The Baseline Positions Wizard helps to look up your baseline positions. While you will still need to manually enter some information from your broker statement, the wizard will save you from much of the extensive manual entry otherwise required for this step. Remember, this process must only be done once for each account you setup in TradeLog - the software will automatically keep track of your baseline positions for each year to follow.
Before you start:
Please retrieve your December broker statement for the previous tax year. If you will be doing your 2023 tax year in TradeLog, then you need to have your December 2022 broker statement.
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After creating a new account tab in TradeLog, the Baseline Positions Wizard should automatically begin. If you need to restart the wizard you can do so by going to the Account menu and choosing Baselines.
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Please read and follow the instructions provided in the wizard. These instructions will change as you proceed, depending on your unique circumstance. We will provide general instructions for use below.Click the button Begin Baseline Wizard to start the wizard process.
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In Step 1 of the wizard it is important that you read and follow the instructions listed and then choose the option that applies to you.Clicking the Exit button will exit the wizard without any entry of baseline positions, you may return later to continue the wizard.The Previous button will return you to the start page of the wizard, clicking the Next button will take you on to Step 2.
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Step 2 of the wizard is where you will enter holdings as of December 31st as listed on the broker statement you are using. If this step applies to you, it is important to read the instructions and enter each holding that is listed on the statement before you proceed.When you have finished entering all of your holdings as of December 31st, click on the Next button to continue to Step 3.Here are some tips to help you enter your positions:
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For each position you will select whether it is a Long/Short position, then select the Instrument Type (Stock / Bond / Option / Mutual Fund / ETF etc.).
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Depending on the type of instrument, the other required fields may change. For most types, the fields will be similar to what is shown below for Stock (Ticker and # Shares).
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For options and futures contracts, additional fields are required. For example, below are the fields needed for an option contract.
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You can use the Tab key on your keyboard to move between fields quickly. Simply hit the Enter key or click Add to List when finished with the required information and the position will be added to the list. You will notice the list of holdings will populate as you enter positions.
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If you make a mistake, simply select the position and click the button Remove From List. Then re-enter the position.Note: If you need to exit the wizard before finishing, your list of positions entered in Step 2 will be saved and can be restored when you later return to complete the wizard. Click here for more details.
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Step 3 of the wizard accounts for trades pending settlement. The holdings you entered from your broker statement do not include any trades that were pending settlement as of the time of the statement. TradeLog will attempt to find those trades and make adjustments to the list of baseline positions.This step will involve importing trade history from your broker. If this is the first time you have imported, you may want to click on the button for Import Help to view import instructions for your selected broker.Click on the Import (Imp) button when you are ready to import and make sure to import the date range indicated by the wizard.Note: If you have problems importing for the first time and have reviewed the import instructions for your broker, you can click the Exit button to leave the wizard - the list of positions you entered will be saved. Then submit a support request for us to assist you with your importing problem.
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Step 4 of the wizard now contains a list of your baseline positions and will next begin to automatically find and enter the details of these positions from your trade history.Click the Find button to begin looking up the position details. TradeLog will use the trade history previously imported from 11/1 to 12/31 of the prior year.
- If all positions are found, the wizard will finish and the baseline positions will be entered into the main TradeLog grid. You can now skip to the end of these instructions!
- If any positions are not found you will have the choice of manually entering the missing details, or to Continue Importing more trade history - going backwards in time. TradeLog will then attempt to find the details of the remaining positions until all are found.
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Important:If you have imported a year or more of trade history and still have positions that have not been found, then we recommend manually looking up the date acquired and price for those remaining positions and entering the details.If you are unsure of the baseline details for positions not found, you can click the Exit button. You will then have the option to exit and enter any positions not found with a date of 01/01/YYYY and a Price of 0 (zero). You can then manually edit those in the software at a later time.
For MTM users:
If this account is using mark to market accounting for the first year, then TradeLog will run the MTM process after entering baseline positions. The MTM process will prompt the user to enter the year-end prices for the baseline positions in order to create the mark to market entries to start this tax year. Year-end prices can often be found on the broker's statement for December of the tax year. Click here for more details about first year MTM accounts.
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If you have problems using the Baseline Positions Wizard and need to exit or restart please click here for further instructions about how to restore your work as well as requesting assistance.
Please proceed to Import your Trade History.
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