That solves it, but I prefer seeing a short position that goes up as a negative percentage. Then when you glance at 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 stocks and see a bunch of pluses (without a + sign) and minuses (with a - sign) you get a feel for the consistency or performance or risk or beta before you check the bottom line.
If you can fit "-xx%".
But you can for long positions. I think it has to do with how you calculate a short position, without calling the shares a negative number.
I had positions down double digits last game. Something must be different in the spreadsheet for a short position. Maybe there's another explanation of why -13% displayed as 13% (before you made this latest change to remove the minus sign for short positions).
But why did -3% or -1% display, and -13% shows as 13%?
I have a little spreadsheet for my portfolio:
Sr K, Game 5 4/2/2007
A B C D E F G H
Symbol Allocation Shares Start Price Start $ Price Current Change
and it works for me for short position DSW on line 5.
The Current Value is C5*D5+(C5*D5-C5*F5).
For a long position on line 7 (I have Cash on line 6), the Current Value is C7*D7+(C7*F7-C7*D7).
For long or short or cash, the Change is Gxx/Exx-1, for each line.
Within a portfolio, for a player viewing his own or when viewing other portfolios (or early in a game when people check if the calculations are right), the lines show the performance of that line in the portfolio. The negative sign shows that. Without the negative sign, you are showing the performance of the stock, not that portfolio line.
On "Cost" and "Start" I was thinking ahead to someone buying a stock mid-Game, say April 30. You said it was too much work to keep the list current as positions are added and sold (or covered). And people sometimes buy a stock mid-Game someone else bought at the start. Previously, I think you showed that as one stock name with two entries and two percentage changes.
So I thought as the Game unfolds, "Start" will work better than "cost", allowing you to show a stock symbol only once even if bought at every possible opportunity.
Also for a short position I don't have a "cost". I have a basis, but that's too accounting-speak. If you are going to display a price from 4/2 for someone who puts on a position 4/30 or 5/29, 7/2, and 7/30 (a 4-day trade), the 4/2 price is a Start (of Game 5) price, not a cost for any player (except if by coincidence).
And cost needs a number of shares; the stock list doesn't have a number of shares.
The value of the stock list is to draw attention by comparison among the list, like a relative strength chart or table, not to show an individual player's performance with buying or selling or shorting it (for that you can look above for the individual records).
A "Start" price works as the Game develops. IMO. |
