All corporate actions should be reflected in the value of your portfolio. These adjustments all happen automatically and are recorded on your history page.
- Stock splits will adjust your number of shares owned and book price. For example, in a 2 for 1 split you should receive double the shares and see your purchase price be reduced by one half.
- A dividend will increase your cash balance. For example, if you own 100 shares of a company that pays out a $0.50 dividend, you should receive $50.00 in your cash account.
- Mergers (or acquisitions) either give you a certain quantity of shares in a new company, are paid out in cash, or are some combination of shares and cash. When a merger occurs we research the event and will credit you with the amounts reported in SEC filings.
- If a company declares bankruptcy we remove the shares from your account and you receive no cash. While it is true that in a real brokerage account you might receive pennies on the dollar we have simplified the bankruptcy process because of the complications involved in tracking the legal proceedings of bankruptcy.
- We will continue to include a stock in your portfolio as long as we can receive a quote from our datafeed. If a stock does not trade for 7 days, and in the absence of bankruptcy or merger information, we determine this to be inactive and will remove it from your portfolio while crediting you with the last sale price.