At TradeStops, we strive to make investing easier. That’s why we constantly look at ways to present data that’s less confusing and easier to act on. Our custom position view feature does just that. It allows you to select what information you want to see about your positions. Using these stock portfolio tools, customization options helps you interpret how well you are doing with your stocks and options based on the facts, not emotion or gut-instinct.
We’ll review how to create, edit, and delete custom position views.
Creating a Custom View
Getting Started
Custom views are created from the Positions & Alerts tab in TradeStops. For this exercise, we will focus on creating custom position views in the positions subtab. You can always try creating custom Alert or Closed Position views later. The process is the same–just on different subtabs.
To ensure that you are in the correct place for position views, make certain that there is a blue line under the word “Positions” when on the Positions & Alerts tab in TradeStops. This is located directly below the TradeStops logo and portfolio drop down box.
If you don’t see Positions, just refresh your Internet. That will make the option show up again.
Now that you have the Positions subtab selected, you can create a custom view. It’s easy to do!
Making the Custom View
On the right side of the page, locate the Latest Close date. Below that, there is a button that says “+Add View.” If you don’t see the Latest Close date, that’s okay. Simply locate your name in the upper right corner, and then look down from that. The “+Add View” button is below your name under the close date and print/export options.
Once you click on the “+Add View” button, the column data options will appear. If you click on a white box, a green check mark will appear. This means that data will be displayed as a column in your position view. If you click on a green check mark, that data won’t be displayed.
If you don’t know what one of the options is, you can review the terminology here.
Make sure to name your new position view where it says “View Name.” It is in the top left corner of this option window. Call the view whatever you would like. Perhaps something that would help you remember what data is displayed in that view, such as “Fundamentals” if you only have fundamental data selected. Once you have named the view, click the green Save button. The Save button is to the right of your view name. Your view data will be saved.
You will see your new view, with your selected columns, as soon as you click save. For this case, you can see the Fundamentals view with the fundamental data.
All your custom views will be found to the left of the “+Add View” button. To switch between views, simply click on the view name. An active view will have blue around the view’s name. The title of the view will be white. It will also have a little pencil icon to the right of the view name. We’ll go over that pencil’s function in a little bit.
If you have more than three views, a downward pointing triangle will appear to the right of the third view in your view list. In the photo above, it is to the right of the Default 2 view.
When you want to switch to your fourth view, just click on the triangle, and then click on the view name. TradeStops will then display that view. This triangle will only appear if you have more than three views.
Editing a Custom View
Let’s say that you forgot to add a column of data or that you would like to move the columns in your view around. You can do that using the little pencil we mentioned earlier. Just click on the little Pencil icon to the right of your view name. Make sure that your view is active, otherwise you won’t see the pencil. If you don’t see the Pencil on your active view for some reason, try refreshing your Internet.
After you click the pencil, the column data options will display again. Just like you did when making a new view, you will check or uncheck the options that you want to see or not see. If you are happy with the setup, click the green Save button. If you decide that you don’t want to keep your changes, just click the light blue Cancel button. This is to the left of the green Save and light blue Save As buttons.
Moving Columns
You can change the order of the columns easily. Below the column data options, there is a yellow line. (This might look a little lighter or darker depending on your computer.) The line says, “Drag and Drop your columns below to reorder them.” To move the column data, click on the column title. Without releasing the mouse, move the title to its new location. Release the mouse. The column will now show up in that new location. You can move the columns as many times as you would like until you are happy with the results.
Again, once you have made your changes, make sure to click the green Save button. And, if you don’t want to keep your changes, just click the Cancel button.
Deleting a Custom View
If you decide later that you don’t like a view, you can always delete it. To do this, make the view that you don’t like active. Again, it will be colored in blue with white text. Once the view is active, click on the Pencil icon. The column option data will appear. In the upper right corner, above the Fundamentals column, there is a “Delete View” button. Click that button.
After you click the “Delete View” button, a pop-up box will appear. It will ask you to confirm that you want to delete the view. If you are sure that you want to delete it, click yes. Just know that once you delete the view, it cannot be brought back.
Interpretation of the Data
Once you have your views set up, you can interpret your data. We make it very straightforward for you. For example, if you have a stock that has been stopped out by the SSI, you can use the data in your custom view to decide whether to keep the position or sell the position if you aren’t certain about selling it based solely on the SSI.
If you don’t know how we computed one of the calculations, you can review the mathematical formulas here. Please note that if you contact our Customer Support Team, they won’t be able to make or verify the calculations for you. They can help you with setting up your custom view, though.
TradeSmith wrote about using custom views to predict your winner and loser stocks back in 2015. While the data might be a little old, the findings are still pertinent today. You can read about his findings and how he uses custom views here.
The hard facts presented in his article and the information you will find about your positions in your custom view make the buying/selling decision even easier for you. That’s TradeStops’ job. We take the emotion out so you can make more money while risking less.
To creating new views,
Customer Success Team
