The Portfolio page is used to analyze and track your investments. A free site membership allows you to track 1 portfolio; a Barchart Plus member can track up to 10, while a Barchart Premier Member can track unlimited portfolios for stocks, funds, ETFs, commodity or forex symbols.
My Barchart Members (free membership) and Barchart Plus Members can receive an email at the end of the day (after markets close at approximately 4:45pm CT) showing the symbols in the Portfolio. The email is sent to your primary email address, found in "My Profile." Free site members will receive the email formatted using the "Main View" columns: Symbol, Last, Change, %Change, Open, High, Low, Volume, Time.
In addition, Barchart Premier Members may choose to also receive the email at Market Open (9:00am CT), Mid-Day (12:00pm CT), Market-Close (3:00pm CT), and Overnight (3:00am CT) using either the "Main View" or the "Portfolio View" which shows profit or loss. Premier Members may also opt to receive their Portfolio data as a .csv attachment in the email for use in 3rd party spreadsheets.
The Portfolio shows you the latest delayed prices available when you access the page. Stocks: 15 minute delay, ET. Futures and Forex: 10 or 15 minute delay, CT.
Portfolio vs. Watchlist
A Portfolio is used to track buy/sell transactions of your investments, and calculates a profit or loss. A Watchlist is simply a list of symbols you wish to monitor. Portfolios are transactional in nature, where Watchlists are not.
Views
Portfolios can be analyzed using a number of different views. When you create a Portfolio, you are asked to set a Default View. The Default View for your Portfolio always supersedes a site-wide Default View you may have set in your Preferences.
- Portfolio View: provides a market value, total change, and profit/loss for each transaction.
- Last = The Last Price, or the Exit Price if the transaction is liquidated.
- Change = The difference between the last price and the previous day's settlement price. If the transaction is liquidated, this field is blank.
- %Chg = The difference between the last price and the previous day's settlement price, expressed as a percent. If the transaction is liquidated, this field is blank.
- Market Value = The Exit Price (Last Price if no Exit Price, or Entry Price for a Sell transaction) * Quantity. 'Market Value' will always be blank for futures and forex transactions.
- Total Change = The difference between the Exit Price (or Last Price, if no Exit Price) and the Entry Price.
- Total %Chg = (The Exit Price (or Last Price, if no Exit Price) - Entry Price) / Entry Price * 100
- Profit = Today's Profit is (Last Price (or the Exit Price if Exit Date = Today) - Previous Price (the Entry Price if Entry Date = Today)) * Quantity * Point Value (Futures only). This field is blank if trade is liquidated before today.
- Total Profit = (Exit Price (or Last Price, if no Exit Price) - Entry Price) * Quantity * Point Value (Futures Only). The calculation is the inverse for a Sell transaction.
- Detailed View: shows the action, quantity, entry date & price, exit date & price, fees, and notes.
- Visualization View: shows a graphical breakdown of your portfolio, with Investment Weights, Market Cap, Barchart Opinion, and Sector Weights.
Investment Weights: Includes U.S. and international equities, ETFs, and U.S and Canadian mutual funds. The current market value of each symbol in your portfolio is represented by a different piece of the pie.
Market Cap: Graphs the market cap for U.S. stocks and ETFs, and Canadian stocks only.
Sector Weights: Graphs the sector breakout for U.S. stocks and ETFs, Canadian stocks, and U.S. and Canadian mutual funds.
Barchart Opinion: Includes all asset classes in your portfolio. Breaks out Buys, Sells, and Holds, with a further breakout of the strength of the signal for Buys and Sells.
- Main View: a standard "quoteboard" view with Symbol, Name, Last Price, Change, Percent Change, Open, High, Low, Volume, and Time of Last Trade.
- Technical View: Symbol, Name, Last Price, Today's Opinion, 20-Day Relative Strength, 20-Day Historic Volatility, 20-Day Average Volume, 52-Week High and 52-Week Low.
- Performance View: Symbol, Name, Last Price, Weighted Alpha, YTD Percent Change, 1-Month, 3-Month and 1-Year Percent Change.
- Pre-Post Market: For U.S. equities only, this view will show any pre- or post-market price activity.
- Custom Views: All of your custom views are available for portfolio analysis.
Notes / Edit Icons
All views (with the exception of the Visualization View) have a "Notes" and "Edit" icon.
Each symbol can contain text Notes. When the Notes icon is white, this indicates that no data has been entered for the symbol. When the Notes icon is shaded, it indicates you added notes to the transaction. Hover over the Notes icon to view the details, or click on the Notes icon to add/edit/delete the information.
The Edit icon, when hovered, reveals the details for the transaction. Click on the Edit icon to open the transaction and modify, close (liquidate), or delete the record.
High-Low Price Alerts
You may also set a High or Low price alert on each symbol. High-Low price alerts will color the Edit icon when the current price of the symbol goes above or below the price you set. If an alert triggers, the Edit icon will flash a color to indicate the condition has been met.
For BUY transactions: the icon is colored green for a triggered High Price alert, and red for a triggered Low Price alert. For SELL transactions: the icon is colored red for a triggered High Price alert, and green for a triggered Low Price alert.
Add Transaction
- Start by entering a valid Symbol. The symbol name, last price, change and percent change are displayed.
Barchart maintains a special symbol $CASH that has a constant value of $1.00 and which can be used to track a position in a money market fund or other asset. When adding a transaction for $CASH, always keep the Entry Price = $1.00.
- Enter the opening quantity, up to 2 decimals allowed.
- Select the Action, either Buy or Sell.
- Select an Entry Date, or use today's date as the default.
- Enter the Entry Price.
- Identify if the transaction should Adjust Cash from the Portfolio's Cash Balance.
When entering a new transaction, the following fields are optional:
Edit a Transaction
To edit any transaction on the portfolio, use the "Edit" cog icon, displayed on the right of the table. Any field can be adjusted once the Edit Transaction modal appears.
To close a transaction, only an Exit Price is required (Exit Date is optional). Transactions are closed using the full quantity originally entered.
Portfolio Totals
Portfolio totals will exclude Futures and Forex figures from the Entry Value and Current Value fields, as this information does not apply to these asset classes.
- Cash Value = The Cash amount, as found in your portfolio record.
- Entry Value = Sum of (Entry Price * Quantity + Fees) for all open positions. Excludes Futures and Forex, and excludes closed (liquidated) positions.
- Total Fees = Sum of Fees for all transactions, both open and closed.
- Current Value = Cash + Sum of Last Price (Exit Price for closed positions) * Quantity for all transactions. Excludes Futures and Forex, and excludes closed (liquidated) positions. For Sell transactions, the calculations are reversed, so that the Current Value is calculated from the Entry Price, and the Entry Value is calculated from the Last Price (or Exit Price for closed positions).
- Active P&L = Profit or Loss for all open positions.
- Closed P&L = Profit or Loss for all closed positions.
- Today's Return = (Last Price - Previous Price) * Quantity for open positions and positions closed today. If a position was opened today, Entry Price is used in place of Previous Price for that transaction. If a position was closed today, Exit Price is used in place of Last Price.
- Total P&L = Current Value - Entry Value + Closed P&L
