why does stock still show in portfolio after being sold?

Bur Davis

I bought 100 shs of VTV on 12/31/2018
I sold all 100 shs of VTV on 03/18/2019
My portfolio still shows an entry for VTV, even though the position is zero. Why?

This is just the most recent example of this behavior.

For by far most of my positions, when I sell it completely (share count goes to zero), the position is no longer shown in the portfolio. That's as expected: when I no longer hold the stock, I don't expect it to show up in my portfolio (duh).

But for VTV, it still shows up in my portfolio with a zero share balance.

I used straight Buy and Sell transactions, and had only those two transactions.

q_lurker

I suggest deleting and re-entering both the purchase and the sale.  For the sale, make sure the lot specification refers to the purchased shares.  Is there a chance you had a prior investment history with that security?

There have been instances where Quicken treated a sale as a short-sell even though that was not the case.  Or a user had used a regular purchase rather than a CvrShort.  Quicken then 'thought' that the investor had a long position and a short position and reported the net holding as 0 shares. 

If you properly have the SellShort and the CvrShort matched up, Quicken should not be showing the security in the holding view or portfolio view.   

NotACPA

Try doing PORTFOLIO, click Options and then UNcheck "Show Closed Lots".

Jim_Harman

Just to check - if you select Options at the top right, is "Show closed lots" selected?

Also to be sure there isn't something odd going on with rounding, try editing the Sold transaction so the "Sell all shares" option is selected.

NotACPA

Jim_Harman said:

Just to check - if you select Options at the top right, is "Show closed lots" selected?

Also to be sure there isn't something odd going on with rounding, try editing the Sold transaction so the "Sell all shares" option is selected.

Great minds run in the same circles!

Bur Davis

@NotACPA and @Jim_Harman, thanks for those suggestions, but no dice.

a) Show Closed Lots was unchecked. I checked, then unchecked it, just for grins. Same thing (closed lot is still showing).
b) I edited the Sell transaction and chose 'Sell All Shares' and that didn't help either.

I guess I can try the workaround of hiding the security from the Security List if it bugs me too much (although I wonder whether that would have the unwanted side-effect of hiding the security when I'm viewing holdings from the period when I owned the position).

Btw, I notice where this seems to happen fairly consistently is with options: I'll sell a put contract (SellShort), then buy to close (CvrShort), at which point the position is closed out, zero contracts held. But the closed lot still shows in the security list.

Any other suggestions welcome...

q_lurker

I suggest deleting and re-entering both the purchase and the sale.  For the sale, make sure the lot specification refers to the purchased shares.  Is there a chance you had a prior investment history with that security?

There have been instances where Quicken treated a sale as a short-sell even though that was not the case.  Or a user had used a regular purchase rather than a CvrShort.  Quicken then 'thought' that the investor had a long position and a short position and reported the net holding as 0 shares. 

If you properly have the SellShort and the CvrShort matched up, Quicken should not be showing the security in the holding view or portfolio view.   

Bur Davis

Thanks for the suggestions, but:
- I have tried deleting an re-entering. No luck.
- There was no prior investment history with the security.
- The Short Sale and the Cover are matched up in all cases.

JohnDeLo

In Portfolio, go to Options on right click "Customize Current View" then the "Securities" Tab. Uncheck the one you don't want to show.

Bur Davis

Thanks, @JohnDeLo. This will work as long as I never intend to own that security again. I do wonder, though, why most securities with a zero position no longer show up in my portfolio automatically, while other securities with a zero position persist in being displayed?