Generic Import Format

If your broker is not directly supported by Tradervue, or you are having trouble importing your data, you may be able to use our generic import format. The data format looks like the following:

Date,Time,Symbol,Quantity,Price,Side
1/17/2011,11:35:05,SPY,100,125.52,Buy
1/17/2011,14:41:15,SPY,100,125.89,Sell

A few notes about this data format:

• Date: highly recommended; if this column is omitted, the import date will be used for each execution. If present, the date MUST be in one of the following formats: mm/dd/yyyy, mm-dd-yyyy, yyyy/mm/dd, yyyy-mm-dd, yyyymmdd. Note that day-first formats are not supported.
• Time: highly recommended; if this column is omitted, 12:00:00 will be used as the execution time for each execution. This has a number of side effects - see Importing without execution times. If present, the time MUST be in HH:MM:SS format as shown, in 24-hour time. The time zone can be selected when importing.
• Symbol: required. For futures, the symbol can be in any of the following formats: ESZ1, ESZ11, ES DEC 11, ES Dec11, ES 12-11, or ES 12.11. For forex, use symbols like EURUSD.
• Quantity: required.
• Price: required.
• Side: optional; if side is omitted, the quantity should be negative to indicate a sell. If present, needs to start with a "B" or an "S" for buy or sell; acceptable examples are BOT, SLD, Buy, Sell, Short, etc.
• Either commas or tabs are acceptable as delimiters.
• The header row as shown above is highly recommended, but is optional if the columns are in the exact order shown above. If your columns are in a different order, the header is required. Various synonyms for the column names are accepted.

Commissions/Fees: If you are a Gold subscriber, you can import commission and fee data. Simply add columns with the titles "Commission", "TransFee", and "ECNFee" for trade commission, transaction fees, and ECN fees/rebates respectively. For fees, a positive number is a charge, and a negative number is a credit.

Options: If you are a silver or gold subscriber, you can import options. Add a column titled "Option", and add the specific contract name in that column. For example, you can use something like "JAN 12 125 CALL" as the Contract. You must also specify the symbol in the symbol column; options are grouped together with other executions with the same symbol. Here is some example data with both stock and options that will successfully import:

Time,Date,Quantity,Symbol,Side,Price,Option
09:35:05,1/5/2012,1,SPY,Buy,1.75,JAN 12 125 CALL
09:39:34,1/5/2012,100,SPY,Sell,121.50,
09:41:22,1/5/2012,100,SPY,Buy,120.50,
09:52:54,1/5/2012,1,SPY,Sell,1.50,JAN 12 125 CALL

For option assignment and expiration, add rows to your data to reflect what happens. For example, if you had a short option contract that expired worthless, add a row to your data to buy it back on the expiration date for $0.00.

For common index options, use the following underlying symbols: $SPX, $IUXX (for NASDAQ 100), $VIX, and $RUT (Russell 2000). Contact us if there are other index options you are trading, and the symbols you are using are not generating price charts. You can also search for the appropriate index symbols here.

Mini options are supported - the option contract name must end in "M"; for example, "APR26 13 375 PUT M" would be an mini AAPL weekly 375 put, expiring on April 26, 2013.

Excel: One easy way to generate data in the necessary format is using Excel. Start with this simple sample template:

Sample Excel Template

In that spreadsheet, delete the sample data (keep the header), and add your own trade data. When you are ready to import, you don't need to save the data - instead, select all of your data (including the header), then go to Edit/Copy. After you've copied your data, go to the Tradervue import page, select "Generic Import Format" from the list, and paste your data into the box on the left and click Upload.

We are continually working on making this format more robust and able to import data in more different formats. In the meantime, start with a small sample set of data, and if you are able to successfully import, then import the rest!

If you have questions, or are having trouble importing data in the generic format, please let us know.