Portfolio FAQ

Need help with your portfolio? This is the place to start!

If you can’t find the answer to your question here, use the support form at the bottom of the page and we will get back to you within 1 business day.

About Stock-Trak

Does Stock-Trak Account For Dividends & Splits?

Yes, each day we receive an updated list of stocks that have split or have paid a dividend. The dividends and splits are then accounted for on the website. If we happen to have missed one, please fill the form below so that we can apply it.

How are Alpha/Beta rankings calculated?

For more information regarding the Alpha/Beta rankings, please visit our PDF of Alpha and Beta Calculations.

How is the Sharpe Ratio calculated?

For an explanation of the Sharpe Ratio measure and how it is calculated on the website, please see our PDF, What is Sharpe Ratio?

What are Trading Notes?

Trading Notes are comment and explanations that must be added to each trade. To add/view a note, users can click on “Add/View Notes” in the Order History or Transaction History.

My Account

How can I change or reset my password?

You can change your password by clicking “Edit Profile” under the “Dashboard” tab, or click here to change your password.
If you have forgotten your password, please use the forgot password link.

My Portfolio

Can I place orders when the market is closed?

Yes! You can make a trade after the market has closed. However, your trade will only be filled once the market re-opens, at the stock’s opening price.

How can I cancel an order?

You can only cancel open orders. To see or cancel any of your open orders, go to the “Portfolio Simulation” tab and select the Order History. From here, you can filter by, open, filled, cancelled or expired orders. After selecting your “Open” orders, look for the cancel icon next to the order you wish to cancel.

How do I dispute a trade?

To report a possible error, please fill out the request form below and tell us the symbol and date/time of the trade(s) in question. (Example: AAPL on 2013-12-17 at 11:20 am). Providing as many details as possible and any screenshots to support your request will greatly help speed up the review process.

How do I start making trades?

To make a trade, start by navigating to the trading page under Portfolio Simulation > Stocks/ETFs. From here, you will be able to select the type of security you’d like to trade from the drop-down menu. You may then select what action (buy or sell)) you wish to take, the order type (market, limit, stop, trailing % or $) and how many shares you would like to purchase. Then click “Preview Order” and if you are satisfied with it, enter a trade not and click “Place Order” to confirm your trade.

Trading Tutorial Video:

I am getting the message “order total $x.xx + open position total $x.xx must not exceed maximum position size $x.xx” when trying to make a trade. What does this mean?

This means that your order is violating the position limit rule set by the professor. Position limit is the maximum % of your portfolio value that can be comprised of 1 single security. So for example if your position limit is 25%, then no single security can make up more than 25% of your portfolio value. Professors can also choose to set different position limits for different types of securities when creating their class.

I bought XXX amount of shares, but I got YYY amount of shares. Why?

If you do not have adequate cash and/or buying power, then the number of shares will be adjusted to allow the trade to be filled as best it can.

I have accidentally placed a trade, can you fix it for me?

We can only make corrections to user errors with the direct permission of the Professor/Class Administrator. Please have them contact us on your behalf if you need a mistake corrected.

I placed an order, but I can’t find it in my open positions. Why not?

To see the status of any order, check your Transaction History page. There are several reasons why you can’t see your order in Open Positions:

  • 1. If your order requested volume greater than 50% of available volume, then your order will remain pending until sufficient volume is available.
  • 2. If you placed the order outside market hours, you order will stay open until next market open.
  • 3. Limit and Stop orders remain open until your requested price has been hit.

I want historical data on my portfolio where do I go?

There is a wide range of historical data that can be seen and exported.

For historical values:

  • Go to Portfolio Summary and either export the entirety of your data from the drop down menu (Account Balances, Transactions, Open positions) or simply select the day you wish to view.

For transactions:

  • Go to Transaction History in the “My Portfolio” menu bar. From there you can either change the date range or hit the “Export to Excel” icon in the top right corner.

For historical rankings:

  • Go to Rankings under the “My Portfolio” tab. You can export the historical rankings as of the selected date.

I want to trade on foreign markets.

Exchange rate calculations are done automatically when making trades on foreign markets. There is no extra work on your part, though it is good to be aware of potential gains/losses you may experience due to exchange rates.

You do not need to exchange money in a different currency, it is done automatically when buying, selling, shorting and covering.

In my open positions, I have a stock that says last price $0 and my values are incorrect, should I let you know?

Yes, this could mean the symbol has stopped trading for a number of reasons or that there is an error with the security in our system. Please inform us of any problems you may encounter as we always work to correct the issue as quickly as possible.

Limits/Stops/Trailing orders – Why it did not execute?

Sometimes, due to a quick gap up or down, the stock may only trade at your limit price for a few seconds and then quickly bounce off of your ‘limit price’. As a result, your order will not get filled.  This is normal and occurs on any trading platform, including real stock brokerages.

Also note that the bid or ask (whichever is applicable) must also hit that limit.

Stock ABC had a symbol change. When will my portfolio reflect this?

The system automatically makes symbol changes each morning, so this should happen right away. If your portfolio doesn’t reflect this change within 24 hours, please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page, and include a link to a news story or press release mentioning the symbol change for verification.

Stock ABC shares split. When will my portfolio reflect this?

The system automatically implements stock splits before the market opens, so this should happen right away. If your portfolio doesn’t reflect this change within 24 hours, please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page, and include a link to a news story or press release mentioning the symbol change for verification.

The ABC Stock is only $1.00, but your site has it listed at $10.00. What gives?

Please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page if there is an error, we will gladly fix it!

The price paid is different from the preview price. Why?

Getting a different price from the preview can be due to many factors.

  1. The prices shown on the order preview have a 15 minute delay, but we execute all orders in US markets using the real-time bid/ask prices
  2. You were looking at the “last price” instead of either the bid or the ask price. This can be a large gap for some stocks, most commonly for stocks with low volume.
  3. There is a slight lag between confirming and the preview, the price can change in that time.
  4. The order did not execute immediately. This is most common with stocks with low volume.

If you still believe there is an issue with the prices you can contact us using the form at the bottom of this page with your username and a screenshot of the correct bid – ask price at that time.

What is “System Cancelled” in Order History?

“System Cancelled” means that either an admin or the systems’ automatic trade rules cancelled an order. This is generally due to insufficient buying power or you tried to purchase too much of one asset and we’re blocked by the position limit.

Where can I see all my open positions?

Under the “Portfolio Simulation” tab, select the Open Positions sub-menu – click on it to see all your open positions.

Where can I see how many trades I have left?

You can see the number of trades you have remaining on your Dashboard. You can see this from your Portfolio Summary page.

Why are some of my orders remaining open?

For a trade to fill, a number of factors must be satisfied:

  • 1. You must have enough buying power.
  • 2. There must be adequate volume on the market, since we only allow users to trade up to half of the volume of any security on the market.
  • 3. You must not exceed your position limit. The default position limit is 25% which means you cannot put more than 25% of your portfolio value in a single security. Please note that only professors have the ability to change the position limit for their classes.

Once all three factors are satisfied, given the market is open, the trades should execute right away.

Why can’t I place an order?

There are several rules which may prevent you from placing an order:

  • 1. The competition hasn’t started yet.
  • 2. Minimum Stock Price: The minimum stock price must be $3.00 or higher
  • 3. Position Limit: You may not buy/sell an amount of securities that would be greater than 25% of your portfolio value.
  • 4. Insufficient Volume: If the desired security does not have sufficient volume to execute, then the order will stay pending until filled or canceled. By default the volume in the real markets must be double the amount you are attempting to trade.
  • 5. Insufficient Buying Power: You are out of money. Close some of your open positions to regain buying power.

Basics Of The Stock Market

What are the “Restricted Funds” that I see in my account?

Restricted Funds are set aside when you place any limit orders that are not immediately filled. The funds are needed in the event that your limit price is met and triggers the action you requested. When your limit order is filled, the restricted funds are used to complete the transaction.

Restricted funds are also created when you place a market order when the market is closed. As with limit orders, the restricted funds will be used once the order executes.

What is a “Bid/Ask”?

The stock exchanges provide the valuable service of bringing together all of the buyers and the sellers of stocks each day and matching the buyers and sellers that agree on a price. The exchanges keep track of all of the open orders and show the highest buy order price as the “bid price” and show the lowest sell order price as the “ask price.” The “ask” is the price the person who owns the stock is asking to sell his shares.

What is a “Limit Order”?

A limit order is an order in which a specific price is set to buy or sell a security. If the price point is hit and there is sufficient volume at that price point or better, your order will be filled.  Limit orders may be placed as “Day” orders which are good for the day only, or as “GTC” orders, which are good until canceled.

What is a “Market Order”?

A market order is an order to buy or sell a specified number of shares (or bonds, etc. ) at the best available price when the order is submitted. All orders that don’t bear a specific price are considered market orders.

Market orders placed while the markets are closed or before the market opens will be executed at an appropriate bid/ask price shortly after the market opens and contingent to trading volume on that particular stock. If the stock requested does not have sufficient volume to execute, then that order will stay pending until filled or canceled.

What is a “Stock”?

Companies initially raise money by selling their stock. A share of stock represents fractional ownership of a business. When you buy shares of stock in a company, you are buying a small fraction of the business and all the profits that go along with it. For example, if ABC Company needed to raise $1,000,000 they could sell 100,000 shares at $10. Each share that you owned would represent 1/100,000th ownership of the company.

Keep in mind that some companies are “public” and some companies are “private”. Private companies are smaller companies that have raised money through a small number of investors and their stock does not have an active market where it can be bought and sold. Public companies have sold their stock to many investors (shareholders) and have registered their shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission and with an exchange (NYSE, AMEX, or NASDAQ) and hence their shares can be bought and sold with ease on an exchange.

The two main types of shares are common and preferred stocks. Common stock gives the owner the right to vote at shareholder meetings and receive dividends if any are declared. While preferred shares typically don’t confer voting rights, they have priority over common shares for earnings and assets. This means when a company declares dividends, preferred shareholders are paid before common ones and have a higher claim to assets if the company goes bankrupt and is liquidated.

What is a “Stop Order”?

A stop order is an order to buy or sell a stock when the stock price reaches a specified price, which is known as a stop price. When the specified price is reached, the stop order becomes a market order.

  • (a)  A Sell Stop Order is used by investors and traders long a stock to protect an existing profit or avoid further losses if the stock price drops. A stop order to sell must be placed below the current market price.
  • (b)  A Buy Stop Order is used by investors and traders short a stock to protect a profit or limit a loss if the stock price increases. A stop order to buy must be entered at a price above the current market price.

Stop orders may be placed as “Day” orders which are good for the day only, or as “GTC” orders, which are good until canceled.

For example, if you own 100 shares of IBM at $100/share and you want to sell it if the stocks goes up to $110, that would be a limit sell order; but, if you wanted to sell if the stock price drops to $95 so as to limit your losses, that would be a stop sell order.

What is an “Open Order”?

A market order that was placed when the market was closed and has not filled yet, or a limit/stop order that has been placed but the price has not been met yet and therefore has not executed yet is called an open order.

What is day trading? Am I allowed to day trade?

Day trading is when you are able to buy and sell the same stock on the same day. Keep in mind that such frequent trading will generate lots of commission charges and that you are limited to a certain number of trades for the Challenge.

Whether day trading is allowed is dependent on the tournament you are in.

What time is the US market open?

The North-American stock market opens at 9:30AM EST and closes at 4:00PM EST. Any trade made when markets are closed will be processed the next business day. This is only true for stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Futures trade at different times.

Markets are CLOSED for these Federal Holidays in the U.S.: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day (observed). On the day following Thanksgiving and frequently the day before Christmas, the market will close at 1:00 pm EST.

Trading Rules

How is the brokerage commission determined?

Commissions are decided upon by the professor and can be set as fixed $ amounts per trade, per share or a % total of each trade.

What are the trading hours and at what prices are trades executed at?

Stock-Trak executes all North American stocks, options, and future orders at real time prices. Mutual funds and bonds are executed at end of day prices while trades from international stocks are delayed 15-30 minutes. Since the markets close at 4 pm ET., trades made after that time will be executed at the opening price of the next trading day. Please note that although trades are executed at real time prices, and that the bid and ask prices are real time; the prices you see in your open positions are delayed by 10–15 minutes.

What counts as a trade?

Every successful transaction you make (buy, sell, short or cover) is counted as a trade. Open and cancelled orders do not count against your trade limit. Dividends and stock splits do not count as trades.

What is my initial cash balance?

$100,000.

Stocks

Can I short stocks?

No.

Can I trade halted, restricted and blocked stocks?

No, you cannot trade halted, restricted and blocked stocks. Any trade that is confirmed after trading has been halted will be reversed.

Can I trade stocks on markets outside of North America?

Yes, we allow stock trades on many different exchanges across Latin America, Europe and Asia as well as North America as long as the tournament you are in has allowed it.

Where can I look up security symbols for stocks?

When making trades, you must know the ticker symbol of the securities to be traded.  Go to the ‘Symbol Lookup’ page under the “Quotes/Research” tab and enter the full or partial company name and click “Search”.

Contact Us

This form is for students and teachers who already have an account and need technical support with the WinS platform.

If you are a new teacher, or have general questions about the program, click here.