Options - Record Baseline Transaction

Considerations

Use this page to manually record positions that you held open at the time your broker sent your trade data. In order to accurately calculate your gain/loss figures, input your cost basis and purchase dates for these baseline positions.

Click one of the icons above to view either a list of the transactions available for that category, or click the Baseline Holdings icon to access the Add New Baseline Holdings page.

Procedure

From the Manually Record Trades page, click the Option icon to access the Options - Record Transaction page. From this page, select Baseline from the Action drop-down list. The Options - Record Baseline Transaction page displays.

1. Select the account to which to record this transaction, from the In Account drop-down list. If you only have one account, this drop-down list is not displayed.

2. By default, the Option Category on this page is set to Option on a Stock. You can select one of the following from this drop-down list to change the option category:

• Option on a Stock

• Option on an Index

• Option on a Currency

• Option on an ETF

• Option on a Future

3. By default, the Action on this page is set to Baseline. To change this, select a different transaction from the Action drop-down list. The fields that display depend on the transaction that is selected.

4. Enter the purchase date in the Purchase Date (mm/dd/yyyy) field. You can also click the Calendar icon and select the appropriate purchase date from the calendar that displays.

5. Do one of the following to populate the option symbol:

• Enter the 3-26 character pure option symbol in the Symbol field. Do not enter dashes, periods or plus signs. Click Verify to confirm you have entered the correct symbol for the option.

• Enter the 3-26 character pure option symbol by entering each of the following parameters:

• Root Symbol

• Expiration Date mm/dd/yyyy

• Strike Price

• Select Put or Call

Once you enter the parameters, click Verify to confirm you have entered the correct symbol for the option.

• Click the Option Symbol Lookup link to access the option symbol builder tool. This tool enables you to search for an existing option, or to build a custom option.

6. Select the type of security from the Security Type drop-down list. By default, this field is set to Options for this transaction.

7. Enter the number of contracts in the Contracts field. The default information used is the standard 100 shares per contract. If your option has a different set up, enter the number of shares per contract associated with your option in the field provided. It is important that this figure is accurate to ensure correct calculations for this option transaction.

8. Enter the Baseline Date, which is the last date that you updated your holdings and cost basis. You can also click the Calendar icon and select the appropriate baseline date from the calendar that displays.

9. Enter the total cost in the Total Cost as of Baseline Date field.

10. To record the Baseline transaction, click the Record button. To record the transaction and continue to enter additional transactions, click the Record & Repeat button. To leave this page, without recording the transaction, click the Cancel button.

Example

Click here to view an example of the Options - Record Baseline Transaction page.