an **Owner** and, if your workspace uses books, a **Book**. **4. Create** Click **Create deal**. With both sides linked, the dialog previews the quantity, laycan and the margin per unit before you create. > [!TIP] > > Contracts are optional. With only one side linked, the deal starts one-sided and the counterpart contract pairs in when it lands. A deal reference alone starts an empty deal. ## The trade page Click a row to open the trade. The header shows the reference, the trade's status, and whether the cargo is **Insured** or **Not insured**. If you can edit trades, you also get: * **Edit**: change the trade's own fields (reference, product, quantity, ports, laycan, Incoterms, payment terms, vessel and so on). * **Mark complete** / **Reopen**: close out the trade, or bring a completed one back. * The **…** menu: **Terminate trade**, **Cancel trade** and **Delete trade**. The page has up to five tabs. Which ones you see depends on your role and your workspace's modules. **Overview** The **Overview** tab answers "what is the deal and what is it making". ![A trade's Overview tab with the P\&L card (Contracted, Invoiced, Realized) and the sale and purchase legs](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/trades/trade-pnl-card.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=e57dc86e0d795fc19ca724d5e3d23046) VCS-S-2026-0714: contracted and invoiced margin are both $999.00 (sale $15,255.00 minus purchase \$14,256.00); nothing is realized until payments are recorded. **P\&L** shows up to three numbers, each in your workspace's reporting currency: | Number | Basis | | - | - | | **Contracted** | Sale value minus purchase value, from the contracts. Needs a purchase and a sale. | | **Invoiced** | Invoiced to customers (AR) minus invoiced by suppliers (AP), whether or not the cash has moved. | | **Realized** | Cash actually received minus cash actually paid, from recorded payments. | AR (accounts receivable) is money owed to you. AP (accounts payable) is money you owe. Invoiced and Realized need access to Financials. If an amount can't be converted because an exchange rate is missing, the card says how many invoices or payments it skipped rather than showing a partial total as final. The FX line under the card lists the rates it used. On the sugar trade, **Contracted** reads $999.00 (sale $15,255.00 minus purchase $14,256.00), and **Invoiced** reads the same $999.00 because the supplier and customer invoices match the contracts. **Realized** stays empty ("No payments recorded yet") until payments are recorded. The \$999.00 is a gross margin before freight and insurance: Contracted counts only the purchase and sale contracts, and a freight or insurance invoice only enters Invoiced once it's filed on the trade as AP. **Legs** lists the trade's contracts. A leg is one side of the deal: a purchase leg is what you buy, a sale leg is what you sell. Each row shows the type, counterparty, quantity, unit price, Incoterms and total value. Open a leg to see its ports, laycan, payment terms and currency, and to set the actual quantity loaded. Type it in, or click **Use loaded** to take the loaded total from the trade's shipments when they carry one. **Updates** holds short status posts (**On track**, **At risk**, **Off track**) so the team can see the latest word on the deal. **Notes** holds free-form notes. **Documents** The **Documents** tab lists every document on the trade, with a **Linked to** column naming the contract or shipment each one belongs to. Click **Upload** to add files. See [Uploading documents](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/uploading.md). **Expected Documents** is the checklist of documents this trade should receive. **Generate** builds it from the documents-required clauses of the trade's contract and letter of credit, and documents you've already approved tick it off. You can **Add document** to the list yourself. Rows you added are kept when you click **Refresh**. Each document's menu offers **Download**, **Reclassify…**, **Reassign to Trade**, **Change shipment** (when it belongs to a shipment), **Full Reprocess**, and **Delete document**. A document pack also offers **Split pages** and **Merge with**. **Discrepancies** The **Discrepancies** tab lists the differences Mercora found between this trade's documents and contracts, for example a weight that differs between the B/L (bill of lading) and the packing list. The tab badge counts the open ones. Click a row to review it. See [Discrepancies](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md). **Financials** The **Financials** tab holds the trade's invoices, payments and AR/AP, and the cost and income plan if your workspace uses one. See [Trade financials](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/financials.md). **Shipments** The **Shipments** tab lists the vessels, trucks and other movements carrying this trade's cargo. See [Shipments](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/shipments.md). ### The properties panel The panel on the right of a trade holds its key facts: * **Properties**: status, reference, product, quantity, owner, **Entity** and **Book** (when the P\&L module is on), **Trade currency**, **Insured**, and **FX overrides**. * **Counterparties**: the purchase and sale parties. * **Logistics**: vessel, ports, origin and laycan. * Any custom fields your admin has added to trades. See [Workspace settings](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md#custom-fields). * **Lifecycle**: the trade's stage and where it comes from. * **Activity**: when the trade was created and last updated, and its open issues. ### Lifecycle stage The stage moves through **Contract**, **Pre-ship**, **Loaded**, **In transit**, **Delivered** and **Complete**. Mercora reads it from the evidence (the trade's shipments, or its cargo documents such as the B/L) and names the basis under the ladder, for example "From shipment KITI BHUM", "From B/L" or "No cargo evidence yet". If the evidence is wrong or late, you can pick the stage yourself. Your pick shows as "Set by" you, and **Use the evidence** hands the stage back to Mercora. ### Book and entity > [!NOTE] > > Book and Entity appear on the trade when the **P\&L** module is turned on for your workspace. Ask your workspace admin. * **Book** is the bucket the deal is carried in on the P\&L. A deal lands in a book when its reference ends in one of the book's codes, or when someone picks the book on the trade. Picking **Use the reference** goes back to the code. * **Entity** is your own company on the deal. It's read from your side of the contract. If your admin has listed your entities, you can pick a different one, and **Use the contract** goes back to what the contract says. Admins set up both under Settings. See [Books](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md#books) and [Legal entities](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md#legal-entities). ### FX overrides When a trade involves a currency other than USD, **FX overrides** lists each currency with the rate in use and whether it's **live** or an **override**. Click a rate to pin your own (for example a hedged rate). It's entered as that currency's rate to USD. **Use live** removes the override. An override on a trade is used everywhere that trade's numbers are converted: the Overview card, the Financials tab and the P\&L. ## Cancel, terminate, complete or delete These four actions do different things to your numbers: | Action | What happens | | - | - | | **Mark complete** | The trade is finished and drops off the default Active list. Its contracts read as Complete, and on the P\&L a completed trade is valued from its contracts or invoices, no longer from a cost plan. **Reopen** undoes it. | | **Terminate trade** | The deal ends without further delivery. It stays in the P\&L and in AR/AP, and no more documents are expected. You can record a reason and **Undo** it later. | | **Cancel trade** | The trade stays on record for audit but is hidden from running views and excluded from the P\&L and AR/AP totals. Documents and discrepancies stay in place. **Un-cancel** brings it back. | | **Delete trade** | Permanent. Removes the trade's discrepancies and legs. You choose what happens to its documents: send them back to the Inbox with their approval state kept, or remove them too. | > [!WARNING] > > Deleting a trade can't be undone. If you only want it off the running list, cancel it instead. ## Next steps > **[Trade financials](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/financials.md)** > > Record invoices and payments, and plan costs and income. > **[Shipments](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/shipments.md)** > > Follow the vessels and containers carrying the cargo. > **[P\&L](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/pnl.md)** > > See the trade's margin across the whole book. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.