How can we help?

Part of How Sharesight calculates your returns — the universal calculation reference for your portfolio, holdings, and reports.

Choose how your performance is reflected.

Your Sharesight portfolio performance positions default setting is Open Positions.

From the portfolio filter above the graph, choose to either see your performance in open positions only or open and closed positions:

Show Open Positions Only

This setting includes only the holdings you currently own. Fully sold holdings are excluded from performance figures. For partially sold holdings, performance is based solely on the shares you still hold.

How the cost base is calculated after a partial sell

When you partially sell a holding, Sharesight uses the average cost method to determine the cost base for both realised and unrealised gain calculations. The average cost is calculated across all buy parcels regardless of when each was purchased.

For example, if you hold two parcels of 100 shares each purchased at different prices and you sell 100 shares, Sharesight averages the purchase price across both parcels to determine the cost base — not the price of a specific parcel. This average cost base is used both for the realised gain on the shares sold and the unrealised gain on the shares you still hold.

How the date range affects the calculation

The date range you select determines the starting point for the performance calculation:

• Date range includes your purchase date — performance is calculated from your actual purchase price, reflecting your true unrealised gain or loss.
• Date range starts after your purchase date — performance is calculated from the market price at the start of the selected period, reflecting market movement over that window rather than your actual cost.

To see performance from your actual purchase price, select Since first purchase as your date range. See Return calculation for more detail on how date ranges affect performance figures.

Showing Open & Closed Positions

This setting includes all holdings — both what you currently own and everything you have sold. It gives you the complete picture of your total return, incorporating the gains and losses realised from past sales that Open Positions Only leaves out.

Open & Closed Positions is the sum of two components:

Open position portion — calculated the same way as Open Positions Only, with the same date range logic applying.

Closed position portion — how this is calculated depends on your date range:

• Date range covers the original purchase date — the realised gain is calculated from the purchase price to the sell price. This reflects the true return on those shares.
• Date range starts after the purchase date — the realised gain is calculated from the market closing price at the start of the selected period to the sell price. Because the actual purchase price is not included, this figure has limited practical meaning.

For this reason, using Since first purchase as your date range produces the most meaningful Open & Closed Positions figures.

When to use each setting

• Open Positions Only — use this to assess your current market exposure and the performance of what you actively hold.
• Open & Closed Positions — use this to understand your total return over time including the impact of past sales, such as when reviewing long-term or since-inception performance.