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Your First Portfolio

This guide walks you through creating your first portfolio and recording your first investment transaction. By the end, you will have a working portfolio with live market data.

Prerequisites​

  • A Metrifly account (create one here if you have not already)
  • Details of at least one investment you want to track (ticker symbol, purchase date, quantity, and price)

Step 1: Create a Portfolio​

  1. After signing in, click Create Portfolio on the Portfolios page (or the + button if you already have portfolios).
  2. Fill in the form:
    • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "Australian Shares", "US Tech Portfolio", "Retirement Fund").
    • Description (optional): A note about the purpose of this portfolio.
    • Default Currency: The base currency for this portfolio (e.g., AUD, USD, GBP). All values will be reported in this currency. Transactions in other currencies are automatically converted.
  3. Click Create.

Create portfolio form

info

The default currency cannot be changed after creation. Choose the currency you want to see your portfolio valued in. For example, if you are an Australian investor, choose AUD even if some of your holdings are in USD.

Step 2: Add Your First Transaction​

You are now on your portfolio page. It is empty because you have not recorded any trades yet.

  1. Click Add Transaction (or the + button).
  2. Fill in the transaction form:
    • Type: Select BUY.
    • Ticker: Enter the stock ticker (e.g., "CBA" for Commonwealth Bank, "AAPL" for Apple).
    • Exchange: Select the exchange (e.g., ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ).
    • Date: The date you purchased the shares.
    • Quantity: The number of shares you bought.
    • Price: The price per share at the time of purchase.
    • Fee (optional): Any brokerage or transaction fees.
    • Currency: The currency the trade was executed in (defaults to your portfolio currency).
    • Notes (optional): Any personal notes about this trade (e.g., "Bought on earnings dip").
  3. Click Save.

Add transaction form

tip

If you bought shares in a currency different from your portfolio's default currency (e.g., you hold USD shares in an AUD portfolio), Metrifly will automatically fetch the exchange rate for the transaction date. You can also enter a custom exchange rate if you prefer.

Step 3: See Your Portfolio Come to Life​

After saving, Metrifly automatically:

  • Creates a holding for the ticker you entered
  • Fetches the current market price for that holding
  • Calculates your cost basis (total amount paid including fees)
  • Shows your unrealised gain or loss based on the current price

Your portfolio page now shows:

  • A holdings table with your position
  • Portfolio value and total return summary cards
  • A performance chart that will build up over time as daily snapshots are recorded

Portfolio with first holding

Step 4: Explore the Holding Detail​

Click on the holding name in the table to open the holding detail page. Here you will find five tabs:

  1. Overview -- Cost basis, current value, gain/loss, allocation percentage, and key statistics
  2. Trades -- A list of all transactions for this holding
  3. Income -- Dividend history (populated automatically as dividends are detected)
  4. Notes -- Add personal notes about this investment
  5. Settings -- Configure DRP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) and other options

What to Do Next​

  • Add more transactions to build out your portfolio -- see Adding Transactions
  • Import transactions in bulk from a CSV file -- see CSV Import
  • Set up benchmarks to compare your performance -- see Benchmarks
  • Take a quick tour of all features -- see Quick Tour