Comparing what Everyfolio shows with what your broker shows is a healthy reflex — it is in fact the best check on your entries. But not all gaps are equal: some signal an error to fix, others are normal and explainable. Telling them apart keeps you from "correcting" figures that were right.
What must match exactly
The quantity
The number of shares held must be identical, down to the fraction. A quantity gap almost always has a precise cause:
- a transaction not entered (the classic oversight: an automatic purchase or a dividend reinvestment);
- a split that happened at the broker but was not recorded in the app — the gap is then an exact multiple or fraction (double, quadruple…), which makes it easy to recognize;
- a transaction caught up after a split and entered in the wrong unit (quantities from before and after a split do not mix).
Quantity is the figure to reconcile FIRST: as long as it does not match, comparing amounts teaches you nothing.
What can differ without being an error
The average cost
Once quantities match, the average cost can still differ slightly, for reasons of convention:
- transaction fees: Everyfolio includes them in the cost basis; some brokers show them separately;
- visible history: the broker only knows the transactions made there — a transfer from another institution sometimes arrives with an incomplete cost;
- display rounding: two systems can round the same exact result differently.
The market value
It depends on the timing of the quote. Everyfolio shows the freshness of each price ("Updated: X min ago"); a broker statement is usually frozen at the close of a given date. Comparing two different instants produces a gap without either figure being wrong.
A neutral worked example
Your broker shows 12 shares at an average cost of $101.25; Everyfolio shows 12 shares at $101.67.
- The quantities match: the basis is sound.
- The average-cost gap is $0.42 per share, or $5.04 in total.
- Your two purchases each carried $2.50 in fees: $5.00 — the order of magnitude matches fees included on one side and not on the other.
- Conclusion: different conventions, neither figure is wrong.
Conversely, a cost gap that matches nothing — not fees, not a transfer, not rounding — deserves a transaction-by-transaction review.
What this changes for your tracking
Prices are not yet shown in the app; they will be at launch.
When a quantity gap appears, Everyfolio's transaction history is read from oldest to most recent, ticking off each line against the statement. For your administrative and tax decisions, the document that governs remains your institution's — Everyfolio is a tracking tool, not an official statement.
Informative, general content — not personalized advice. For your situation: your institution or an advisor.
Challenge: check my understanding
With an account, the challenge opens: four questions on this article, and a state that follows you.