How to set up and use watchlists

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What is a watchlist?

A watchlist enables you to monitor the performance of securities that you hold or are interested in. Watchlists are easy to create and allow you to access price and other information on your securities quickly and conveniently. You can set up a watchlist by registering in the MyASX section of www.asx.com.au. Registration is free. See also About Watchlists.

What is MyASX?

MyASX is a service provided to users of www.asx.com.au. By completing a free registration, you can subscribe for newsletters, access online classes, create watchlists, join a sharemarket game and more. Read more about MyASX.

General information about watchlists

  • You can create 15 watchlists, each with 20 securities.
  • All security types can be monitored in a watchlist, including shares, interest rate securities, options, warrants, futures and indices.
  • Watchlists include a portfolio function that allows comparison of the original value of a holding to the market value delayed by at least 20 minutes.

Prices

  • Price information is delayed by at least 20 minutes.
  • Retrieving any price indicates your acceptance of the conditions.
  • Price information is reset to zero at approximately 4:30 a.m. on the following trading day.

Further information about option & futures prices

  • Where there are no market prices quoted, a theoretical fair value will be displayed in the Bid and Offer cells. You can distinguish the fair value quotes from actual market prices by the fact that the same theoretical fair value is displayed in both the Bid and the Offer cells. 
  • Market prices will be delayed by at least 20 minutes. Theoretical fair values are updated at approximately 10.50am, 12.50pm, 2.50pm, 4.55pm and 6.20pm. 
  • Please note: The Bid, Offer, Last and Volume columns are reset to zero at approximately 4.30am on the following trading day.
  • For options, special trades, such as spreads and straddles, (see Understanding Options Strategies (PDF 284KB) for more details) and off market trades only update the Volume field. The Last field is not updated for these types of trades. As a result some series will have Volume figures updated with no last price traded. 
    * pdf documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Note that trading ceases at 12.00 noon on the maturity day for grain and wool futures contracts.

Indices

  • The S&P/ASX indices measure the movement in share values resulting from trading on the ASX, and are constructed and calculated by Standard & Poor's.
  • Indices are update in real time.

Portfolio information

By entering a quantity owned and an amount paid or received for each security or contract, a portfolio value and change figure which is delayed by at least 20 minutes will be calculated. Further information is provided below.
  • Quantity owned
    This is the number of securities traded. If a bought position, enter as a positive number. If a sold position, enter as a negative number.
    For exchange traded options and futures, enter the number of contracts multiplied by the number of shares per contract as the quantity owned.
    For index options and index futures, enter the number of contracts multiplied by the contract multiplier as the quantity owned.
    Note: A quantity owned figure cannot be entered against an index.
  • $ paid / per security
    This is the amount paid or received for each security or contract held in dollars to 3 decimal places.
    For futures, index options and index futures, enter the amount in points.
    Note: A price paid figure cannot be entered against an index.
  • Value
    This is the market value of the security or position rounded to the nearest whole dollar and delayed by at least 20 minutes.
    For shares, and interest rate securities, the value is calculated by multiplying the number held by the last traded price for that security.
    For warrants, the value is calculated by multiplying the number held by the bid price for that security.
    For options the value is calculated by multiplying the equivalent number of shares held by the bid price for that contract.
    For futures, the value (expressed in points to 2 decimal places.) is calculated by the bid minus the $ paid per security.
    As the value for options and futures is calculated using the bid, please note that the portfolio value may therefore be derived from the theoretical fair value for the particular contract. See further information about options and futures prices.
    If there is no last traded price or bid, or they are zero, the value will be zero.
    Prices are reset to zero at approximately 4:30 a.m. on the following trading day. When this occurs, the value will be zero.
  • Change
    This is the market value of the holding compared to the original traded value, rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
    The change figure for shares, options, warrants and interest rate securities is the difference between the value (as indicated in the value column) and the quantity owned multiplied by the price paid per security.
    The change figure for futures is the holding multiplied by the value (as indicated in the value column).

Display & view watchlists

  • An * next to the security code indicates there has been an announcement today relating to that security. Click on the * to view the list of today's announcements.
  • An up  Up  or down  Down  price arrow will appear next to the share price and will indicate if the share price has moved up or down by comparison to the previous days close.
  • Click on the ASX security code to view further details about the security.

Select from list of watchlists

  • On the display page, select the watchlist name from the drop down 'View' list and hit 'Go'. That watchlist will then be displayed.

Create and edit a watchlist

  • To edit an existing watchlist, when you are viewing it, select 'Edit watchlist'.
  • To create a watchlist simply select the 'Add a new watchlist' link and once on this page, add up to 20 security codes and name your watchlist.
  • A watchlist name can be up to 30 characters long and you must add at least one valid security code to your watchlist in order to save it.
  • If you have 15 watchlists, you will need to delete a watchlist in order to create a new one.
  • Only 10 security code input boxes will appear when you first create a watchlist, but select the '+Add more codes' link to show a further 10 security code input boxes.
  • Once you're ready, select 'Save & view watchlist' in order to view that watchlist.
  • The company / index name, or a brief description of the security will appear in the company names / security details section after saving the watchlist, or by using the code lookup to fill in a code. 
  • Creating a watchlist  requires registration to MyASX. Read more about MyASX, or sign up now.

Download watchlist

  • You may download either your current list or all your watchlists at once as a csv file.
  • To download the current list, select the 'Download list' link on the watchlist display page next to your watchlist name.
  • To download all your watchlists as once, select the 'Download all my watchlists' link on the watchlist display page.
  • Note that the time & date that the download was retrieved from www.asx.com.au is listed in the download. Prices are delayed by at least 20 minutes.

Printable view

  • Select the 'Printable view' page for a print friendly version of the current watchlist's display page.
  • Note that the time & date that the printable view was retrieved from www.asx.com.au is listed on the printout. Prices are delayed by at least 20 minutes.

Delete list

  • You may delete any watchlist. You can only delete one at a time.
  • You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the watchlist and once you have done so, the watchlist cannot be retrieved.

Code lookup

  • If you don't know the code for a security you wish to add to your watchlist, you can use the code lookup. This will allow you to search for a code by typing in the beginning of a company / index name.
  • Selecting the code from the code lookup will add it back to the input box from where the code lookup was selected.

Search tips for ASX code lookup

  • To search, you must enter the beginning of a company / index name. You cannot search by ASX code using the code lookup.
  • From the search results table, you may select any code by clicking on it and once you have done so, the code lookup will close. If you have more than one code that you wish to select from the results page, please keep the code lookup open and copy the codes from it.
  • Show related codes will allow you to see all available securities for the selected code. For ASX codes that are not linked, please also refer to related codes.
  • To lookup codes for the S&P/ASX indices, type 'S&P' or 'All Ordinaries' in the company / index name field.