In the Position Statement section of the Activity and Positions tab, you can track your current positions, view and analyze their underlying breakdown, roll and close trades, use the Beta Weighting tool, and read the news on all the symbols currently present in your portfolio. The Position Statement header displays the total number of positions.
Clicking the arrow next to the Position Statement header’s name will expand that header into a section. As you scroll through Position Statement, these section headers can stick together for easy navigation. To turn on the sticky headers click the anchor icon towards the top of the page, to the far right of Activity and Positions.
Grouping and arranging positions
In Position Statement, you can group symbols you have the positions on and arrange the positions within the groups. To do so:
- Click on the Show Actions Menu button and activate the Show Groups checkbox. This will turn on the symbol grouping.
- Click on the Show Actions Menu button again and navigate to Group symbols by. Here, you can group your symbols by Type, Industry, Capitalization, or Account. In addition, you can organize your options positions by type such as single option position, vertical spread, iron condor, etc.
- If you have too many groups, consider activating the Merge similar groups checkbox in the Show Actions menu.
- To arrange positions within groups, go to Show Actions menu again and navigate to Arrange positions. Here, you can arrange your positions by Instrument, Trade time, or Order.
Managing equity positions
If your symbols are grouped by Type, all equity positions are contained in the Equities and Equities Options subsection. Here is how you can manage your equity positions in this subsection:
- Click on the V-shaped arrow to the left of the Equities and Equities Options dropdown so that it expands. You will see all your equity positions sorted alphabetically by symbol.
- Click on the small triangle arrow to the left of any symbol name so your position specs populate. Below each symbol name, you will see the full name of the underlying stock. To the left of the company name, you will see an icon that denotes your position side: a green BUY for a long position or a red SELL for a short one.
- Depending on your application settings (Setup > Application settings > Positions), you may see the following columns by default:
Column name | Description | Color-coordinated price ticks available |
---|---|---|
Instrument | Symbol for the position. | No |
Qty | Total number of shares for the position. | No |
Days | Days until expiration; used for trading futures and options. | No |
Trade Price | Average cost per share of the symbol, based on mark price and the size of the order. | No |
Mark | Current trading price of the underlying, based on the midpoint between bid and ask prices. | No |
Mrk Chng | Increase or decrease in mark price for the current trading day. | Yes |
P/L % | Percentage of profit/loss as a function of the execution price. P/L % is calculated by dividing P/L Open by the execution price. | Yes |
P/L Open | Potential profit/loss for the position since the inception of the trade. P/L Open is calculated based on the overall change in mark price compared to the entry price. | Yes |
P/L Day | Potential profit/loss for the position during the current trading day. P/L Day is calculated based on the overall change in mark price compared to the close of the previous trading day. | Yes |
P/L YTD | Potential profit/loss for the underlying security in the current calendar year. | Yes |
Margin Requirement | The minimum equity required in an account to initiate or maintain a position in stock or options. | No |
BP Effect | Impact of the position on the account’s available trading capital. | No |
Note that you can enable color coordinated price ticks for some columns in this display. To do so, navigate to Setup > Application Settings... > Display and activate the Position Statement checkbox in the Show color price ticks area. Price upticks will be shown in green and price downticks in red. When the price tick coloring is enabled, negative values are displayed with the minus sign; in the uncolored display, parentheses are used to show negative values.
- Below the Equities and Equities options, you can see the following figures: Selected Totals, Subtotals, Overall Totals, Cash & Sweep Vehicle Totals, Overall P/L YTD (your profit or loss year-to-date), and Available Dollars. Each one of these key numbers represents collective criteria in which to evaluate your positions for portfolio management and/or trading purposes.
- By a right-click on a position, you have the following options: create a closing order for the trade, analyze your closing trade, move your trade to a different group, and view orders relative to this position. Additionally, mouse over More info on <instrument name> to chart the underlying, create new alerts, trades, and view company data.
These same guidelines can be used for Futures and Futures Options.
Managing options positions
If your symbols are grouped by Type, all options positions are contained in the Equities and Equities Options subsection. Here is how you can manage your options positions in this subsection:
In addition to the Greeks and the standard specs such as Position Quantity, Mark, P/L Open, P/L Day, and BP Effect, Options section also provides a "days to expiration" reminder and an option status identifier (if you see an “ITM” icon next to the symbol it indicates that your option is currently “in the money”).
- To view an options position, expand the symbol dropdown that contains it. Remember: you can group your options positions based on the option/spread type; this action is available from the Show Actions menu.
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Metrics for options positions include the "Greeks": Delta, Gamma, Theta, and Vega. These metrics are updated in real-time so you can make appropriate position adjustments. Positions are adjusted the same way as for equities.
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For complex options such as vertical, calendar, diagonal spreads, etc, depending on the margin requirement or type of account, you may have the ability to close out your position as a whole unit or in partial (i.e. spreads, individual legs, etc.).
Place your cursor along the line-item position summary, right-click with your mouse, and drag your cursor over the series of option legs that you want to close out, analyze or roll. For example, if you are currently in an iron condor position that you want to exit in partial or in full, you can close it out as a vertical spread, a strangle, a combo, or by individual legs.
These same guidelines can be used for Futures and Futures Options.