Sifter › Help

Sifter help: every page, what it is for and the rules to know

A short entry for each page of Sifter, in the order of the menu: what the page is for, the two or three rules worth knowing, and a short video where there is one.

Portfolio

Overview

The portfolio's value, today's move and the past year against its benchmark.

• Before the market opens, the day numbers show the last session's move.
• Cost is your average cost, which can differ from a broker's FIFO figure.

The Overview is the front page of a portfolio, with its total value (assets under management, or AUM), how it moved today and how it has done against its benchmark over the past year. Before the market opens, the day numbers show the last session’s move instead of zeros. Clicking any holding opens a snapshot of that stock with its lots, and the cost shown there is your average cost, which is not always the number on a broker statement (most brokers count the first shares bought as the first ones sold, a method called FIFO).

Video: Overview

Holdings

Every position with its weight, value, cost and return.

• As Of shows the portfolio on any past date. Analyze stays on today.
• Donated shares count at their market value on the day they arrived.

Holdings lists every position with its weight, value, cost and return, and the heatmap above the table sizes each stock by its weight and groups the stocks by sector. The As Of date rebuilds the page for any day in the past, which means that you can see what the portfolio held at the end of last semester (Analyze always works from today’s portfolio, so As Of does not change it). Shares that were donated to the fund are counted at their market value on the day they arrived, not at what the donor originally paid for them.

Video: Holdings

Analyze

Your returns, and how each one was worked out.

• Money added or withdrawn is left out of returns, so they rarely match a broker's.
• Active return is your return minus the benchmark's. Alpha also adjusts for beta.
• Every tab has a Methodology link and a Verify CSV.

Analyze works out the returns. The headline number is a time-weighted return (TWR), which means that money added to or taken out of the portfolio does not count as a gain or a loss, and the return measures the investment decisions alone. Because a broker statement usually mixes deposits into its figure, the two numbers will rarely match. Active return is your return minus the benchmark’s, while alpha is what is left after adjusting for how much market risk (beta) the portfolio took, and the two are easy to confuse. Every tab has a Methodology link and a Verify CSV, so any number on the page can be checked by hand.

Video: Analyze

Risk Flags

The fund's limits, and every stock checked against them.

• Only a manager can change a limit, and it needs a written note.
• The flag log keeps every change and cannot be edited.
• A flag never trades anything. Funds only.

Risk Flags holds the fund’s limits (such as the largest single position allowed, the portfolio’s beta and how far it may drift from its benchmark, called tracking error) and keeps a status on every stock it owns. The limits start as a proposal until the fund adopts them, and after that only a manager can change one, with a written note, while the old and new values both go into the flag log, which can never be edited. A flag never trades anything. Its job is to start a conversation at the next meeting. Risk Flags is only for funds, so it does not appear on a personal portfolio.

Video: Risk Flags

Simulate

Test a stock or a whole portfolio before you buy.

• Nothing here touches your real record of trades.
• A test can loosen or tighten the fund's limits without changing them.
• A simulation saved in a fund belongs to the fund.

Simulate tests a portfolio that does not exist yet, and nothing done here ever reaches the real record of trades. Test a stock takes one idea, suggests a size for it based on how sure you are, and checks the result against the limits set in Risk Flags (you can loosen or tighten those limits for a single test without changing the fund’s). Run a full simulation builds a whole portfolio, backtests it, projects a range of outcomes and puts it through past market shocks. A simulation saved in a fund’s portfolio belongs to the fund, so any member can open it.

Video: Simulate

Manage

Record trades one at a time or import a file from your broker.

• A second broker is its own account. Uploading again replaces only that account's part.
• Mistakes are voided with an offsetting entry, never erased.
• Files up to 10 MB each. Duplicate rows are skipped. No screenshots.

Manage is where trades are recorded, either one at a time or by importing a file from a broker (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, Interactive Brokers and Robinhood all work, and so does the Sifter template). The record of trades only ever grows. A mistake is not erased but cancelled with a Void, which adds an offsetting entry, so the history of what happened and when stays complete. Files can be up to 10 MB each and duplicate rows are skipped, so uploading the same file twice does no harm. A portfolio held at two brokers is kept as two accounts: the second is added beside the first, a new file from either one replaces only its own part, and Holdings and Analyze can show the accounts together or one at a time. Screenshots are not accepted, because a picture of a statement cannot be checked row by row.

Video: Start with cash

Video: Find my file

Video: I already have my file

Video: Add another account

Research

Research front page

The whole market today, as a heatmap and a list of leaders and laggards.

• Boxes are sized by S&P 500 weight and colored by return.
• While the market is open, 1D is today so far. Otherwise it is the last full trading day.
• Custom covers any two dates in the last five years.

Video: The market and your stocks

Coverage

Your holdings, your watchlist and the stocks you have sold.

• Your watchlist is yours alone, not the fund’s, and never changes your holdings.
• Past lists every position you have fully sold, with its realized gain.

Video: Research a stock

A stock’s page

Everything about one company, tab by tab, from the DCF to its filings.

• A fund or ETF gets fewer tabs (no DCF, Earnings, Capital or Competitive Position).
• DCF inputs are not saved. Send the model to a pitch or download it to keep it.
• NM means a multiple with a negative denominator, which is left out of peer medians.

Video: A stock’s page

Charts

Price charts with indicators, your drawings and your own price levels.

• Position, Target and Thesis lines appear only once you have a cost, a target or a pitch.
• Drawings are saved for each symbol.
• Price alerts are set on a stock’s page, not here.

Video: Charts

Screener

Filter the whole market down to a shortlist.

• Saved screens stay on this device. Screen alerts are saved to your account.
• Market cap bands are Mega over $200B, Large $10B to $200B, Mid $2B to $10B and Small under $2B.

Video: Screener

Compare

Up to six stocks side by side.

• Any symbol can be added, not only ones from a screen.
• The growth of $10,000 chart starts every line one year ago.

Video: Compare

Signals

Trades reported by members of Congress and by company insiders.

• Members of Congress have 45 days to report a trade. Insiders have 2 business days.
• The Filed column shows how late each report came in.
• Both tables can be filtered to the stocks you own.

Video: Signals

Macro

The economy, interest rates and other markets on one page.

• The yield curve can be drawn against any past date.
• The economic calendar covers the next seven days.

Video: Macro

News

Market headlines, news on your holdings and the day’s biggest movers.

• Search by ticker to see one company’s news.

Video: News

Workspace

Workspace

Your documents and decks, and the ones shared with you.

• New documents are Private. You can share one with people you pick or with the whole fund.
• Saving is automatic. If two people edit at once, the last save wins, and Sifter warns you first.

Video: Workspace

The deck and memo editor

Build a deck or a memo from blocks whose numbers stay live.

• Data blocks keep updating with the market until you export.
• PowerPoint and PDF exports are a snapshot, so their charts no longer update.
• Uploaded files can be up to 10 MB each.

Video: The deck editor

Training Floor

Training Floor

Your next badge, your open calls and the four exercises.

• Only the exercises reach your Sifter Card. The League never does.
• Badges reward showing up, never being right.

Video: Training Floor

Exercises

The four exercises that build your record.

• The Sprint runs two weeks, the Spread one month, the Quarter three months, and the Book as long as you like.
• A call can be voided for 10 minutes after you lock it. After that it stays on your record.

Video: Exercises

The Sprint

Will one stock beat or lag the S&P 500 over the next two weeks?

• You say how sure you are, why, and what would change your mind.
• Your card’s calibration score opens after 12 settled Sprint and Spread calls.
• A call locked after 3:50pm ET starts from the next day’s open.

Video: The Sprint

The Spread

Will one stock beat another over the next month?

• It is scored on the long stock minus the short one, whichever way the market goes.
• The spread score opens after 10 settled spreads.

Video: The Spread

The Quarter

Build a book of 4 to 8 stocks for a brief, then call its beta and tracking error.

• Defensive is a beta of 0.50 to 0.85, Core 0.85 to 1.15, and Aggressive 1.15 and up.
• Return is never scored, only how close the beta and tracking error land.
• One live book per brief at a time, and no ETFs or funds.

Video: The Quarter

The Book

A $100,000 paper portfolio you run for as long as you like.

• Every trade needs a conviction from 1 to 5 and a short note.
• You can reset once every six months, and ending a run needs a post-mortem.
• A Book joins the ranking once it is 30 days old.

Video: The Book

Sifter Card

The record a recruiter sees, built from your exercises.

• One switch makes it Public or Private.
• Settled calls cannot be hidden.
• The link can be changed once in its first seven days, then it is permanent.

Video: Your Sifter Card

Badges

Badges for showing up on the Floor and for how you do in competitions.

• Floor badges reward making and settling calls, never being right.
• Badges never appear on your Sifter Card.
• Once earned, a badge stays.

Video: Badges

Shadow Book

A paper portfolio game for everyone in your fund.

• The fund lead opens a round and each member runs their own book.
• It never reaches your Sifter Card or the fund’s real portfolio.
• Funds only.

Video: Shadow Book

Fund

Set up a fund

Register your fund from Create a new fund at the top of Sifter.

• A fund can have a faculty advisor or be student-run.
• Sifter emails the advisor a one-click confirmation. They need no account.
• Pick who can see the fund's page now, and change it any time in Fund › Page.

Video: Set up a fund

Fund

A front page for the whole fund, with one tile for each part of it.

• Shows whether the fund’s page is Private, Listed or Open book.
• Funds only.

Video: Fund

Team

Everyone in the fund and their role.

• Only presidents and managers can change a member’s role.
• The faculty advisor’s role cannot be changed from here.

Video: Team

Page

The fund’s factsheet, and who on Sifter can see it.

• Private is the default. Listed and Open book show the page to everyone on Sifter.
• Raising the visibility tells every member. Lowering it does not.
• Visitors see the last published figures, not live ones.

Video: Fund Page

Pitches

Stock pitches and the committee’s vote on them.

• Voting opens when the pitch is submitted, and every active member votes yes or no.
• The pitcher or a manager closes the vote as approved or rejected.
• Approval does not place the trade. Someone records it in Manage.

Video: Pitches

Predictions

Class predictions under fake names, revealed by the professor.

• Only the faculty advisor starts, locks and reveals a set.
• Nobody sees other answers until the set locks, and then only under fake names.
• Predictions never reach the Sifter Card or any public page.

Video: Predictions

Channels

The fund’s chat, with announcements, rooms and direct messages.

• Each channel sets who can see it and who can post in it.
• A channel can have up to three pinned messages.
• Email alerts for a channel are set in Settings.

Video: Channels

Competitions

Competitions

Every way to compete, and your live matchup during a League week.

• During a League week this page shows your matchup. Choices like bank or press are made in the league itself.

Video: Competitions

Portfolio Competitions

Your fund’s team in a portfolio competition.

• A fund leader requests entry and gets a code that works only for that fund.
• Other teams see only your return, Sharpe ratio and rank.
• Trades are allowed only in update windows, and each one needs a written reason.

Video: Portfolio Competitions

The League

A fantasy stock league with a matchup every week.

• No money, and nothing here reaches your Sifter Card.
• Lineups lock at Monday’s open and the week settles at Friday’s close.
• A league has 2 to 16 teams, and each stock has one owner.

Video: The League

The League Cup

A tournament of League groups that ends in a knockout bracket.

• By default the top two in each group go through to the knockout rounds.
• Sifter creates each cup, and you enter with its code.
• A cup can require a number of calls or referrals to enter.

Video: The League Cup

SIF Meet

Your fund against another fund, played as a League.

• The other fund has to accept the challenge before it starts.
• Each member plays their own matchups, and the fund’s score adds up its best players’ wins.
• Funds only.

Video: SIF Meet

Campus

Campus

A map of every school on Sifter.

• Shows how many people joined in the last 30 days.

Video: Campus

Network

Every fund and student on Sifter.

• Whether your pin shows on the map is a choice in Settings.

Video: Network

Discuss

A board for posts about stocks, under real names.

• There is no anonymous posting.
• Anyone with a post’s link can read it, even without an account.
• A post can be up to 5,000 characters.

Video: Discuss

Calendar

Meetings, deadlines and earnings dates in one place.

• Events do not repeat, and the calendar does not sync with Google or iCal.

Video: Calendar

Your account

Settings

Your password, notifications, alerts and what others can see.

• Each kind of notice has two switches, one for the bell and one for email.
• Your Network pin and Founding Member badge are turned on or off here.

Video: Settings

Personal and fund

The pill at the top switches between your own portfolio and your fund’s.

• With no fund there is no switch.
• In Personal, the Fund and Channels pages are hidden, along with Risk Flags and the Shadow Book.

Video: Personal and fund

Invite a classmate

Your referral link and a form to invite people by email.

• Each person who joins counts toward Founding Members.

Video: Invite a classmate

Delete your account

Delete account is the last section of Settings.

• It lists what is deleted, and what your fund keeps.
• Nothing is deleted until you type DELETE and confirm.
• What you did inside a fund stays with the fund.

Video: Delete your account

Sifter is the platform for student investors and the funds they run, built by university professors and free for students. Home · How it works · FAQ · Jobs · Free DCF model · The Sifter Card · The Training Floor · The League · The Textbook · Sign up