Magnum One/Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso/d6/chartp.arc/CHARTPRO.DOC

Text File | 1991-04-28 | 28KB | 509 lines

                            ChartPro
                      Limited Version 1.06L
                      --------------------
                         Copyright 1990
                       By David W. Rettger


ChartPro will chart data supplied by the user in a daily High-Low-Close bar
format.  Also, certain technical studies may be calculated from the data.
The program comes in two parts.  CHARTPRO.EXE is the charting portion of the
package.  DATAPRO.EXE is a routine designed to let the user easily input
price data to the .PRO files used by ChartPro.

Each of these programs is copyrighted.  The author retains all rights to
them.  The Limited Versions are offered, as is, to the  public on a
shareware basis.  That is to say, if you like the limited program version
and intend to use it, you are expected to remit the program price of $25 to
the author.  If you do not pay, you should not use it.  A version complete
with additional technical studies is available on a 5.25" or 3.5" floppies
for $50.  This master version also comes with a discussion of each technical
study.  In either case, the author will try to answer questions about the
program itself for registered users. (Please do not inquire about the
interpretations of actual charts.  Time limitations and personal liability
preclude answers to such questions.)

This offer or the price asked for the Master Version may change from time
to time.  I will try to maintain a copy of the latest Demo version of
Chartpro, with the latest pricing on Compuserve.  Look for it in the NAIC
forum, under shareware.


All correspondence should be sent to:

               David Rettger
               5304 Johnson Avenue
               Western Springs, Il 60558


This limited version may be copied and distributed to other parties so long
as all the accompanying files are distributed together, intact.  Also, no
fee may be charged for distribution other than a nominal sum to cover the
price of a diskette and shipping costs, and in any event may not exceed five
dollars.  The limited version is a fully functional charting package and
differs from the master package only in the number of technical studies
provided and the completeness of the documentation.  Some of the additional
technical studies included in the master package are:

              Point and Figure Charts
              Williams %R
              Commodity Channel Index
              Line Oscillator
              Moving Average Convergence/Divergence
              Volume Weighted Moving Average
              Williams Accumulation/Distribution Index
              Lane's Fast and Slow Stochastics
              Moving Average Envelope
              Gann Fan
              Fibonacci Fan and Sup/Res Lines
              Bollinger Bands
              Weekly Charts

Upon terminating the program, the limited version will prompt the user to
register his use of the program.  The master package does not have this
prompt.


Disclaimer:
-----------

The author assumes no risk for trading losses incurred by users of ChartPro.
A charting program does not provide "Winning Trades."  At best, it will
provide the user with a different perspective on a given trading vehicle.
Two users looking at the same chart will usually have somewhat different
interpretations.  The program may give insights to a stock's trading
patterns, etc., but the final decision is always up to the investor.
Investing is inherently risky.  These risks and profits are the investor's
alone.  Please consider your own financial position to determine if you
should be trading securities.  The data supplied with the program is
intended to be used for demonstration purposes only.  There is no guarantee
that it is complete or accurate.  For best results, depend on your own data.


Using Chartpro
--------------
ChartPro was written specifically for high resolution, color graphics.  That
means it requires EGA graphics capabilities.  If you attempt to create a
chart and the program blows out with an Illegal Function Call error, you
probably do not have EGA and will not be able to use CHARTPRO.  At present,
no plans exist for making the program CGA compatible.  Also, because it was
compiled using Microsoft's QuickBasic software, it is limited to that
product's capabilities.  Hercules graphics are not supported and will not
function with this product.

It is assumed that this program will be run on a hard drive based system.
It will run from floppy diskettes, but the limited availability of storage
and the slow data transfer speed may impair its usefulness.

ChartPro should reside in its own subdirectory but can be set up to run from
the PATH if so desired.  A batch file has been included for installing
ChartPro.  After "de-archiving" the program set, simply type "GO" to run the
batch file.  It will create two directories, \ChartPro\ and \Pro\.  It will
then copy the program and data files to the respective directories.  If you
do not want to use this batch file approach, you may create your own set of
directories and use the DOS "SET" command to establish the location where
ChartPro will look for its configuration files, etc.  To do this, at the DOS
prompt type:

               SET CHARTPRO=Drive:\Subdirectory\

where "Drive:" and "\Subdirectory\" describe the location you intend to use.
Alternatively, this command my be put into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  Once the
program is in the proper subdirectory, simply type CHARTPRO to begin its
execution.  Place both ChartPro and DataPro in this SET directory.  Keep in
mind that the  program does not make room for long path names, etc.  Keep
the length of these path names under 12 characters.

Technical Analysis:
-------------------

Two schools of thought exist regarding stock or other investment selection
decision making, Fundamental and Technical analysis. Fundamental analysis
looks at the financial side of things. For stocks, one might consider a
company's products, market share, sales, earnings and a whole host of other
statistics.  Technical analysis focuses on chart patterns and studies based
on price, time, volume and the like.

Over time I have found fundamental analysis to be very valuable.  In a past
life (that is, before I became a trader a the CBOT), I was an investment
manager for a major insurance company.  I studied company financial
statements for a living.  I believed the concept that markets followed a
random walk movement, etc.  I did not know what I was missing.

Over the past several years, I have begun using technical analysis to
augment the fundamental part.  Fundamental analysis can identify wonderful
companies or suggest interesting interest rate plays.  Technical analysis is
the road map that can give you clues toward when to buy or sell that good
company.  Take, for example, IBM.  It is a leader in its industry, a
company sure to turn profits for a long time to come.  Big Blue is
considered "Blue Chip", a safe haven when times get tough. That may be true,
or not.  Using 20-20 hindsight, it obviously was not a great buy at $180 per
share.  From 1987 to 1989, it acted more in line with some S&L's, losing
about fifty percent of its value.  This company is still a good company, but
if you paid the highs for it or sat on your long position, you could have
lost a bundle of money.  Only those people who took the time to chart
the stock, to follow it regularly, might have had a clue that the picture
was not entirely rosy.

To me, technical analysis becomes a timing tool.  It is the road map that
helps you get where you want to go.  In the Chicago area, the Tri-State
Tollway is a good road.  You just do not want to be on it when everyone else
is, all going the same direction. During the rush hour you need an alternate
route or to just wait it out.  Technical analysis can help you identify a
rush coming.  Hopefully, when everyone decides to sell (or buy), you will
already be positioned or on the sidelines.  Technical analysis does not
always work.  There is no magic formula that predicts the future.  You have
to look at the charts and make your own interpretation.  One thing to keep
in mind, though, is that all the professionals are doing it.  If you want
to play their game, you should at least be armed with some of the weapons
that they are using.

With this goal in mind, I wrote ChartPro.



ChartPro: Main Menu
-------------------
The first working menu permits you to enter a stock ticker symbol, beginning
or ending dates, path information, or hit function keys to accomplish a few
tasks.  Use the cursor control keys to move the highlighted bar to the
desired item.
The first time you run ChartPro, you must set the Data File Path. If the
data is on the C: drive in a subdirectory called DATA, you must enter
"C:\DATA\".  Enter the entire path name, placing a backslash ("\") at end of
the path.  The default data file extension is ".PRO".  In fact, all data
files for use with this program version should use the PRO extension.
Future revisions may allow other data formats.

If a valid stock ticker symbol, path and extension are displayed, you may
hit <F10> to create a chart.  Dates are not necessary. Before creating a
chart, the path and other information are saved in a file called
CHARTPRO.CFG in either the current directory or the directory named in the
DOC "SET" command (hereinafter called the SET directory).  Each time
execution returns to the main menu area, the data in this file is read and
the information is restored to the screen.  (All this happens in a split
second, so you may not even notice it.)

If no dates were supplied prior to hitting <F10>, a chart will be created
using up to the last 150 days' data.  For entering dates, you have several
options.  If you want the last 300 days, enter "300" for the beginning date
and leave the ending date blank.  If you want to see a span of data from,
say, the prior 300th day up to 20 days ago, enter "300" for the beginning
date and "20" for the ending date.  Calendar dates must be entered in the
form "MO/DA/YR".  Slashes MUST be used, not dashes, not backslashes, etc.  A
beginning date of 3/1/89 with no ending date will result in a chart of days
from March 1, 1989 to the last date in the file.  If an ending date was
supplied, then the chart would span between the two dates.  To erase the
contents of the highlighted bar, simply hit the space bar once.

Note: Do not mix numeric date references with the Mo/DA/Yr form.  A
beginning date of "300" and an ending date of "3/1/90" will not work.  Also,
if you enter an ending date or number, you must also enter a beginning date
or number.  Also, do not use Zero for an ending date.

Hit <Esc> to terminate the program.

Function Keys:
--------------
The function keys are active only when the corresponding prompt is visible
on the screen.  Hitting <F1> will bring up a basic help menu with
information about the Main Menu.  The <F2> key will bring up the Go
Elsewhere menu.  The <F3> key will bring up a directory of all the "PRO"
files in the specified data file path. <F10> creates a chart.  At virtually
any time, hit <Esc> to return to the previous menu.

ChartPro: Elsewhere Menu
------------------------
This menu has four choices.  They are:

               Return to ChartPro
               Go to DataPro
               Set Screen Colors
               Begin Automatic Chart Printing

The first two are pretty obvious.  DataPro is a separate program with which
you enter data for the charts and is described below. Hitting <C> will
select the Change Screen Color Menu.  This has been provided so users can
select the colors that will be displayed on menus and on the actual charts.
I have to admit to being slightly color blind so you may find my color
selections less than optimal.  Feel free to change them.  One warning, do
not set the foreground text and background to the same color. Blue text on a
blue background is in reality a blank blue screen. Colors are saved in a
file called CHARTPRO.CLR in the SET directory.  If you need to return to the
defaults, simply erase this file.

Described below is a method of saving charts to your hard drive.  Any that
have been saved may be "dumped" to the printer with the automatic chart
printing feature.  This means, you do not have to sit and wait for a chart
to print before doing a new chart.  The charts are saved in a series of four
files, the names being based on the ticker symbol.  For example, saving a
chart of GM will cause GM1.PIC, GM2.PIC, GM3.PIC and GM4.PIC to be saved to
the SET directory.  Due to the naming convention, only one copy of a GM file
may exist at a time.  If auto chart print is selected, any such files will
be displayed on the screen and "dumped" to the printer.  I highly recommend
answering "Y" to the question of whether or not to delete them after
printing.  EGA screens contain quite a bit of information.  When saved onto
a hard drive, that information occupies almost 100K bytes.

Main Chart Menu:
----------------
After entering the necessary ticker and date information, hit <F10> to
create a chart.  The screen will clear and go into Screen Mode 9. (It is at
this point that users without EGA graphics will encounter a problem.)  The
chart for the selected stock will be created in three parts.  The top two
lines on the screen are menu lines.  The third line displays the ticker
symbol, chart beginning and ending dates and the High, Low and Closing
prices for the entire period.  Below this line is a window containing the
daily bar chart.  A second window at the bottom of the screen contains
volume data plotted as a histogram.  The menu line contains 10 options.
Select any menu item by typing the first letter of the word for that item.
The options are as follows:

Tech - Hitting <T> will take you to the first technical options menu.  From
this menu you have access to Simple Moving Averages, Exponential Moving
Averages, Displaced Moving Averages, Parabolic Time/Price study, On Balance
Volume, Relative Strength, and Momentum calculations.  Each of the technical
studies is calculated only from the data shown on the chart.  Users who
register their use of ChartPro or who send for the master version will
receive documentation describing the formulas and concepts behind these
technical studies.  Hit <Esc> to return to main chart menu.

Each of the various moving average calculations requires a time period to be
entered.  Entering, say, "14H" will result in a 14-day moving average
calculated from the daily High prices.  14, 14L, 14O, and 14A will do 14-day
moving averages based on the Closing, Low, Opening, and Average prices,
respectively.

Sup/Res - <S> will bring up a support/resistance study loosely based on a
chart form introduced by Chart Service Institute in Florida.  The chart is
constructed to show, in a series of horizontal lines, the levels at which
the stock traded in the past.  Two forms, Simple and Volume Weighted may be
calculated.  The simple form determines how often a stock closed in each
price interval. (A $1 interval is the default.  If you wish to change the
interval, simply type a new value before selecting Simple or Volume
Weighted).  The more frequently it closed in the interval, the longer the
horizontal line.  This study ignores volume, time, etc., focusing only on
the number of closes in the interval.  The Volume Weighted form sums the
volume for each day the stock closed in the interval.  The hypothesis is
that popular trading levels (the longer lines) will represent resistance to
an upward moving price and support to a declining price.

Vol - The results of several of the technical studies are charted in the
bottom window.  Hit <V> to redraw the volume chart if desired.

Op. Int. - This program was designed to chart both stocks and futures.  If
open interest data exists, it may be charted in the bottom window by hitting
<O>.

Redraw - Moving averages, Support/Resis. charts, Point and Figure charts and
other studies may cover or mess up the original bar chart.  Hit <R> to
redraw a fresh copy of this chart.  (Here is an option not shown on each of
the technical studies menus.  Hit <Alt><R> to redraw the screen if desired.)

Data - Hitting <D> will display a vertical line over the most recent data
point.  The Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume, and Open Interest for the
data point will be displayed at the top of the screen.  The left and right
cursor control keys move the line horizontally across the chart.  To jump in
larger increments, hold a shift key down while hitting the cursor keys.
This function is very handy for tracking down bad data.  If the chart
scales incorrectly, it will be because there is a wrong number in the data
being charted.  Locate that bad data with this function and change it with
DataPro.

Lines - Hitting <L> will bring up a cursor in the middle of the chart.  This
cursor can be moved with the cursor control keys. When it first comes up, it
will move in increments of 9 pixels.  To make it move 1 pixel at a time,
type a 1 on the top row of the keyboard (not the number pad!)  Hitting a 5
will make it jump five pixels at a time, etc.  The <+> key will jump the
cursor from side to side.  Locate the cursor where you wish to begin a line
and hit <D>.  Move to the end of your desired line and hit <D> again.  The
line will be drawn between the two points.  If you mark each end of the line
by hitting <M> (for movable), you can reposition the ending point, hit <M>
again and a new line will replace the old line.  Hit <R> to reset the
beginning point at any time.  Hit <C> to change the color that the line will
be drawn in.  Hitting <Esc> will return you to the main chart menu.
After drawing several lines, saving and/or printing, refresh the chart by
hitting <R> at the main chart menu.

Print - Hitting <P> will bring up another menu.  This menu allows you to do
a screen dump to the printer, issue a line feed, form feed, reset the
printer, or dump the price data to the printer. The printer commands sent
are standard Epson commands.  Laser printers and non-Epson compatible
printers will not function with these commands.

NOTE:  Drawing the chart on the printer requires two separate programs to
loaded before running ChartPro.  PC and MS DOS come with a program called
GRAPHICS.COM.  After running this program, CGA graphics screen dumps, either
initiated by hitting <Shift><PrtSc> or by calling interrupt 5, will be sent
to the printer.  I use another program called EGAEpson.COM which, when
loaded along with GRAPHICS.COM, will enable EGA screen dumps.  EGAEpson.COM
is available free on many different computer bulletin boards.  Without a
program like EGAEpson.COM, the screen dump will not function.  Again, these
programs will enable EGA screen dumps to work with Epson Compatibles only.
Registered users can write for information for getting this program.

The best screen dump utility I have come across to date is called FASTDUMP,
by Systems Technology, Inc.  This program will work with Epson or IBM
compatable dot-matrix printers or Hewlett Packard compatible laser Printers.
It will permit you to specify graphics modes and to select one, two or
three charts per page.  STI has authorized me to distribute this
program with my ChartPro Master Version.  If you register, you will also
receive a copy of FASTDUMP.  It is shareware.  STI requests that users send
$10 to $20 if they like it.

Bsave - Printing a full page chart may take a couple minutes on the standard
dot matrix printer.  Hit <B> to save the chart in binary format on your
drive.  Then go on to your next chart.  Later, select Auto Print Mode from
the Go Elsewhere menu and any charts saved on the drive will automatically
be dumped to the printer.  Each chart will take up a lot of room on your
drive, so I recommend selecting the option to delete the files after
printing them.

<Esc> - Hitting Escape will take you back to the main menu where you can
enter a new ticker symbol, etc.
================================================================

DataPro: Data Entry Program
---------------------------

Copy the program to the desired subdirectory and run it by typing DATAPRO at
the DOS prompt or from the GO Elsewhere menu in ChartPro.  It will use the
same configuration files that ChartPro created.


DataPro: The .PRO File Format
-----------------------------

ChartPro is built around a binary file system.  Each record in the file
contains an integer representing the date, and single precision values for
each of the opening, high, low, and closing prices, and the volume and open
interest for the given date.  In all, each record is 26 bytes long.  The
earliest date that ChartPro used to address was 1/1/83.  It no longer has
any practical limitation.


DataPro: The Main Menu
----------------------

The first time you run DataPro, you will have to hit <F2> to set the path to
the data files.  Enter the drive and subdirectory you expect to use to hold
the files.  If you already did this in ChartPro, the path will be set.
DataPro reads the ChartPro configuration files for paths, colors, etc.
Again, the .PRO extension is a virtual necessity.  At this time there is no
reason to change it.

DataPro comes up ready to get a ticker symbol for data entry.  Type only the
ticker symbol, not the .PRO extension. Almost any valid file name can be a
ticker symbol.  The only special case that DataPro and ChartPro check for is
names beginning with "USB" and ending in a number.  This naming convention
is used to designate data files based on 32's.  "USBH0" might be a name one
would use for March 1990 Treasury Bond futures. Data for such a contract
would be entered in 32's, not decimals.  Hence a value of 9617 would
represent 96 and 17/32's.  9600 would be 96, even. ChartPro will convert the
four-digit numbers to decimal and chart them properly.  Sorry bond option
traders, 64th's are not supported.

After entering the ticker symbol, DataPro will read and display the most
recent week's data.  The top line of data corresponds to monday.  The last
day is sunday.  If you enter data for saturday, sunday, or a holiday,
it will be charted.  Nothing is saved on days where the price data is
zero. (This means ALL data entries MUST have a some prices!)  Move the
highlighted bar using your cursor control keys to the point where you want
to add data.  Type the data.  If you do not want to Page-Up or Page-Down
through the weeks, hit <F2> to "Jump to New Date".  Enter the date you wish
to jump to.  The week containing that date will be displayed.  (The bottom
right- hand status box shows the span of dates that may be worked with
under the current file mode.  You can not jump to a date outside that span.)

After entering whatever data you want, hit <Esc>.  The data file will be
updated and DataPro will let you enter a new ticker symbol.

Other available functions include a directory listing of data files found in
the path (<F6>) and the ability to delete or kill a file (<F7>).

Two other special functions are available.  Hitting <F4> will let you adjust
data in the file for a stock split.  You are prompted for beginning and
ending dates and the split ratio.  If a split ratio of 2 for 1 is specified,
every open, high, low, and close price between the beginning and ending
dates (inclusive) will be halved.  A split ratio of 1 for 2 for the same
time period would reverse the procedure.  Again, when the <Esc> key is hit,
DataPro saves the data and resets for a new ticker symbol.  If you do not
want to save the changes you have made, hit <F10>.  It will reset,
abandoning whatever changes you have made.

Hitting <F5> will let you shrink the file.  As time goes by and data files
grow, they may get to the point where you do not want them to take up so
much room.  The shrink file function lets you set the earliest date from
which to save data.

When entering data, be sure to be accurate.  Remember the old saying about
garbage in/garbage out.  It is especially true for charts.  In fact,
ChartPro will note the high and low prices for the time period it is
charting and scale the chart accordingly.  If the real range of the stock
being charted is, say, $35 to $55, but it finds a garbage entry of $1 then
the chart will be scaled from 0 to about $57.  The chart would be quite
useless!

Finally, to terminate DataPro, hit the <Esc> key when prompted
for a ticker symbol.  One last menu will pop up which will allow
you choose between returning to DOS, ChartPro, or DataPro.


Data Entry Summary:
-------------------

DataPro was designed to make the data entry task relatively easy and
painless.  Probably the hardest part of charting stocks is maintaining
current data files.  Data can be found in most of the larger newspapers.
For a few stocks, typing this data is not too time consuming.  The more
items you track, or the more out of date your data is, the more of a burden
the typing will be.  For serious users, I highly recommend getting access to
the Dow Jones News Service.  Historic data for most publicly traded stocks
is available for a small fee (presently $.44 per minute for non-prime time
usage at 1200 baud.)  I track about 25 issues and can get two weeks of data
for each of them all in under two minutes.

Accessing DJNS requires a modem and a communications software package.
Modems are now available for under $50.  Good shareware communication
programs such as ProComm may even be bundled with the modem, or are
available on many bulletin boards.  I believe the cost of ProComm is $25.

I use two programs to access the Dow Jones News Service current and historic
quotes and to convert them into Pro file format.  One, CMD4DJNS.EXE, creates
a command file which, used with Procomm, will request the desired quotes as
fast as DJNS can send them. It really minimizes on-line time, saving money.
The other program, QUOTREAD.EXE, will convert quotes from DJNS (or even
Prodigy) into the Pro format.  Both are free with the ChartPro Master
version.

No support for using Compuserve quotes is provided.  When you get your
quotes from Compuserve, you are getting Dow Jones News Retrieval Service
quotes "second hand".  You pay both Dow and Compuserve.  If you wish to
continue getting quotes, get a subscription to the DJNR service.   Your
costs will be cut at least in half.

A few other data sources are supported for the Master Version.  Among them
are Prodigy, GEnie, Warner Data Communications, Telechart 2000, DialData,
Schwab Equalizer, Videotell, SCTA and FCTA data formats and a few others.

Comments and questions about ChartPro and DataPro are welcomed.  If you
would like to see something added to the program, feel free to make the
suggestion.  Only registered users should expect answers to questions or
comments.  I apologize to the rest of you, but there is only so much time
available for such things.

The author can be reached at the above-listed address, or by leaving a
message on Prodigy (CRNC95a) or on Compuserve (71131,3253).  The Prodigy
number will get you a much faster response.  Earlier limited versions had a
bulletin board number listed.  That board has since gone down and is no
longer available.

============================================================================
If you like this program and are interested in other programs by the author,
feel free to check out DOCSMASH.  It will print four or more pages of ASCII
text on each sheet of printer paper. My Brother M1509 will easily print this
entire document on three sheets of paper.  In fact, most of the third sheet
will be blank.  (Or, on one sheet if I use double sided printing.)  It is
available to callers to Orchard Hill BBS (see above listing) or in the IBMHW
forum, under printer utilities, on Compuserve.