Question 1

Is it really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and there is no paid tier to graduate to. Veluma is a nonprofit funded by donations and grants rather than by users. There is no account to create, no trial, and no feature held back.

Question 2

Where is my trade history stored?

Accepted Answer

In IndexedDB, inside your own browser profile, scoped to this domain. It is never transmitted. Clearing your site data deletes it permanently, and there is no copy anywhere else to restore it from.

Question 3

What actually leaves my device?

Accepted Answer

One request per ticker to Alpha Vantage for end-of-day prices, sent by your browser using your own API key. It carries a ticker symbol. It does not carry how many shares you hold, what you paid, or anything else about your position.

Question 4

Why do I need my own Alpha Vantage key?

Accepted Answer

A key shipped inside the site would be readable by anyone who loads the page, and every visitor would share one free-tier quota that would be exhausted within minutes. Your key stays in your browser's storage and is never sent to us — we have no server to send it to.

Question 5

Do you use analytics or tracking?

Accepted Answer

No. There are no analytics scripts, no cookies, no pixels, and no third-party embeds. This means we genuinely cannot tell you how many people use Veluma, which is a cost we accept rather than a claim we are hedging.

Question 6

What CSV format do I need?

Accepted Answer

A header row with date, ticker, quantity, and price. Symbol works in place of ticker, and qty or shares in place of quantity. Dates may be ISO (2024-03-15) or US-style (3/15/2024). Extra columns are ignored, and rows that cannot be read are reported by line number rather than dropped silently.

Question 7

How do I record a sale?

Accepted Answer

As a negative quantity. A row of -50 sells fifty shares at the price given. Positions are tracked on an average-cost basis, so a sell realizes profit against the average price paid for the shares held at that moment.

Question 8

Are the numbers accurate?

Accepted Answer

The formulas are the standard ones, written out plainly and covered by unit tests you can read in the repository. Accuracy of the result also depends on your inputs: figures are computed only from the trades you import and the end-of-day closes fetched for them. Dividends, splits, fees, and cash balances are not modeled.

Question 9

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes, once loaded. A service worker caches the application shell, and your trades and previously fetched prices are already on the device. Fetching prices for a new ticker is the only thing that needs a connection.

Question 10

Is this investment advice?

Accepted Answer

No. Veluma is a calculator for data you supply. It does not know your circumstances, does not recommend positions, and can be wrong if your inputs are incomplete.