Notional Value

Notional value is what a position is worth at market, independent of the margin behind it:

notional = price × quantity

Hold 0.25 BTC at $64,000 and your notional exposure is $16,000, whether you paid for it in full (spot) or posted $1,600 of margin at 10× leverage.

Why it matters

PnL is generated on notional, not on margin. A 1% move on $16,000 of notional is $160, full stop. Traders who think in "margin used" chronically underestimate their true exposure.

Notional is also the right unit for structuring multi-leg trades. A cash-and-carry position is "equal notional" spot long and futures short: the dollar values match, so directional moves cancel and only the basis is left as PnL.

On AlphaProve

Two of the engine's sizing modes target notional directly: fixed_notional opens the same dollar exposure on every trade, while leverage_notional sets it as a multiple of equity. The distinction this page draws between notional and margin is enforced by max_gross_exposure_pct, a portfolio kill-switch that caps total notional across all open positions rather than the margin they happen to be using. During a run, the live stream ticks margin and unrealized PnL separately, so you watch exposure and equity move on their own axes.