How to Create a Stock Watchlist and Track Your Portfolio in Google Sheets (GOOGLEFINANCE Guide)

You don’t need a paid app to track your shares: you can track a stock portfolio in Google Sheets for free. With the free GOOGLEFINANCE function, Google Sheets can pull live stock prices for NSE, BSE and US stocks, and work out your profit and loss automatically. Set it up once and your watchlist and portfolio update themselves every time you open the sheet. Here’s how to build both, with formulas you can copy.

Quick answer: In any cell, type =GOOGLEFINANCE("NSE:RELIANCE","price") to get the latest price of Reliance on the NSE. Put stock symbols in column A and use =GOOGLEFINANCE(A2,"price") in column B, then drag the formula down to build a watchlist.

How GOOGLEFINANCE works

The basic formula is:

=GOOGLEFINANCE(ticker, attribute)

• ticker is the exchange and symbol, written as EXCHANGE:SYMBOL. Use NSE: for National Stock Exchange stocks (e.g. NSE:INFY, NSE:TCS), BOM: plus the BSE code for BSE stocks (e.g. BOM:500325), and NASDAQ: or NYSE: for US stocks (e.g. NASDAQ:AAPL).
• attribute is what you want: price, change, 52-week high and so on (see the table below). If you leave it out, you get the price.

Prices are delayed by up to 20 minutes, so use your broker’s app for live trading. Google Sheets is for tracking, not for placing orders.

Useful GOOGLEFINANCE attributes

Start typing =GOOGLEFINANCE( in a cell and Sheets suggests the options. Google’s full list is on its GOOGLEFINANCE help page.

Part 1: Create a stock watchlist

Set up these columns in row 1: Symbol, Price, Change, Change %, 52W High, 52W Low. Then enter your stock symbols in column A and these formulas in row 2:

Format column D as a percentage, then select row 2 and drag the formulas down for each stock you add. This video walks through the whole setup:

Colour gains green and losses red

1. Select the Change and Change % columns.
2. Go to Format → Conditional formatting.
3. Add a rule: Greater than 0, with a green fill.
4. Add a second rule: Less than 0, with a red fill.

Add a mini price chart

Add a 30-day trend line next to each stock with the SPARKLINE function:

=SPARKLINE(GOOGLEFINANCE(A2,"price",TODAY()-30,TODAY()))

Part 2: Track your stock portfolio in Google Sheets

To track what you actually own, add three more columns for each stock: Quantity, Buy price and the calculated values. Using columns G onward:

At the bottom, total the Invested, Current value, Profit/loss and Today’s gain columns with =SUM(). That gives you your portfolio’s total value and overall return at a glance. Here’s the portfolio version step by step:

Tips and fixes

• #N/A error? Check the ticker format. It must be NSE:SYMBOL or BOM:code, with the exchange prefix and no spaces. Search the company on Google Finance to find the exact symbol.
• Indices: try INDEXNSE:NIFTY_50 for the Nifty 50 and INDEXBOM:SENSEX for the Sensex.
• Currency rates: =GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:USDINR") gives the dollar-rupee rate, handy if you hold US stocks.
• Mutual funds: GOOGLEFINANCE doesn’t reliably cover Indian mutual fund NAVs, so enter those values by hand or use your fund platform.
• Refresh: prices update automatically while the sheet is open. Reload the page if they look stuck.
• Privacy: keep your portfolio sheet private, and don’t share the link with “anyone with the link” access.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Sheets stock data real time?

No. GOOGLEFINANCE prices can be delayed by up to 20 minutes, which is fine for tracking but not for intraday trading.

Does GOOGLEFINANCE work for Indian stocks?

Yes. Use the NSE: prefix with the NSE symbol (like NSE:HDFCBANK) or BOM: with the BSE scrip code.

Can I get historical stock prices?

Yes. Add start and end dates, for example =GOOGLEFINANCE("NSE:TCS","close",DATE(2026,1,1),TODAY()) returns daily closing prices since January 1, 2026.

This guide is for tracking and learning only and isn’t investment advice.