UI Reference¶

A field guide to every control in the compare-my-stocks main window. If you've already done Quick start and just want to know what each button does, this is the page.

Layout: the left side is the chart; the right side is a tall control column with stocks at the top, graph-type/operations in the middle, and groups/adjustments/saved-graphs along the bottom. Everything redraws automatically (Auto Update is on by default).

1. Picking stocks¶

The top-right "Pick Stock" panel is where you build the list of tickers that show up in the graph.

Control	What it does
Symbol combo (`addstock`)	Type or pick a ticker. Lists every symbol the app currently knows about (see usable symbols below).
Lookup (`lookupsym_btn`)	Asks the data source (IB / Polygon) for matching contracts. Use this when you only know part of the company name or want the exact contract for a non-US listing. Opens the Pick Symbol dialog.
Add to > (`addreserved`)	Add the typed/selected ticker to the Reference list.
< Add to (`addselected`)	Add it to the Selected list.

Below that are two side-by-side lists:

Selected (orgstocks) — the primary tickers the chart draws lines for.
Reference (refstocks, also called ext) — extra always-on lines drawn alongside. They bypass the value-range filters (sec. 6) and don't get sorted/truncated, so they're a good place for benchmarks (QQQ, SPY, …).

Between the two lists are mover buttons:

Button	Action
`>` (`addtoref`)	Move highlighted entries from Selected to Reference.
`<` (`addtosel`)	Move highlighted entries from Reference to Selected.
`X` (`deletebtn`)	Delete highlighted entries from whichever list has focus.

Tip — usable symbols: the symbol combo only lists tickers the app already has data for in its cache plus your portfolio holdings. To use a ticker the app has never seen, type it in and press Lookup so it gets resolved against IB/Polygon and added to the cache.

Pick Symbol dialog¶

Opened by Lookup. Shows the contracts IB returned for your query, with columns for symbol, exchange, type, currency, and description. Click a row, hit OK, and that fully-qualified contract is added (its IB conId is stashed via resolve_hack so subsequent runs skip the lookup step).

2. Use Groups¶

Above or beside the lists is the Use Groups checkbox (use_groups). This is the single most important toggle:

Checked — the chart's primary tickers come from the selected Groups (see sec. 7), not the Selected list. The Selected list becomes informational. This is how you say "show me the Pharma group" or "show me FANG."
Unchecked — the Selected list drives the chart directly.

The Reference list is honored either way.

3. Main Graph Type¶

Inside "Main Options → Main Graph Type" — pick one. These are the Y-axis quantities:

Type	Meaning
Price	Close price (or adjusted close) per day.
Price/Sells	Price-to-sales ratio.
Value	Value of your current holding of the stock (qty × price).
P/E	Price/earnings ratio (only when earnings data is available).
Total Profit	Realized + unrealized profit on your holding.
Unrealized Profit	Mark-to-market profit on shares you still hold.
Realized	Profit booked on shares you've already sold.
Theortical	"What if I'd held the same dollar amount in Compare With the entire time?" — a counterfactual benchmark for your own performance.

Profit / Value lines need transaction data (IB Flex import or My Stocks CSV). Without it those choices are empty.

4. Operation¶

"Main Options → Operation" — how to transform the Y values.

Operation	What it draws
Absolute	The raw value, untransformed.
Percentage	% change relative to the Relative to anchor (sec. 5).
Diff	Absolute difference vs. the anchor.
Percentage Diff	% change of the stock minus % change of the Compare With stock. Lets you separate "this stock went up 30%" from "the market went up 25%, this one went up 5% extra".

Do Comparision (COMPARE) — the checkbox above. When on, the chart divides/subtracts every line by Compare With (sec. 8) before applying the operation, so the benchmark sits at 0% / 1.0 and everything else moves relative to it.

5. Relative to¶

Picks the anchor point used by Percentage, Diff, and the relative forms of Theortical:

Choice	Anchor
Start Time	First date in the visible range.
End Time	Last date in the visible range.
Max	Each stock's own peak in the range.
Min	Each stock's own trough in the range.

For example: Percentage + Relative to Start Time gives "% change since the start date"; Percentage + Relative to Max gives "% drawdown from peak".

6. Filtering ("Display")¶

Squeezes the chart down to a manageable number of lines. Useful for "top gainers in this group" / "biggest holdings only" views.

Control	Effect
Displayed Num (`max_num`)	Only show the top-N (or bottom-N, or [start, end]) stocks by the chosen criterion.
Value range (`min_crit`)	Only include stocks whose value falls in this range.
Based On radios — Range / Max / Min	Whether the Value range is tested against each stock's [min, max], its max only, or its min only.
Filter zero values (`filter_zeros`)	Drop stocks whose values are all zero (or all NaN).

Reference stocks (refstocks) ignore these filters — they're always drawn.

7. Groups¶

Groups are named bags of tickers. They live in ~/.compare_my_stocks/groups.json.

Control	What it does
Category combo (`categoryCombo`)	Pick the category (top-level grouping). The default install ships with `Fields`, `Sectors`, `Industry`, `Country`. Each category has its own set of groups.
Groups list (`groups`)	Tick the groups you want active. With Use Groups on, all stocks in the ticked groups are drawn.
Edit Groups (`edit_groupBtn`)	Open the group editor (rename groups, add/remove tickers, reorder).
Sort Alphabetically (`sortGroupsBtn`)	Re-sort the groups list.
Select All/None (`selectallnone`)	Toggle all groups in the list. Use with care — selecting "all" pulls every ticker.
Limit to portfolio stocks (`limit_to_port`)	Intersect the group expansion with your current portfolio, so a group like "Tech" only shows the tech stocks you actually own.

Portfolio is a built-in pseudo-group containing every ticker in your current portfolio (computed from imported transactions).

8. Compare With¶

comparebox — a single-ticker dropdown for the benchmark. Used when Do Comparison is on (sec. 4). Typically QQQ or SPY.

You can also point it at one of the special pseudo-symbols:

#USD, #EUR, #ILS, … — the historical exchange rate of that currency vs. your Basecur (default: USD). For the base currency itself this is a flat 1.0 line. Useful for "did this stock beat the dollar?" comparisons.

If you pass a group name into Compare With and the same group is in your active groups list with a SUM/AVG unite (sec. 9), the comparison uses the group sum as the benchmark. The app will also try to fetch a ticker by that name as a side effect — harmless, just noisy in the log.

9. Way to unite¶

When Use Groups is on, you can collapse each group into a single line:

Mode	Each group's line is…
None	Don't unite — every constituent stock is drawn separately.
Sum	Sum of constituents (per date). Equal-weighted.
Average	Mean of constituents.
Max / Min	Highest / lowest stock in the group, per date.

Plus two add-on toggles that work with any unite mode:

Add Portfolio to graph (unite_ADDPROT) — adds an extra line that's the value-weighted sum of your current portfolio.
Add Total to Graph (unite_ADDTOTAL) — adds a line that's the sum of every visible ticker.

10. Date range¶

Control	What it does
Start / End date pickers	Set the visible date range.
Date range slider (`daterangepicker`)	Drag either handle to scrub the range.
Until Now (`til_todayBtn`)	Snap the end date to today.

The chart's X axis matches this range exactly. Refreshing does not pull data outside it (use Refresh Stocks sec. 13 for that).

11. Currency adjustments¶

In "Groups And Adjustments → Adjustments":

Control	What it does
Adjust Currency (`adjust_currency`)	When on, every value is converted to the currency in Current Currency. When off, everything is in `Basecur` (default USD).
Current Currency (`home_currency_combo`)	The display currency. ILS, EUR, etc.

Behind the scenes the app uses live FX rates from your data source (with a historical-rate fallback for older dates). The conversion is applied to prices, value, and profit columns.

12. Saved graphs¶

Bottom right, "Saved Graphs":

Control	Action
Saved graphs list (`graphList`)	Click a name to load that saved configuration.
Save (`save_graph_btn`)	Save the current settings under a name (you'll be prompted).
Load (`load_graph_btn`)	Re-load the highlighted entry.
Clear all (`clearBtn`)	Wipe the saved graphs list (asks first).

Saved graphs live in ~/.compare_my_stocks/graphs.json. They include every setting on this page: types, groups, dates, filters, compare_with, etc. The app remembers the last graph you used and reloads it on startup.

13. Action buttons¶

Across the bottom strip:

Button	What it does
Refresh Stocks (`refresh_stock`)	Re-query the data source for the visible date range. Use after adding new tickers or extending the date range.
Update Graph (`update_btn`)	Force a redraw without re-querying. Useful for visual glitches.
Auto Update (`auto_update`)	When on (default), the chart redraws on every setting change. Turning it off is rarely needed.
Min Refersh (`minrefresh`)	When on, refresh only fetches the missing days, not the entire range. Faster but skips correcting any silent gaps.
Visible to selected (`vis_to_selectedBtn`)	Copy whatever is currently visible (after filters / Show-Hide) into the Selected list. Only works with Use Groups off.
Show / Hide (`showhide`)	Toggle the per-stock show/hide column on the chart.
Show Transactions (`checkBox_showtrans`)	Overlay buy / sell markers on the chart.
Start Hidden (`start_hidden`)	New graphs start with all lines hidden — click each one to reveal it. Handy for very large groups.
Use refernce stocks (`usereferncestock`)	Master switch for the Reference list. When off, those lines are excluded entirely.
Open Status (`open_statusbtn`)	Pop a window listing every ticker with its data-fetch status (good / bad / partial / cached date).
Export Portofolio (`exportport`)	Write a CSV of your current portfolio (IB transactions + manual entries combined).

14. Display modes¶

Top-right radio strip:

Mode	What you get
Minimal Mode	Compact layout — the bottom controls collapse, leaving more chart area.
Jupyter Mode	Replaces (or adds to) the chart area with the embedded notebook.
No Jupyter	Hides the notebook even if it would have loaded.
Full Mode	Everything visible. Default.

15. Embedded notebook¶

Inside the Your Notebook panel (visible in Jupyter Mode / Full Mode):

Control	What it does
Reload (`reload_notebook`)	Re-execute the embedded notebook (`defaultnotebook.ipynb`). Use after modifying it.
Open In Jupyter (`debug_btn`)	Launch the notebook in a real Jupyter window. Nicer for editing.
Switch Notebook (`pushButton`)	Swap to a different `.ipynb` file.

The notebook gets the current CompareEngine injected as a Python kernel variable, so you can write your own analysis using whatever the GUI is already showing.

16. Limitations to know¶

A few things the UI accepts that don't quite work the way you'd expect. None will crash; they just silently do something less useful than they look like.

A group name in the Reference list is not expanded. Putting FANG there treats it as a literal ticker — you'll get an unrelated stock or a fetch error. To use a group as a reference line, put it in the Groups list with Sum unite instead.
A group name in addstock/Selected (with Use Groups off) — same thing, treated as a literal ticker.
Compare With set to a group works only if the same group is in your active groups list with SUM/AVG unite. The app will additionally try to fetch a stock by that name; it'll fail and log a warning.
Refreshing the date range doesn't auto-pull missing transactions outside the range. If you extend the date range backwards, hit Refresh Stocks to pull the older data.
Filter rows (sec. 6) ignore Reference lines, so adding many of them defeats the "top-N" effect.