# Why your portfolio tracker and your broker show different returns

Same account, two percentages. Return formula, dividend dates, exchange-rate fixings, fees and cost-basis method, and how to find which one moved the number.

*https://stockmarketstack.com/guides/why-your-tracker-and-broker-disagree · background to Stock Portfolio Trackers*

**Answer:** Because they compute different things from different records. A time-weighted return ignores when you added money; a money-weighted one is driven by it, and neither figure is usually labelled. Beyond the formula, a tracker and a broker can disagree on the day a dividend counts, which fixing converts a foreign currency, whether a fee lowers the cost or the return, and which lots a sale used. Match those choices before calling either number wrong.

## How it works

A broker statement and a portfolio tracker look at the same account from opposite ends. The broker
holds the securities and the cash, so its figures come from the custody and tax record: what
settled, what was paid, which lots the tax report says were sold. A tracker holds nothing. It
rebuilds the account from the transactions it was given — by broker connection, CSV, PDF parsing or
typing — and then values that reconstruction with its own prices and its own exchange rates.

So a gap between the two percentages has two possible sources, and they need separating before
anything else.

**The inputs differ.** A transaction the import missed, a dividend recorded on a different day, a
fee booked as a separate line on one side and inside the price on the other, a foreign amount
converted at a different rate. These show up as a different *ending value*, and they are findable:
the value is holdings times price times exchange rate, plus cash, and every term can be compared
line by line.

**The arithmetic differs.** Identical transactions, identical closing value, and still two
percentages — because one side computed a time-weighted return and the other a money-weighted one,
or measured over a different start date, or split realised and unrealised gains by a different lot
method. None of those is an error. They are answers to different questions, and the page rarely
says which question it answered.

The sections below take the five places the two most often part company, in the order worth
checking them: the return formula, the dividend date, the exchange rate, fees, and the lots a sale
used.

## Two formulas, both correct

The first thing to establish is which of the two standard figures each side printed. A
[time-weighted return](https://stockmarketstack.com/glossary/time-weighted-return) cancels out deposits and withdrawals; a
money-weighted one is moved by them. That entry has the definitions and the arithmetic. For
reconciling, the consequence is enough: on an account funded once and never touched the two agree,
and on one funded every month they do not, by more the larger the deposits are against the balance
and the rougher the market was around them.

The trackers in this catalogue take different positions, which is why switching tools can move the
headline without a single transaction changing. [Sharesight](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/sharesight) reports
money-weighted only; [Portseido](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portseido) and [Wealthfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/wealthfolio) report
both; [getquin](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/getquin) shows a simple relative return on its free plan and puts TTWROR and
IRR behind the paid tier. [Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance) computes a true
time-weighted rate of return and an internal rate of return over any reporting period, and
[Parqet](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/parqet) shows three figures: a simple capital-weighted one, IRR and TTWROR.

A "simple" or capital-weighted return — gain divided by what you put in — is a third thing again. It
is not wrong either, but it is not comparable with a fund's published figure or with an annualised
IRR, and it is the number a dashboard tends to show first.

The start date is part of the formula. "Since inception" on the broker means the day the account
opened there; on a tracker it means the first transaction imported. Holdings transferred in from
another broker arrive in the tracker with whatever cost and date you gave them. Whether you record
that transfer as the original purchases, on their original dates, or as one inflow of securities at
the day's value decides where the tracker's history begins and what it treats as money you added —
and the receiving broker, which saw only the transfer, starts from the second.

## When a dividend counts

A dividend has several dates, and the two sides of the comparison may use different ones. The one
that decides who is entitled is the ex-dividend date. FINRA Rule 11140, as amended for the T+1
settlement cycle with effect from 28 May 2024, sets it at the record date when the record date is a
business day, for distributions under 25% of the security's value; for distributions of 25% or more
it is the first business day after the payable date. The cash arrives on the payment date, which
comes later.

From the ex-date the shares trade without the right to the dividend, so the price no longer carries
it, and the cash is not yet in the account. A record that books income on the payment date shows a dip in value for those weeks and a
jump when the cash lands; a record that books it on the ex-date shows neither. [Delta](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/delta)
adds dividends automatically on their ex-dividend dates, switchable per portfolio. A broker's cash
ledger records the payment when it is paid. Over a year the totals meet; over a month, or at a
quarter end that falls between the two dates, they need not.

Three further differences sit on top:

- **Reinvestment.** A reinvested dividend is a new purchase at a new price and becomes a lot of its
  own. If the broker reinvested automatically and the import recorded only the cash, the tracker
  holds fewer shares than the broker and the gap compounds.
- **Withholding tax.** A foreign dividend arrives net of the source country's tax. A record of the
  gross amount plus a withholding line and a record of the net cash report different income from
  the same payment; [dividend withholding](https://stockmarketstack.com/glossary/dividend-withholding) covers why, and why a
  tracker's withholding percentage is an assumption rather than a copy of the statement.
- **Income is not a deposit.** GIPS, the CFA Institute performance standard, excludes dividend and
  interest payments from external cash flows, so they belong to the return rather than to the money
  you added. A dividend
  imported as a cash deposit is counted as your money, and every return figure built on it is
  understated.

Trade dates have the same shape at a smaller scale. GIPS requires trade-date accounting — the
holding is recognised on the day of the purchase, not the day it settles — and treats recognition
within three business days as meeting that requirement. A cash ledger that records money when it
moves puts the same trade on its settlement date, and around a month end the two land it in
different periods.

## Which exchange rate, taken when

A holding priced in one currency and reported in another is multiplied by an exchange rate every
time it is valued, and there is no single rate to multiply by. Two public reference rates for the
same currency pair are set at different hours on different continents:

- The European Central Bank's euro reference rates come from a concertation between central banks
  that normally takes place around 14:10 CET, and are published around 16:00 CET on every working
  day except TARGET closing days. The ECB states they are for information purposes only and strongly
  discourages using them for transactions.
- The Federal Reserve's H.10 release reports noon buying rates in New York for cable transfers,
  certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for customs purposes.

Neither is the rate your broker used. When a broker converts a dividend or a purchase, the
statement carries the rate of that actual conversion, with any charge the broker takes for
converting built into it or listed beside it. A tracker converting the same amount uses whichever daily rate its data source supplies,
on whichever day it assigns to the transaction. The difference on one conversion is small; across
years of dividends and a portfolio valued daily in a home currency, it accumulates into a visible
gap.

The rate also has to be applied twice, and the two applications answer different questions. The
rate on the purchase date sets the cost in your home currency; the rate today sets the value.
Between them sits a currency gain or loss that exists only in the home-currency view. A broker
that reports in the security's own currency shows none of it. [Portseido](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portseido) tracks
FX gain and loss per portfolio against a base currency, [Parqet](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/parqet) converts over 40
currencies into a home currency, and on a self-hosted [Ghostfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ghostfolio) you supply
the historical FX rates yourself, with "No exchange rate has been found" a documented FAQ entry.

For a tax figure the question is narrower still: the rate the tax authority accepts, on the date it
names. That is a jurisdiction's rule, not a tracker setting, and a tracker that does not implement
your jurisdiction is converting at a rate chosen for display.

## Fees: in the cost or in the return

A commission can be recorded in two places, and both are legitimate. For US tax reporting, the IRS
instructions for Form 1099-B tell brokers to include commissions and transfer taxes paid to buy a
security in its initial basis. The fee disappears into the cost, raises it, and shows up later as a
smaller gain. A tracker that records the same commission as its own transaction subtracts it from
the return in the period it was paid. Over the life of a position the two meet; in any year between
purchase and sale they do not.

GIPS takes the return side: all returns must be calculated after deducting the transaction costs
incurred in the period — which it defines as brokerage commissions, exchange fees, taxes and
bid-offer spreads — and it classes a custodial fee charged per transaction as a custody fee rather
than a transaction cost. A professional report therefore separates the costs of trading from the
cost of holding. An import rarely does. Account fees, platform fees and interest charged on a
margin balance usually arrive in a tracker, if at all, as withdrawals of cash, and a withdrawal is an
external cash flow: it lowers the balance and leaves the return untouched, so a fee recorded that
way makes the account look better than it was.

Fees that never appear as a transaction are the same on both sides. A fund's ongoing charges are
taken inside the fund and are already in the price both of them read.

## Which shares you sold

Sell part of a position bought in several lots and somebody has to decide which lots went. That
decision is the [cost basis](https://stockmarketstack.com/glossary/cost-basis) of the sale, and it moves one number while
leaving another alone.

**It moves the split between realised and unrealised gain.** The US rules are in the glossary
entry: under 26 CFR 1.1012-1, first in, first out unless you identified the lot to the broker at the
sale, with average basis allowed for fund shares and dividend-reinvestment plans. What matters for
reconciling is what the broker then reports. The 1099-B instructions tell it to treat the shares
acquired first as sold where you gave no instruction, covered or not, and its figure is a reported
basis only for covered securities — stock acquired for cash in an account after 2010, or after 2011
where the average basis method is available. For anything older, the cost the broker shows, if it
shows one, is not a covered basis.

**It does not move the total return.** The account's value and its cash flows are the same whichever
lots are deemed sold, so a time-weighted or money-weighted return for the whole portfolio is
unchanged. If the headline percentage disagrees, the lot method is not the reason; if the realised
gain disagrees, it probably is.

Trackers differ here more than anywhere else: [Wealthfolio](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/wealthfolio) is FIFO only,
[Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance) offers FIFO or moving average, and
[Parqet](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/parqet) lets each portfolio choose FIFO, average or LIFO. None of them sees
the instruction you gave the broker on the day, so a specific-lot sale at the broker is a FIFO sale
in the tracker unless you edit it.

One adjustment exists only on the broker's side. The 1099-B instructions require a broker to report
a [wash sale](https://stockmarketstack.com/glossary/wash-sale) when both transactions happen in the same account on covered
securities with the same CUSIP, and to add the disallowed loss to the basis of the shares bought. A tracker that does not implement wash sales carries the original cost.
[Sharesight](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/sharesight), for one, reports US holdings on average cost with no wash-sale
handling. The realised loss and the remaining basis will differ from the broker's by exactly the
disallowed amount.

## What you can do about it

Reconcile in order, and stop at the first step that disagrees. Each later step assumes the earlier
ones match.

1. **Pick one closed period and one date.** A calendar month that ended on a business day, with no
   trade settling across its last day. Use the statement for that month, not the live dashboard.
2. **Compare ending value before any percentage.** Quantity per holding, then price, then exchange
   rate, then cash. A quantity gap is a missing transaction, usually a reinvested dividend, a
   corporate action or a transfer. A price gap is the closing-price source. A value gap in a foreign
   holding with matching quantity and price is the exchange rate — check which fixing, and which day.
3. **List the external cash flows on both sides.** Deposits, withdrawals, transfers in and out. A
   dividend imported as a deposit, or a fee imported as a withdrawal, turns up here.
4. **Only then compare returns, and name them first.** Find out whether each figure is time-weighted,
   money-weighted or simple, over what start date, and whether it is annualised. If the tracker
   offers both, set it to the one the broker prints. [Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance)
   is free and computes both, which makes it a reasonable referee when two paid products disagree.
5. **Check realised gains last, and against the tax document.** Set the tracker's lot method to the
   broker's default, then correct any lot you identified specifically at the broker. For US covered
   securities, the 1099-B is the record the tax return uses; where it shows a wash-sale adjustment,
   the tracker's figure will differ by that amount until you enter it.

Three questions to put to a tracker's help centre before trusting its headline number: which return
does the dashboard show by default, on which date does it book a dividend, and which exchange-rate
source and time of day does it use. A product that cannot answer the third has not decided.

And one to put to yourself: which number are you actually trying to know? For comparing a holding
with an index or a fund, the time-weighted figure is the comparable one. For knowing what your own
money did, given when you put it in, it is the money-weighted one. For a tax return, it is neither —
it is the realised gain on the broker's tax document, and a tracker is at best a check on it.

## Tools this bears on

- [Portfolio Performance](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-performance.md) — Free open-source desktop tracker that reads your bank's PDF statements.
- [Sharesight](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/sharesight.md) — Money-weighted portfolio tracking with real ATO, IRD and CRA tax reports.
- [Portseido](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portseido.md) — Multi-currency tracking for portfolios spread across several brokers and countries.
- [Parqet](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/parqet.md) — German portfolio tracker built on broker PDF imports, with a read-only MCP server.

## FAQ

### Why does my portfolio tracker show a different return from my broker?

Usually because they use different formulas. A time-weighted return ignores when you added money and a money-weighted return is driven by it, so on an account funded over time the two differ with no error on either side. If the ending values differ too, look for a missing transaction, a different dividend date or a different exchange rate first.

### Which return should I compare with an index fund?

The time-weighted one. It measures the holdings rather than the timing of your deposits, which is how funds and indices report. A money-weighted figure answers a different question, what your own money earned given when it went in, and is not comparable with a published fund return.

### Does the cost-basis method change my total return?

No. FIFO, LIFO, average cost and specific identification change which gains count as realised and which as unrealised, and so the tax figure. The account's value and its cash flows are the same whichever lots are deemed sold, so the return for the whole portfolio does not move.

### Why do my dividends not match between the tracker and the broker?

Check three things. The date each books the dividend on, ex-dividend or payment; whether foreign dividends are recorded gross with a withholding line or net; and whether reinvested dividends were imported as purchases. A reinvestment imported as cash only leaves the tracker holding fewer shares than the broker.

### Why is my foreign stock worth a different amount in the tracker?

The exchange rate. A tracker converts with a daily reference rate from its data source, and public reference rates are fixed at different times, the ECB's around 14:10 CET and the Federal Reserve's H.10 at noon in New York. The broker's statement uses the rate of the conversion it actually made.

## Sources

1. [Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) for Firms, 2020 edition](https://www.gipsstandards.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2020_gips_standards_firms.pdf) — CFA Institute, read 2026-09-27
2. [26 CFR 1.1012-1, Basis of property](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.1012-1) — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, read 2026-09-27
3. [Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026)](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099b) — Internal Revenue Service, 2026-04-30
4. [FINRA Rule 11140, Transactions in Securities Ex-Dividend, Ex-Rights or Ex-Warrants](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/11140) — FINRA, read 2026-09-27
5. [Euro foreign exchange reference rates](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html) — European Central Bank, read 2026-09-27
6. [About the H.10 and G.5 releases, Foreign Exchange Rates](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/about.htm) — Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2023-02-06. The Board still publishes H.10 weekly as described here; the issue dated 21 September 2026 was checked against it.

*Last updated 2026-09-27. A reference page, corrected in place — not a dated post.*