Connecting Ideas to Trades¶
A Trade Idea and a Position are separate records in Finvee. An idea can exist without any trade behind it — and a trade can exist without any idea behind it. Linking is how you connect the two when both exist, so Finvee can track your decision quality from pre-trade plan to post-trade outcome.
How linking works¶
The way a Trade Idea gets connected to a Position depends on how you import or record the trade.
Two ways to link¶
After importing broker trades¶
When you import a CSV from your broker, the import drawer offers a Track against Playbook option. This controls whether the import automatically handles linking for you.
With Playbook tracking turned off (the default): no linking happens during import. After the import completes, Finvee checks whether any of the new positions match unlinked Trade Ideas you already have, and shows you a review prompt if it finds candidates. You confirm or dismiss each match manually.
With Playbook tracking turned on: the import runs a linking step automatically for each new BUY position.
- If you have an existing unlinked Trade Idea for that symbol, it is linked to the position.
- If no matching idea exists, Finvee creates a new Trade Idea for you — pre-populated with your Playbook's default stop and target percentages, and the actual fill price as the planned entry. The thesis is set to "Trade linked from import" as a placeholder you can edit. The idea is then linked to the position immediately.
Within Playbook tracking mode you can also switch between Auto (applies to all valid BUY rows at once) and Manual (shows you each row individually so you can toggle linking per position).
Manually at any time¶
You can link a Trade Idea to a Position (or vice versa) at any time from either record:
- From a Trade Idea — open the idea and use the Link to position action to select a matching open position
- From a Position — open the position detail and use the Associate idea action to pick from your unlinked ideas for that asset
The manual linking UI shows only ideas and positions for the same asset, so you are always comparing like-for-like.
What happens when you link¶
Linking triggers a set of automatic adjustments designed to align your original plan with what actually happened.
The idea becomes Executed¶
The Trade Idea's status is set to Executed, and its lifecycle state becomes Active if the position is still open, or Closed if the position has already been fully exited.
Your plan is anchored to your actual fill¶
If you had no planned entry price when you created the idea: Finvee fills it in from your position's weighted average cost. Your stop-loss and profit target remain as you set them.
If you did have a planned entry price and your actual average cost is different: Finvee adjusts your stop-loss and profit target proportionally, so the percentage distances from entry are preserved.
For example: if your plan had a stop 5% below your planned entry, and your actual fill was 3% higher than planned, the stop price is shifted up by the same 3% so the 5% gap is maintained. Your original planned prices are preserved separately so you can always see the unmodified plan.
This adjustment is shown clearly in the idea detail view when it has occurred.
The logging date is backfilled if needed¶
If you created the idea without logging it before execution, Finvee sets the logging date to the trade date of your first buy lot — so the timeline is accurate for audit purposes.
The one-idea-per-position rule¶
You can only have one active Trade Idea linked to a position at a time. Cancelled ideas do not count toward this limit — so if you cancel an old idea and link a new one, that is allowed.
This rule exists to keep the post-trade audit unambiguous: there should be one plan to evaluate the trade against.
How lifecycle state changes as the position progresses¶
Once linked, the idea's lifecycle state follows the position automatically — you do not need to update it manually.
| Position status | Idea lifecycle state |
|---|---|
| Open | Active |
| Partially Closed | Active |
| Closed | Closed |
When the position closes, Finvee generates a Decision Audit that scores your pre-trade decision against the actual outcome — using the frozen PTQI snapshot, your original plan, and the realised P&L from the position.
Unlinking¶
You can remove the link between an idea and a position at any time. When you unlink:
- The idea returns to an unlinked state (lifecycle state becomes Idea)
- The position and all its lots are completely unaffected
- Any plan adjustments that were made at link time (stop/target recalibration) remain as they are — they are not reversed
Unlinking is useful if you linked to the wrong position by mistake, or if you decide the position no longer represents the intent you captured in the idea.
When to leave a position unlinked¶
Not every position needs a Trade Idea behind it. Linking is optional. You might leave a position unlinked when:
- The trade was purely mechanical (e.g. a rule-based rebalance with no thesis to capture)
- You imported historical positions that predate your use of Finvee's decisioning system
- The trade was a cash management action (deposit, dividend reinvestment) with no independent thesis
Unlinked positions appear in your portfolio normally. They simply do not contribute to idea-level analytics or Decision Audit scoring.