StockMarketEye v3.1.0 Released

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v3.1.0 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release includes many new features and enhancements, most of them based on direct feedback from our users. Thank you! Please do let us know if there are features you’d like to see added or if you find that something doesn’t work the way you expect. With your help we can continue to make StockMarketEye the best portfolio tracking software on the market.

Benchmark Comparison

In this release, we’ve added a new set of columns for comparing your investments and portfolios against a benchmark. We’re calling these, unsurpisingly, the “Benchmark Comparison” columns. Add these columns to your portfolio and see how your investments would be performing if you’d invested in the benchmark, instead of the investment you actually made.

You can use any symbol as the benchmark and each portfolio can have a different benchmark symbol. By default, a portfolio will use the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) as the benchmark symbol. However, as the benchmark comparisons include the affects of any dividends payed by the benchmark, you may want to use an ETF that mirrors the index (such as SPY in the case of the S&P 500) because the ETF pays dividends, rather than the pure index symbol which does not itself pay dividends.

Other Major Features

Another great feature we’ve added in this release is the ability to change the size of the text in the watchlist and portfolio tables. This was a regularly requested feature that we were finally able to add. We hope it makes your StockMarketEye experience more enjoyable and your gains easier to see.

In the 1-Day chart, we’ve added a horizontal line denoting the previous day’s closing price. This helps give perspective to the day’s price movement.

We’ve also made changes to the way files are selected. For example, when creating a backup of your StockMarketEye data, you need to specifically select the backup file name by clicking on the “Browse” button and selecting the file to use for the backup in the file selection window. StockMarketEye will still propose the default backup file name in the file selection window, just as in previous versions, but you will need to explicitly acknowledge it by clicking on the “Browse” button and then clicking OK in the file selection window. This way of entering file names is now used throughout StockMarketEye everywhere a file is required, such as importing and exporting, PDF creation and backup/restore. This change was the result of our work to get StockMarketEye listed in Apple’s Mac Store.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v3.1.0

New Features

• New benchmark columns for Portfolios, Portfolio Totals and Combined Portfolio: “Benchmark Symbol”, “Benchmark Shares”, “Benchmark Market Val”, “Benchmark TR”, “Benchmark TR %”, “Benchmark CAGR”, “Benchmark IRR”, “Benchmark TWRR”. Read more about benchmark performance comparison in our User’s Guide
• New columns: “% Below 52Wk High” and “% Above 52Wk Low”
• New column: “Sum Total %” representing a portfolio’s percentage of the Sum Total.
• Allow changing the font size in Watchlist and Portfolio tables. Read more in our User’s Guide.
• Allow creation of “Interest In” transactions linked to a specific symbol via the distribution (i.e. dividend) declaration window. Useful for recording interest payments for bonds or other securities.
• Added horizontal dashed-line in 1-Day chart, representing the previous day’s closing price.
• Chart data export options were made clearer and more consistent.
• Allow for entering an unrecoginzed ticker symbol during the symbol mapping stage of portfolio import.
• Initial deposit window allows an empty amount (for a $0 deposit) and will not record a “Cash In” transaction if the initial amount is 0.
• Added TimeZone info to “About StockMarketEye” window.
• Under-the-hood changes for quote retrieval required for acceptance into Apple’s Mac Store.

Changes and Fixes

• Fixed problem with on-line synchronisation when copying items from one watchlist to another.
• Fixed problem with costbasis when a stock had splits.
• Fixed charts for some UK stocks when Yahoo Finance quotes the stock in Pounds, but the historical quotes are quoted in pence.
• Fixed selling short adds commissions rather than subtracting them.
• Fixed costbasis not including fees.
• Fixed problem with transactions recorded when selling multiple specific lots.
• When showing the chart, make sure that both it and the table above would be visible and not obscured due to the window being too small.
• Fixed issue with splits causing problems in the portfolio’s value chart.
• Fixed problem with alerts when alerts have been set using both watchlist and portfolio columns for the same symbol.
• Exchange rate is now updated if required when selecting a dividend from the dividend search window.
• Removed “^^” characters from option symbol names during brokerage import from OptionsXpress.
• Removed spaces from option symbol names during brokerage import from Schwab.

If you are using StockMarketEye 3, we highly recommend that you upgrade to this version. This is a free update for those already using StockMarketEye 3.

Haven’t yet updated to StockMarketEye 3? What better time than now!

Update

If you are having problems with the updated version not showing the watchlist and portfolio table correctly (i.e. the chart area is too big, taking almost the whole right-hand side of the window), try the following:

1. Quit StockMarketEye, then start it again. It should bring the chart back to a normal size and you should be able to see the watchlist/portfolio table.
2. If that doesn’t work, you can also click-and-drag the horizontal divider between the top of the chart area (dark grey line above the chart range area) and the top portfolio/watchlist table. Drag it down to reveal the normal portfolio/watchlist area.

Nick