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How to import trades from a generic CSV file

Import a generic CSV file containing your historical buy and sell trades is a quick way to enter your trades into your Stock Doctor portfolio. Most online brokers will enable you to download your historical transaction history into a csv file.

Instructions on how to import trades from a generic CSV file

  1.  Login to Stock Doctor www.stockdoctor.com.au
  2. Navigate to the Portfolio Director by clicking on Portfolio from the top blue navigation bar.
  3. There are 2 scenarios in which you would be importing historical trade data:
    •  Importing your full trading history into a new portfolio, then you would 'Create a New portfolio' and then click on the newly created portfolio name from under My Portfolios.
    •  Updating your recent trading history into an existing portfolio, then you would click on the portfolio name from under My Portfolios.
  4. Next, click the green 'Import Trade File' button, in the ‘Securities Held’ section.
    This will start the import trades wizard.
  5. Click the 'Generic CSV file' option from the type of file to import list.
  6. Log into your online broker or other portfolio source and download your historical trades as a csv file.

    For your csv file to successfully import:

    • The csv file must contain the following mandatory data fields:
      • Date: Trade date (format dd/mm/yyyy)
      • Code: Security code (at the time of the trade)
      • Quantity: Number of shares traded. Positive for a buy, negative for a sell, unless Trade Type is specified, in which case all values should be positive
      • One or both of the following:
        • Total: Total dollar amount of the transaction (including of fees)
        • Price: Per share price
    • You may also want to include these optional data fields:
      • Settlement Date: Settlement date (format dd/mm/yyyy)
      • Trade Type: Type of the trade, either Buy and Sell or B and S. If not given, positive quantity will be interpreted as a buy and negative as a sell
      • Fees: Dollar amount of the fees (inclusive of GST). If missing this is calculated from the Price, Quantity and Total
      • GST: Dollar amount of the GST amount
      • Notes: Must be the last column if present
    •  First row of your csv file must contain a field header for each column

    Download the generic template file to help create your historical trade csv file.  

  7. Open the downloaded csv file and check it has the mandatory data fields (as mentioned above), field column headings are in the first row and data is correctly formatted. 
  8. Once you have correctly formatted the data, save and close the CSV file.
  9. Then go back to the Stock Doctor import wizard and either:
    • Drag and drop the csv file you downloaded ear into the ‘Upload to Stock Doctor’ panel, or
    • Click the green ‘Browse’ button, select the csv file and click ‘Open’.
  10. You will see a box appear briefly with the message 'uploading and analysing files’.
  11. Next, you will need to review data to be imported. The Review screen contains up 3 tabs:
    • Can be imported (no. of trades)
    • Can't be imported (no. of trades)
    • Can’t be read (no. of rows)
  12. If you are happy with the list of trades to be imported, click the green ‘Import’ button.
  13. Alternatively, if you need to amend any trades:
    • Click the ‘Download Review Report’ button. 
    • Amend your downloaded broker file.
    • Click ‘Upload’ to return to the upload step.
    • Upload the amended file.
  14. You have now successfully imported your trades into your Stock Doctor portfolio.
  15. We suggest you click the green ‘Download Import Results’ button, especially if there were records that couldn’t be imported, that you will need to enter manually.

Now that you have imported your trades, we suggest you:

Review the trades imported as online broker export files generally do not accommodate corporate actions and off-market transactions, so you may need to manually enter the following transactions:

    • Transfers of holdings from another broker
    • Off-market transfers
    • Shares obtained in a float, dividend reinvestment plan, share purchase plan, bonus issues, or rights issue
    • Shares buybacks
    • Reconstructions (mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs)
    • Splits and consolidations