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Hello, I'd like to display a field that shows me my total investment in a stock, using this logic:

I buy 1000 shares of stock A at $2.00 a share.

My total cost is $2,000 (not figuring commissions, etc.).

I sell 500 shares of stock A at $4.00 a share for $2,000.

I want to show that I still have 500 shares, but my 'total cost' is now zero.

I'm displaying the Total Cost field, but it doesn't seem to work like that. It's not close to zero. Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks...

Your total cost in this scenario is $1000.00 because cost reflects what was paid for the securities you currently own, not any gains or losses.

buy 1000 shares @ $2 = $2000 total cost

sell 500 shares @ $4 = $2000 representing a $1000 gain against a cost basis of $1000.

When you sell the other lot of 500 you want to know what your gain is on that lot relative to the cost you originally paid for it.

Thanks Yermo, that makes sense regarding the Total Cost field now that you explained it.

I'd still like to have some field that would tell me that I've invested $2,000, but I've sold enough to cover that $2,000.

Is there a way to do that? I see where I can make custom fields but I haven't tried that yet.

Thanks again...

The problem is with lots. You buy and sell securities in lots of varying sizes at different prices. So I'm guessing you would want to keep track of your "uncovered amount" on a per security basis. You can't do that with a custom column since you would have to tally up the lots across multiple rows in the transaction register.

Probably the best way to do this would be as a report using the script API. If you know how to do scripting, it wouldn't be that hard to implement.

If it's important and you have some money to throw at the problem, you can hire us to develop it for you.

Actually, here's another way you might be able to do what you want. It's not elegant but it might work.
For each block of cash you want to track, create yourself a folder.
In the folder create a "linked cash" symbol.
Enter a transaction depositing the amount of cash you want to track.
Next, add ticker symbols to the folder and enter your purchase and sale transactions.
The cash symbol will get updated and give you the number you want.
You can also create a custom memo field to record the original deposit amount.

You'll end up with a lot of folders, but I think this gives you the number you're looking for and will accurately handle the multiple lots case.

So your current holdings view would look something like: