Basis

Basis is the total cost of buying an investment or other asset, including the price, commissions, and other charges.

If you sell the asset, you subtract your basis from the selling price to determine your capital gain or capital loss. If you give the asset away, the recipient's basis is the same amount as yours.

But if you leave an asset to a beneficiary in your will, the person receives the asset at a step-up in basis, which means the basis of the asset is reset to its market value as of the time of your death.

When your investment is in real estate, basis is generally called cost basis.

The price difference between otherwise identical products in different markets (in this report, different geographical natural gas markets).