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RBBS in a Box Volume 1 #2
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$TOKTRAX.DOC
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1986-11-23
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$tokTrax version 1.0, 11/23/86
===============================
A stock trader who uses technical analysis is like a hunter
tracking a bear (or bull, as the case may be). While the
animal's tracks may appear to have no discernible pattern,
a good hunter can sometimes spot a trend and guess what the
animal will do next.
Stocks leave tracks, too, and their resemblance to the
infamous RandomWalk beast has been demonstrated many times.
(I'm not going to argue the pro's and con's of technical
versus fundamental analysis here except to say that a
successful hunter always knows something about his prey.)
Hence the name of my program - $tokTrax. While the tracks
left by stocks can be analyzed a thousand different ways,
$tokTrax provides only the basic (and most reliable, in my
opinion) technical tools.
$tokTrax is fast and easy to use. Best of all, it's cheap!
Only $25 makes you a registered user with automatic free
updates for one year. (For $50, I'll send you the source
code.) Registered users will also receive programs that
convert Dow Jones, HuttOnLine, and CompuServe data files
to $tokTrax format.
To register, send check or money order (no credit cards,
please), along with your name and address, to:
C. E. Raymond
326 Oak Dale Drive
Stafford, Texas 77477
Bugs should be reported to the same address. If I can
duplicate the error, and feel that it is significant, you
will be registered (or have your registration extended) for
one year.
$tokTrax was developed on an AT&T 6300, and has been tested
on a Leading Edge Model D and an ITT Xtra. A Color Graphics
Adaptor is required. Please report any incompatibility to
the above address.
Okay, so let's get tracking!
$tokTrax Operation
==================
(Note: If you are going to print the graphics screens that
$tokTrax offers, you will need to load a graphics screen
print program - such as GRAPHICS.COM or GRAFTRAX.COM - before
running $tokTrax.)
To start the program, place the $tokTrax disk in the logged
drive, type $TOKTRAX (or 'ST' if you don't like to type) and
press <ENTER>. While a welcome screen with the usual
pleadings and disclaimers is displayed, $tokTrax will
retrieve the default data drive from the $TOKTRAX.DEF file
(this can be changed later in the program). Press <ENTER>
only after you've read the whole thing - especially the part
about sending me some money.
Since no data is in memory, an abbreviated menu will be
displayed:
G - Graph stock data
Pressing "G" will take you to the Graphics section of
$tokTrax. If there were any data in memory, a dot graph
would be plotted automatically. If no data has been
loaded, only graphics binary files (those with a ".GRA"
extension) can be examined. Press "L" and "?" <ENTER> to
view the available graphics files, or "L" and a FILENAME
<ENTER> to load a graph.
U - Update/create data files
This selection is available only if no data has been
loaded into memory. If you're tracking more than one
stock, you certainly don't want to load the entire
(.STK) data file of each one so you can add to it!
UPDATE allows several files to be quickly and easily
updated, and for new files to be created. You will be
asked for the stock symbol, date (retained after the
first entry so you can just press <ENTER> if all your
updates are for the same day), high, low, close, and
volume (in hundreds) for each stock. Press <ENTER> at
the SYMBOL prompt to return to the main menu.
An even better way, of course, is to register and let me
send you programs that convert Dow Jones, CompuServe, and
HuttOnLine files to $tokTrax format! If you track a lot
of stocks, manually updating each file every day isn't
practical unless you don't have anything else to do.
(Some people may not realize that a modem, and a
password, will be required to use the above-mentioned
programs. So now they know.)
Note - throughout the program, the date can be entered
using several formats:
YYYY-MM-DD
MMDDYY
MM.DD.YY
MM/DD/YY
MM-DD-YY
L - Load stock data from disk
Press "L" and "?" <ENTER> to view the available STK
files, or "L" and FILENAME <ENTER> to load a file. Up
to 1000 stock records may be loaded (587 if you want
graphics).
C - Change data drive
Press "C" to change the drive that $tokTrax searches for
the .STK data files. You will be asked if you want the
new drive to become the default data drive. If the file
$TOKTRAX.DEF is missing, drive C: will be the default.
K - Kill a data file
Pressing "K" will bring up a directory of all files on
the logged data drive. Type the full name of the file you
wish to delete (no wildcards) and press <ENTER>. A
confirmation will be requested. Type <ENTER> to return
to the Main Menu.
X - eXit to DOS
Press "X" to leave $tokTrax and return to DOS. If
changes in the current data file have not been saved,
you will asked if you wish to save them.
When data has been loaded into memory with the "L" command,
the descriptive statistics of that data are calculated and
displayed. (If you can remember the Menu commands, they are
all available at this point. Otherwise, press <ENTER> to
bring up the Main Menu.)
The Main Menu will now offer several new options, and the
function of some of the others will have changed slightly.
V - View/edit/add stock data
"V" allows you to view, change, or add to the current
data file. The last 20 records in the file will display
first, since those are usually the ones you're most
interested in. Several options will be displayed across
the bottom of the screen, some of which use the number
pad functions (with <NumLock> off):
<PgUp> - display the previous 20 records.
<PgDn> - display the next 20 records.
<Home> - display the first 20 records.
<End> - display the last 20 records.
<E>dit - edit or add to data file. If you answer the
"Day #" prompt with a number larger than the
number of records (N) in the file, record N+1
will be created as a duplicate of record N,
except that the date will be incremented. Now
just answer the questions, pressing <ENTER> for
the items that don't change. If you answer with
an existing record number, just answer each
question with the new value, or press <ENTER> if
there's no change.
<S>plit- when a stock splits, I like to adjust the old
prices so that they reflect the new stock value.
Answer the "Ending Day #" prompt with the record
number of the day before the split, and the
"Ratio" prompt with something like "3:1". All
prices up to the day of the split will, in this
case, be divided by three. If you make a
mistake, just split it again, this time using
the reverse ratio, e.g. "1:3".
<K>ill - kill a record. Warning - no confirmation is
requested! Press "/" if you change your mind.
<G>oto - page to a specific record number.
<ENTER>- return to Main Menu. If changes have been made
in the file, the data will be analyzed.
G - Graph stock data
With stock data now available, a dot graph of the data
will be plotted immediately, and several Overlays and
Options will be listed across the bottom of the screen:
Outline Overlay - if "O" is selected, the dots will be
connected to form a line graph of the data. If "O" is
the first overlay selected, the area below the line
will be filled. If you want the line graph but don't
like the filling, select one of the other overlays
first. (This feature was put in because the Hilo
Overlay is sometimes obscured by the filling.) If two
files are in memory (see the file Load command), the
two graphs will be drawn side by side.
Hilo Overlay - graphs the high, low, and close for each
record. This overlay is only useful if the total
number of records is less than 100, otherwise the lines
are so close together you can't distinguish them. (It
does help to enhance the price outline on displays
crowded with other overlays, though.)
Price Overlay - draws lines indicating price levels. The
increment between lines is determined by the range of
prices in the file.
stDev Overlay - draws 3 heavy lines across the screen.
The center line represents the average closing value of
the stock. The other two lines indicate one standard
deviation above and below the average. (If you don't
know what a standard deviation is, just think of it as
the average difference from the average.) I especially
like this indicator because - in an otherwise steady
company (and industry) - a stock selling below the low
deviation may be a good buy, while a high deviation can
be a signal to sell. Again, you've got to know
something about the animal you're tracking!
movAvg - a moving average can also (allegedly) be used to
send buy or sell signals, if you can select the proper
number of days to be averaged. A number that's too low
will be overly sensitive to price fluctuations (the
broker's fees will eat you alive), while too high an
average won't be sensitive enough and you'll miss the
best buy/sell signals. Maybe there's a good method for
determining the number of days to use for a moving
average. Let me know if you find it. I'll register
you for free!
Volume Overlay - draws a bar graph indicating the
relative activity of the stock across the bottom of the
screen. Lines indicating the average volume and the
high standard deviation are also drawn.
Month Overlay - draws vertical lines seperating each
month's activity. The month and year are displayed
below the graph.
Save Option - saves the current graph to disk as a binary
file with a ".G" extension. Requires 32K, so be sure
you have enough free disk space!
Load Option - Load a ".G" binary file (graph). Press
<ENTER> to display the available files.
<spacebar> Option - clears the OVERLAY and OPTION prompts
from the screen so that a "clean" screen print can be
obtained.
<PrtSc> Option - print the graphics screen. (The program
GRAPHICS.COM should already be in memory. I highly
recommend that you obtain the excellent public domain
offering by Marty Smith, GRAFTRAX.COM, as an
alternative to GRAPHICS.COM.)
<ENTER> Option - return to Main Menu.
P - Print stock data
Output all stock records to the printer. Make sure the
printer and plenty of paper are available!
D - Descriptive statistics
Display the statistics screen.
L - Load stock data from disk
When data is already in memory, $tokTrax will ask if you
want to Append or Replace the data currently in memory
with the new data. If you answer "R" or press <ENTER>,
memory will be cleared before the new file is loaded.
Pressing "A" will cause the new data to be appended to
the current data. (If the appended file is now out of
order, a "sOrt" option will be available when you return
to the Main Menu.) This command also makes it possible to
load the files of two different stocks and compare their
graphs side by side (as long as the total number of
records is no more than 587).
S - Save stock data to disk
If you want your data saved under the current name, type
an asterisk "*" <ENTER>. Otherwise type in the name you
want it saved under (without the extension) and press
<ENTER>. The file will be saved with a ".STK" extension
on the currently logged data drive.
O - Sort data by date
If the data currently in memory is not in date-order,
this menu selection will appear.
R - Restart $tokTrax
Clears memory and restarts the program. If changes to
current data have not been saved, a warning will be
issued.
May the Bull be with you!