Trade Types for Shares, ETFs, Managed Funds & Custom Investments in Navexa

This article explains the trade types available for shares, ETFs, managed funds and Custom Investments, so you can record investment activity correctly in Navexa.

Cryptocurrency and Cash Accounts use different transaction types and are not covered here.

Most investment activity can be recorded using Buy or Sell. Other trade types are designed for opening balances, corporate actions and cost base adjustments.

Your cost base is generally the amount used to determine the cost of an investment for capital gains purposes. Some trade types change your quantity, some change your cost base, and some do both.

Use Buy when you purchase an investment or acquire additional units.

A Buy:

Enter the quantity, price per unit and any brokerage associated with the purchase.

Use Sell when you dispose of some or all of an investment.

A Sell:

Enter the quantity sold, sale price and applicable brokerage.

Use Opening Balance when you already own an investment and want to begin tracking it from a chosen date without entering every earlier purchase.

You enter:

The cost base is entered in the holding's currency. Navexa calculates the average cost per unit from:

Total cost base ÷ Quantity

For listed securities, Navexa also uses the market price around the opening balance date for performance tracking where price data is available. Your entered cost base remains the cost base used for the opening position.

Opening Balance can be useful when complete historical transaction data isn't available. If you do have the full transaction history, importing or entering those transactions will generally provide more complete historical reporting.

Use Split when a company completes an official share split or subdivision.

A Split:

For example, after a 2-for-1 split, your quantity doubles while the total cost base remains unchanged.

Enter the number of additional units created by the split.

Use Consolidation when a company completes a share consolidation or reverse split.

A Consolidation:

Enter the number of units removed by the consolidation.

Use Bonus when you receive additional shares or units without making a standard purchase.

This can include certain bonus share issues or Dividend Substitution Share Plans (DSSPs).

A Bonus:

The tax treatment of bonus shares can vary. Use the information supplied by the issuer or registry when determining how the event should be recorded.

Use Cancellation when shares or units are formally cancelled or your ownership in them is extinguished.

A Cancellation:

Enter the number of units cancelled and the applicable value or consideration.

Do not use Cancellation simply because a security has been delisted or no longer has a current market price. The shares may still exist even if they are no longer trading.

Use Return Of Capital when an issuer returns part of your invested capital without reducing the number of units you hold.

A Return Of Capital:

Enter the Capital Return Value shown in the relevant issuer or registry documentation.

A return of capital can affect future capital gains calculations, so use the information supplied for the specific event.

Use Cost Base Increase when your investment's cost base needs to be increased without changing the quantity held.

A Cost Base Increase:

This is commonly used when an ETF or managed fund tax statement identifies an amount that increases the cost base.

Use Cost Base Decrease when your investment's cost base needs to be reduced without changing the quantity held.

A Cost Base Decrease:

This is commonly used when an ETF or managed fund tax statement identifies an amount that reduces the cost base.

Custom Investments use the same 10 trade types described in this article once the investment has been created.

There are a few differences when setting one up:

The quantity, cost base and transaction calculations otherwise follow the same trade-type logic as shares, ETFs and managed funds.

Some transactions can appear in your trade history even though they aren't options you manually select from the trade-type list.

When a dividend is recorded as reinvested, Navexa can create a corresponding Dividend Reinvestment transaction.

This records the additional units acquired through the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP).

Don't record those units separately as a Buy or Bonus if Navexa has already created the reinvestment transaction.

Merger transactions can also create system-generated incoming and outgoing trades.

For a merger or similar corporate action, open the relevant holding and use Actions > Add Merger rather than trying to recreate the event using ordinary Buy and Sell trades.

To add a trade to an existing holding:

Trades can also be added from the Transactions page.

Before adding a corporate action manually, check whether it has already been imported or created by Navexa. Duplicate transactions can affect quantity, cost base, performance and tax reporting.

Always record the transaction that actually occurred. Use the issuer notice, registry statement, broker record or tax statement to confirm the event details.

Remember, this is general information, not personal financial advice.