Charles Schwab Import Instructions

There are now 3 methods of import:

brokerConnect™ Import of Transaction History

General Procedure:

1.  Run TradeLog and click on the Schwab Imp button.

2.  A popup dialog box will ask you to select your import method.
     Select brokerConnect and click OK.

Please note that this dialog box will only popup if you selected "Select each time" as your default import method from Options, Import Filters. You can make brokerConnect your default import method to save one keystroke when importing.

3.  A popup dialog box allows you to enter your
User Name, Password, and Account Number. 
Please make sure you enter a dash in your account number!

NOTE: If you have changed your Schwab account number to a nickname then you will need to change it back to your account number if you wish to use brokerConnect.

The From date pick box shows the from date that will be used for this import. You can use the default date or if you want to import a specific day or you can select the first of the month date from the drop down calendar fro a specific month.

The To date pick box allows you to select your own end date for a custom date range import. The default date range is 3 months.

If you are a really active trader, please select 1 Month to import one month at a time. 

Clicking on the Timeout button allows you to increase the time TradeLog will wait for a response. This may be necessary if you have a slow internet connection or large amounts of data.  You may also have to reduce the date range as well and import in smaller chucks.

This information gets encrypted and is stored in your TradeLog data file.  It only needs to be entered once for each brokerage account.

The next time you click the Schwab Imp button your information will be displayed in the box and you simply click the OK button to continue.

4.  Click OK and TradeLog will connect to the Schwab web site to get your most current trade information. TradeLog will automatically login to your account.  Please do not click any keys while TradeLog gets your data!

5.  Your trades will be automatically imported and matched.


Export CSV File Import

General Procedure:

1.  Log on to your Charles Schwab trading account web site
     and Click on the Account tab and then History tab.


 

2.  Select Previous Year, or Current Year from the Date Range: drop down box
     ...or...
     Select a date range from the From/To: boxes


 

3.  Select All from the Transactions drop down box.
    Note: This is necessary so you can get all option expirations, exercises, and assignments. 
 

4.  Click the Go button to display the first page of your report.
 

5.  Click the Export button to begin the csv file download.


 

6. Click the OK button on the popup History Download Disclaimer dialog box.


 

7. Click the Save button on the popup File Download dialog box.

NOTE: If the File Download box fails to appear, you may have to enable File Downloading in your web browser by right-clicking on the following message in Internet Explorer and selecting Download File:


 

8. Select the Import folder under the TradeLog folder under My Documents from the Save In drop down selector.
Click the Save button to save the file to this location on your hard drive.


 

9.  Run TradeLog
 

10.  Click on the Schwab Imp speed button.
 

11.  Click NO from the popup dialog box to import from the Export csv file.


 

12. Select the file you just saved from the Schwab Import popup dialog box and click the Open button.


 

13. Your trades will be automatically imported and matched.
 

14. Repeat steps 3-14 until all of your data is imported up to date.
 

Account History Import

General Procedure:

1.  Log on to your Charles Schwab trading account web site
     and Click on the Account tab and then History tab.


 

2.  Select Previous Year, or Current Year from the Date Range: drop down box
     ...or...
     Select a date range from the From/To: boxes


 

3.  Select All from the Transactions drop down box.
    Note: This is necessary so you can get all option expirations, exercises, and assignments. 
 

4.  Click the Go button to display the first page of your report.
      - Your Schwab data will be in descending date order.
 

5. Click on the Date column to sort in ascending order.
 

6.  Use Edit, Select All. (Ctrl-A shortcut) to select the entire page.
     ... or ...
     Use your mouse to select the report table. 
     Please make sure you select the field name header line. 
     For tips on selecting a report table with your mouse see:
     Selecting a report table with your mouse   
 

7.  Copy the report data using your web browsers Edit, Copy  command (Ctrl-C keyboard shortcut)
 

8.  Run TradeLog
 

9.  Click on the Schwab Imp speed button.
 

10.  Click YES from the popup dialog box to import from the Schwab Account History you just copied.


 

11. Your trades will be automatically imported and matched.
       - Your Schwab trade history may span several different pages.  
       - You must import each page separately, starting with the page with the oldest trade data.
 

12. Click the Next >> button to display the next page and repeat steps 6, 7, & 10 for each page
     until you reach the end of the report.
 

Problems with Schwab reports:

Occasionally, Schwab presents their trade history data out of order for a specific date.  This usually occurs when one has challenged a fill or has had an other manual edit from customer service.  Since Schwab does not report time of day for their trades, there is no automated way for any software program to determine the proper order of trades.  And since TradeLog matches trades in a first-in first-out methodology as required by the IRS, it is inevitable that trades will be mismatched when this happens.

We have tried almost every conceivable method for automatically re-ordering the trades, but it seems that Schwab is not in any way consistent when this happens.  Add to this the fact that Schwab does NOT report when a buy is a "buy to cover" a short sale, and you can see that it becomes impossible to automate this.

To fix this just run the Edit, Force Match Trades function.