Differences Between Watchlists and Portfolios?

by TraderMike 9 months ago

I was asked the following via email:

Can you point me to an SwingTradeBot article on the website explaining the differences between "watchlists" and "portfolios"? ... I am not sure if they both will notify me of scan triggers ... for example MACD, MA & Stochastic crossovers, etc.

The short answer (TL;DR) is that yes, you'll get the same "scan triggers" (alerts / signals) with both watchlists and portfolios.

Watchlists and portfolios are very similar. The major difference being that portfolios track actual monetary values of holdings while watchlists do not. As the name implies, watchlists are meant to be lists of stocks that you want to keep an eye on (track). Portfolios are meant to track actual holdings. (but feel free to use them however you like)

Here are some key differences:

Watchlists allow for notes on each stock.
You can add multiple stocks to a WL in one shot via a comma delimited list
Portfolios can be synced to your actual brokerage account (if your brokerage is supported -- otherwise you can import a CSV)
Portfolios **require** you to enter a number of shares and an entry price for each stock.
You can enter stop loss levels for stocks in a portfolio.