How to fix invalid holdings

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Invalid holdings are investments that have more ‘Sold’ shares than ‘Bought’ shares, which result in a negative number of shares. Invalid holdings often happen in case of off-market transactions i.e IPO, SPP, rights issue. These transactions are not ‘captured’ or recorded by the broker, in the sense that they don’t create a ‘buy’ transaction in the Sharesight portfolio

This can happen when setting up a portfolio using either of the bulk importers; ‘Broker & Provider Importer’ or ‘File importer’ and have imported investments with incomplete trading data. Holdings are marked as invalid if the trades would result in a negative quantity or do not have a ‘BUY’ trade recorded as the initial trade. Invalid holdings must be corrected before they can be included in your portfolio.

An error message will notify you at the top of the Portfolio Overview Page if any imported investments are invalid holdings.

Invalid Error msg

NOTE: Invalid holdings are not calculated into Performance and are excluded from the total value, the holdings list on the Portfolio Overview Page & all Reports until corrected.

Reasons invalid holdings happen:

  • Transfer between brokers - When you did a transfer between brokers, all the trades prior to the transfer don’t get recorded to your broker’s transaction download history.
  • Off-market transaction - If you have purchased shares via an IPO or Share Purchase Plans, etc, they will not get imported as your broker is unaware of them.
  • Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRP) - If you have investments setup to reinvest the dividend back in the stock these will not have been imported using either of the bulk importers. You need to set up the dividend to be reinvested.

Example:

Importing trades for holding CBA.ASX has resulted in negative quantity, a SELL trade of 50 shares was imported and no BUY trade record. As a result, the ‘Invalid Holding’ error message is displayed. This can be corrected by entering the corresponding initial BUY trades.

Step to fix an invalid holding

1 - On the Portfolio Overview Page, click on the ‘show more’ link within the ‘Invalid Holding’ error message.

Invaild holding 1-show more

The error message will expand providing a detailed description of the error and a list of the holdings which are not valid.

Click on the Invalid Holding, to go to the Individual Holding Page.

Invaild holding 1- detailed message

2 - On the Individual Holding Page under ‘All Trades & Adjustments’ there are more SELL trades than BUY trades. The trade that results in a negative number is indicated by a warning icon. Click on the ‘Enter a new Trade or Adjustment’ button.

Enter Trade or Adjustment -2

3 - From the ‘Type’ dropdown menu, select the transaction type, either a‘BUY’ or ‘Opening Balance’.

Enter a new Trade - 3

4 - Type in the ‘Buy’ trade or ‘Open Balance’ details. Sharesight suggests the share price and exchange rate.

  • Quantity — Enter the number of shares either bought or held at the opening balance.

  • Share Price — Sharesight will indicate the closing price on the purchase date, click on this figure to use the suggested price or type into the field.
  • Exchange Rate (only displayed for overseas shares) — Sharesight will indicate the closing exchange rate on the purchase date, click on this figure to use the suggested rate or type in the exchange rate into the field. Can change the currency from the dropdown menu.

  • Brokerage (optional) — Enter any brokerage paid. Can select currency the brokerage was paid in from the dropdown menu.

  • Cost base - If you are entering an opening balance type in the amount, the investment is worth at the opening balance date.

Enter Trade details -4

5 - The holding will now be a valid holding, there will no longer be an error message & warning icon displayed.

The holding will now be included in your portfolio performance, Total Value, the holdings list on the Portfolio Overview Page & all Reports.

valid Hodling -5

Last modified on August 19, 2021 UTC

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