Bug - new purchases 'disappear' for certain securities

Unknown
Unknown Member
edited May 2022 in Investing (Mac)
I have encountered a bug that impacts only some of the securities in my portfolio when I add a new transaction. Specifically:

1) Let's say I have 10 shares of security X.
2) I have $100 cash in my investment account.
3) I use that $100 to purchase 10 more shares of security X.
4) The money is removed from my cash balance, but the number of shares in my portfolio for security X is still 10.
5) As a result, my account balance drops by $100 - the money is gone but the share count for that security has not been updated.

It's worth noting that the new purchase (step 3 above) still exists in the register. If I delete it, my cash balance goes back up $100. Re-add it, and my cash balance goes down $100 (and no new shares are added).

This only happens for some securities. 

Anyone else encounter this issue?

Comments

  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited June 2018
    Check for placeholder transactions. See this for info:

    FAQ: What Are Placeholder Transactions in Quicken for Mac?
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited June 2018
    That was it thank you! 

    There were indeed placeholder transactions for both of the problematic securities, in the exact amount of my recent purchases. The placeholder transactions were backdated to the day I opened the account (back in 2005). I deleted the placeholder transactions and everything looks good.

    I think I know what happened here. When I sync with my brokerage (E*TRADE), it is reporting the most recent stock purchases, but the total stock balances reported don't include these recent purchases (yet). As a result, Quicken has to 'back out' the recent purchases by adding (backdated) placeholder transactions. Does this sound right?
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited June 2018
    yup
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
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