STEP 2 – Learn key features of the TradeLog window:

Summary Bar:

► Click here to watch us demonstrate this.

The Profit and Loss Summary Bar provides a snapshot of key data including shares/contracts open, profit/loss, commissions, last record date, and number of records. It's important to note that the Profit/Loss field is not taxable gain or loss - we'll show you how to find that information soon.

TRY THIS: Notice how the Summary Bar changes depending on your view.

1. Select different account tabs and notice that the Summary Bar fields change to reflect the selected account.
2. Now try selecting a specific record, notice that the Shares/Contracts Open, Profit/Loss, and Commission fields change to reflect the trade selected.
3. Next, select the All Accounts tab, then double-click on one of the records for ticker INTU. Notice that TradeLog goes to the account tab where these trades are found – in this case the Trading Account – and isolates the INTU trades grouped together. The Summary Bar now reflects only this filtered view.

Toolbar:

The Toolbar provides quick functions especially useful for controlling your view of trades.

TRY THIS: Change your view using different buttons on the toolbar.

1. Click on the blue All Trades button and notice any filters are removed and you are now viewing all of the trades in the selected account tab.
2. We'll show you more about using Open button soon, for now you can click on the red Closed button to view all of the trades that are closed.
3. Click on Find and then Date Range and a dialog box opens, you can enter a custom date range and click OK to view only the trade records that occurred in that date range. Or you can select a YEAR in the dialog box and click OK to view the records that occurred in that year.
4. Now click on the blue All Trades button again to clear your filtered view.

Trade Records – The Grid:

We refer to the list of trade records as the Grid. When you import trade history from your broker, TradeLog automatically places the records into the Grid.

TRY THIS: Explore key features of the Grid.

1. Select the All Accounts tab.
2. Most of the fields are self-explanatory: Date, Time (if your broker provides time stamps), Ticker, Sh/Contr (number of shares or contracts), Price, Comm (Commissions), and Amount of the trade record.
3. Trades are grouped together and assigned a trade number (TrNum field). Notice that trades in the same group are also in the same color block. When a position is opened for the first time, it begins a trade group. If you close out of the position completely, that will usually be the last trade in the group. 
   
   
4. Notice the O/C field, this stands for Open or Close. A trade record typically either opens a new position or closes a position. The L/S field represents Long or Short. 
   
   For example, the record for TrNum 2 in the sample file is a  O/L position for 20 shares of GG. This was a buy of 20 shares. There is no matched C/L position – which would be the sale of those 20 shares. 
   
   Scroll down to TrNum 9 and notice that the first record in that trade group is a  O/S position for 50 shares of GG. This was a short sale for 50 shares. Matched to that trade is a C/S position for 50 shares of GG. This is the buy-to-cover of 50 shares which closed the short sale position. 
   
   
5. Are you wondering what the "W" represents in the first record of TrNum 1? The W records are wash sale deferrals attached to positions that were carried over from the previous tax year. 
   
   In this case, there was a loss of ($1,243.56) on 40 shares of INTU. When the trader repurchased 60 shares of INTU later that year it triggered a wash sale and that loss could not be taken. Since the trader did not close those 60 shares before the end of the tax year, the loss was deferred until he finally closes the position. 
   
   TradeLog automatically keeps track of these deferrals and creates the W records in the next-year data file. The W record represents a loss connected to the shares purchased on the same day.
   
   There are also M records which are used for mark-to-market accounting.
6. TradeLog formats option contracts in a consistent standard format, an important feature if you trade options with more than one broker. Notice the record for TrNum 3 in the Grid is for an option. The standard format includes the underlying ticker (AMLN), the expiration day, month, and year, then the strike price (7), and if it's a Call or Put (CALL). 
   
   
7. The Type/Mult column identifies the type of security and the multiplier. In this file you'll see STK-1 (Stocks), OPT-100 (Options), MUT-1 (Mutual Funds), and ETF-1 (ETF/ETNs). It is also possible to have trades that are OPT-10 (Mini Options), FUT-# (Futures and other Section 1256 Contracts), SSF-100 (Single Stock Futures), CUR-1 (Currencies) and DRP-1 (Dividend Reinvestments).
   
   
8. The Profit/Loss field is populated only on records that result in a profit or loss, such as closing records, W records and M records.