Recap has a comprehensive integration with BitMEX that makes it easy to manage your crypto tax calculations. Connect your BitMEX account to Recap to import your full trading history and automate your taxes. From 2026, tax authorities are widening the automatic reporting of crypto under frameworks such as the OECD's Cryptoasset Reporting Framework (CARF), so keeping an accurate record matters more than ever.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this content does not endorse BitMEX. Furthermore, it does not constitute tax advice. If anything financial or tax-related is unclear, speak to a qualified tax professional. You can also share your Recap account with your accountant or tax adviser directly.
Why BitMEX tax can be difficult to calculate manually
BitMEX is built around leveraged derivatives, and that is what makes its tax position fiddly. Instead of simple buy-and-hold trades, an account produces a stream of position results and funding movements, often at high frequency. A few things tend to trip people up:
- A stream of realised profit and loss. Every time you close a perpetual, futures or options position it produces a realised trading result. An active account can generate a long run of these, each one needing to be valued and recorded.
- Funding payments. Perpetual contracts exchange funding between long and short traders at regular intervals. These show up as a steady drip of small credits and debits that are easy to overlook but still form part of your overall trading result.
- Capital or income. Profits from crypto derivatives can be treated as capital gains or as income depending on the nature and scale of your trading, so the right treatment is not always obvious and may need separate handling.
- A busy, leveraged ledger. Position results, funding, deposits, withdrawals, transfers and any spot trades all stream into one long list, and reconstructing an accurate position from it by hand is slow going.
How to import your BitMEX data into Recap
Connect your BitMEX account to Recap by API and we import your full history automatically, including the realised profit and loss on your closed positions, funding payments, deposits, withdrawals and transfers. Recap classifies and values every transaction with our fair-market valuation engine, applying the tax rules for your jurisdiction.
Auto Sync with BitMEX How are BitMEX transactions taxed?
Tax treatment depends on the transaction type and where you are tax resident. Here is how the main BitMEX activities are generally treated:
| Transaction type | CGT disposal | CGT acquisition | Income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposits | CGT disposal: no. A plain deposit is not a disposal. Any deposit fee is recorded as a separate fee disposal of the fee asset at market value. | CGT acquisition: no | Income: no |
| Withdrawals | CGT disposal: no. A plain withdrawal is not a disposal. Any withdrawal fee is recorded as a separate fee disposal of the fee asset at market value. | CGT acquisition: no | Income: no |
| Realised profit and loss on positions | CGT disposal: yes. A realised loss is recorded as a direct-loss disposal at market value; trading fees on the position are treated the same way. | CGT acquisition: yes. A realised profit is recorded as a direct gain and the received asset enters the section 104 pool at market value. | Income: no. Recap aggregates BitMEX futures results into a separate per-asset net gains figure (profits less losses, fees and funding) reported as direct gains and losses, not as income. |
| Funding payments | CGT disposal: yes. Funding on the paying side is a direct-loss disposal at market value. | CGT acquisition: yes. Funding on the receiving side is a direct gain that enters the section 104 pool at market value. | Income: no. Funding is folded into Recap's futures net gains figure for the asset rather than treated as income. |
| Spot trades and conversions | CGT disposal: yes. The asset sold or converted away is disposed of at the trade's valued amount. | CGT acquisition: yes. The asset bought enters the section 104 pool at the same valued amount. All BitMEX settlement assets are cryptoassets (BTC, ETH, USDT, BMEX, SOL), so both sides of a spot trade or conversion are chargeable. | Income: no |
| Affiliate payouts | CGT disposal: no. Only if the payout carries a fee: that fee is recorded as a separate fee disposal. | CGT acquisition: yes. The asset received also enters the section 104 pool at the same market value, so a later sale is measured against that value. | Income: yes. Recorded as an income event (referral subtype) at market value on the date received. |
| Transferring between your own accounts | CGT disposal: no. The moved principal is not a disposal. Any transfer fee is recorded as a fee disposal of the fee asset, and where the amount received differs from the amount sent Recap records the shortfall as a zero-value disposal. | CGT acquisition: no. No acquisition for the principal; a positive quantity difference between the two sides is recorded as a transfer-excess acquisition at market value. | Income: no |
This table shows how Recap classifies each transaction type by default. Some treatments — such as the acquisition cost used for airdrops — are configurable in Recap. This is general information, not tax advice; consult a qualified tax professional about your circumstances.
This table shows Recap's default classification for common BitMEX transactions. It is not an exhaustive schedule or a ruling. Treatment depends on your circumstances and jurisdiction, and you can recategorise any transaction where yours differ. Confirm your position with a qualified tax adviser.
The realised profit and loss on your closed positions, together with funding payments on perpetual contracts, are where any tax mainly arises, and their treatment is one of the less settled areas of crypto tax. Depending on the nature and scale of your trading, derivative gains can be treated as capital or as income, so it is worth checking the rules for your jurisdiction with an accountant.
Refer to our tax guides for a more detailed look at crypto tax rules.
What's in your BitMEX tax report
Recap turns your full BitMEX history into a single tax report: realised gains, losses and income worked out under the rules for your jurisdiction, funding payments accounted for, every position valued, and a clear year-by-year summary you can file yourself or hand straight to your accountant.
Common BitMEX tax challenges and how Recap solves them
BitMEX accounts produce a few recurring tax problems. Here is how Recap handles each one:
- A long run of realised P&L. Closing positions at volume creates many separate gain and loss events. Recap works out the realised result on each one automatically.
- Funding payments. Perpetual funding lands as a constant stream of small credits and debits. Recap captures each one so your position is complete.
- Capital or income uncertainty. Derivative gains may be capital or income depending on your activity. Recap classifies and reports them clearly, so you and your accountant can apply the right treatment.
- Leverage and high frequency. Leveraged accounts generate long, fast-moving ledgers. Recap reconciles the full history rather than leaving you to track it by hand.
- Deposits, withdrawals and internal transfers. YYRecap matches transfers between your own accounts so they are not mistaken for taxable disposals.
- Historic derivatives activity. Older BitMEX accounts can contain years of positions, funding payments and transfers spread across large ledgers. Recap combines them into a single tax position so earlier activity is not overlooked.
Why BitMEX users choose Recap
BitMEX users often choose Recap because a derivatives account generates a constant stream of realised profit and loss, funding payments and transfers that is awkward to reconcile by hand. Rather than working through BitMEX's ledger entry by entry, you can connect by API and see your gains, losses and income reconciled in one report, ready to file or share with your accountant.
Whether BitMEX shares account data with HMRC is a separate question, and we answer it in does BitMEX report to HMRC.
