Quicken will not let me delete securities from my security list - lots of Options trading

Question

I do a lot of option trading, and after the option has expired it is no longer needed.  I have archived the old transactions in my investing accounts, so these old securities no longer show any activity.  But when I am in the Security List window, I can see the delete button, but it is not activated and so I cannot delete them.  Is there a way to do this?

Chris_QPW · Answer

This will not work, if one wants to remove the security from Quicken.

The requirement isn't "you can't be holding any shares in the security".
The requirement is "you can't have any transactions with that security".

Both the original transaction(s) and the remove transaction violate that requirement for you to be able to remove the security from Quicken.

If Quicken was to allow you to remove a security when it is used in a transaction it would mess up your history.  Certain things in Quicken are "links", not "copies".  Categories and securities are examples of "links", payees are examples of "copies".

If I have a category of XXX and I go in and rename it to YYY, every transaction that is using the category XXX will instantly show YYY as the category because this it is a link to the main entry in the category list.  The same holds true for securities.  Quicken does allow you to delete a category even if it is used.  The result is every transaction that is using that category will instantly become uncategorized.  Securities work the same way, but because you can't have a buy without a security for instance, Quicken doesn't allow the delete, which would result in transactions that need a security now not having them.

BOB139 · Answer

For your options that expire worthless I would create a transaction with the Action: Removed and make sure to specify the correct lot when prompted.

Chris_QPW · Answer

It sounds like you have "Simple Investing" mode turned on in those accounts.  That hides the transactions that are in those accounts, but they are still there.

If you go into the Account Details and switch to "Complete", you will see the transactions.