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Trading

Once you have set up a portfolio, you trade by clicking on the name of a security.  This brings up the trade window shown here. 

This lets you

·         Buy or sell securities

Simply enter the quantity and click buy or sell.  This is adjusted by the contract size depending on the security.  If there is a transaction cost (see “Program Defaults”) it is charged; you buy at the ask price and sell at the bid price.

·         Pay dividends or coupons

This is a monetary amount per unit held.  For example, if you hold 100 units of a stock and the stock pays a dividend of 0.5 per share, you would enter 0.5 and click “Pay.”  This payment is not affected by the contract size.

·         Adjust for stock splits

A 2-for-1 split would require you to enter 2 in the first box, 1 in the second box, and click “Adjust.”  This is not affected by the setting of the contract size.

·         Mark a security to market

 This lets you “cash out” a security.  The dollar amount per security is added to your cash balance, and your position is set to zero.  You can then delete the security of you want, from the Securities menu of the main window.

Futures: Enter the net amount per contract, i.e. the payoff from the futures contract.

·                                 Note: when you trade, you typically buy at the ask price and sell at the bid price.  The program also allows you to see what would happen if you were a market maker, in which case you would be buying at the bid and selling at the ask.  In this case, simply check “Trade at Market Maker’s Price”