LESSON 2.3 · FOUNDATION

Your portfolio dropped on the ex-div date

The price fell by roughly the dividend. Nothing went wrong.

DIVIDENDS3 MIN READ

Up to the ex-date a share trades cum-dividend — its price includes the right to the next payment. On the ex-date that right stays with whoever held the share the night before, so a new buyer is paying for a share without it. The price typically opens lower by roughly the dividend: the ex-dividend adjustment.

So a price drop on an ex-date is mostly your own dividend moving out of the share price and into the money owed to you. In the app, the holding's value falls and, usually within a day, the dividend is booked in your Dividend Income — your total is roughly where it was. Roughly, because the market is still moving that morning for every other reason too.

£10.00 cum-dividend20p dividend≈ £9.80 at the open

You're not 20p poorer. You're 20p of share price lighter and 20p of dividend heavier.

Check your Dividend Income on the dashboard →

Educational content only. It is not personal financial advice.