Getting your full history out of your broker
The fastest way to bring an account into Nimblewit.
The short version
- Best: one CSV or Excel export of all your transactions, from the day the account opened to today. It imports in one go and needs the least checking.
- Good: PDF statements. These work, but each one is read separately and may be queued, so a long history takes longer.
- Last resort: screenshots of your activity screen, up to 10 at a time. Handy for a few recent trades, slow for years of history.
What to look for on your broker’s site
Almost every broker has a page called something like Activity, Transactions or Account history. On it, look for a Download or Export button and choose:
- Date range: the widest one offered, ideally since the account opened. If there’s a limit (often one or two years at a time), download several files and import them one after another. Nimblewit spots rows it already has, so overlaps are fine.
- Format: CSV or Excel (.xlsx) if offered.
- What to include: everything — buys, sells, distributions, contributions, withdrawals, transfers and fees. Returns are only as accurate as the history behind them.
Where to start, by broker
Menu names change from time to time. If you can’t find the page below, search your broker’s help centre for “export transactions”.
| Broker | Where | Look for |
|---|---|---|
| Questrade | Canada | the account activity report, exported to Excel or CSV |
| Wealthsimple | Canada | your account activity or monthly statements |
| TD Direct Investing | Canada | account history or transaction history, with a download option |
| RBC Direct Investing | Canada | account activity, with a download or export option |
| BMO InvestorLine | Canada | transaction history, with a download option |
| CIBC Investor’s Edge | Canada | account history or activity, with a download option |
| Scotia iTRADE | Canada | account activity, with a download option |
| National Bank Direct Brokerage | Canada | transaction history, with an export option |
| Interactive Brokers | Canada · US | an activity statement or a Flex Query, as CSV |
| Fidelity | US | activity & orders history, with a download option |
| Charles Schwab | US | transaction history, exported as CSV |
| Vanguard | US | transaction history, with a download option |
Then
Go to Import data and choose the file. You’ll see every transaction before anything is saved. Spreadsheets and CSVs in a recognised layout are read in your browser. PDFs, screenshots and spreadsheets we can’t read by column are sent securely to Anthropic’s Claude to be read, and aren’t used for training. A PDF or screenshot that can’t be read is kept privately so we can fix the problem; files read successfully aren’t kept.