At TRES, we’re proud to launch a critical new feature designed for finance teams navigating the complex world of fair value accounting: Principal Market Pricing. This release helps teams comply with ASC 820 and IFRS 13 by automatically assigning the correct pricing source for each asset based on the entity’s trading venue.
What Is Principal Market Pricing?
The Principal Market is the market with the highest volume and activity for a given asset or liability that the entity can access on the measurement date. If that market exists, fair value must be based on it, according to ASC 820 and IFRS 13.
In practice, this means fair value should reflect where your company actually trades. For example, if you regularly buy or sell Bitcoin on Kraken, then Kraken is your principal market for Bitcoin, and your books should reflect that pricing, not a price from Coinbase or a pricing aggregator. This ensures your financials match your real-world trading behavior, supporting audit-readiness and accurate valuations.
The Risk of Getting Principal Market Wrong
Without a clear system to define and apply Principal Market pricing, finance teams face several risks that can impact both compliance and financial accuracy:
- Compliance gaps. Failing to follow Principal Market requirements can lead to noncompliance with ASC 820 or IFRS 13, exposing your business to regulatory issues.
- Audit exposure. Manual pricing entries often lack traceability and consistency, increasing the chances of audit findings and additional scrutiny from external auditors.
- Inaccurate reporting. Using a generic or irrelevant pricing source can distort fair value, leading to incorrect cost basis and revaluation figures. This affects how assets are reflected on your financial statements and can misrepresent your position to stakeholders.
An automated Principal Market solution removes these risks by aligning valuations with how your entity actually trades. With built-in traceability, it ensures both consistency and audit-readiness across your processes.
Precision Pricing, Automated and Audit-Ready
TRES’ Principal Market Pricing feature is purpose-built for teams managing complex crypto accounting and compliance. Here is what makes it stand out:
- Per-asset assignment. You can define a different pricing source for each asset based on where you actually trade. This is especially important for firms that execute across multiple venues.
- End-to-end automation. Say goodbye to manual lookups and spreadsheets. TRES automatically applies the right pricing source for cost basis, fair value revaluations, and mark-to-market reports.
- Audit-ready traceability. Every value includes the pricing source, timestamp, and applied logic, creating a clear audit trail that reduces year-end stress and strengthens internal controls.
Applying Principal Market Pricing with TRES
Assigning a Principal Market to each asset is simple with TRES. For example, if your team trades Bitcoin on Kraken, Solana on Coinbase, and SUI on Binance, those settings can be defined directly in the system and will drive all downstream accounting workflows.
When a price is required, whether for calculating cost basis, performing a revaluation, or generating financial reports, TRES automatically applies the correct source. If the assigned Principal Market is unavailable, the system uses your predefined fallback provider such as CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. Every action is logged and fully visible in the audit trail.
This allows you to maintain compliance, gain peace of mind, and reduce operational burden while keeping flexibility in where and how you execute trades.
Make Fair Value Work for You
Principal Market Pricing turns regulatory requirements into a streamlined, automated process that aligns with how your business actually operates. With TRES, you gain clarity, consistency, and confidence in every valuation.
Experience how TRES can simplify your accounting workflows, reduce audit friction, and strengthen your compliance posture.
Book a demo today and see Principal Market Pricing in action.
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