QWIn 2017 H&B: Stock's PUT option transaction incorrectly downloaded

tomt

I'm using Windows 10 and Q H&B 2017. I do "Stock OptionSpreads", and Q sometimes gets it right, but too often Q fails to get the"closing" transactions correct.  For clarification, let me juststate that a "spread" trade involves 2 phases... Specifically anOPENING phase, and a CLOSING phase.  With a "spread," theOPENING portion always involves both a BUY trade and a SELL trade (referred toas BUY TO OPEN and SELL TO OPEN (respectfully).  Sometimes (but NOTalways) the CLOSING portion involves 2 trades also... For example, the optionthat initially was "sold" (i.e., the SELL TO OPEN option), will beterminated via a BUY TO CLOSE trade. And sometimes the option that wasinitially "bought" (i.e., that BUY TO OPEN option trade), willlikewise be terminated via a SELL TO CLOSE trade. As I mentioned, it's these"CLOSING" trades where the download "misrepresents" theACTUAL "ending of the position" when the CLOSING phase takesplace.  Now, the PROBLEM IS:  Sometimes the CLOSING PHASE involves NOactual transaction. Stated another way, sometimes there is "NO" BUY TO CLOSE or SELL TOCLOSE transactions because an EXPIRATION DATE has been reached, When theExpiration Date is reached, if an Option has NO MARKET VALUE, the books areclosed and the Options are said to have "expired"... and the buyerand the seller do nothing.  Today I downloaded 2 CLOSING transactionswhich "expired" worthless 9/15/17.  The "long"position (the initial BUY TO OPEN), was CORRECTLY reported as REMOVED - SHARESREMOVED. However, the "short" position (the initial SELL TO OPEN) wasreported as ADD - SHARES ADDED. THAT IS WRONG!!! ...because the when the ACCOUNTHOLDINGS page is brought up, that "short" position should NOT appearbecause it EXPIRED Worthless (but it isthere). To correct this, I'll have to manually change the SHARES ADDED to a"COVERED SHORT for $0.00" in order for the ACCOUNT HOLDINGS page tobe "correct"... this should not be necessary.  Something in the way either FIDELITY isreporting it or Quicken is interpreting it is not correct.  This has been a problem for several months.  What can be done?  I shouldn't have to make this type ofcorrection!!!

miklk

Unfortunately, you can't do much.

The transaction comes from the broker and most brokers send the wrong info.

The only thing you can try is to let the broker know they are sending it incorrectly.

tomt

I just got off the phone this afternoon (9/22) with Fidelity (70 minutes of investigative work).  One of Fidelity's Quicken techs had  me open a new Quicken "test" account and ONLY have one account,  naturally it was Fidelity.  He then had me download 90 days of Fidelity transactions (these were clean transactions that were gathered from actual trades made in my "real" online account).  We looked for "clues" as to what caused the ADD - SHARES ADDED instead of COVER SHORT.  We both examined several transactions which were correct... But unfortunately, we missed going further to 9/15/17 where it was plain to see that the 9/15/17 transaction (in this "test" file with only one account, Fidelity) was the same as the transaction downloaded the other day.  That seems to beg the question, is it Quicken that is "interpreting" the transaction data such that it reports ADD - SHARES ADDED, or is it Fidelity that somehow has changed their "data" in such a way that it will result in being "reported" differently than the earlier transactions in the "clean 90-day" set of transactions in the "test" account used earlier today. I'm not qualified to answer that.  I did see that some other people have had "option transaction" issues. I just want to see this resolved.  I don't know if Quicken and Fidelity are "talking" to each other on a regular basis... naturally, they should be!

Unknown

FYI - TD Ameritrade always sends an ADD - Shares added for an expired short option.
It's been that way forever.
I correct it manually.