Stonqs
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Getting started

  1. 01Install Stonqs and set up your first portfolio
  2. 02Choose where prices and exchange rates come from

Getting your data in

  1. 03Import a broker's CSV export
  2. 04Import an Interactive Brokers Flex Query
  3. 05Fill the gaps after an import

Reading the figures

  1. 06Read your returns
  2. 07Track dividends and the tax withheld
  3. 08Export a tax year's gains, dividends and costs
  4. 09Read your portfolio's risk

Compared with the alternatives

  1. 10Compare your portfolio with an index fund or ETF

Getting started · Guide 1 of 10

Install Stonqs and set up your first portfolio

5 min read

In about five minutes you have an empty portfolio in a file on your own disk, a cash account, optionally a securities account, and a decision about price sources. There is no sign-up. Until you turn a price source on, the app fetches no prices or exchange rates.

Before you start

You need macOS 12 or newer (Apple Silicon or Intel), Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), or Linux on x86-64. There is no phone or tablet version. Know which broker you will import from and the currency its cash is held in. No email address is needed. The app is in alpha, so keep your broker statements: they are the record, and Stonqs analyses a copy of them.

A fresh profile is deliberately quiet. Every price source is off, even the ones that need no key, so a first portfolio sometimes shows no prices because nobody told the app where to ask. Setup is two screens, and nothing is saved until you leave the second.

Download the build for your system

Open the download page and pick the file for your system. The GitHub releases page shows a SHA-256 digest next to every file. Compute the digest of the file you downloaded and compare the two before you run the xattr command or click Run anyway below; the download page shows how.

Pass the first-launch warning

The alpha builds are not code-signed yet, so macOS and Windows warn about an unidentified developer. That is expected.

  • macOS: Stonqs is not signed with Apple’s paid developer certificate yet, so macOS may say the app “is damaged and can’t be opened” and offer to move it to the Trash. Don’t: that is how macOS words it for any app without Apple’s signature. Move Stonqs to Applications, then run this once in Terminal (you need it once after each download from this website). It removes the quarantine mark from that one app and changes no system setting. If it answers “No such file”, Stonqs is not in Applications yet.

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Stonqs.app

  • Windows: on the SmartScreen dialog, click More info, then Run anyway.

  • Linux: make the AppImage executable, in the file’s properties or with chmod +x. The .deb and .rpm install as usual.

If you would rather not run a command, the code is open and you can build it from source.

Look around with the demo, if you like

The first screen has a block called Just looking with the button Try with a demo portfolio. It fills this profile with three years of made-up history and offers a short tour. The demo goes through the same second step as a real portfolio (below).

Profiles are separate sets of data on one device. To keep the demo apart from your real portfolio, create a new profile under Settings, Profiles (New profile). Deleting a profile removes all its data for good.

Name the portfolio and its accounts

Step 1 of 2 is called “Let’s set up the portfolio”. Fill in:

  • Portfolio name and Base currency. Every report is converted into the base currency, a three-letter code such as EUR or USD. The fields start as “Main” and EUR.
  • Cash account and its Currency. Cash is where deposits, fees, interest and the cash side of every trade land. The field is empty with the hint “Main · Broker”; use the currency your broker holds the cash in.
  • Securities account, optional. This is where the instruments sit. It takes the cash account’s currency and settles through that cash account, so a purchase takes money from there and dividends arrive there. You can create it later.

Continue stays disabled until the portfolio name, the cash account name and both currencies are filled in.

The two-account split is why the securities account alone shows price performance only: the dividends landed on the cash account beside it. The accounts guide says more.

Choose where prices and exchange rates come from

Step 2 of 2, “Where data comes from”, is where the portfolio (or the demo) is actually written. It lists every source the app can ask. Each row reads Off, On or Needs a key, and has Turn on or Turn off.

The app needs two kinds of source: one that publishes prices and one that publishes exchange rates. Without rates, anything held in a currency other than your base currency cannot be valued at all, so Use these sources stays disabled and names the missing half. See the data sources reference for how that is decided.

  • Select all and continue turns on every source that answers without a key and applies the choice in one press.
  • Use these sources applies whatever you switched on by hand.
  • Add key opens a field for a source that needs one. Keys are stored encrypted with the profile’s password, so a profile without a password is asked to set one first.
  • Decide later leaves without choosing. Prices are then whatever you type in, and the data chip beside the search box shows an error until you pick sources.

Turning a source on means its own terms apply to the requests the app makes. The README’s privacy table lists which service answers for what, and the next guide, on market data sources, walks through the choice. Market data comes from free third-party sources with no warranty, and your broker’s own statement is what counts.

You can change all of this later in Settings, under Market data.

Check what you have

You land on the Overview, with nothing in it yet. Under Settings, Data and storage, the app shows what is stored. The whole portfolio is one SQLite file per profile, with no cloud copy, so copying that file is the backup. This is described in the settings guide.

Two more things you may want now:

  • A password. It is optional, set per profile under Settings, Profiles, and encrypts the profile’s data on disk. A forgotten password cannot be recovered and takes the data with it. What it does and does not protect is in the profile password post.
  • Updates. Once a day the app asks GitHub whether a newer version exists and sends nothing about your portfolio. It changes nothing by itself. You can turn the check off under Settings, Updates.

Next: import your broker’s export.

If something goes wrong

macOS says Stonqs “is damaged” or cannot be opened. It is not damaged, the build is unsigned. Move it to Applications, run the xattr command above, then open it again.

There are holdings but no prices, or values show a dash. A dash means a quote or exchange rate is missing, which is not the same as zero. Most often no source is on. Open Settings, Market data, Data sources and check that one source of prices and one of exchange rates are on. An instrument added while no source was on has no price source, and the panel offers the first source you turn on to those instruments in a single checkbox.

You pressed Decide later and the data chip shows an error. The app is saying prices are typed by hand. Open Settings, Market data and turn sources on.

Sources