Adding custom assets

Capitally is designed to help you track anything of value in your portfolio.

How to Create a Custom Asset

1. Click on the + Add button and select the create a custom asset option.
2. Choose the type of asset you want to add. Some assets have different sets of properties or transaction types available, so pick the one that is conceptually closest to what you want to track. For example, Cash has no market prices as it doesn't change its value, while Real Estate has a Rent payment transaction. Don't worry too much about this, as you can change the type later on.
3. Choose the asset's currency and its Pricing method. Market pulls prices, dividends and splits from a market symbol. Interest derives them from the instrument's own terms — coupon, schedule, day count — through interest-based pricing. Value tracks the holding by its total value, with no price or quantity of its own. Manual leaves the prices to you. A symbol and prices you enter by hand are not alternatives: under Market and under Interest alike, your own points override the symbol on the dates you set them.

An import is another route to the same asset. When the review cannot match an asset, the row's Create button opens the Add asset form with its name, symbol, ISIN and type pre-filled from the file. The asset uses the same form, defaults and pricing rules as one created from + Add.

The Add asset form pre-filled from the file

For more information on editing assets, check out the article on Assets.

Tracking an asset type that isn't in the list

The asset type list is fixed, and not every instrument has a type of its own — there is no Futures type, for one. Create a custom asset and pick the type whose behaviour fits: Derivative for a contract, or Other, which allows every transaction type Capitally has. Then classify it in the asset's Taxonomy tab under Category — no Futures category is predefined either, so add one to the tree yourself from Categories in the Portfolio.

Categories work as an extension of asset types. Each asset belongs to exactly one category, so unlike sectors, regions or tags they give non-partial allocation and return attribution, and they drive grouping and filtering across the Portfolio and the X-Ray chart. Taxonomies covers how the category tree nests and how to edit it.

The type mainly decides which transactions the asset offers. Derivative covers the trading ones — Buy, Sell, Transfer, Convert / Move / Spinoff, Account Balance, Stock Option and Other Income / Expense / Fees. Other adds Dividend, Interest Payment, Rent Payment and Split on top of those, which is what makes it the safe default when you are not sure. Fund works too when a fund's mechanics suit you better — the same advice as in tracking black-box investments. Whichever type you land on, the category is what keeps the breakdown clean, so you never have to distort the type to get one.

Example: a futures contract

Create the custom asset — during an import or from + Add — then enter the buy and the sell or expiration transaction with their dates, quantities and prices. Leave the pricing method on Manual: with no price source and no manual prices, the asset is valued from the prices on its own Buy and Sell transactions, so the position value stays correct without loading any historical price series. That is what makes this work for contracts that have already settled, such as FCCCZ23, as well as open ones, and for any instrument with no price feed and a short, self-contained life.

Adding transactions

Once the asset is created, create its initial transaction, so it's bound to an account and has some quantity. A Buy, Transfer or Account Balance transaction all work. If you don't do this, the asset will not be displayed on the Dashboard or Portfolio, as long as the Period only option is enabled — there is nothing for it to show within the period you are looking at.

For an instrument denominated in its principal, such as a loan or a private note, the opening transaction carries the principal as the quantity at a price of 1 — a 25,000 note is 25,000 units at a price of 1. On a Loan or a Mortgage that transaction is called Open rather than Buy, and on an interest-priced asset the Price arrives pre-filled with the asset's face value, so check it reads 1 before you save.

If you want to add more transactions later on, you can click that + Add button once more and your custom asset will show on the list to choose from.

Private debt: notes, private bonds and loans you've made

For a private debt instrument — a promissory note, a private bond, money lent to a business or a person — use asset type Bond with the pricing method left on Manual, or type Loan with Prices → Interest if you want the interest accrued for you (see interest-based pricing).

The sign of the quantity decides which side of the deal you're on: positive when you're the lender holding the note, negative when you're the borrower and it's a liability. A Loan stores its terms on the negative side, so a note you granted — a positive position — is only priced by them while Same parameters for positive and negative balances is on, under Advanced options. That is the toggle to check when money you lent out accrues nothing. Tracking Debt covers the borrowing side in full, including repayments and interest you pay.

When a custom asset becomes publicly traded

You don't have to start over. Edit the asset, open the Prices tab and point the price source at the newly traded market symbol. Your transactions, cost basis and return history carry straight through, so the pre-IPO period stays in your returns.

If you're backfilling after the listing instead, add the market-traded asset and enter the pre-IPO purchase manually at the price you actually paid. The gain from the IPO is then included as it should be.