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SnapStock V 2.11 OVERVIEW SnapStock is a full-featured charting, technical analysis and portfolio tracking system for the mutual fund and stock market. This software is perhaps a little different from other charting and analysis software you may know about. In particular, Snapstock has been designed to perform cycle analysis on stock data, and it has an assortment of tools for this purpose. On the other hand, some of the features you may be used to from other technical analysis programs might well be missing or implemented differently. Do not judge SnapStock harshly for being different! This is potentially powerful software, and if properly used will reward you handsomely! PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Here are just some of the features of SnapStock for the Amiga: *Automatically track and chart hundreds or even thousands of stocks and mutual funds, updating your chart files manually or automatically from the Genie information service, Ingenius (available through many cable TV companies), Compuserve, or almost anywhere else using SnapStock's universal quotes reader. *Multiple user portfolios may be tracked - reports and charts of your personal investment portfolios are updated and displayed each time your stock files are updated. *Comprehensive performance report generated after each file update: For each issue tracked: Percent gain or loss over the last week, month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years. Performance statistics for your personal portfolios are included in this report as well as in a separate portfolio report containing additional performance statistics. *"SnapShot" album holds a collection of charts for quick display. This album can even be animated - selectable speeds - for interesting motion studies of your charts! SnapShot albums may be saved and reloaded. *Chart issues "stacked" two per screen, or superimpose charts on top of each other for detailed comparisons, in contrasting colors. Any screen may be printed. Any missing dates in chart data may be interpolated. *Statistics displayed along with each chart: Price scale and timeline, percent scale showing change over period displayed, percent up from lowest point, percent down from highest price, last recorded price. In addition, the data associated with each point on the chart may be displayed by simply pointing to it. This data may also be edited, right on the chart screen. *Moving averages may be displayed as simple or centered, (centered MA's are more useful for cycle studies) with computer extrapolations displayed in an alternate color. *Envelopes may also be centered or simple, with extrapolated data. Multiple envelopes/averages may be superimposed. *Inverse averages - for cycle or channel studies. Also centered/simple, with extrapolations. *Data Filter - selectable center frequency, bandwidth, upper and lower limits. Extrapolated data extends filter response to present day. An MACD display is possible as well. *Scripting feature lets you automate complex functions. Ten scripts are mapped to function keys. *Stock splits of any ratio can be automatically found and compensated for. *User may place multiple trendlines or other marks on any chart. *Import or Export plain ASCII data files for maximum compatibility with other programs and data sources. *Auto error correction may be applied to any chart data file. *Zoom in on any portion of a chart by simply dragging a box around it. Both wide and magnified views will be simultaneously displayed. *Two date ranges available to store zoom dates. *Choose from all (daily data), weekly or monthly chart displays. *Automatically view, print or analyze groups of issues with "chart all" feature. *All charts auto-range to fill chart space - or the chart scale may be locked, or set to specific values. *Graphic menu system displays and provides access to all chart parameters simultaneously. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CYCLE ANALYSIS I became interested in cycle analysis of stock market issues because of my electronics background, and some experience with radio and audio signals. In radio, I learned that any waveform, no matter how complex and random it may appear, may nonetheless be broken down into constituent sine waves - simple, regular waves of single frequencies. Any truly random waveform will contain proportionately equal amounts of ALL frequencies. If sine waves of particular frequencies dominate, the waveform is NOT random, and can be - to various degrees - predicted. Cycle analysis is not one of the more widely practiced forms of technical analysis. The reason for this, I believe, is that cycles are not so easy for an average investor to interpret. Cycle investing also has adherents who would like to base trading cycles on astrology, Fibonacci numbers, political races or "two downs and an up". Just for the record, SnapStock has nothing to do with any of these things. I do not need anything other than mathematics to generate my charts. However, since the reason for the existence of cycles in stock data is still largely unexplained, feel free to use SnapStock for the investigation of any theory you like. The detractors out there consider that you can "find" cycles in random numbers just by looking hard enough. There is actually a lot of truth to this. Choose your issues carefully, as some will feature strong cyclical tendencies, and others not. Chart the wrong one, and you may make a trade on a cycle that exists mostly in your mind. Remember that sine waves can be readily found in random data as well as in non-random data. A full tutorial on cycle trading strategy would take quite a bit of space, so check out the books mentioned at the end of my doc file. Meanwhile, I'll try to explain bits and pieces as we go along. COMPATIBILITY AND KNOWN BUGS SnapStock is being developed on my A530 accellerated A500, where I have run it under WB 1.3, 2.0, 2.1 and 3.1. I have not had the opportunity to test it with an AGA machine. (Please write me and let me know how it's working for you!) On Workbench 2.0+, you may get an error: "Cursor set out of bounds."In this event, visit your PREFERENCES and set your SYSTEM DEFAULT FONT to an 8-point or smaller font. On a 68020+ Amiga, occasional GURUs due to privileged instruction violations are possible. (Sorry, I need a newer compiler!) Run a program such as DEGRADER to fix this. I am running DEGRADER with PRIVILEGED checked, and SnapStock has been very stable and crash-free for me. In fact, if you put DEGRADER in your C or UTILITIES directory, SnapStock will AUTOMATICALLY set it up and run it. If you have an accellerated machine you should not have any problem with SnapStock's speed. With a slower Amiga, you may! On a 68000-only Amiga, try setting the DATE FREQ to WEEKLY instead of ALL whenever possible. This will make SnapStock run up to four times faster when displaying large data files. For even more speed, load large chart files while set for WEEKLY or MONTHLY, and re-save them this way. You will lose your ability to display daily data once you do this, however. Non-accellerated and floppy-only users should also be aware that, beginning with version 2, they will experience some long delays (up to 2-3 minutes) when report files are loaded or updated. Sorry, but this is just the price of progress. If weirdness results when you should be seeing the file requester, you have run out of memory. SnapStock needs 1 meg to run, and at times (like when the file requester comes up), it needs it all. DISTRIBUTION OF SNAPSTOCK I considered making SnapStock shareware, but didn't. If I wanted a commercial program, I'd have to spend too much time adding things OTHER people want to the program - I'd rather add the things _I_ want. Plus, I stand to make way more money by USING the program than by waiting for shareware contributions! (Maybe if I'm forced to port SnapStock to IBM, I'll make THOSE users pay instead!) I would be pleased to receive mail/email from users who have used or would like to use SnapStock, so that I may build my mailing list. This is almost as nice as getting money. (What software authors REALLY want is attention!) Feel free to report bugs or suggest improvements. Keep in mind, however, that SnapStock is being written for ME - its purpose is to secure a retirement income for myself. If anyone else using SnapStock can improve their financial standing, however, this is a real plus - and I will be pleased to hear from you. You may distribute the program pretty much as you see fit... however, I retain the copyright to SnapStock, so if you plan to make a profit (more than a couple bucks) by selling it, I want a piece of it! In any event, you must keep SnapStock, this doc file and all the associated files together and unchanged. I am always working on SnapStock, so if you can't wait for the latest version to show up, send me a few dollars ($6 is reasonable for taking the trouble to copy and mail a disk) and I'll send you whichever version I have. Send $12 or $18 and I'll include an additional disk or two full of chart data, useful info or other SnapStock utilities. Send To: Dave Muse 22443 Leewright Southfield, MI 48034 I'm also on GENIE as D.MUSE EMAIL: D.MUSE@genie.com or dmuse@oeonline.com THE DISCLAIMER You know why I have to do this. SnapStock is supplied AS-IS, for no cost, and is not guaranteed to perform any function whatsoever. Please doublecheck any decisions you make using SnapStock, as I can not assert that this program is accurate or bugproof. I am absolutely NOT RESPONSIBLE for any of your actions, whether or not SnapStock or its associated documentation and utilities is involved. If you lose all your money, look in the mirror. SnapStock is only an imperfect tool - you are the one making the decisions! PROGRAM FUNCTIONS Let's step through the various menu and keyboard commands in SnapStock. -CHART You may click CHART on the graphic menu (to get a file requester) or click on CHART on the bottom menu strip (no requester) or press "c" on the keyboard. Enter the ticker symbol. SnapStock assumes the data file will be in the directory SNAPSTOCKCHARTS: is assigned to. If the file is elsewhere, use the file requester to specify its location. The charts are displayed with statistics across the top, a price scale to the left, a percentage gain/loss scale on the right and a timeline on the bottom. As you move the mouse pointer across the chart, a continuously updated readout of each data point is displayed underneath the timeline. When a lot of data is involved, you may resolve points right next to each other by pushing the left/right cursor keys. You may, in fact, edit any one of these data points by pressing the backspace key, or add a new data point to the end by clicking "Manual Update." Changes to your chart files made this way are not permanent until you click "SAVE". Make sure your DATE FREQ is set to ALL when editing and re-saving chart data. If it's set to WEEKLY, for example, saving your chart data will irrevocably convert your daily data into weekly data. The top line tells you, first: the issue name. Second: what period and type moving average or filter is selected. Third: what the last recorded price was. Fourth: what percentage gain this last price represents over the lowest price contained on this chart. Fifth: what percentage loss this same price represents compared to the highest price recorded on this chart. The percentage scale on the right side of the chart represents the percentage gain/loss relative to the FIRST recorded price on the chart. To gauge performance of your issue relative to specific dates, zoom in on the date range you want (box it off with the mouse), then read the percentage off the scale opposite the last point on the chart. Finally, pressing the SPACE BAR will toggle the chart between a LINE or BAR chart. The default, for a stock, is a bar chart. For a mutual fund, the default is a line chart. Keyboard command: "c". SPACE toggles between line/bar chart. -CHART ALL All the issues listed in your last quotes file ("LAST.PRF" is a copy of the last quotes file you updated your issues from) will be charted. You may specify a continuous display, as fast as the program can draw them, or one that will pause every time two charts are displayed. All the parameters set on the menus will apply to all the charts displayed. You may even wish to create Quotes files with specific sets of issues to chart - simply create a list of ticker symbols, one per line, with any text editor. Load this file into SnapStock with the "LOAD QUOTES" button. (You will get an error message about missing data when loading a list of names, but you can ignore it.) After performing a CHART ALL or PRINT ALL, new reports are available. Click on PERFORMANCE report or PORTFOLIO report to see them. You can exit from chart all at any time by tapping the ESC key repeatedly. Keyboard command: "g" -PRINT ALL Like CHART ALL, but all your issues will be charted, then printed. Printing parameters are set from your regular workbench preferences. PRINT ALL has one quirk... it likes to print charts in groups of two. If you have an ODD number of charts in your last quotes file, the last one won't print. It will be displayed on screen bottom after CHART ALL is done, however, so simply click PRINT to send it to the printer. See PRINT for advice on the optimum setup for your printer. Keyboard command: ALT-p -SAVE Your chart file - whatever is in memory at the moment, incorporating any changes you may have made - is re-written to the same file name. Beware! If you have just charted a date range that does not include all the data in this chart file, you will permanently lose that portion of your data which is not in memory! Likewise, if you have "Weekly" selected as your date frequency, you will lose the ability to display daily data if you re-save it this way! Keyboard command: "*" -SAVE AS Like SAVE, but you will get a file requester, and you may specify a different name. NOTE: You MUST use a one-to-five-letter, all-caps A-Z ticker symbol for your chart names for full compatibility with SnapStock (and you thought MS-DOS filenames were a pain!) Keyboard command: "&" -UPDATE ALL Updates all your data files with the latest prices. You will get a file requester. Specify the text file that contains your price quotes. At the moment, SnapStock's quotes format should work with the one output by Ingenius (formerly known as Xpress Xchange) and the format used by the GENIE information service. Examples of these two formats are included - other formats you may have access to may be sufficiently close to one of these to be used - for example, this format (using the ".XPR" extension) should work: TICKER MM/DD/YY HIGH PRICE LOW PRICE The date field is optional, and SnapStock will use today's date if no other date is found. Dates in MM/DD format will have the current year added to them by the program. The exact spacing between items is not critical. Even the exact arrangement specified above is not critical - the date can actually appear anywhere on the line. The HIGH and LOW prices can occur in either order. Other numbers can exist on the line, as long as they appear AFTER the LOW and HIGH prices (they will be ignored by SnapStock.) The ticker symbol MUST be first on the line, however. Prices should include decimal points (not "1/8" style fractions). If other numbers appear on the line (other than the date) before the high and low, or the ticker symbol is not the first thing on the line, use the universal quotes reader instead (see below.) Your quotes file may also contain irrelevant lines, which SnapStock will ignore, AS LONG AS THE IRRELEVANT LINES CONTAIN NO NUMBERS. Snapstock, you may have surmised, is only interested in the high, low, date and ticker symbol. It does not store or use the volume, opening or closing prices, though this may change in a future version. Please add the extension ".GEN" to the file name of a GENIE format quote file, ".XPR" to one in the Xpress (Ingenius) format, and ".####" (explained below) when using the universal quotes reader. If the extension is missing, SnapStock will make the best guess it can. SnapStock also contains a "universal" quotes reader, which is a little more work to use, but should be able to make some sense out of almost anything. I will use Compuserve's quotes format as an example. With the universal reader, you will need to "pre-load" a list of issue names. If you continue updating from the same issues, you will NOT need to do this each time, as SnapStock will carry over the names to subsequent updates (in the file LAST.PRF). Here's my list, prepared by a text editor: FDPMX AAPL IBM F FSVLX Prior to selecting UPDATE ALL, I must load this list using the "LOAD QUOTES" button on the options panel. SnapStock will complain about missing data (since there are no numbers), but I can safely ignore this error message. Next, I'll download my Quotes file. I log on to Compuserve's basic quotes, open a capture file, and request the quotes I want, IN THE SAME ORDER as the list I gave to SnapStock. My capture file is named "QUOTES.3577" (explained below.) This is the filename I will eventually specify when I click UPDATE ALL. When I'm done on CIS, I may need to edit my capture file and delete numbers occurring on any OTHER line besides the actual quotes. (The program is smart enough to ignore lines that contain no numbers.) If any of the expected quotes were missing for some reason, I will insert the missing prices (yesterday's prices or zeros are both okay.) Finally, the file extension is important. The quotes file I present to SnapStock must end in a "." followed by four numbers, which represent the column positions within each line where I will "snip" out the data that I want. Basically, SnapStock wants the high price, low price, and date. Here's an example line similar to a CIS quote: APPLE COMPUTER CO 22651 45.775 44.525 45.600 0.740 8/23* ^ ^ ^ ^ | | | | COLUMN 35 HIGH LOW COLUMN 77 By naming my quotes file "QUOTES.3577" I am telling SnapStock to begin reading at column 35 and stop reading at column 77. As long as the program sees the HIGH and LOW prices it wants FIRST, the other numbers on the line won't confuse it. The HIGH and LOW prices, incidentally, can be in either order. The DATE, in the format MM/DD or MM/DD/YY can occur anywhere on the line, even prior to the high and low prices. I have set the line end at 77, however, because the "*" CIS places after the date could confuse SnapStock. If the line positions cannot be set so as to capture dates, don't worry. SnapStock will then automatically assign the current date to all the quotes. Reading dates is more important when updating from multiple-day quotes, as with GENIE's format. Since the GENIE format contains two days' worth of quotes, you will need to update your files every two days. If you want to do it every day, SnapStock is smart enough to throw out the date it already has (you will get error messages after your update, however, telling you which prices were thrown out.) Also, the GENIE quotes often list several classes of preferred stock under the same ticker symbol. At the moment, SnapStock will simply throw out the preferred stock and perform updates from the common stock. You will need to edit your quotes file (remove the preferred markings) if you wish this to be different. If a chart data file is missing, or if SnapStock can't read it, a new chart file will be created during the update process. You will not be able to chart an issue until you have at least two data points - so you may get the "creating..." file message for two days when adding a new issue. IMPORTANT: pay attention to your chart settings when doing an update. If you have a short date range set, you could wind up permanently truncating all your chart files! Make sure, as well, that your date frequency is set to ALL. If you plan to track LOTS of stocks or mutual funds (more than 1500, or 750 with GENIE's dual-date format), consider splitting them into several quotes files. During updating, the whole quotes file is held in memory, and SnapStock has a limit of about 1500 lines for this file (1500 ACTIVE lines - many lines not containing prices, in your quotes file, are thrown out - and don't count toward the 1500 line limit.) Also, the report function is limited to 1500 issues, so updating in "chunks" will allow you to view or print a report for each group of issues. Another space limitation is for the charts themselves. SnapStock can chart up to 1500 data points (about 6 years of daily data per issue.) You will need to start losing some data points (or re-save your charts as WEEKLY data) once you've tracked your issues this long. If you usually update your files right after starting SnapStock, you may appreciate the extended-selection update feature. Select SnapStock's icon, then hold down the shift key while double-clicking the icon for your quotes file. SnapStock will start, and immediately begin updating your chart files. Keyboard command: "u" -MANUAL UPDATE You will be asked for the HIGH, LOW, and DATE of the new data point to be added to the issue already in memory. When you are done adding data points, select SAVE. You might instead choose to prepare a text file in the style of one of the quotes files that SnapStock reads, and perform an UPDATE ALL from it. IMPORTANT: Do not use MANUAL UPDATE for any of the issues you are tracking in a personal portfolio, as the prices will not be recorded in your portfolio chart files, performance report or portfolio report. SAVE updates the issue's chart file only. -MOVING AVERAGE The moving average is one of the most basic tools of the chart technician, and SnapStock incorporates several variations. While the most common moving average, SIMPLE, is available, the default in SnapStock is the CENTERED average, which is more useful for cycle analysis. To switch between average types, click on the M.AVERAGE button. If you will compare the two average types, you will note that the centered average "lines up" better with the data, while the simple average is phase- shifted to the right. Since it is this very phase shift that generates buy and sell signals for many chartists, I have included it, though I would like to point out that it is the cyclic nature of stock prices (IMHO) that makes this trick work! Now, notice that the centered average is drawn in two colors. The center color is the portion of the average drawn accurately from the data. The end colors are parts of the average drawn from insufficient data for 100% accuracy, and should be viewed "with a grain of salt". View it as if it were made of rubber, firmly attached at the left side but loose on the right side. The further along toward the average end we get, the greater the potential for error. (Though the method used to extrapolate the average here should work pretty well.) To change the MA value, click in the box with the number over the M.AVERAGE button. Type in your value - in data points - and hit enter. When set for ALL data, 15 points means three weeks (5 data points per week.) When using WEEKLY data, 3 points equal three weeks. The INVERTED moving average is also somewhat peculiar to cycle analysis. With this selected (click [I]nvert on the bottom menu strip) the average is "streched taut" across the center of the screen, and the data is displayed relative to it. This is useful for generating buy/sell signals based on the amount of deviation from the average. Keep in mind that you will only be seeing cycles SHORTER in period than the moving average (all added together, of course, so distinguishing between frequencies is not straightforward.) Incidentally, when you look at an UNinverted moving average by itself, you are seeing the sum of all cycles LONGER than the period selected. To view a moving average by itself, press "d". This will suppress the data plot on subsequent charts, leaving only the MA. Press "d" again to re-enable data plots. Press "m" to do the opposite - suppress the MA, leaving only the data plot. NOTE: if you ask SnapStock to generate a moving average without enough data points in your chart file, the program will shorten the period of the MA by whatever amount it has to in order to draw a chart. Look at the status line over the chart to see what length moving average SnapStock gave you. Keyboard commands: "n" changes average types. "m" suppresses the moving average. "d" suppresses the data itself, so only the moving average is drawn. "i" selects/deselects an inverted moving average. ALT-m lets you enter a new MA value (while the option menu is displayed.) -ENVELOPE The envelope display is really just another variation on the moving average. An M.A. is drawn both above and below the data, "enclosing" it. In this way, much like the inverted moving average discussed earlier, the degree of excursion from the center of the "track" can be evaluated. For an envelope display, press the M.AVERAGE button until C-ENVE or S-ENVE is displayed. These represent a centered envelope or simple envelope, respectively. -FILTER The FILTER output is nothing more than the difference between two moving averages (one average displayed relative to the other). Any frequncies between the two that exist in the data is displayed as a chart. We are essentially "tuning" the data with the filter, like you might tune a radio, looking for stations. A fair amount of experimenting with the filter will reveal which frequencies are worth looking at in a particular issue (now you know why cycle study doesn't appeal to the average investor... too much work.) Click FILTER on the bottom menu strip to engage or disengage filter mode. All the numbers in the filter boxes represent PERIODS (expressed in number of data points), not numbers of cycles. The UPPER number should be higher than the LOWER number. Don't get these mixed up or the chart will be drawn upside down! Better still, use the CENTER and BANDWIDTH boxes instead (UPPER and LOWER will be set automatically.) Again, when set for ALL data, 5 points usually represent one week, while 1 point represents one week when set for WEEKLY display. When switching DATE FREQ, an approximate translation of the values in all the FILTER and M.AVERAGE boxes is done by SnapStock. The CENTER box, as you might guess, is for the frequency you wish to look at. The BANDWIDTH is the size of the window you're looking through, that is, how many adjacent frequencies you are looking at as well. Usually, the bandwidth box should contain a generous number (I like to use a number about 50% to 100% of the CENTER number) since price data cycles are never very precise. The INVERSE average mode is automatically selected when the filter is engaged. You may click this off - then click REDRAW - if you want to look at the two averages plotted against the normal price grid. You will not be able to permanently disable INVERT until the FILTER mode is exited. The same extrapolated data used for our centered moving averages is necessary here, as well. Remember that the very end of the filter plot (displayed in another color) can be in error, especially on the filter plot, as TWO extrapolated averages are necessary. When making decisions, try to base them on the strength and regularity of past cycles more than on what the very end of the chart is telling you. NOTE: when setting filter values, look at the numbers in the UPPER and LOWER boxes and make sure you have enough points of data in your chart file to compute the filter plot. If not, the program may give you an error, or generate an inaccurate chart. To plot something very much like the MACD indicator (Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence), Set the DATE FREQ to ALL, UPPER value to 26, LOWER to 12, and M.AVERAGE to SIMPLE. Chart your issue with FILTER ON, then turn ERASE OFF (SHIFT-E.) Now click in the CENTER box, and type 28. Press lower-case "k" to rechart, then click REDRAW a couple times to get a different color for the signal line. This is not a true MACD, as we are using simple, not exponential averages. But it works all right nonetheless. ******************************************************** * * * CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! * * * * SnapStock's FILTER charts will rarely show you the * * exact moment of a price reversal. Your judgement is * * still crucial! The very end of the chart, the part * * drawn in a different color, CANNOT be drawn in an * * accurate manner, since a portion of the data needed * * to do this does not exist yet! You must learn to * * interpret the chart... look at the regularity of * * the cycles, and the degree of excursion from the * * baseline to decide if a buy or sell should be made. * * * ******************************************************** Keyboard command: "f" selects/deselects filter mode. When the menu is displayed, ALT-n lets you enter a CENTER frequency, ALT-w enters BANDWIDTH, ALT-s is the lower bound, and ALT-t sets the upper bound. -FIND SPLIT To correct your chart data (that is, make it readable again) after a stock split has taken place, first ZOOM in on the part of the chart that contains the split. Then click on (or press on the keyboard) 2, 3, or 4 to correct for a 2 to 1, 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 split. The data should reload from disk with the split corrected. Examine the chart now. If the chart has been correctly adjusted, SAVE it to permanently correct the data file. If the adjustment was not performed correctly, hit "k" to reload the old data (or "c" followed by ENTER), and try again. The .5 button (5 on the keyboard) adjusts the chart the other way - that is, 1 for 2. Pressing "6" on the keyboard allows you to enter any split correction value. For instance, to adjust for a 3/2 split, press "6" and enter 1.5 (because 3/2=1.5). I sometimes use this feature to fix mutual funds that have just declared a large distribution (which affects the NAV). If the share price goes down 10%, I would enter 1.1 as my split fix value. Keyboard commands: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 -DATE RANGE You may click in the BEGINNING and END date boxes to type the start and end of the time period you wish to chart. In addition, selecting a zoom range with the mouse - that is, by dragging a box around a portion of the data, will automatically place dates in these boxes. Reset these boxes to very early/late dates before editing your chart data or performing an update - otherwise the shortened date ranges could permanently truncate your data files. The easiest way to reset the main date range is to hit "zz" on the keyboard. Keyboard commands: (with the OPTION menu displayed) - ALT-b enters the START date, and ALT-e enters the END date. -ZOOM RANGE Another set of dates which can be activated by clicking on the ZOOM button. These dates are unaffected when a new date range is selected with the mouse, and can be reselected by clicking on ZOOM again. A date range of three months back from the present is set in this range when SnapStock is started. This can be changed by clicking in these boxes, and entering new dates. Keyboard commands: (with the OPTION menu displayed) - "," enters the ZOOM START date, and "." enters the ZOOM END DATE. -ZOOM Clicking on the ZOOM button changes date ranges. You must rechart ("c" followed by ENTER, or "k") to view the zoomed chart. To do a MOUSE ZOOM, simply drag a box around part of the chart. The Previous chart will ascend to screen top, and your magnified view will appear on the bottom. The new dates you have selected will appear in the top date range (select [O]ption to view the control panel.) To return to the widest possible view of your data (all dates), drag a box around the ENTIRE chart - or, clicking ZOOM more than once will restore the widest date range to the top date boxes. MOUSE ZOOM, incidentally, only works on screen bottom. You can not select a zoom range on a chart which has ascended to screen top. Keyboard command: "z" -DATE FREQ Clicking on this button will select, alternately, ALL, WEEKLY or MONTHLY charts. When set to ALL, all data points in your chart file are used, and is assumed by the program to be daily data. When set to WEEKLY or MONTHLY, daily data will be summed according to the selected frequencies. Any missing weeks or months in your chart data files will be created when DATE FREQ is set for WEEKLY or MONTHLY. Keyboard command: ALT-a -PERFORMANCE REPORT This button will bring up a report (updated only after performing an UPDATE ALL or CHART ALL) which will display the percentage gain or loss of all the issues in your last quotes file. Performance is reported for the last week, month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years. Color coding is designed to alert you quickly to unusual gains or losses in any of the issues you're tracking. Since these statistics are based on price data only, no dividends, CG distributions etc. are considered - therefore the report is useful mainly as a comparison tool. This report can be viewed or printed. Color Code: GREEN: substantial gain. CYAN: significant gain. WHITE: small-to-average gain. YELLOW: small-to-average loss. MAGENTA: significant loss. RED: substantial loss. The performance report won't list your issues or portfolios until 10 or 15 data points have accumulated in the associated chart files - so be patient right after adding a new issue or portfolio. Keyboard command: Press "j" to view the report, or ALT-c to print it. Pressing "p" while viewing the report also sends it to the printer. -PORTFOLIO REPORT Selecting this item will display a list of issues from your portfolios along with the number of shares held, the dollar values of each of your holdings, the latest share price, the $ change from the last portfolio report, and the total value of each portfolio along with its change from your last report. A file (LAST.RPT) contains the report information which is carried over from day to day. Whenever you make changes to the portfolio information in SSTOCK.CFG, the CHANGE column of your next portfolio report may appear to contain wrong information. The report will be back to normal the following day. If you ever have continuing problems with your portfolio or performance reports, or SnapStock reports that your SSTOCK.CFG file is corrupted, try deleting the LAST.RPT file. SnapStock will simply make it over again after your next update. Keyboard command: Press "v" to view the report, or ALT-v to print it. Pressing "p" while viewing it also sends it to the printer. -QUOTES REPORT Your last quotes file (LAST.PRF) is simply a "cleaned up" copy of the last quotes file you updated issues from. Upon selecting this, you will see a list of your issues and associated price quotes. Keyboard command: Print "y" to view quotes, or ALT-y to print it. Pressing "p" while viewing will also send it to the printer. -HELP A keyboard reference guide will be displayed, showing the functions assigned to various keys. In general, most of SnapStock's functions can be selected from either a graphic menu or from the keyboard, though a few are available in only one way. One difference: If a menu item calls a file requester, its keyboard equivalent generally will not, asking instead for the user to enter a filename and path. Floppy users may prefer this, as the wait for a list of files to display from your chart directory, with a hundred charts or more, can be interminable. Keyboard command: "HELP" key. -LOAD QUOTES A different quotes file may be loaded. The file "LAST.PRF" is normally loaded into memory at startup, and the file you load here will replace it. LAST.PRF is just a copy of the quotes file used for your last update, cleaned up (all irrelevant material removed). This file is used when a CHART ALL or PRINT ALL is performed, and also determines which issues are included in the performance report. You can load a different one (a list of ticker symbols is all you need) in order to generate a PRINT ALL or CHART ALL consisting of only the issues you want. The issue names in memory are also used with the universal quotes reader discussed earlier. CAUTION: do not trust your PERFORMANCE REPORT immediately after loading a new set of quotes names. The NEW names will be paired with performance data from your LAST update - and may be in error. The report will be correct again once you have performed a CHART ALL, UPDATE ALL, or re-loaded LAST.PRF. Keyboard command: "l" -LOAD PORTFOLIO A different portfolio setup file (in the style of SSTOCK.CFG) can be loaded. This feature is most useful if you have more than 1000 issues to track (500 issues when using GENIE's dual-date format), and you would like to create portfolio chart files from different groups of stocks. Each .CFG file should be no larger than 1000 lines. Keyboard command: ALT-l -SNAPSHOT Clicking on [S]nap takes a "picture" of your chart and gives it a number from 1 to 20. You can display your snapshots by pressing the up/down cursor keys, or clicking the FRAME arrows on the menu. Your snapshot album can be animated as well. Try a frequency sweep: turn your filter ON and set CENTER: 33 BWIDTH: 33. Chart your issue, then click SNAPSHOT. Now increase CENTER by 10 (to 43), and hit "k" to rechart. SNAPSHOT again. Repeat, incrementing your center frequency each time by 10 (for best results, increase your BWIDTH setting a little bit each time, too) until you have 10 snapshots. Now click PLAY on the menu to begin the animation loop. Can you spot cycles emerging from the noise? To slow down the playback, press a number key (1-9). Click STOP (or any key on the keyboard) to stop playing. RW and FF on the menu takes you to the start or end of your snapshot album. LOAD or SAVE lets you retrieve or save your albums, though at the moment (without compression) the filesizes will be rather large. CLEAR does as the name suggests - erases your snapshot album. The snapshot album holds up to 20 chart pictures, but you'll need 2mb of chip memory to use it all. Snapshots are rather hungry for chip mem, I'm afraid. With 1mb of chip memory you should be able to store 12-14 snapshots. (Sorry, but hey, this ain't Deluxe Paint you know!) Keyboard commands: "s" stores snapshots. "`" plays your album as an animation, and stops playback. "DEL" clears your album. ALT-3 loads an album from disk. ALT-4 saves your album to disk. CURSOR UP displays the next snapshot. CURSOR DOWN displays the previous snapshot. -SCALE Toggles between a FREE or LOCKED scale. When the scale is FREE, all charts will auto range... that is, the highest price plotted will brush the top of the box, and the lowest one, the bottom. When the scale is locked, the scale can no longer be changed by plotting a new issue. You may even enter new high and low values in the HI and LOW boxes, by clicking on them. The DEV box is for the DEVIATION value, that is, the maximum amount the data deviates from the moving average. Locking the scale and entering a new value here has an effect on the chart only when INVERT is selected. Keyboard command: ALT-2 -CLEAN When CLEAN is ON, some types of errors that may be present in data files can be automatically corrected: non-continuous dates, high or low price values that are highly improbable, etc. I don't recommend turning this on unless you know you have a problem, because once in a while it will "correct" something that was just fine to start with. If you clean a chart file, then re-save it, the corrections become a permanent part of that file. When an error has been corrected by CLEAN, an asterisk (*) will be displayed in the upper left corner of the chart. Keyboard command: ALT-o -REDRAW Clicking REDRAW will draw the last chart again, without reloading the data from disk or performing any new calculations. The one exception: if you select or unselect INVERT, clicking redraw will display the changed chart. For any other changes you have selected on the menus, you must re-chart your data to see changes. If you repeatedly select REDRAW, you will cycle through several different color choices for your chart. Keyboard command: "r" -ERASE Clicking ERASE will, as you might expect, erase your chart. Typing "E" on the keyboard (hold down SHIFT for a capital "E") will change erase MODES. With erase mode selected (default, ERASE appears in RED), all new charts will erase old ones. With ERASE deselected (ERASE appears in GREEN), new charts OVERLAY old ones. With erase mode OFF, you can chart additional MAs, envelopes, or filter charts on top of each other for comparison purposes. (Hint: use REDRAW to change colors when overlaying charts.) Keyboard commands: "e" erases the screen. "E" changes erase modes. -ASCEND Selecting ASCEND will send your chart to the top of the screen, where it will replace the OPTIONS panel (you can get OPTIONS back by clicking "OPTIONS".) Ascending a chart is a good way to keep it handy for reference while you continue charting other issues. Keyboard command: "a" -TRENDLINES A classic charting tool, TRENDLINES are lines connecting three or more lows (if the trend is UP) or three or more highs (if the trend is down). When the price "breaks" the trendline, it's a very good sign of a reversal. To draw trendlines or any other marks on the screen, position the pointer to the start of your line and press "t". Now move the mouse to the end point of the line and press "t" again. NOTE: The TRENDLINE feature will not work properly with INVERT or FILTER selected on the bottom menu. Keyboard command: "t" -OPTIONS Clicking OPTIONS brings up the options panel (the main menu). Keyboard command: "o" -EDIT Press "BACKSPACE" to edit the data at any place on the chart you wish to point to. You will be asked for the HIGH price, LOW price and DATE. Pressing ENTER without typing new data will cause the previous data to be retained. If the data points are too close together, the mouse may not have sufficient resolution to "find" all the data points. In this case, use the LEFT and RIGHT CURSOR keys to search for the data to change before pressing BACKSPACE. You must perform a SAVE to retain your changes. You should not edit data when zoomed in, because your changes will be lost when you zoom back out (which you must do before saving.) Keyboard commands: CURSOR LEFT selects earlier dates. CURSOR RIGHT selects later dates. BACKSPACE begins editing. -RECHART Pressing "K" (upper-case) will ascend your chart to screen top and rechart your issue, incorporating any new menu selections you may have made, on screen bottom. You may also rechart your issue without ascending by typing a lower-case "k" Keyboard command: "k","K" -PRINT Prints the screen. The GRAPHICDUMP program is called from your Workbench, so any printer preferences set there apply. My own preferred settings (for my Laserjet-compatible printer): NEGATIVE image, VERTICAL aspect, shade GREY SCALE 1, threshhold 7, density 2. Keyboard command: "p" -IMPORT A chart data file, in ASCII format may be imported into SnapStock. The format of this file must be - for each line: (MM/DD/YY) High price Low price OR: (MM/DD/YY),High price,Low price with at least two spaces (or commas) separating the items. The order of lines should proceed from earlier to later dates. Additional numbers, such as closing price and volume may FOLLOW the date, high, and low, but they are not used, and not imported by SnapStock (not yet). Selecting SAVE AS after importing will create a chart file in SnapStock format, using a filename that you specify. If the file to import has a file extension (like ".ascii" or ".txt") then clicking SAVE (or typing "*") will save it to the SAME name WITHOUT the extension. Keyboard command: "h" -EXPORT Any chart file readable by SnapStock may be exported in ASCII (text) format. You will be prompted for a file name, and a text file will be created. The data can be output as: Date High price Low price OR: Date,High price,Low price This same file can be re-imported into SnapStock using the Import function. Keyboard command: "x" -ABOUT You will see the opening title screen again, but with the version number above the name. About will do nothing if the opening title has just been displayed. Keyboarf command: ALT-I -QUIT Quits the program. You will be asked for a confirmation. Keyboard command: "q" -RUN SCRIPT You may load a script file, which will immediately execute. SnapStock will not make script files for you, but you can make them for yourself with a text editor. The format looks a bit cryptic, but it's very simple. Each line of your script should contain one keyboard command, followed by a space and an optional argument (a filename, number or issue name, for example.) Here's an example script: ! This script charts three years of CBU. º 1/1/91 © 1/1/94 c CBU 0 The odd symbols before the two dates above are the characters you get when you press ALT-b and ALT-e, respectively. ALT-b and ALT-e are the keyboard commands for setting the beginning and end dates of the main date range. "c" is the keyboard command to chart, and CBU is the issue I'm charting. The first line, preceded by "!" is a comment. The "0" on the last line tells SnapStock that this is the end of the script. You can even load a script from a script (even the SAME script that you are executing), though your scripts will not return to execute beyond the "load script" command. All script filenames should end with an ".SCT" file extension. Here's a complete list of SnapStock's keyboard commands which can be used in scripts: a-ascend chart c-chart issue d-supress chart data e-erase chart E-erase mode toggle f-filter mode toggle g-chart all issues h-import i-invert j-view performance k-rechart K-ascend, then rechart l-load quotes m-suppress M.A. n-change average type o-options menu p-print screen q-quit SnapStock r-redraw chart s-snapshot t-draw trendline u-auto update v-view portfolio x-export y-view quotes z-select zoom range 2,3,4-adjust for 2,3,4 to 1 split 5-adj. 1 for 2 spl. 6-enter split value 0-indicates script end *-save chart &-save chart as ,-enter zoom begin date .-enter zoom end <-rewind snapshots >-fast forward snapshots SPACE - toggle line/bar charts `-play snapshots +/- chart write protect enabled/disabled (portfolio charts are not protected) æ (ALT-a) change date freq. º (ALT-b) enter begin date ç (ALT-c) Print perf. report ð (ALT-d) enter deviation value © (ALT-e) enter end date £ (ALT-l) Load portfolio ¸ (ALT-m) enter MA value (ALT-n) Filter center value ø (ALT-o) CLEAN on/off ¶ (ALT-p) Print all charts å (ALT-q) Load/execute script ® (ALT-r) Reset all values ß (ALT-s) filter lower value þ (ALT-t) filter upper value µ (ALT-u) Manual update ª (ALT-v) Print portfolio report ° (ALT-w) filter bandwidth × (ALT-x) enter high ¤ (ALT-y) Print quotes ± (ALT-z) enter low ¹ (ALT-1) Set TODAY'S date ² (ALT-2) lock/unlock scale ³ (ALT-3) load snapshot album ¢ (ALT-4) save snapshot album ¼ (ALT-5) print text/user input ½ (ALT-6) pause (if no number given, pauses 1 sec.) ¾ (ALT-7) enter a CLI command (use with caution - may crash SnapStock) Use the "!" character for comments in your scripts. Note that you CAN NOT use the "!" anywhere else in your scripts. It will always be interpreted as the beginning of a comment. In addition, you may refer to the issues listed in your QUOTES file by number, that is, "c 1" will chart the first issue listed, "c 2" the second, and so on. "c +1" will chart whichever number is next. "c -4" charts whichever issue is listed four lines back from the most recently charted issue, and so forth. You may only use the "+" and "-" operators if you have been using numbers, and not chart names. "+1" charts the first issue regardless of which chart you have just viewed, if you did not refer to that last chart by number. You may also use "+" and "-" to increment or decrement dates, moving averages and other program variables. The write protect commands ("+" write protects, "-" write enables) are useful in your scripts for building portfolio charts. (Portfolio charts are always write enabled.) For example: prepare a .CFG file (in the style of SSTOCK.CFG) that contains the portfolio you would like build a chart file of. Now, make a quotes file that contains no dates, and zeros for all the prices. From your script, load the config file you made. Set write protect ON for your charts. Set TODAY'S DATE (ALT-1) to the first date of the portfolio chart you wish to make. Set the END DATE of SnapStock's main date range to the same date. Do an UPDATE ALL from the quotes file you made. Increment TODAY'S DATE and the END DATE, and repeat as many times as you need to to create the portfolio chart. (Explanation: when SnapStock sees no date, it will pull the date from TODAY'S DATE. When it sees zeros instead of prices, it pulls prices from your chart files - whatever prices are recorded on the END DATE you specified above. TODAY'S DATE and the END DATE prices are added to the portfolio charts with each update.) A script that does exactly this is included with this distribution. The ALT-c and ALT-v script commands, which print reports, will print their reports to disk if those commands are given with filenames. ALT-5, when used with a string of text, will print that text above the chart. When used by itself, it will wait for user input, or at least a carriage return before continuing. Any user input becomes the string applied to the next command in the script... replacing any string that may have been specified in your script for that command. Also, any of the other commands (like CHART) that expect user input will pause the script for input if an argument is not included in your script. Take a look at the sample scripts for programming ideas. SNAPSTOCK ERROR MESSAGES SnapStock's error messages are mostly self-explanatory, but here's a rundown nonetheless: -CURSOR SET OUT OF BOUNDS You are running WB 2.0 or later, and your system default text is not set to an 8-point or smaller font. Visit PREFERENCES and make it so. -CAN'T FIND TITLE.SST -NO LAST QUOTES FILE FOUND -KEY SNAPSTOCK GRAPHIC FILES ARE MISSING! You'll get errors like these when SnapStock can't find its support files, which should be in the SUPPORT drawer, inside the directory you assigned SNAPSTOCKCHARTS: to. You DID make this assign, didn't you? -A FILE ERROR HAS OCCURRED This is a general purpose error you'll get anytime SnapStock has had a problem reading or processing a file. -A FILTER ERROR HAS OCCURRED An error has occurred while generating a filter chart. Check the values in the UPPER and LOWER boxes, and make sure you have enough data points (days, weeks, months) to generate a chart. -DATE ERROR: NO UPDATE PERFORMED A date already in your chart data has been encountered while auto-updating. SnapStock will ignore duplicate dates, or any date earlier than the last date in your chart. You will get a whole string of these errors if you update from GENIE daily, since yesterday's quotes are repeated each day. -ERRORS GENERATED WHILE UPDATING You will get a list of affected issues after doing an UPDATE ALL if any errors occurred. -AN ERROR OCCURRED WHILE TRYING TO INTERPRET YOUR QUOTES FILE There is a problem with the file you asked SnapStock to update your chart files from. Check that it has the right file extension (.XPR, .GEN, or .####) and that the quotes format is correct. -A FILE ERROR OCCURRED WHILE UPDATING (ISSUE) FROM (QUOTEFILE) If you get this message, your UPDATE ALL stopped at the issue mentioned because of a problem reading or writing a file. -DATA MISSING FROM FILE - PLEASE CHECK/DELETE ANY UNNECESSARY BLANK LINES The quotes file you just loaded either has no numbers in it, or else the first line of the file is a blank line. When you do an UPDATE ALL, your quotes file is automatically cleaned up before SnapStock loads it. When you use the LOAD QUOTES feature directly, however, the quotes file should be formatted properly to begin with. NOTE: You can also get this error when loading a list of ticker symbols for use with CHART ALL or the universal quotes reader - this is no cause for worry. -ERRONEOUS OR MISSING CHART FILE SnapStock can't find your chart file, or it's corrupt. -NOT ENOUGH MEMORY TO FINISH IMPORT Split your text import file into pieces, and you may be able to import them. A maximum of about 1500 data points may be imported. -REQUESTED AVERAGE COULD NOT BE PERFORMED There are not enough data points in your chart file to generate the moving average (or filter plot) you have requested. -YOU MUST LOAD A QUOTES FILE TO USE THIS FEATURE Usually this means that LAST.PRF, the default quotes file, was missing at program startup - or the quotes file you tried to load didn't load successfully. -REPORTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLY AFTER PERFORMING AN UPDATE ALL OR CHART ALL You can't see a report because SnapStock hasn't made one yet. Usually you will see the last report made, however, unless the file LAST.RPT is missing - in which case, you will get this error message. -THE PORTFOLIO CONFIGURATION FILE SSTOCK.CFG IS EITHER MISSING OR CORRUPT If your SSTOCK.CFG file appears to be fine, and is in your SUPPORT directory, then try deleting LAST.RPT. A corrupt LAST.RPT file could cause the error as well (it can be safely deleted, if you suspect it - SnapStock will remake it.) -CAN'T SNAPSHOT - CHIP MEMORY LOW Close any applications or windows on your workbench that may be using chip memory. -CANNOT SAVE THIS FILE A file system error is preventing SnapStock from saving or exporting the file. -IS THE COMPUTER'S DATE CORRECT? A chart date later than the current date (reported by the computer) has been encountered. You won't get this error unless CLEAN mode is engaged. -(ISSUE) is being created... A non-existant or corrupt chart file has been specified during an UPDATE ALL. You may get this message two days in a row when creating a new issue, as the issue cannot be charted until the file contains at least two data points. If the chart file was corrupt, some of the old data may have been saved (when possible) when creating the new chart file. Otherwise, the old chart file was erased. SNAPSTOCK'S SUPPORT FILES SnapStock uses two configuration files, two "carryover" files, a file requester program and three graphic files, in addition to the main program: -Configuration: SSTOCK.CFG Holds your portfolio configurations. SNAPSTOCK Is an AMIGADOS script that's run by ICONX when SnapStock starts. Both these configuration files are described in detail in the SETUP.DOC file. -Carryover: LAST.PRF This is the "last quotes" file. A clean copy of the last quotes you performed an update from is stored here. LAST.RPT SnapStock stores the last reports you looked at in here. It's also used to carry over price information for all the issues in your portfolios, so that your portfolio chart files can be updated even when prices for all the constituent issues are not available. -Graphic: MENU.SST The graphic OPTION menu. HELP.SST The keyboard reminder screen you see upon pressing "HELP". TITLE.SST The main title screen. -File Requester: REQ.SST This program pops up to help you choose files. -The program: SSTOCK.EXE is the main program. The ICONX script "SnapStock" launches SSTOCK.EXE. -The support files SSTOCK.CFG, LAST.PRF, LAST.RPT, MENU.SST, HELP.SST, REQ.SST and TITLE.SST belong in the SUPPORT directory, inside CHARTS, the one that SNAPSTOCKCHARTS: is assigned to. The files SNAPSTOCK and SSTOCK.EXE can be in any directory, but they must be together. If you are using DEGRADER (you must if you have a 68020+ processor), that program must be in your C: or SYS:UTILITIES directory to be automatically used by SnapStock. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books which discuss cycle investing or technical analysis: J.M Hurst: "The Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing". Prentice-Hall, 1970. My principal inspiration for SnapStock. Written before the age of the personal computer (or the calculator, for that matter). The author hired a team of people to perform (on paper) the large volume of calculations needed to test his ideas! Martin J. Pring: "Technical Analysis Explained". McGraw-Hill, 1991. "How Charts Can Help You Spot Buy and Sell Signals in the Stock Market". Trendline, 1987. This is just a little pamphlet put out by the Trendline people, a charting service. Steven B. Achelis: "Technical Analysis From A to Z". Probus Publishing, 1995. Norman G. Fosback: "Stock Market Logic". Institute for Econometric Research, 1986. Only the first two books contain very much about cycle charting. The others are useful for learning about other aspects of technical analysis. MORE FROM ME I am not an investment "expert". I am not even really an expert programmer, though I have an interest in both of these areas. My goal in writing SnapStock is to personally experiment with what I feel are some intriguing underexplored areas of technical analysis. Don't forget, you can't make the most money by doing what everyone else does. After all, the market IS precisely this - what everyone does. If you haven't yet begun a serious program of saving and investing, please start now, before you get a day older! If you're smart enough to spot an underappreciated bargain like the Amiga, you already have the instincts of a successful investor! Here's the best argument for using SnapStock: It has easily paid for the cost of my computer hobby - many times over! To those of you that need to justify the cost of your computer paraphernalia to your spouse, parents, or yourself: you need this program!