[moneydance] Decimal Places in Stock / Mutual Funds

[Fuzzy Fox]

William Callahan <william.callahan at mac.com> wrote:
>
> I've recently begun acquiring stocks, as well as mutual funds in lots
> up to 6 decimal places out.  However, regardless of the value I enter
> in the initial "Max Decimal Places" field when setting up a security
> (I've tried deleted and re-adding), It doesn't seem to have an affect.

I haven't done any sort of investing, so I have not used any of MD's
features in this regard.  However I've seen this sort of question come
up several times on this list.

What I recall is that changing the number of decimal places for an
existing security is very difficult.  The reason is due to the way that
security price histories are stored.

MD stores the number of decimal places as a basic part of the security
info, and then stores the prices as integers multiplied by that value. 
So if you give six decimal places, and your security has prices of 1.23,
4.5607, and 3.320987, MD would store these values internally as 123000,
4560700, and 3320987, respectively.  So, if you were to go and change
the number of decimal places later (such as by editing the XML), all the
prices would suddenly change by 10's or 100's or such.

However, you mentioned that you are creating NEW securities, so perhaps
none of this information applies.  I really can't see why a new security
wouldn't act the appropriate way if you've specified it correctly.

Examining the XML might give some clues as to the behavior you're seeing.

The only other suggestion I might give is that, securities have limits
on decimal places, but so do currencies.  I wonder if there is an
interaction between the two when you buy a security in a certain
currency.. hmmm.

-- 
 Fuzzy Fox <fox at foxtaur.com>
  "Why a man would want a wife is a big mystery to some people.
   Why a man would want two wives is a bigamystery."