support of more complicated investment types

[John Ralls]

On Jan 13, 2011, at 7:25 PM, Mr. Crug wrote:

> 
> I used to use gnucash a while back. 
> 
> Before I go and spend a lot of time to get everything setup on a windows
> box, I'd like to know if gnucash does support the followinginvestments
> types?
> Options (short and long)
> Short stock sales
> Futures
> Currency trades?

For what value of support? 

I've used Gnucash for covered calls, entering the transactions and calculating the capital gains (or adjustment thereto in the underlying stock when the call got exercised) by hand. There's no reason you can't do the same with other derivatives. Short sales are just regular stock transactions run backwards: Sell first, buy later, though you'll have to allocate interest and dividend expense by hand.

If you want Gnucash to know how to set up the entries and allocate the gains, income, and expenses for you... well, patches are welcome.

Regards,
John Ralls