How to sort, filter and search your holdings

Once your transactions are in, the holdings table is where you spend most of your time. With four holdings you can read it at a glance. With twenty you cannot, and that is when the toolbar above the table earns its keep.

There are four controls: a search box, an All / Gainers / Losers pill, a holding-period select, and a Columns button. Three of them are about convenience. One of them, the >12 months (CGT) period filter, names the line that matters at tax time, because 12 months is the line that decides whether a gain qualifies for the 50% CGT discount.

This takes about two minutes. You need a portfolio with transactions in it already, so if you have not imported yet, start with importing your CommSec CSV or adding a transaction by hand and come back.

Step 1 — The holdings toolbar

Open Holdings from the side nav. Above the table you get the whole toolbar in one row: the search box reading Search holdings..., the segmented All / Gainers / Losers pill, a period select showing All Periods, and a Columns button beside it. The card header tells you the size of what you are working with — Holdings, 4 positions.

Between the toolbar and the table, over on the right, is the line that tells you the truth about what you are looking at: Showing 4 of 4 holdings. Whenever a filter leaves rows out, that first number drops. It is the quickest way to check whether the table in front of you is your whole portfolio or a slice of it, which matters when you are about to make a decision based on what you can see.

Sorting lives in the table itself rather than in the toolbar. The table arrives sorted by Value, largest first, which is why CSL sits at the top, and the small chevron on that header is how you know which column is doing the sorting. Click a header to sort by it, click it again to flip the order. P&L is the other one worth knowing, because it puts your best and worst positions at the top on demand. Symbol, Quantity, Avg Cost, Live Price and P&L % sort too; Weight, 30d and Actions are labels only.

Step 2 — Search

Click the search box and start typing part of the code. Typing CS narrows the table to CSL straight away, a Search: "CS" badge appears above the table next to Clear all, and the count flips to Showing 1 of 4 holdings. There is no search button and nothing to submit; the table responds as you type.

Clear the box — the × inside it, or the × on the badge — and all four rows come back, with the count returning to Showing 4 of 4 holdings.

This is the control you will use most. When you want to check one position before a trade, or find the parcel an accountant is asking about, three keystrokes beats scrolling. Search also stacks with the filters beside it, so you can search inside a filtered view rather than starting over.

Step 3 — Filter to gainers

Click Gainers in the segmented pill. It fills in dark to show it is the one that is on, and a dismissible Gainers badge appears above the table, next to Clear all.

In this demo portfolio nothing moves, because CBA, CSL, AAPL and WBC are all showing an unrealised gain. That is the honest result, and it is worth seeing: the filter did apply, the badge proves it, and the row count stayed at four. On your own data it will cut the table down.

Losers does the same in reverse, and that is the more useful direction at tax time. A short list of positions sitting below their cost base is the starting point for any conversation about realising losses before 30 June.

Step 4 — Filter by holding period

Open the period select and choose >12 months (CGT). The other two options are All Periods and <12 months.

This is the filter a beginner would never guess exists, and it is the one with money attached. Under ATO rules, an asset held for more than 12 months before you sell it can qualify for the 50% CGT discount, so the gain that ends up in your return is half the gain on paper.

Once it is applied the select itself reads >12 months (CGT), and a >12 months (CGT discount) badge appears above the table beside Clear all. That badge is how you know the filter is on. The count holds at Showing 4 of 4 holdings: the holdings table works from quantities and prices rather than purchase dates, so the period filter marks the view rather than trimming it. The dates that decide eligibility live on the holding detail page and in the CGT report.

Step 5 — Choose your columns

Click Columns. A popover opens with a Toggle columns list — Company, Sector, Quantity, Avg Cost, Live Price, Daily Change, Value, P&L, P&L %, Dividends, Updated — and Reset to defaults at the bottom. Symbol and Actions are not in the list because they are always on, and Weight and 30d are fixed as well. Click Sector and its tick clears.

Sector is the one to know about. That column only appears once you are signed in and a sector can be resolved for your holdings, so in a demo or signed-out session the tick box is there but there is no Sector column in the table for it to hide. The rest do exactly what they say: turn Daily Change on if you watch the day's move, turn Dividends or Updated on when you need them, turn Avg Cost off if you never look at it.

Use this to make the table match how you actually think. If you are working through a tax question, keep the columns that feed it and hide the rest so nothing distracts you.

Nothing here is destructive. Reset to defaults puts the standard set of columns back, so experiment freely.

What you should see

The table narrowing live as you type, with the count moving from Showing 4 of 4 holdings to Showing 1 of 4 holdings. A filter badge appearing above the table beside Clear all each time you apply one, so you can always tell what is on. And the Sector tick clearing in the Toggle columns list, with Reset to defaults one click away.

Four controls, one row, and a table you can point at a single question.

Common gotchas

• The Showing … of … holdings line is the source of truth. If Showing 2 of 9 holdings surprises you, a filter is still on from earlier. Clear all resets them.
• In the demo, Gainers changes nothing on screen because all four holdings are showing a gain. That is the data, not a broken filter.
• >12 months (CGT) is a marker, not a calculator. It flags that you are thinking about the 50% CGT discount line; it does not work out which parcels are past it and it does not change the numbers. Those come from the holding detail page and the CGT report.
• Column choices are a display setting. Turning a column off never removes data from your portfolio, and Reset to defaults brings it straight back.
• The free plan tracks up to 10 holdings. The card header counts what you have — 4 positions in the demo — and your usage against the cap sits on the Your Free Plan card. Unlimited holdings is a Pro feature.

What's next

Filters tell you which holdings deserve attention. The next post, how to drill into one holding and its CGT position, opens a single holding and shows the "If you sold today" card, where proceeds, FIFO cost base, gain and the 50% discount are worked out for that parcel. If the Losers filter turned up positions you are thinking about selling before 30 June, read our guide to tax-loss harvesting in Australia first, and check any plan with a registered tax agent before you act on it.