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Category
Settings
Description
Specifies whether dividends accrued to open positions count as free cash from the ex-dividend date rather than when the position exits.
Choices
True - accrued dividends are free cash from the ex-date
False - accrued dividends become free cash when the position exits (default)
Notes
This setting is only relevant when the imported data includes dividends as per-share amounts on ex-dividend dates (Adjustment: Capital, the default for most data sources) and the strategy does not set IgnoreDividends.
A dividend accrues to the open position on its ex-date. From that day it is part of the position's open profit and of test equity. By default it does not become free cash until the position closes, when it is realized as part of the trade's profit.
With DividendsToCash: True, the accrued amount is added to free cash on the ex-date, so MinFreeCash, the Cash models of AccountType, S.FreeCash and the CashIntPct / MarginIntPct interest calculations all see the dividend immediately. Equity, trade profits and all other statistics are unchanged either way. Under a Cash account model, the dividend is not treated as sale proceeds when the position later exits, so free cash does not drop on the exit day.
The setting applies to Compounded strategies only. A non-compounded strategy sizes from its starting allocation and ignores closed profits, and accrued dividends are treated the same way.
Dividend pay dates are not part of the imported data, so the credit is always on the ex-date, which is somewhat earlier than a real account receives the cash.
A typical use is booking a spin-off. Norgate records a spin-off as a capital-adjustment distribution, i.e. a cash dividend on the parent for the value of the shares received, and a TradeList row can then buy the child shares on the ex-date for exactly that amount. In a cash account that is fully invested, the child entry is skipped for lack of free cash unless DividendsToCash is True (or the trade list is played back before its TLEndDate, which bypasses the free cash check).
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