Simulate Any Dividend Stock with Custom Tickers

1) When to Use a Custom Ticker

Use a custom ticker when:

• The stock or ETF you want isn’t in the DividendSim browser list.
• You’re researching a new fund or symbol that pays monthly but isn’t in the preset universe yet.
• You want to override the built-in data (for example, to test a different price or dividend amount).

Important: Custom tickers use the price and dividend values you enter. DividendSim does not fetch live data for them. Always double-check your numbers against your broker or a quote service.

2) Custom Tickers in the Single-Stock Simulator

How it works

• Select the Ticker dropdown.
• Choose — Unlisted (custom) — from the top of the list.
• Enter your own ticker, price, and monthly dividend amount in the fields that appear.

On the Stock details page, custom tickers are temporary. They’re used for that simulation only and will disappear if you refresh the page or switch tickers. This keeps your browser list clean while still letting you run quick “what-if” scenarios on anything.

Once you enter a custom ticker on the Stock details page, the simulator treats it like any other symbol: it runs your DRIP logic, tracks monthly income, and shows you the forecasted balance over time.

3) Custom Tickers in Your Portfolio

Fields you can edit

When you add a custom position to your portfolio, you’ll see fields like this:

• Ticker — required. The symbol you want to track (for example, QQQI).
• Price ($) — required. Your assumed share price.
• Dividend per Share (Monthly) — required. The cash amount paid per share per month.
• Name and Sector — optional helper labels for you. (Currently, the simulator does not use these in calculations.)

Custom entries are always treated as monthly payers. If the real security pays quarterly, you’ll need to convert that to an equivalent monthly amount yourself before entering it.

Saved with your portfolio

When you add a custom position on the portfolio page, we save that data with your portfolio so it’s available for future simulations and behaves just like any other stock in your account:

• They stay in your portfolio between sessions.
• You can edit their stats later (price or dividend) from the portfolio tools.
• They participate fully in all portfolio-level simulations and charts.

Custom portfolio tickers do not appear in the global stock browser or the Stock details ticker dropdown. They are stored and used only inside your portfolio.

4) What Happens If a Ticker Already Exists?

If you add a custom symbol with the same ticker as one of DividendSim’s built-in entries, your custom data wins for that portfolio:

• The portfolio will use your custom price and monthly dividend.
• This applies only to your portfolio data — it doesn’t modify the global browser list for other users.

This is handy if you want to stress-test a position with different assumptions — for example, a lower price or a future dividend change — without waiting for live data to update.

5) Tips for Reliable Custom Simulations

• Check your source: Use your broker or a reliable quote site for current price and dividend info.
• Match the frequency: Enter the dividend as a monthly amount. If it’s paid quarterly, divide by 3 first.
• Document your assumptions: Use the Name and Sector fields (and your own notes) so you remember how you set it up.
• Revisit over time: For long-running simulations, plan to update custom tickers if the actual dividend or price changes significantly.

What’s Next?

Custom tickers give you the flexibility to simulate any dividend stock or ETF, not just the preloaded monthly payers. Whether you’re modeling a niche fund or tweaking your own assumptions, you can plug in your numbers and let DividendSim handle the compounding math.

Ready to try it? Head back to DividendSim.com, pick a portfolio, and add your first custom ticker.