Transaction retrieval from E*TRADE limited to four months

[werch]

Hi,

I'm evaluating the software, and just downloaded the latest version.

A problem I have run into is that when I download transaction from my E*TRADE account, I will only get transactions from approximately four months back. Anything prior to that doesn't show up.

Am I doing something wrong, or what might be the problem?

Regards,

Christian W

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for trying Fund Manager. The problem is that e*trade's OFX server is only providing transactions this far back. Fund Manager is capable of retrieving as far back as available, but not all brokers keep your full transaction history on their OFX server. The amount of time kept varies by broker. It sounds like e*trade's time is 4 months.

You can either import or manually enter your older transactions, or if you use the New Portfolio Wizard in Fund Manager to retrieve "Transactions and Positions" it will automatically adjust your positions to match what you currently own. It does this by recording an adjustment transaction prior to the earliest retrieved transaction, such that you end up with the proper number of shares. You could also do this manually yourself if you want.

[werch]

Hi Mark,

Earlier today I retrieved data from e*trade as far back as when I opened the account in 2007. I did this with GainsKeeper, which is software that also talks to e*trade's OFX server.

So I think that something else, rather than a limit at e*trade, prevents Fund Manager from getting all the data.

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

Interesting. When you retrieve, are you checking the "All Dates" option? Also, how are you verifying that only 4 months worth of data is being retrieved?

[werch]

Hi,

I have verified that the "All Dates" option has been checked.

The reason for my thinking that not all data were fetched is that the performance graph only goes back to 7/25/08. Further, in the portfolio editor window, I can only see positions held, bought or sold after that date.

One further thing that may be of interest: I used the earlier version of the software in the first quarter of 2008 to evaluate it (I had to stop because of lack of time), and at that time, I was connecting to the same e*trade account. (Perhaps there are some junk files from that previous test that I need to toss away?)

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

The best way to tell how far back your transactions in a portfolio go, is to create an Investment Transactions report for the whole sub-portfolio. You can also just create a brand new sub-portfolio and retrieve it completely.

[werch]

Hi,

If I create an Investment Transactions report, it automatically suggests 7/25/08 as the starting date. If I force the date further back in time to 1/1/07, I still only get transactions from 7/25/08 .

Regards,
Christian

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

Okay, it sounds like in this sub-portfolio you only have transactions back to July. What if you re-retrieve for this sub-portfolio (or a new empty one) and use these settings:

All Dates
Create New Investments As Needed: ON

If you don't see transactions prior to July, and expect to, please look in the log files, to see if there are any signs of these transactions being returned from E*trade's OFX server. For info on log files, see the bottom of this page:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/tintrtv.html

[werch]

Hi,

I created a new portfolio and initiated a retrieval of data from E*TRADE according to your instructions, but the result is the same. (Earliest transaction in July 08.)

I am trying to find the log files ("ofxretr.txt", "xmldump.txt" and "ofxmemtrandump.txt"), but they are nowhere to be found anywhere.

Nothing comes up if I do a hard drive wide search for any of them, and if I search for files changed or created today, I don't see them in that list either.

Things are really weird…

Christian

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

Do you have the display of "Hidden files/folders" turned on? The "Application Data" folder is hidden by default, which is probably why you couldn't find it, and why your search didn't see it. Please turn on the view of hidden files/folders, and then go look here for the log files:

Windows XP and earlier:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Fund Manager

Windows Vista:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Fund Manager

[werch]

Hi Mark,

OK! I found the file. (Had forgot to turn on the hidden folders setting.)

When I open the xmldump.txt file and search for the tickers of securities that I held in Q1 of this year, I can't find them, but perhaps there is some other type of verification I can do?

/Christian

[Mark]

Hi Christian,

The xmldump.txt should contain everything supplied by E*Trade's OFX server. You can also check the ofxretr.txt file. That is un-modified data directly from their server. For some reason it sounds like they are not providing your older data. You might want to call E*Trade and ask them how long they maintain your data on the server where you can retrieve them using MS Money. (This is different than their web site/server.) They likely won't have heard of Fund Manager, but Fund Manager uses the same technique/OFX server as MS Money for retrieving transactions. You could also download the Money trial, and confirm you only get the same amount of transaction history when using that program.