Good article but it doesn't help. I do not use automatic downloads. i manually enter all investment activity. The only exception is when updating price history, if Quicken finds a stock split mentioned it alerts me and posts it if I allow it. That was not the case here (Quicken price download never identified the split) and that approach has never resulted in a placeholder. Based on logic discussed, I should never see a placeholder since all the placeholder activity centers around downloading brokerage activity.