Bulk import opening balances
Content also available for tax entities or on our global site.Import a spreadsheet file containing your opening balance trades is a quick way to populate your trades into your Sharesight portfolio.
To import your historical buy and sell trades, you can follow this article
The first row of your file must contain a header for each column. The file must contian the compulsory fields and it is important that the column headers and data values match the format supplied in the Spreadsheet File - Column Headers section to ensure that your data is imported correctly.
Download the following spreadsheet template file to complete if required:
CSV Template - Bulk Importing Opening Balance
Embedded content: https://youtu.be/jbc-BNDnoh8
Step by step guide to bulk importing your opening balances via spreadsheet file:
1 – Login to your broker or portfolio tracking provider and download you historical trades as spreadsheet file.
2 – Open the downloaded spreadsheet file and check it has the compulsory fields, headings and format required for the manual importer feature.
3 – Login to Sharesight.
4 – On the ‘Let’s get started by adding some trades’ page, select the ‘manual import’ tab, on the right-hand side of the screen.
5 – Select ‘Choose file’.
6 – From the ‘Open file’ window, find and select your download historical trade CSV file. The file will likely be in your downloads folder.
7 – Click the ‘Open’.
8 – Select importing ‘opening balance’ from the dropdown menu.
9 – Select ‘Upload’.
10 – Select the date format preference. International: DD/MM/YYYY or USA MM/DD/YYYY.
11 – On the ‘Bulk Trade Importer - Column Selection’ page; the left side column titles in blue are your spreadsheet file uploading titles. On the right is the Sharesight fields. Sharesight will automatically suggest Sharesight fields. To change the selections, select from the dropdown menu to match the Sharesight Field to your spreadsheet column content. Make sure the compulsory fields are selected. If a field isn’t required select ‘skip this column’.
12 – Once all columns have been matched with the correct Sharesight field or ‘Skip this column’. Click ‘Start import now’.
13 – The ‘Trades to import into Portfolio:’ page will show an itemised list of all trades imported from your spreadsheet file. Verify and edit the trade data as required. If trades appear in red, this means that Sharesight can’t upload the trade or the trade will cause errors in your portfolio. The solutions to common errors can be found here.
14 – Once you have verified the trade data, click ‘Save all transactions’.
15 – Once the trades are saved, your Sharesight portfolio will be populated and the portfolio overview page will load.
Your holdings will be calculated by Sharesight’s performance calculation methodology, which is a money-weighted return methodology, meaning the investment performance takes account of the size and timing of cash flows. Sharesight will automatically create dividends and corporate actions for the holdings you have imported.
Now that you have populated your portfolio we recommend you verify and confirm automatically generated data and set up the Trade Confirmation Emails feature to automatically import future trades.
spreadsheet File - Column Headers
Compulsory Fields
| Column Header | Description | Accepted Values | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Balance Date | The opening balance date | dd/mm/yyyy (must be in this order) | 30/06/2012 | Usually this would be the end of the previous financial year |
| Instrument Code | The instrument code (stock ticker, fund name, etc) | code | TLS | - |
| Market Code | The stock exchange code | ASX, NZX, LSE, NYSE, NASDAQ, FUNDS NZ, FUNDS AU | ASX | - |
| Quantity | The quantity of shares held on the opening balance date | Integer (should be a positive value) | 1000 | - |
| Cost Base | The cost base of the shares on the opening balance date (in your local currency) | Decimal (2dp) | 1234.56 | This is the total cost of the shares owned on the opening balance date, from a tax perspective |
Optional Fields
| Column Header | Description | Accepted Values | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined Code | The Instrument Code and Market Code separated by a period | InstrumentCode.MarketCode | TLS.ASX | Can be used instead of the individual columns Instrument Code and Market Code |
| Market Price | The market price of the share on the opening balance date | Decimal (2dp) | 12.34 | Will default to Sharesight’s closing market price if not specified |
| Market Price Exchange Rate | The exchange rate on the opening balance date | Decimal (4dp) | .8123 | Used only for shares listed on a foreign market - will default to Sharesight’s closing exchange rate if not specified |
| Comments | Comments to be stored in the comments field for the transaction | text | Recommended by Market Analysis newsletter | - |
Column Sharesight does not need
- Instrument name – Sharesight data provide this information from the instruction and market codes
- Total amount of holding bought or sold – Sharesight calculates this by the Share price and quality.
Would you like us to support other export files?
If you would like support for other export files, please let us know by ‘sharing an idea’ on the community forum. If someone else has already suggested that we add your broker, please click the ‘+1’ button to add your vote. This will allow us to prioritise support for additional brokers.
Important note on useage limits – Sharesight is designed for investors. Due to the real-time nature of our performance calculations, Sharesight is not suitable for active traders with large trading volumes. Sharesight is limited to a maximum of 300 trades per holding and works best with less than 3000 trades per portfolio. Our spreadsheet import tool allows a maximum of 500 trades per spreadsheet file.
Last modified on November 1, 2022 UTC