Balance (Available vs Pending)

Your balance is the money Stripe holds for you. It has two parts, pending and available. Only the available part is cash you can use now.

Pending vs available

• Pending balance. Funds from recent payments that haven't finished settlement. A new payment, minus fees, lands here first.
• Available balance. Funds that have settled. Only available funds can go out as a payout, a refund, or a transfer.

Funds move from pending to available as each payment settles. This usually takes a couple of business days after capture, depending on your account and country.

Why the split exists

Card payments take time to clear between banks. Stripe also needs to cover risk, like a refund or chargeback soon after a payment. A big sales day shows up as pending first, not as cash you can withdraw.

Reading your balance

Your balance can go negative, for example when refunds or disputes are larger than recent settled payments. Stripe logs every movement as a balance transaction with the gross amount, the fee, and the net. The sum of net amounts over a period is your net volume.