Stock INVESTOR is an investment analysis program for those contemplating purchase or sale of stock. It calculates and plots a stock's Daily Cumulative Volume, a tool used by some stock traders to spot possible takeover candidates. The Dow Jones News/Retrieval® magazine DOWLINE explains DCV this way:
"Prices go up because demand exceeds supply. When prices go up on a large volume, it is evidence of stock accumulation. Every uptick in trade represents stock accumulation, every downtick represents distribution."
Because acquiring firms usually begin buying up the stock of a takeover target before formal announcements appear in the media, DCV can be a powerful tool in spotting this "telltale accumulation." And all that's needed is the price and volume history for a period of 4 or 5 months.
You can work with up to 15 stocks at once. Just type in the company names or stock codes in the title bar and it will appear on the corresponding menu button. If you want to work with more stocks, just go to Stock 15's card and create new cards, but you'll have to create and link the buttons yourself. Then type in the market data, hit the update button, and chart.
There are a couple of things you can look for in analyzing the DCV chart, particularly discrepencies between the price movement and DCV movement. When prices were falling, was the DCV steady, or even rising? Did the DCV have a day when it suddenly jumped?
For complete instructions on interpreting DCV, seek out "How To Spot Takeover Candidates Using //HQ" in the On Investing section of the July/August 1987 issue of DOWLINE.
For your convenience I've enclosed a sample of a program in development called SPREAD, a miniature spreadsheet in a single card to be pasted into whatever Hypercard stack's you wish. I hope you'll find it useful in using making your investment decisions, and I welcome suggestions for the final product. All instructions for SPREAD's use are in the HELP file.
And all this is yours (Yes, here comes the shareware pitch) for a measely $20. If you like and use this program, please send in the fee. Apart from the money, authors like to know if their work is being used, is useful, helpful, exasperating, whatever. So send those fees and suggestions to:
Maria Lima
5110 Frich Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15227
Like any investment analysis program, Stock Investor merely performs calculations for the user. All stock purchases are speculative, and the writer and distributors of this program can in no way be held accountable for the user's success or lack of it in the markets. No methods are foolproof, and all market analysis techniques and software should be used with caution.
