Step 3 of 12
The two kinds of position
Typed in by hand, or built from your trades. Knowing which you have explains most of what the app lets you do.
A position you type in is just two numbers: shares and average cost. It's quick, it's editable, and it's enough for your income and your projections. What it can't tell you is when you bought, what you paid in commission, or what the position has done over time — because nobody wrote that down.
A trade-backed position is built from your actual buys and sells. Quantic calculates the shares and average cost from them, which is why you edit the trades rather than the position. Commissions, stock splits and option assignments all fold in on their own.
You can move between the two whenever you like. On a typed-in position, "Track as trades" records what you hold now as one opening purchase. On a trade-backed one, "Enter by hand instead" drops the trades and keeps the numbers they added up to. Neither loses anything you can't get back.
Importing a broker statement over a typed-in position REBUILDS it from the statement rather than adding to it. Use "Track as trades" or import — not both, or the same shares get counted twice.
Key terms
- Typed-in position
- A position where you entered the shares and average cost yourself, without a trade history behind it. Quick to set up and freely editable, but Quantic doesn't know when you bought or what you paid in commission — so it can't show you a timeline or work out your real cost. You can give it a history at any time from the position's card.
- Trade-backed position
- A position built from your actual buys and sells, whether typed in or imported from a broker statement. The shares and average cost are calculated from those trades rather than entered directly — which is why you edit the trades, not the position. Commissions, splits and option assignments all fold in automatically.
- Cost basis (average cost)
- What you actually paid for the shares you hold, per share — the money you put in, including the commission, spread across your shares. Buying more at a different price moves it; selling doesn't, because selling doesn't change what the shares you kept cost you. It's the baseline your gain, your yield on cost and any future tax calculation are measured against.
Quantic · Free
Ready to set yours up?
Explore a sample portfolio — no signup — or create your free account and start tracking your own.
Need more? Pro adds portfolios, options income tracking & more AI. See Pro →