# Reserves

A reserve is a temporary hold on a portion of your business’s funds for a set period of time. It
covers potential losses from your processing activity, such as disputes and refunds.
Reserves are a common practice used by payment processors and financial institutions to
help businesses cover these costs. Funds held in reserve are released once the reserve
term ends, minus any amounts used to cover disputes or refunds.
**Reserves don't affect your ability to accept payments.**
## What are the different types of reserves?
Reserves come in two types: **fixed** and **rolling**.
### Fixed reserve
With a fixed reserve, Stripe holds a set percentage of each new transaction until a
specified release date. On that date, reserved funds are added to your available balance
for your next payout.
Here's an example where a US business has a 25% reserve, a fixed release date of August 30, and standard 2-business-day payout timing:
- Date
- Sale amount
- Net after fees
- Available for payout in 2 business days (75%)
- Held in reserve (25%)
- Reserve total
---
- August 1
- $100
- $80
- $60
- $20
- $20
---
- August 4
- $200
- $160
- $120
- $40
- $60
---
- August 31
- —
- —
- $60 released from the reserve
- —
- $0
### Rolling reserve
With a rolling reserve, Stripe holds a set percentage of each new transaction for a set
window of time, such as 30 days. Once each transaction's holding period ends, the reserved
funds are released to your available balance for your next payout.
Here's an example where a US business has a 25% reserve, a 30-day rolling window, and standard
2-business-day payout timing:
- Day
- Sale amount
- Net after fees
- Available for payout in 2 business days (75%)
- Held in reserve (25%)
- Reserve total
---
- 1
- $100
- $80
- $60
- $20
- $20
---
- 4
- $200
- $160
- $120
- $40
- $60
---
- 31
- —
- —
- $20 released from the reserve (from Day 1 sale)
- —
- $40
---
- 31
- $300
- $240
- $180
- $60
- $100
---
- 34
- —
- —
- $40 released from the reserve (from Day 4 sale)
- —
- $60
---
- 62
- —
- —
- $60 released from the reserve (from Day 31 sale)
- —
- $0
## Reserve and balance transfer
In addition to the fixed and rolling reserve types above, which only affect new transactions, you may also see a portion of your existing balance transferred into reserves.
Here's an example where a US business has a 25% fixed reserve, a 25% balance transfer, a 30-day release window, and standard 2-business-day payout timing:
- Day
- Sale amount
- Net after fees
- Available account balance
- Available for payout in 2 business days (75%)
- Held in reserve (25%)
- Reserve total
---
- 1
- —
- —
- $100,000
- $75,000
- $25,000
- $25,000
---
- 1
- $100
- $80
- —
- $60
- $20
- $25,020
---
- 4
- $200
- $160
- —
- $120
- $40
- $25,060
---
- 31
- —
- —
- —
- $25,060 released from the reserve
- —
- $0
## Why are reserves necessary?
Your platform partners with Stripe for payments. As a payment processor, Stripe is responsible for handling the disputes and refunds that arise when businesses take payments from their customers but are unable to fulfill their orders. When disputes happen, the payment amount, along with any additional dispute fee charged by the card network, is usually deducted from a business's account balance.
However, the funds in an account may not always be sufficient to cover disputed amounts. To avoid this, Stripe holds reserves to cover expected future disputes, protecting both businesses and their customers.