Track Investment Portfolio Balance in Notion
After you calculate realized gain and loss, the next step is tracking what is still on the books. Inside the Notion Investment Tracker and the Investment Portfolio Tracker template, I keep a running balance of shares by turning every trade into a signed number. The approach is light weight, works in a single database, and keeps your holdings dashboard current even when multiple buys and sells hit the same ticker.
1. Add a Buy/Sell Signed formula
Create a new Formula property named Buy/Sell Signed. We will flip sell orders negative so they subtract from the balance.
if(
prop("Type") == "Buy",
prop("Shares"),
-1 * prop("Shares")
)This matches the recommendation we share in community conversations: buys stay positive, sells reverse their sign. Once you have it in place you can aggregate the column anywhere to see net shares.
2. Group trades by asset and sum the signed shares
- Open your trades database view.
- Group rows by Asset (or whatever property identifies the ticker).
- Inside the group footer choose Calculate -> Sum for the Buy/Sell Signed column.
The result is a per-asset share count that updates automatically. If you duplicate the view as a simple table, you get a quick balance report for every symbol without building a second database.
Frequently Asked Questions
Create a dashboard view (or linked database) and add a rollup to Sum the Buy/Sell Signed property across all trades. That gives you a single portfolio-wide balance.
Yes. Add a second rollup that sums Cost Basis or uses a weighted formula, then divide by the total shares from Buy/Sell Signed. The Investment Portfolio Tracker template includes that pattern if you want a starting point.
