This panel lists all Portfolios you have; the ones bundled with the software or those Portfolios you created yourself.

1.  The “Name” column shows each Portfolio's name. Looking at the names, you can tell if a Portfolio contains a certain industry sector (financial, technology, commodities, etc.) or if it's trading certain instruments such as stocks, ADRs (foreign stocks), ETFs, etc. 

You can also find index Portfolios, which contain the exact instruments as the real indexes they represent (past and present, thus they may include delisted symbols too). An index Portfolio usually has a counterpart called “Historical Deletion” Portfolio. This contains instruments that were ever dropped out of the index.

If you use an index Portfolio, it's recommended that you use its counterpart as well. For example, instead of just using the “Nasdaq 100” as part of the strategy, use the “Nasdaq 100 – Historical Deletions” too. It allows for a more objective selection, without overfitting to the present.

Now, you can rename these Portfolios by double-clicking any of their names. Or hover your mouse over a name, and click the pencil icon that appears. Once renamed, press Enter on your keyboard, or click the the checkmark icon  .

Only “User defined” Portfolios can be renamed, not the “Dynamic” ones.

2.  The “Data Source” column indicates the source of the instruments' price data. 

Usually we obtain data from CSI (Commodity Systems Inc.) or Yahoo Finance (deprecated).

3.  The “Type” column indicates whether the Portfolio is “User Defined” or “Dynamic”. A “User Defined” Portfolio is the one that you manage yourself; you can add or remove instruments as you wish. 

A “Dynamic” Portfolio is the one automatically managed by Portfolio Boss; we use reliable 3rd party data to manage these Portfolios. The idea is you don't have manually update the Portfolios as the market changes (companies delisted, new companies IPO'd, new entry to an index, etc.). Note, you can't customize “Dynamic” Portfolios.

4.  The “Listed” column shows the number of instruments that are actively traded; that is, instruments that are still listed on the exchanges.

5.  The “Delisted” column shows the number of instruments that are no longer listed on the exchanges; either the company went bankrupt, was merged, or it no longer meets the exchange's requirements. 

Keep in mind, even though the companies are delisted, Portfolio Boss keeps their historic price data for a more accurate backtest result (past positions). Obviously they won't be traded in the future once delisted.

6.  The toggle “Show Errors Only”: this is located at the top-right corner of the panel. Toggling this ON will only list Portfolios that contain error; such Portfolios are labelled with a warning circle  .

Hovering the cursor over the warning details the actual error. For example, the Portfolio contains instruments whose price data are unavailable from CSI and Yahoo, or if its “date removed” is earlier than the “date added” (explained later).

To revert back to the full list of Portfolios, click to toggle it OFF.

Note:

The Portfolio list can be sorted by each column. Just click a column's header to sort the list based on that column.

Create and Manage the Portfolios

7.  To create a Portfolio, click the “New” button at the top-left corner of the page. 

The “Add Portfolio” dialog appears where you can type the name of the Portfolio. Press “OK”, and you're immediately taken to the Portfolio Instruments Panel to add the instruments. Please refer to the Portfolio Instruments Panel help, to add or remove instruments from a Portfolio; essentially it's just typing the symbol and press enter.

8.  To delete a Portfolio, you can't just press the keyboard “Delete” button on a selected Portfolio. You must actually tick the checkbox (at the left of the Portfolio's name), and click the “Delete” button at the top of the page. 

You can also tick multiple Portfolios to be deleted at once (“Dynamic” Portfolios can't be deleted).

Note, if you delete a Portfolio used by a Strategy, a warning dialogue appears asking whether you really want to delete it, thus the Strategy no longer contains that Portfolio. 

9.  To copy a Portfolio, first tick it then press the “Copy” button at the top of this page. The duplicate has the suffix “- Copy” and it's a distinct Portfolio whose contents you can manipulate differently from the original. 

Note, if you copy a “Dynamic” Portfolio there's a confirmation dialog. The duplicate becomes a “User Defined” Portfolio (a.k.a. static), thus retaining the original contents but will not be automatically updated.

10.  To “Merge” two or more Portfolios, tick the Portfolios and click the “Merge” button. They'll become one single Portfolio (the originals are gone) that uses one of the Portfolios' name. 

Their instruments are combined in that single Portfolio. If the exact same instruments are used between these Portfolios, only one instrument will appear on the merged Portfolio.

11.  To “Backup” a Portfolio into a file, tick the Portfolio and click the “Backup” button. A save-destination dialog appears, defaulting to “My Document” folder at:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\PortfolioBoss\Portfolios

then save the .EBTP file (the P stands for Portfolio). 

In case of multiple selected Portfolios, they will be contained within a single EBTP file. This file not only acts as a back up, but you can send it to other PB users so they can use the Portfolios.

12.  To “Restore” a.k.a. import a Portfolio (provided you have the EBTP file), simply click the “Restore” button and navigate to where the EBTP file is located; then click Open. 

You can also double click the EBTP file directly from Windows Explorer (without using PB), and the Portfolio will be added to the Portfolio list.

Note that the EBTP file name does not necessarily become the Portfolio name on the list, as the Portfolio uses the name you created internally in PB.

Notes:

• If the imported Portfolio already exists inside of PB, then nothing happens.
• You can't load multiple .EBTP files at once.
• If the instruments' price data are being downloaded, the Portfolios will show a loading column. And only Portfolios that are used in strategies will have their historic price data downloaded, for efficiency reasons.

• You may want to check the Portfolio Boss Status Page if there are problems with the historical data download (or synchronization of Dynamic Portfolios):

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