short returns, max securities

[ Q2 03 - Q4 05 Archive ] [ Current Message Board ] [ Archives ] [ Search ]

Two questions:

1. How are short positions accounted for in the "Portfolio/Investments Overlay" and "Portfolio Gain" graphs?

I have a number of short option positions at any given time.

I have noticed that the return and or P/L curves are different -- the "Portfolio/Investments Overlay" curve shows (visually) larger positive returns than the "Portfolio Gain" curve for the same portfolio. For example, the Overlay PF curve shows new highs more often than the Gain curve. Is this a side effect of the short positions or is it something else? Also, how do the shorts affect the % return figures on the "Portfolio Gain" graph?

For example, are new shorts added to the the cash balance? Would this then reduce the %return for the PF since the returns are relative to a larger cash base? Some brokers handle short balances as a sort of sub-account which is not added to the portfolio cash balance, but which is included in PL calculations.

2. I noticed from an earlier post that FM has a 500 issue limit per PF. I will hit that limit pretty soon, and was wondering if there is a possibility of having the limit lifted, maybe in the Advisor version (I currently used the base version) so that the max issues would be limited by machine capacity.

Most of the issues in my PF are closed and I have them marked "hidden", but they are still in the PF so that historical PLs are tracked.

Nice program, I use it daily.

Thanks - Mark Ellington

Replies:

• Re: short returns, max securities Mark 22:20:50 11/07/03 (0)