I am struggling to track the actual and real tracking of amount invested versus cash recycled resulting from operations. After goign through the fourm and trying with different approaches in Capitally, such as creating separate funding account structures, I cannot find the mechanism to track actual money deposited into broker accounts, reflected in the export from the brokers. The aim is to be able to track funding in different currencies, this is real money used to trade, from the actual value of the investments including profits which generate new cash and gets invested agains, effectively the recycled cash.
Event when I create artifical “funding account structure” to then move than money as a transfer transaction to the broker account in capitally, I cannot see or record real money used. How are users or Capitally actually allowing such view or tracking?
There isn’t a single “total paid into this broker” metric. Principal Change under Returns → Breakdown shows deposits minus withdrawals for the selected period, separately from investment returns. Invested Principal is the cost of what you currently hold, so it can include reinvested profits. For example, a $1,000 deposit raises Principal Change by $1,000 when viewing in USD; selling an investment at a profit and reinvesting the proceeds doesn’t count as another deposit. Portfolio totals are shown in one selected viewing currency, not as separate funding totals for each currency. The Portfolio metrics guide explains the distinction.
To keep a record of what you paid in, enable Cash Tracking and record each deposit from outside your tracked accounts as an incoming cash Transfer in its actual currency, or check that your broker import included those transfers. If you also track the funding account, use Convert / Move / Spinoff to move cash between it and the broker account; that move isn’t new money entering the portfolio. Capitally doesn’t automatically distinguish Buys funded by new deposits from those funded by earlier profits. If you need that purchase-level split, tag the Buys yourself as “Own Money” or “Reinvested” and filter by tag. See Tracking Cash and Transaction Types.
Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted to avoid, using flags, I have not found any tool yet capable of automatically providing separation of recycled cash from original investment and it forces to keep separate tabs, because when there is small recurring investments it is a pain to track original investment, and worse when gains are recycled into the invested principal. Cash tracking is enabled by the way, and I have modelled different approaches as mentioned -including transaction types-, but none are capable of providing a clean view without having to do work on the side, which is why I found it really weird that Capitally, or others, do not track “funding” transactions and recycled cash by default, specially when different currencies are in involved.
Capitally tracks internally the realised returns, that includes wins and losses, and that´s where the recycled cash gets into, and that seems to be tracked at the lowest level possible to then run aggregations when building graphs
Deposited money in broker accounts can be in typically 2-3 currencies, and usually the brokers register that “deposit” or “withdrawals” which is correctly imported by Capitally as cash flows. However, anyone can be withdrawing money and never putting it back. Those deposits and withdrawals are properly reflected in the cash flow but the ability to easily track the tallyied net cash flow is not reflected anywhere as a metric, nor even in the graphs, because any asset sold is reflected as a cash
So, the issue is, how to show the real and tangible profit from what is left across multiple brokers and currencies, like am I making money and how much bearing in mind the cash flows and the recycled money anyone keeps reinvesting. It is possibel to build graphs with cash flows in, cashflows out..ect but it is not possible to differentiate cash used for trading from recycles cash from withdrawals. Maybe someone has been able to build such end metric, which is basically, something like for example in the last 6 months no additional cash was invested only recycled cash was used and portfolio yield 5%, or since opening this amount has been net deposited (cash in - cash outs - profits + loses) and that has returned 20% , or for this broker account in the last 24 months having deposited x, removed y it has yield 12%…ect.
P.S. By the way, the top ribbon that says “Total Returns” and “Realised returns”, the corresponding column name is not aligned, the column name only says “Returns”, despite it is the same, just a minor odditiy that is confusing, same happens in the help pages, the same value is using two names “Total returns” and “Returns”. Minor comestic with the non capitalise “returns” when everythign else is capitalised.
Net money contributed is deposits minus withdrawals, without subtracting profits or adding losses. With Cash Tracking on, selling an investment moves its value into cash you still hold; it isn’t a withdrawal. For example, if you deposit $1,000, make $200 on a sale and then withdraw $300, Principal Change is +$700. The $200 is an investment return, whether or not you reinvest it.
For a selected period, filter Portfolio to a broker account and compare Principal Change with Total Returns under Returns → Breakdown. For a percentage that accounts for the size and timing of your cash flows, use Rate of Return (MWR). This guide explains the distinction between return rates. These figures don’t give you separate gross deposit and withdrawal totals in each original funding currency: the displayed totals use one viewing currency, and Capitally doesn’t automatically label purchases as funded by new versus recycled cash.
But generally speaking, the return is how much money you have made in general, regardless of cash transfers. Moving money in and out does not affect your returns. And if you reinvest your cash it’s counted the same as return from “new” cash.
Thanks, the issue is principal change includes the recycled cash from wins, so the more recycled the more messy situation. the difference you point out, Principal change against Total Returns does not allow gettign such view, I validated just now, that I knew it would not work due to recycled cash. Portfolio for a broker shows transactions with exact deposits of X, the difference between Principal change and Total Returns is way lower…the reason is simple, Total returns assumes closure of open positions to do the calculation. The calculation you place only works in the ideal scenario where there are no open positions in the period selected.
This is why the Return is not how much money has been made in general, but how much money you would make if you closed all positions today, or through the selected period. Capitally is tracking the wins through realised returns, but the original cash, without the recycled cash, is lost forever.
You’re right, and I got this wrong. With Cash Tracking on, the proceeds of a sale become cash principal, so Principal Change includes the gains you’ve realized. My earlier example would show +$900, not +$700. I checked it on a test portfolio: deposit 1,000, buy, sell with a 200 gain, withdraw 300 gives Principal Change 900 and Realized Returns 200.
So the net amount you’ve put in for any period is Principal Change minus Realized Returns. Filter Portfolio to a broker account to get it per account. Money moved between your own accounts counts as a withdrawal from one and a deposit into the other, and cancels out when you look at the whole portfolio. This relies on Cash Tracking covering all your accounts, which you already have.
For the percentage, set Return Rate to Money Weighted Return. It’s the return on exactly the money you deposited and withdrew, weighted by how long it was invested, so reinvested gains are never counted as new money and you don’t need to separate recycled cash from fresh deposits. Your three examples map directly onto it: pick the last 6 months, the max period, or one broker over 24 months, and read the rate. Whatever you held at the start of the period counts as money already invested. More in Calculating returns.
One clarification: Total Returns doesn’t assume you close your positions. It’s realized gains plus the current market gain on what you still hold. If you only want closed trades, that’s Realized Returns.
I see why seeing this directly would be useful, so I’m considering Deposits and Withdrawals metrics showing the money that entered and left the accounts you’re viewing. They’d be in your viewing currency, not split by funding currency (but you can always filter by them).
On the naming: the tile’s title follows your returns settings (what’s included in the return), while the column just says Returns to save space. It’s the same figure.