Commsec is telling me that yesterday I made a profit of $145, despite my calculations saying that I should be at a loss.
Im not what is going on here. Can anyone help a newbie out?
Firstly, welcome to ASF!
There are two "profit" figures you'll find by logging into CommSec and going to the "portfolio" tab then clicking "holdings".
One is called "PROFIT/LOSS $" and this shows your
total profit / loss on your shares in that company by comparing the price you bought them for versus the current (last traded by anyone) price. Profit numbers are in green, loss numbers are in red. Next to that you will see it's also expressed as a %.
The other is "VALUE CHG $" which is the
change in value compared to the previous close. Eg at midday on a Wednesday it will show the change in value compared to the closing price on the day before (Tuesday). Etc. Since the ASX was closed today for Good Friday, whatever it shows right now will be comparing the closing price on Thursday versus the closing price on Wednesday. It will continue to show that figure until the market opens next week, at which point it will then be comparing the current price versus the closing price on Thursday this week (since Friday was a non-trading day).
For example, suppose for simplicity that you hold 1895 shares in IFL which you bought at $3.055. What you would see is (note this is for example only but is based on the actual current price of this stock):
CODE = IFL (the stock code)
AVAIL UNITS = 1895 (how many of these shares you own)
CHANGE $ =
0.16 (that is Thursday's price change per share)
CHG % =
4.22 (Thursday's price change as a %)
PURCHASE $ = 3.055 (your average purchase price of these shares)
LAST $ = 3.95 (the last traded (by anyone) price of these shares)
PROFIT/LOSS $ =
1696.59 (your profit on this trade at the last traded price)
P/L% =
29.31 (profit as a %)
MKT VALUE $ = 7485.25 ($ value of your holding at the last traded price)
WGT % = the % of your total portfolio which these shares comprise
VALUE CHG $ =
303.20 (the change in market value comparing the last traded price with the previous day's closing price)
A profit figure will be in
GREEN and a loss figure will be in RED. This is a widely used convention not unique to CommSec or indeed to the ASX.
Note that's for example only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell shares in IFL. Disclosure: I currently hold shares in this company hence choosing it for the example.
Other brokers may use slightly different terminology but will display the same basic information.