How options trades are imported

Contract size, the three symbol formats VEXA reads, what happens when an option expires worthless, and the export settings that keep contract detail intact.

Same on every platform Updated 26 July 2026

What this does

An option contract normally controls 100 shares, so an option trade’s P&L is a hundred times the price difference. Reading that contract size correctly is most of what importing options amounts to, and it depends on your broker writing enough detail into the export.

Contract size

Options default to a contract size of 100.

P&L = (exit price - entry price) x contracts x 100 - commission

VEXA works the size out in order: an explicit multiplier in your file if there is one, then the asset type, then the shape of the symbol itself. An option that reaches none of those is treated as a plain instrument with a size of 1, which is exactly the wrong answer by a factor of 100.

That is the failure mode to watch for. P&L that is out by exactly 100 on an options trade means the contract detail did not survive the export.

Index options and adjusted contracts can have a different size. Where your file states a multiplier, that value is used rather than the default.

Quantity is contracts

Enter and read options quantity in contracts, not shares. Ten contracts is 10. The 100 is applied for you, so writing 1,000 to mean ten contracts multiplies your P&L by another hundred.

The three symbol formats

VEXA reads three ways of writing an option contract.

Format	Shape	Example
Inline	underlying, expiry, strike, right	`AAPL 17 Jan 2026 $180 CALL`
OCC compact	21 characters, no spaces	`AAPL260117C00180000`
Extended	underlying, two spaces, expiry, right, strike	`AAPL 20260117C180.000`

Broker exports use one of these, and detection is automatic. If you are typing trades into the manual CSV template and none of the three fits what you have, put the plain underlying ticker in Symbol and fill the Expiration, Strike, CallPut and Underlying columns instead. See Symbol formats for the CSV template.

Export settings that preserve contract detail

Two brokers need a setting changed before their exports carry usable option symbols.

DAS Trader Pro: right-click the option chain window, open Config, and enable Use Long Symbol. Without it the export carries a shortened symbol with no strike or expiry in it.
Robinhood: stocks and options are separate activity reports. Download both if you trade both. Neither one contains the other.

Indian brokers export per segment, so equity and derivatives are separate downloads at both Zerodha and Upstox.

Short options

Selling to open is a short position and VEXA records it as one. A short call and a long put are both bearish, and the direction label answers which way you needed the underlying to go rather than which side you traded, so a sold call and a bought put both read as SHORT. The buy and sell sides are still there on the execution rows, and the chart arrows still follow the order you actually placed. See Why a long put shows as SHORT.

Expiry, assignment and exercise

An option that expires worthless never produces a closing fill. Nothing traded, so your broker has nothing to export, and the position has no natural end. VEXA will not keep an expired option sitting in your open positions indefinitely, and drops those stale entries rather than presenting them as live risk.

If an expired position matters for your record, the reliable route is to enter the closing execution yourself on the web at a price of zero, which flattens the position and turns it into a closed trade with the premium as the result. See Add or edit executions on a trade.

Assignment and exercise appear in most exports as the equity leg they produce, so an assigned short put shows up as stock arriving in the underlying. Check that both sides made it into the file when reconciling one of those.

What you should see

On a closed options trade: quantity in contracts, the strike, expiry and right visible in the symbol, and a P&L a hundred times the price difference less commission. Multi-contract positions built from several fills carry every fill on the executions timeline.

If it doesn’t work

P&L is a hundredth of what it should be. The contract size was read as 1. Check the symbol format in your file, and set the multiplier explicitly if you are using the manual template.
The symbol has no strike or expiry in it. Re-export with the long symbol setting on, for DAS Trader.
An option shows as still open. Either it expired, which is covered above, or the closing fills are outside your export window. See Positions show as open that I already closed.
A spread came in as several separate trades. That is intended. See Multi-leg option strategies.

Multi-leg option strategies A vertical spread imports as two trades and an iron condor as four. Why VEXA tracks each leg separately, and what that means for your numbers. Symbol formats for the CSV template How to write stock, option, futures, forex, crypto and CFD symbols so VEXA reads them correctly in the manual CSV template. Your P&L does not match your broker How VEXA calculates trade P&L, the three bases it uses in priority order, and the six reasons your number and your broker's number can legitimately differ.

Still stuck? Email support@vexatrade.ai.