Your first login

This guide takes you from the sample data you see on your first login to your own trades. Plan on about ten minutes. You need one thing: a file of your trade history, downloaded from your broker's website (step 4 explains which files work).

Before you start: the Terms and the Privacy Policy

The first time you sign in, MyTraderDash asks you to accept the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy before anything else opens. Read them with the links on that screen, then click OK. If you don't agree, the same screen lets you Sign out, or delete your account at no cost (I don't agree: delete my account).

When we change either one, we email you at least 30 days before the change takes effect, with the new text and the text it replaces. If you keep using MyTraderDash after that date, you accept the change. For an important change, the same screen asks you again the next time you open the app.

Step 1: Look around the sample data

A new workspace starts with made-up trades in an account named DEMO, two watchlists and three screener templates. Nothing you do to them can affect anything else, so click around freely before you remove them. Good places to start:

• Dashboard: the portfolio at a glance.
• Trade Log: every position. Click the small arrow at the start of a row to see the trades inside it.
• Strategies: the wheels, covered calls, cash-secured puts and LEAPS the app found in the trades by itself.
• Dividends: dividend income over time.

Key ideas in five minutes explains the words you'll see on these pages.

Step 2: Remove the demo

1. In the sidebar, click Accounts & Data.
2. Scroll to the Export Data card. Under Demo Data, click Clear Demo Data.
3. In Remove the demo data?, click Remove Demo Data.

A message says Demo data removed, the DEMO account disappears from Trading Accounts, and the Demo Data section goes away.

What it removes, and what it keeps:

You can delete the watchlists and screener templates on their own pages if you don't want them.

Step 3: Add your account

Create one MyTraderDash account for each account you have at your broker (one for your TFSA, one for your margin account, and so on).

1. On Accounts & Data, click Add Account (top right of Trading Accounts).
2. In Account Name, type a name you'll recognize, for example Questrade TFSA.
3. In Broker, pick your broker. If it isn't listed, pick Other.
4. In Account Type, pick the type of account (see below). It starts on Margin.
5. In Currency, tick the currency the account holds. Tick both USD and CAD if it holds both.
6. Click Add Account.

You should see the message Account added and your account in the list, with 0 trades.

What each choice affects:

• Account Name: only the name you see.
• Broker: the label on the account and the broker filter on the Trade Log. It doesn't decide which files you can import: the app recognizes a broker file by its columns.
• Account Type: the Tax report. Registered and retirement types are tax-exempt and left out of the report by default: TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RDSP, LIRA, RRIF, LIF, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), HSA and SEP IRA. For a taxable account, pick Cash (Non-Registered) or Margin.
• Currency: each trade's currency comes from your broker file, not from this choice. Ticking both USD and CAD (or importing any Canadian-dollar trade, or running a Canadian tax report) makes the app keep values in both currencies, shows the Display Currency switch on Accounts & Data and a USD | CAD toggle at the top of each page.

You can change all of these later: ⋮ on the account's row, then Edit Account.

Step 4: Import your broker file

Which file you need

MyTraderDash reads the trade history ("activity" or "transactions") file of these brokers:

• Questrade
• Desjardins Online Brokerage (DISNAT)
• RBC Direct Investing
• tastytrade
• Charles Schwab

The file can be CSV, XLSX, JSON or XML. Download it from your broker's website; look for a page named something like activity, transactions or history, and choose the longest date range the broker allows. A position you opened before the file's first date can't be matched to its buy, and it shows up as an issue later.

Other brokers in the Broker list can't be read from a file yet. You can still fill in the MyTraderDash template (Download Template XLSX on Accounts & Data) or type trades in. See Import a broker file and Add a trade by hand.

Import it

1. On Accounts & Data, click Import Data (in the Import Data card).
2. Under Select Account for Import, check that your new account is selected.
3. Drag your file onto the box that says Drag & drop or click to select, or click the box and pick the file.
4. Wait while the box says Generating preview.... For a large file this can take a minute.
5. Read the Import Preview:
   • Will Import: rows that become trades.
   • Will Skip: rows that aren't trades, such as deposits and withdrawals.
   • Low Confidence: rows the app imports but tags needs-attention so you can check them.
   • Detected broker format should name your broker.
6. If a Transfer Trades Detected box asks "Was this position:", choose Long or Short for each position listed. The import button stays greyed out until you do.
7. Click Import N Trades.
8. Wait while Processing Import shows a progress bar.
9. When you see Import Completed Successfully with the Inserted, Updated and Skipped counts, click Done.

If instead you see Unsupported — logged to help us add support, the app didn't recognize the file. Import a broker file lists what to do.

Step 5: What happens after the import

While importing, MyTraderDash matches your trades into positions and detects your strategies, so the pages are ready when it finishes.

After Done, you may see a Loading Market Data page that says "Fetching prices for N positions". The app is getting current prices for your open positions. It goes back to Accounts & Data by itself when it's finished. You can also click Skip to app: the prices appear as they arrive.

Step 6: Check the result

Compare what the app shows with what your broker shows.

1. Open the Trade Log. Your open positions are listed first. Check a few against your broker: the number of shares or contracts should match.
2. Turn on the Show Issues switch. The list narrows to positions the app couldn't fully work out, for example shares sold without a matching buy, or an option past its expiration that is still open. Turn it off again to see everything.
3. On Accounts & Data, scroll down to Data Quality. All trades are grouped means every trade found its position. Otherwise it lists the trades that didn't.

Most issues come from history that's missing from the file. Importing an older file from the same account usually fixes them; importing the same rows twice doesn't create duplicates. An option that expired, or was assigned or exercised, may need to be recorded by hand: see Add a trade by hand. Find and fix data issues covers the rest.

Step 7: Next steps

• More accounts: repeat steps 3 and 4 for each account at your broker.
• Watchlists and alerts: follow tickers and get an alert when they move. See Get alerted on a ticker and screen its options.
• Taxes: build a capital gains report for the US or Canada. See Run a tax report.
• Journal: write down why you made a trade. See Journal a trade.