NAV Per Share
A fund's net asset value divided by units or shares outstanding — the price used to strike new subscriptions and redemptions.
Definition
NAV per share (also called NAV per unit) is a fund's net asset value divided by the number of units or shares outstanding. It converts a single dollar figure for the whole fund into a price for one unit of ownership — the figure a new investor pays to subscribe and an existing investor receives per unit when they redeem.
Because units get created (subscriptions) and destroyed (redemptions) throughout a fund's life, NAV per share — not the fund's total NAV — is the number that stays comparable across time for judging performance: a fund whose total NAV doubled purely because new capital came in has a flat NAV per share, while a fund whose NAV per share doubled has genuinely doubled every existing investor's money.
Funds that admit capital at different times and prices, particularly ones running series accounting, may track more than one NAV-per-share figure at once — one per series — rather than a single fund-wide number.
Why it matters
NAV per share is the mechanism that keeps subscriptions and redemptions fair to everyone already in the fund. A new investor who buys in at the prevailing NAV per share pays exactly their proportional share of the fund's existing value — no more, no less — so their entry neither dilutes nor enriches existing holders.
It's also the number performance-fee and high-water mark calculations are built on: a fee formula that operated on total NAV rather than NAV per share would charge (or fail to charge) fees based on subscription and redemption flows, which have nothing to do with actual investment performance.
NAV per unit
Subscribing at the prevailing NAV per unit
A fund's NAV is $10,295,000 against 102,950 units outstanding: NAV per unit = $10,295,000 / 102,950 = $100.00.
A new investor subscribes $500,000. At $100.00 per unit that buys exactly 5,000 new units. The fund's NAV rises by the cash received to $10,795,000, and units outstanding rise to 107,950. New NAV per unit = $10,795,000 / 107,950 = $100.00 — unchanged, because the subscription was struck at the prevailing price. Existing holders' per-unit value is untouched by the new money coming in.
| Before subscription | After subscription | |
|---|---|---|
| NAV | $10,295,000 | $10,795,000 |
| Units outstanding | 102,950 | 107,950 |
| NAV per unit | $100.00 | $100.00 |
Common mistakes
Assuming a rising total NAV means investors are making money — total NAV can rise purely from new subscriptions while NAV per unit, the figure that actually reflects investor returns, stays flat or falls.
Applying one NAV-per-unit figure fund-wide when the fund runs series accounting — different series can legitimately carry different NAV-per-unit figures at the same date.
Rounding units to too few decimal places on a subscription or redemption, leaving a small residual cash amount that has to be plugged or carried forward rather than cleanly converting to units.
Striking a subscription at a stale or wrong NAV per unit, which dilutes or advantages one side of the transaction depending on the direction of the error.
In practice
Because crypto fund NAVs can move meaningfully within a single day, some funds strike NAV per unit more frequently than the monthly or quarterly cadence common in traditional hedge funds, to keep subscription and redemption pricing close to the fund's actual value at the moment of the transaction.
The free NAV Validator checks whether a period's roll-forward arithmetic — including the NAV-per-unit math behind a subscription or redemption — ties out, catching the kind of rounding or stale-price error described above before it reaches an LP statement.
Questions, answered
What is NAV per share?
NAV per share (or NAV per unit) is a fund's net asset value divided by the number of units or shares outstanding. It's the price used to strike new subscriptions and redemptions, and reflects actual investor performance over time.
Why does NAV per share matter more than total NAV?
Total NAV rises and falls with subscriptions and redemptions as well as performance, so it can grow even when investors aren't making money. NAV per share strips out the effect of new money coming in or capital leaving, isolating genuine investment performance.
Does a subscription dilute existing investors?
Not if it's struck at the prevailing NAV per unit — the new investor buys in at exactly the fund's current per-unit value, so existing holders' NAV per unit is unaffected. Dilution only happens if the subscription price is wrong.
Can a fund have more than one NAV per share at the same time?
Yes, if it runs series accounting. Capital that entered at different times or prices is tracked in separate series, each with its own NAV per unit, rather than being forced into one blended fund-wide figure.
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