How to import your share trading history from a CSV or broker export
Your trading history is probably scattered across one or more broker accounts. Getting it into a portfolio tracker gives you accurate cost basis calculations, capital gains tax reports, and a clear picture of how your investments are actually performing.
The process can be frustrating, though. Every broker exports data differently, column names don't match, date formats vary, and some exports need cleaning before they're usable. This guide covers how to export from popular brokers and what to expect when importing.
Two ways to track: holdings vs transactions
TrackMyShares offers two approaches, and which one you pick depends on how much detail you need.
Holdings portfolio is the quick option. You list your current positions (symbol, quantity, and optionally what you paid). You don't need your full trading history. It gives you a snapshot of portfolio value, allocation, and daily changes, and it's available during the free trial and on any plan.
Transaction portfolio is where the real power is. You import your full buy, sell, and dividend history. More effort upfront, but it unlocks things a holdings-only view simply can't do:
- Accurate cost basis calculated using the FIFO method, with purchase dates and prices for every trade. Essential for capital gains tax.
- Tax reporting for Australia, the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Without transactions, you'll be reconstructing everything at tax time.
- True performance that accounts for when you bought and at what price.
- Dividend history including franking credits and withholding tax.
If you've ever spent hours at tax time pulling together broker statements and spreadsheets, importing your history once saves you that effort every year going forward.
Exporting from your broker
Most brokers let you download trading history as a CSV. Here's where to find it for six popular brokers.
CommSec
Go to Portfolio > Accounts > Transactions. You can export domestic (ASX) and international trades separately. Select your date range and look for the CSV download option.
CommSec uses columns like "Code" or "Stock Code" for the ticker and "Brokerage" for fees. If you hold both ASX and international shares, you'll need two separate exports. See our CommSec import guide for a full walkthrough.
SelfWealth
Go to Settings > Trading Account > Reports and generate a report for your full history.
SelfWealth provides separate exports for ASX and US trades. Each file is a clean CSV with trade dates, quantities, prices, and brokerage fees. See our SelfWealth import guide.
Stake
Navigate to More > Tax & Documents > Account Summary Report for a complete record of your US stock trades.
Stake shows zero brokerage on US trades, which is correct, but FX conversion fees aren't included in the export. Keep that in mind if you need them for your records. See our Stake import guide.
Interactive Brokers
IBKR offers Flex Queries (recommended) and Activity Statements. Flex Queries give you more control over which fields to include and the date range.
One thing that trips people up: IBKR uses "BOT" and "SLD" instead of "Buy" and "Sell". TrackMyShares recognises these automatically. See our Interactive Brokers import guide.
CMC Markets
On the web platform, go to Account > Order History and use advanced search to set your date range. On the desktop app, it's under Account > History. Export as CSV. See our CMC Markets import guide.
Superhero
Download your Transaction Statement for a custom date range.
Superhero's CSV often includes extra header rows above the actual data. You'll need to delete these before importing so the column headers are read correctly. See our Superhero import guide.
Preparing your CSV
Here are the key columns a portfolio tracker needs:
| Column | What it contains | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol/Ticker | The stock code | CBA, AAPL, VAS |
| Type | Buy, sell, or dividend | Buy |
| Date | When the trade happened | 15/03/2025 |
| Quantity | Number of shares | 50 |
| Price | Price per share | 112.50 |
| Fees | Brokerage or commission | 9.95 |
Optional but useful columns: franking credits (for Australian dividend tax reporting), withholding tax (for US dividends received by non-US investors), market/exchange, and currency.
Common issues
Date formats. Australian brokers use DD/MM/YYYY, US brokers use MM/DD/YYYY. TrackMyShares auto-detects and asks you to confirm when it's ambiguous (is 03/04/2025 the 3rd of April or the 4th of March?).
Currency symbols and commas. Dollar signs and thousands separators in price columns are stripped automatically during import.
Extra header rows. Some brokers (like Superhero) include account summary rows above the transaction data. Delete these so the column headers are read correctly.
Stock splits. If your broker records splits as separate line items, TrackMyShares supports a dedicated "split" transaction type.
Dividends. Some brokers show a total amount, others show per-share with the number of shares held. TrackMyShares accepts both formats.
Importing into TrackMyShares
- Upload your CSV or Excel file (drag and drop or browse). For multi-sheet Excel files, you pick which sheet to import
- Column mapping happens automatically. TrackMyShares recognises aliases from all six brokers above ("Stock Code", "Avg. Price", "Brokerage", "Trade Date", and more). You can adjust manually if needed
- Date format confirmation only appears when dates are genuinely ambiguous
- Preview and validate every row. Green means ready, yellow flags warnings like missing optional fields, red highlights errors to fix
- Import and your transactions are processed immediately
After importing, you can generate tax reports, view dividend history, compare performance against the S&P 500 or ASX 200, and track your portfolio with accurate cost basis data.
Multiple brokers
If you use more than one broker (say CommSec for ASX shares and Stake for US stocks):
- Create a separate portfolio for each broker so imports stay clean and you can re-import each broker's data independently
- Import each broker's transactions into its own portfolio
- Create a consolidated portfolio that combines them for a single view with unified tax reporting and performance tracking
Your consolidated portfolio generates one tax report covering all brokers. No more piecing together multiple reports at tax time.
Keeping your portfolio up to date
The initial import is the biggest task. After that:
- Periodic CSV imports. Export new transactions monthly or quarterly and import the new trades. TrackMyShares detects duplicates using external IDs and trade details, so you won't get repeated entries.
- Email forwarding. Each portfolio gets a unique email address. Forward your broker confirmation emails to it and the system parses trade details automatically. Transactions appear as pending for you to review before they're added. You can set up automatic forwarding rules in Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail so new trades flow in as they happen. We built this because users kept forgetting to log trades.
- Manual entry. For the occasional trade, add transactions directly from the portfolio page.
Getting started
Start with your most active broker. Get that data in, check the numbers, then add your other accounts.
TrackMyShares supports CSV and Excel imports with auto-detection for CommSec, SelfWealth, Stake, Interactive Brokers, CMC Markets, and Superhero. For a quick overview, create a holdings portfolio and get started right away with the 7-day free trial. When you're ready for tax reports and full performance tracking, the PRO plan has everything you need.
Need help importing from your broker? Check our broker import guides or visit the support page to get in touch.