TOS Analyze tab issues

Dan M

New member
Gold Member
Hello, I have been noticing a few issues with TOS lately that I want to know if anyone else has had trouble with.

This first issue TOS acknowledged was intentional...when a Simulated Trade in the Analyze tab expires, it used to show up the next day (after expiration) as 'Not Traded' in the price column. Now it simply changes the Expiration of the trade to the next available. This of course makes it very confusing to track your Simulated trades. When i asked TOS, they said it was intentional but the developers were still evaluating it. I complained for the reason mentioned as many of us who trade with complex positions and adjust over time need to rely on Sim Trades and changing the expirations is confusing. If you agree, please let them know.

2nd issue: However this morning for the first time i had the expirations of Simulated Trades which are still active change in the Analyze tab and had to model all trades again from account statement. Has anyone had this happen? Thanks
 
Yes that has been going on for a while now and they are not in a rush to fix it either
It happens mostly in the weeklies when one expires it does not say not traded it just goes to the next expiration as you mentioned
It usually stops after the Friday expiration

Someone mentioned here that you could export the trade while it's still active and than import it back after it expired
You will not see the price but you will see the p/l in the price slice I am no longer tracking it after it expires so it's no longer an issue at the moment for me

The only way that an active simulated trade can change is if there is no strike available for that expiration so if you let's say have a 10 dollar wide on the 10's and you change one of them to the 5 (in SPX I am thinking of) and there is no strike at that expiration than it will jump to the next available expiration that has that strike
 
I got tired of bringing in and saving the Simulated trades in order to calculate my P/L. For me, the easiest, simplest, and, perhaps most accurate method to acquire real-time P/L of a position (without ONE or OV) is simply to bring the current P/L YTD from TOS into my spreadsheet with an RTD link. Here is the syntax for the current P/L YTD:: =RTD("tos.rtd",,"P_L_ytd",UPPER(F1)) where the symbol for the underlying is placed in the referenced cell F1 for this example. I manually input the previous YTD prior to the current trade launch in the sheet. This value is, of course, zero if the underlying has not been traded in the current calendar year. The previous P/L YTD can be found in a column in the Accounts Tab. Then, a simple arithmetic calculation of the imported current YTD minus the YTD prior to trade launch yields the current P/L for the position. Once the trade is filled, the current YTD P/L as outlined above will be displayed and will constantly change as the market moves. The imported P/L YTD after the trade is filled will include all closed and open trades for the underlying since the beginning of the calendar year, and thereby reflect the current profit or loss. Be aware that, if you have more than one strategy in play for the same underlying, the current P/L which is calculated will reflect the composite P/L of all the positions in play. I only have one strategy at a time for each underlying, so this is not a problem for me.
 
The formula is working although it shows more than what I have I have to check it again after I close my trade
Of course this is not going to help if you have accounts outside of TOS
 
Hi status1. Yes, you must keep up with the YTD P/L of a specific underlying AFTER you close the trade. I maintain this value in my spreadsheet so that I have it handy when I launch a new trade in the same underlying. Alternatively, if you forget to do this, you can do simple arithmetic using the P/L Open of the position BEFORE you make any adjustments. If you launch a new trade, get filled, and then realize that you forget to record the previous YTD P/L, the current P/L Open plus or minus the current YTD P/L shown in the Accounts Tab will give you the original YTD P/L value before the current launch if you have not yet made any adjustments. For example, let's say you launch a new SPX trade. The YTD P/L shown in the Accounts Tab or on the Monitor Tab (if you have this column customized) is $500. Let's say the P/L Open (which will bounce around, of course) is -$50. Then you know that the original YTD P/L before trade launch was $500 plus $50 or $550. This value could be inserted in an appropriate column in a spreadsheet. I have attached a template skeleton.
 

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Thanks I will play around with it
I am guessing the value in M9 is leftover from your previous year or something else ?
 
Hmmm... Somehow it still does not add up
I keep track of each trade separately and unless I made a mistake somewhere the 2 results do not match
Unless the open p/l shown is wrong the closest figure it matches is the month to date not the YTD but that doesn't make sense
I will check again after I close the current trade and get the monthly statement to verify
I subtrackted the open p/l shown from the YTD shown and it still off by 1K just for reference
 
The P/L Open shown by TOS is not the actual position P/L once an adjustment has been made. As you know, TOS does not keep track of previous adjustments in the Analyze Tab, but it does account for all previously closed trades (such as adjustments) as well as the Open position in the YTD P/L number. My accounting has been accurate, and I have checked it against other methods. Also, I know the methodology employed in the sheet works because, for trades in which no adjustments have been made, the P/L Open matches the Current P/L. I have also checked the math by importing previous trades using the "Simulated Trades" method. Here is an explanation from TDAmeritrade: PROFIT/LOSS (P/L) YEAR-TO-DATE (YTD): P/L YTD is the amount of money made or lost in a particular underlying security in the current calendar year. It includes the P/L for all open positions and any closed positions made for a specific stock or index done in a calendar year. Note that it includes the " P/L for all open positions and any closed positions made for a specific stock or index done in a calendar year". The P/L Open only shows the P/L for OPEN positions: PROFIT/LOSS (P/L) OPEN: P/L Open is the amount of money made or lost on your position since the inception of the trade. You can see execution price for any stock or option in your position by going to the Monitor tab and left clicking on the P/L Open dollar amount..

The key element for an accurate Current P/L in the sheet is to have the correct "Launch YTD" which is the YTD P/L on the day before (or the instant before) a NEW trade is filled. Thus, the Current P/L YTD imported from TOS with the RTD link MINUS the P/L YTD BEFORE a new trade is filled will yield the Current P/L for the position. So, for example, if the P/L YTD on SPX was $500 BEFORE a NEW SPX trade is filled and the P/L YTD brought in by the RTD link in the sheet is $510, then the Current P/L of the NEW position is $10. Correct?
 
I understand what you are saying I am just not sure where the difference is coming from I am guessing it's something that is not factored in
I started with the nearest account value where all the trades are closed and subtracted the value from Jan 1
I did not have anything open that was left over from the previous year so I am only interested in this year YTD
I do not have any adjustments that are done on the current trade so that is not a factor
The current Open p/l matches the current p/l so at least that is correct

I will try to import the simulated trades as you mentioned and see what I get but I doubt it will be any different
It would have been nice if they had something like MTD that way I could narrow it down to a certain month
 
I think I found the problem
I imported the trades as you suggested and it looks like the commissions are not factored into the YTD trades
So my result is lower because I factored in the commissions
Is there a setting to factor in the commissions into the YTD /P/L ?
 
The YTD P/L on Jan 1 is always zero since that is when TOS starts the clock assuming the trade is not held over from the previous calendar year. If so, then I think that the YTD P/L is zero, but the P/L Open will reflect the held over trade. If your Current P/L shown on the sheet matches the P/L Open on TOS, then the sheet is working fine. That would be expected if, as you described, you have made no adjustments on the current position (meaning no buys, sells, or added trades such that the "Launch YTD" cell is zero). If you have a position in which you have traded the underlying prior to the current trade, you might try this: navigate to the Account Statement Tab and set the date range from Jan 1 to yesterday's date or the date before you launched a new trade on an underlying which you have previously traded this year. Use this number in the "Launch YTD" cell. For example, I just launched a position on ETSY ( a small OTM Fly) on Friday (3/12). But, I have traded it previously this year. So, on the Account Statement Tab I set the date range from Jan 1 to Mar 11. The resulting YTD P/L is $51. I put this in the "Launch YTD" in the sheet. Then, I reset the date range to the current day using "reset all filters". This returned a value of $40 in TOS which is also seen in the Current YTD cell in my sheet; thus, I am down $11. This is exactly what my sheet shows in the Current P/L cell. So, this method as well as the Simulated Trade method is how I know that the sheet works.

You are correct...commissions are not calculated. I keep up with them separately. You could set up a separate cell group which would add up the number of legs in your trade, including closed legs, and multiply by the fee per contract. Then sum the fees and you would have the commission cost.

Since you are having some problems with the sheet then perhaps this method is not for you. If you have ONE or OV you can, of course, keep up with your current P/L on any position. I used to have OV, but I don't need it. The TOS risk graph and my spreadsheet are all I need to keep up with my positions. I use the sheet for stock trades, ETF trades, and various option strategies, etc. The greeks on the risk graph in TOS are accurate even though the P/L Open shows only the gain/loss on the positions in the graph and does not reflect previous closed trades. Thus, it's easy for me to make trade decisions accordingly.

Best of luck.
 
Thanks for the response guys...the issue with TOS changing the Sim Trade in Analyze after an expiration has been acknowledged by TOS but I have experienced also other cases where it has changed expirations of Sim Trades EVEN before an expiration. And on Friday i had something completely different happen, it changed the expiration of an order that i placed...see below picture, I was trying to see a simple vertical spread in 29Mar exp but you see TOS had it shown as with one strike at 31Mar (a diagonal) even though they are calling it a vertical. I 100% did not place the order with those strikes.

When I posted this thread last week I was wondering if it was a bigger issue but no one else has replied that it has happened to them so am wondering if my workspace is corrupted and I need to reset it....I've had to do that before simply when it gets bogged down and runs slow.

1615810011062.png
 
Thanks DGH
The spreadsheet is working fine It was the commissions that threw off the number
I suppose for normal stocks the commissions may be negligible but for SPX it adds up quite a lot I already got over $900 in commissions YTD so that's why the number was way off It was not the open trade or any adjustments
 
Dan M
There is definitely something wrong there
That looks more like a diagonal than a vertical
I don't see how that is even possible to set it up as a vertical with 2 different expirations
I was wondering how does the graph look with one of those trades ?
Does it look like a vertical or diagonal ?
 
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