- New Features in this version
- The menus have been reorganised.
- The Indices can now be downloaded without error.
- Overlay the graph of any stock in the StockWatch
- A stockwatch can have "none" selected as the connection method
- Multiple copies of a stock can be placed in a stockwatch
- A sale price can now be entered
- The portfolio view will display profit in three ways
- An extended end of day history
Note: there may be a problem with the old data files with this feature - I had a problem once - that I removed
simply by going into the properties dialog of each stockwatch and simply selecting OK which reset (and thereby
reformatted) the old settings.
- The data has been compressed a little - should be around 30% less storage
- The full history of one stock can be exported and imported as a .shk file
- Overview
This program downloads UK Stockmarket price data and displays it in tabular or graphical form. It can
download either from Electronic Share Information Ltd. (ESI) if you have
an account with them or free from Yahoo. It can also work with the
the stockwatch pages downloaded by WebTracker
- a program from the Henham Software Company, written by JJ Nowell (click WebTracker to go to the download page).
Essentially StockHistory stores historical data files called stockwatchs; each time you update one of these
file a new snapshot of the values in the stockwatch page is stored. Any stored snapshot values can be viewed
as well as the differences with previous ones. Also an historic view of any one category (eg. volume) can
be displayed. This historic view is particularly useful as you can easily see from the colours of the
data how things are moving during the day.
The historic data can also be viewed in graph form, with graphs of mid, bid, offer, volume, spread, change,
moving averages, stop loss and start rise lines combined in any way you choose.
Sorry there is no online help - this is it!! Save this page to your machine and open it in a normal web
browser (eg. drag and drop into your browser or just double click the file).
General note: Various displays can look a little odd on the first update after the previous day's close
of business. For example the bid and offer on SETS stocks can do very strange things pre market, and volume,
of course, goes back down to zero at start of business, making it appear as negative (ie red) movements.
Storage requirements are now approximately 4.4k per stock per 100 snapshots. A stockwatch
with 20 stocks in it and a total history of 400 will require around 350k - this is both disk storage and
memory whilst the program is running.
IMPORTANT Note: After registering (or even after just noting the key number in order to register) should
you want to move the program to a different location (folder) ensure you move the StockHistory.ini file as
well. This is generated in the same folder as the program when it is first run and all registration
information is stored here. Should you loose this file don't worry I have a note of everyone who has registered
and you can always re-register - it will cost nothing! Also if you want to install the software on a second
machine I have no problem with that - the easiest way is to copy all files including the .ini file to the
second machine and you will not need to re-register the software on the new machine. Equally all you need to
to do to pass data between two machines running StockHistory is copy the .shy files across. I know that some of
this is clearly open to abuse, but I am very trusting and after all it's hardly worth cheating me for the sake
of £10! Enjoy!
Return to contents
- Registration
Whilst you are free to download this the StockHistory software and use it for free for as long as you like,
I have spent considerable time and effort developing it, and though I am not out to make a profit (you cannot
imagine how many registrations it would take to even make a scratch in the time spent) I would like to
recover some of the cost, and justify continuing to develop and enhance it. Therefore I am asking for
a small registration fee of £10 (ten pounds sterling) payable to Focus. This should be sent to:
Focus |
Giuthas |
Station Road |
Garve |
Ross-shire |
IV23 2PS |
UK |
Please be sure to include the registration key number and your email address and I will send your pass number
to you by email, this will then make all features fully available.
Unregistered users will be restricted to five accesses of the Portfolio view,
and five File Exports during each run of the program. Also whilst Stop Losses,
Start Rises and Alert Prices can be set up they will not be saved on program exit, so will need to be set up
again each time the program is executed.
Return to contents
- Installation
Sorry I have no automated installation for this program. You simply place it in your desired directory
(eg a directory called StockHistory under Program Files). Then you will have to set up shortcuts icons
manually. If you have any problems with this please email me and I'll do what I can to help.
If you move it at a later data, it is no problem, but ensure you move the .ini file as well.
Return to contents
- Getting Started
On initially running the program:
- Create a new document - File/New
- Edit the properties for the new file - Edit/Properties. A dialog box will appear.
- The History size specifies the number of snapshots to store.
- Downloading from Yahoo is the default, but to do this you must also add the EPIC
codes of the stocks you are interested in.
- If you are using stockwatch files downloaded by WebTracker
- select HSWT and enter a stockwatch file. The easiest way is to browse for it. This file must a be a stockwatch file
downloaded by WebTracker in text only form - something like:
http://www.esi.co.uk/silver/shares.cgi?Page=1234&TextOnly=yes
as advised by WebTracker help. These files are normally in a directory named "sites" within the WebTracker
application directory. Note: the names of these files are typically abbreviations of the name you gave for
the site in WebTracker, though if you later change the site name the file name remains the same. Initially
no data will appear - see 6. below.
- To enable remote downloading from ESI select ESI and enter details of your connection to ESI. The page number is the number that
appears after Page= in the URL when viewing your stockwatches. Note: When first entering your Stockwatch
pages from the ESI home no page number appears - it automatically picks up your default stockwatch. You
must select a stockwatch from the list at the bottom of your stockwatch pages in order to determine the page
number.
- I would suggest that you now save the document - it will by default take the extension ".shy" (short
for Stock History).
- No data will appear until you have done an update. Updates can now either be done locally or
remotely depending upon the data previously entered. They can be done either from the
toolbar or from the Update menu. Update will only update the current document,
Update All will update all open documents.
Return to contents
- The Displays
- Snapshot:
This is the closest display to that shown on ESI stockwatch pages. The columns are from left to right:
- Name - Normally black will be in red if an alert has been triggered for this stock.
- Announcements - if there has been an annoucement an A is displayed here.
- Bid - the current bid price
- Offer - the current offer price
- Spread - the spread is displayed as a percentage of the bid price.
- Current - the current mid price - displayed in red, green or blue
- Change - the change in mid price from the previous days closing price - displayed in red, green or blue
- % Change - the change in mid price as a percentage of the previous day's closing price - displayed in red, green or blue
- High - the day's higest price
- Low - the day's lowest price
- Open - the day's opening price
- Volume - the volume of trades so far this day
- Time - the time of the data - displays CLOSE after market close
Note: the historical data can easily be stepped through using the Move Range menu options.
- Previous Difference:
This is a display of the differences in values from the previous snapshot. All columns are as for the Snapshot
display except there are no change columns (a difference of a difference is not particularly useful!). Also all columns are
displayed in red, green or blue.
- Alerts:
- Name - Normally black will be in red if an alert has been triggered for this stock.
- Announcements - if there has been an annoucement an A is displayed here.
- Bid - the current bid price
- Stop Loss Value - current value of the stop loss alert - displayed in red if the bid is lower than this value
- Stop Loss % - the percentage value of the applied stop loss
- Offer - the current offer price
- Start Rise Value - current value of the start rise alert - displayed in blue if the offer is higher than this value
- Start Rise % - the percentage value of the applied start rise
- Current - the current mid price - displayed in red, green or blue
- Change - the change in mid price from the previous days closing price - displayed in red, green or blue
- % Change - the change in mid price as a percentage of the previous day's closing price - displayed in red, green or blue
- Alert Price - the fixed alert price
- Time - the time of the data - displays CLOSE after market close
Note: the historical data can easily be stepped through using the Move Range menu options. Useful
for identifying exactly when an alert was triggered.
- Portfolio:
The Portfolio view displays profit in three different ways:
- If a buy price is entered but no sell price profit is calculated on current bid (normal profit)
- If a sell price is entered but no buy price profit is calculated on current offer (shorting profit)
- If both a buy price and sell price are entered profit is calculated on these prices (closed profit)
The display columns are:
- Name - Normally black will be in red if an alert has been triggered for this stock.
- Quantity - the number of shares purchased
- Buy Date - date of stock purchase
- Buy Price - the price paid for the stock
- Buy Val - the value of the holding if bought now, or when bought.
- Sell Date - date of the stock sale
- Sell Price - the price the stock was sold at
- Sell Value - value of holding if sold now, or when sold.
- Costs - total of buy commission, stamp duty and sell commission based either on the bid/offer or the entered data
- Bid - the current bid price
- Offer - the current offer price
- Profit - the profit made if sold at current offer price
- % Profit - the profit as a percentage of the buy value
- Annualised % Profit - the annualised profit - very crude calculation made by
dividing the profit by the number of days since the purchase and multiplying by 365.
Note: the historical data can easily be stepped through using the Move Range menu options. Also
this view is restricted for non registered users, see Registration.
Note: the total annualised profit figure is based on profit since the last 5th April, most meaningful for
the application outlined below
A Closed Holding Stockwatch
A useful application for this view is to set up a "closed holdings" stockwatch with the connection set to
"none". this stockwatch will never be updated. When a stock is sold copy it into this stockwatch (using
add not overwrite if there is already one there) and enter the details of the sale - the portfolio view will
now show an accumulation of closed deals with their profits, along with the price history (according to
the history sizes set up for this portfolio) allowing you to review your decisions at a later date.
- History:
Each column represents one snapshot with the day and time displayed as the column title (day and month for
end of day data). All data is displayed in red, green or blue indicating how it has changed from the
previous snapshot. These displays can show either the actual prices, the difference from the previous price
or the percentage difference.
Return to contents
- Graphing
The number of times graph views can be displayed is restricted for non unregistered users.
The easiest way to navigate around the graphs is using the
mouse buttons, but a graph display can also be entered from the View/Graph menu option.
Graphs can be viewed for all stored stocks . For each graph there is one
primary graph and secondary graphs can be overlaid on this primary graph. Primary graphs can be displayed for
mid price, bid price, offer price, spread, change and volume. Secondary
graphs can be specified from the Edit/Graph Properties menu option, and include all the primaries and
stop loss, start rise, volume difference, overlay and three moving averages. These settings can be applied
to all graphs in the current StockWatch.
Some graphs can have a "de-spike" filter applied to them. The intention here is purely to remove spikes and is
primarily targeted at SETS stocks. If the value has changed more than 2% from the previous value and not
held that amount of change for more than 3 snapshots then the value is ignored for plotting.
This is purely the plotted value - the stored value is not changed in any way and will still trigger alerts.
Take care with this feature as it could visually mask a genuine sudden large move. Also if the spike lasts
for more than 3 snapshots it will not be filtered out.
Some graphs can be displayed at only third height (ie. only using the bottom third of the plot area. This
is particularly useful for things like the volume difference, to avoid cluttering the whole graph with
the secondary data.
The amount of data that is plotted can be modified using the same Set Range
and Move Range menu options and toolbar buttons as for the text displays,
however the ranges values are independant of the text displays as typically a much larger range will be
plotted than is normal in the text displays. The vertical axis is automatically set to the limits of
the displayed data. The horizontal axis is also set to the limits of the data being displayed and vertical
lines drawn at the start of each day, week or month depending on the range being displayed.
If no data at all is displayed then try setting the range to all data (the button labeled |<<>>| will do
this - though it should not normally happen.)
The Graphs
The primary graph is always displayed in black. The secondary graphs use the colours specified below. Some
secondary graphs (notably the volume difference) can either be displayed using the full vertical axis or just
1/3rd of it, helping to avoid clutter around the primary.
- Mid Price - grey
- Bid Price - red. Watch out for erratic spikes on this one for SETS stocks at start of trading
- Offer Price - blue
- Spread - grey - price spread
- Change - grey - price change from the previous day. Not sure how useful this one is but it came along
with the rest!
- Volume - grey. Inevitably this is a saw tooth graph reseting to 0 again at the start of each day,
the volume difference (see below) is probably more useful.
- Stop Loss - blue
- Start Rise - green
- Volume Difference - black. The amount of volume traded since the last update is indicated by a vertical bar
- Overlay - grey - graphs of any stocks in the stockwatch can be overlaid
- Moving Average - three moving averages can be displayed with the average taken over a specified number of
snapshots. Note if the updates are not taken at regular intervals then the moving averages will be weighted to
the periods where updates have been more frequent. The three moving averages are displayed respectively
int red, green and blue.
Return to contents
- Menu Functions
-
File
-
Most file options should be familiar to you. There is currently no printing facility - I will only
work on this if there is demand. Personally I do not feel the need to print this information.
Note you can create and monitor as many different stockwatches as you like.
- Export:
Exports the currently displayed data in comma separated (.csv) format. This can then be read and processed
by most popular spreadsheets. You have the option to export either the entire stored history of snapshots
(probably the most usual requirement), or just those currently displayed. For notes on generating a graph
from this data in Microfsoft Excel see the Graphing Work Around. Note:
this feature is restricted for non-registered users, see Registration.
- Export Stock:
Exports the full history of one stock to a file named using the EPIC code and the extensio .shk. The
intention here is to allow StockHistory users to "swap" stock files. If one person becomes interested
in a stock for which someone else already has a history the .shk file can be exported and emailed to
them. I may try and organise a small bulletin board to facilitate this process.
- Export Stock:
Imports a .shk file containing a stock history, previously saved using the Export Stock feature above.
- Preferences:
- Reload all open files - on next run it will automatically reopen all files open when last closed.
- Autosave modified files on exit - automatically saves any unsaved modified files on exiting the program.
- Autosave files after update - automatically saves files after an update. This is really a very sensible option
to select to avoid losing potentially all the days data if any other application should crash your computer
before you save the files. Heaven forbid that StockHistory might crash itself!!
- Auto Add Stocks - enable and disable the automatic addition of stocks found in the ESI stockwatch
page, this can allow easier management of the stockwatch page from StockHistory, in that if you delete
a stock in StockHistory, but not on the ESI stockwatch page it will not immediately reappear on your
next download.
- Open and Close times - These times are used when data is updated after the market has closed and no time
stamp is provided. Also the hours between the entered close and open times are ignored when plotting graphs.
The times entered should not necessarily be the official market opening times as trades often take place outside
these hours. The default times are 08:00 to 17:30 ie. one hour either side of the official market opening
times.
- Registration:
All information for registering StockHistory is given here. A registration key number is displayed and
this should be sent along with £10 (10 GBP) as directed, and a pass number will be sent back to you.
Please ensure you also supply your email address and you will be notified of any future updates. I
have no problem with supplying more than one pass number if you have installed on multiple machines.
Whilst I know this may be open to abuse, it hardly seems worth it for such a small amount! See also
Registration.
-
Edit
- Stockwatch Properties:
Set up the document properties.
The size of the historical record. Two historical record sizes can be specified. An intra day history
this is the number of normal sanpshots to be stored. An extended daily history; when the intra day
history is full the last snapshot is lost, unless it is the last snapshot taken that day, in which case
it is kept in the daily extended history. This allows much longer histories of end of day data to be held
without using excessive storage.
The method of data aquisition is also entered here which can be one of:
- none - this stockwatch will not be updated (see tips for use)
- html file - this is typically a file created by WebTracker.
- Direct from ESI - you will need to enter the connection details for your stockwatch page.
The page number is the number that appears after Page= in the URL when viewing your stockwatches.
Note: When first entering your Stockwatch pages from the ESI home no page number appears - it
automatically picks up your default stockwatch. You must select a stockwatch from the list at
the bottom of your stockwatch pages in order to determine the page number.
- Direct from Yahoo - this is 20min delayed data, but requires no fourther information. Requires
there to be stocks already listed in the stockwatch file. Can either be used standalone or as a
backup to ESI by simply switching the ESI connection to Yahoo.
Details of dealing costs allowing the Portfolio View to calculate the profit/loss
for a holding. Note only a simple single percentage value can be specified for commission or a
fixed price in pounds. This should be sufficient to give a reasonable indication of profit/loss.
- Memo:
One memo can be added to a StockWatch. This will be automatically displayed and can be cleared when
the StockWatch file is next opened. Useful for setting a reminder for something to do (eg. buy/sell
something) when you next run the program, or a reminder of last date to sel before settling an T+ deal.
Note in order to stip this from appearing each time the file loads, you must select the clear check box
simply deleting all the text in this box will result in an empty box being displayed next time the
stockwatch file is loaded. Note cut and paste work in this dialog, but only using Ctrl X: cut, Ctrl C; copy,
Ctrl V; paste.
- Graph Properties:
See Graph Properties in Graphs
- Delete Snapshot:
Deletes this entire snapshot from all stocks in the stockwatch - only really used if a download has
generated completely rubbish data. this occasionally happens with ESI when their stockwatch tables
seem to get corrupted.
-
Alerts
- Stop Loss:
This is a normal Stop Loss mechanism. You specify the percentage stop loss you want. Note you can tick
the box for the stop loss to be applied to all stocks on that page. The software calculates the value for
the stop loss based on the current bid price. This value is updated if the bid price rises and remains
the same if it falls. If the bid price falls below the stop loss an alert is generated and shown by
highlighting the stock name in red in all views. The Alert can be acknowledged (see below) returning the
name to the normal black. Note: unregistered users can use this feature but it will not be saved on
program exit. See Registration.
- Start Rise:
This is the exact opposite of Stop Losses, and is used to detect a stock that
is beginning to rise. You specify the percentage start rise you want. Note you can tick
the box for the start rise to be applied to all stocks on that page. The software calculates the value for
the start rise based on the current offer price. This value is updated if the offer price falls and remains
the same if it rises. If the offer price rises above the start rise an alert is generated and shown by
highlighting the stock name in red in all views. The Alert can be acknowledged (see below) returning the
name to the normal black. Note: unregistered users can use this feature but it will not be saved on
program exit. See Registration.
- Alert Price:
This is a simple fixed alert price. You specify a price and if the mid price falls below or rises above
this price an alert is generated and shown by highlighting the stock name in red in all views. The
Alert can be acknowledged (see below) returning the name to the normal black. Note: unregistered
users can use this feature but it will not be saved on program exit. See Registration.
- Acknowledge Alerts:
Acknowledges the alert on the currently selected Stock. This turns off the red display of the Stock
name, but does not reset the alert for stop losses and start rise's. ie. for stop
losses the stop loss value will remain as it was (presumably still above the current bid price), and
the opposite is the case for start rises. The stop loss and start rise values can be reset at the same
time by ticking the boxes. Also they can be applies to all alerted stocks in that stockwatch.
- Alert Summary:
Displays a summary of the most recent alerts. This is not specific to one stockwatch, but show alerts
for all open files.
-
Stock
- Stock Purchase:
Specify details of stock purchase date, price and quantity. This information is used by the
Portfolio View to calculate the profit/loss for a holding. Note if the
buy and sell quantities do not match the holding will not automatically be split - this must be done
manually.
- Stock Sale:
Specify details of stock sale date, price and quantity. This information is used by the
Portfolio View to calculate the profit/loss for a holding. Note if the
buy and sell quantities do not match the holding will not automatically be split - this must be done
manually.
- Average Up/Down:
A dialog identical to the Stock Purchase one is displayed. Stored values
of the Stock Purchase are modified. The average price is calculated weighted by the relative quantities, and
the date set to a date between the two, also weighted by the relative quantities. This allows for a
realistic annualised profit value. Note this will not work for a short position ie. where a sell has
been entered but no buy.
- Snapshot Details:
An individual snapshot data set can be edited. The snapshot cannot be selected in an historic view. This
allows spikes to be removed (rather laboriously I know), but more importantly it allows the stored date
for the snapshot to be modified. See Update.
- Notes:
Notes can be added to the selected Stock. Hitting the return key will place a return in the notes not
close the dialog, you must click on the OK button to close. Note cut and paste work in this dialog, but
only using Ctrl X: cut, Ctrl C; copy, Ctrl V; paste.
- Stock Name:
Edit the stock name. This is sometimes necessary as Yahoo in particular sometimes has very long names
all of which will not be displayed by StockHistory.
- Add Stock:
Add a stock to the stockwatch by specifying the EPIC code. If using an ESI connection the stock will
be added to the ESI stockwatch on the next update. Stocks cannot be delete from the ESI stockwatch by
deleting a stock in StockHistory. The Stock name will added after the next update; the different
services (ESI and Yahoo) present the names in different ways, but you can enter your own
name for the stock. This is sometimes necessary as Yahoo in particular sometimes has very long names
all of which will not be displayed by StockHistory.
- Copy Stock:
Copy a selected stock to a different Stockwatch. This is useful if upon buying a stock you add it into
a Stockwatch of stocks that you currently hold. Normally this will result in a new empty history for
that stock, but by copying the original to your Stockwatch (assuming you do already have a stored
history elsewhere for this Stock) you will have the full history copied. If using an ESI connection
the stock will be added to the ESI stockwatch on the next update.
- Delete Stock:
Delete a selected stock. A Stock must first be selected by clicking on it in an appropriate view. All
historic stored data for that stock is permanently lost. The only time this should be necessary is after
removing a stock from the relevant ESI page, after which each update will store blank data for that stock.
In the future I may try and allow the data to be copied to a different stockwatch allowing you to move
stocks between stockwatches.
-
View
Note the program opens with all view settings as for the last run of the program.
- Differences
- Percentage - Toggles the mode for any differences views to be absolute or percentage differences.
- Historic Differences - Toggles the mode for Historic views between values and differences.
- Snapshot:
Displays the current selected data snapshot only. More or less the same as a text only view of your
stockwatch. Also displays the FTSE 100. The current selected snapshot is controlled as for Historic
views, see View/Range below.
- Previous Diff:
Displays the differences between the current and previous data snapshots. Either absolute or
percentage. The current selected snapshot is controlled as for Historic views, see
View/Range below.Does not give information for the change in value
from previous day's close - the difference in the change seemed pretty meaningless and should
always be the same as the difference in the current. Also displays the FTSE 100. Note some of
these values can look a bit "odd" on the first update following the previous day's close of business
due to zeros being set at close.
- Alerts:
This view allows all the current alert price values to be viewed. By using the
Move Range controls you can step back to see the snapshot that triggered any alerts.
- Portfolio:
Displays details of profit/loss for stocks that have had purchase and or sale details entered. The
profit/loss figure takes into account dealing charges on both the purchase and the sale. It may be
calculated in three different ways:
- If a buy price is entered but no sell price profit is calculated on current bid (normal profit)
- If a sell price is entered but no buy price profit is calculated on current offer (shorting profit)
- If both a buy price and sell price are entered profit is calculated on these prices (closed profit)
A useful application for this view is to set up a "closed holdings" stockwatch with the connection set to
"none". this stockwatch will never be updated. When a stock is sold copy it into this stockwatch (using
add not overwrite if there is already one there) and enter the details of the sale - the portfolio view will
now show an accumulation of closed deals with their profits, along with the price history (according to
the history sizes set up for this portfolio) allowing you to review your decisions at a later date.
- History:
Displays an historic list of one category of values, eg current, bid, spread etc. These can either
be displayed as actual values or as the difference with the previous value. Colour of the display
is not set by the value but by whether the new value is greater, smaller or the same as the previous
value. Note some of these values can look a bit "odd" on the first update following the previous day's
close of business due to zeros being set at close. Also I'm not too sure if the percentage differences
in things that are often value 0 (eg. change) is really very meaningful, but I've left it in anyway!
Note in the Historic Current and Change views the historic FTSE 100 prices are also displayed, but bear
in mind that the time of the price will actually be 20 mins older than the column heading.
- Graph:
See View Graph in Graphs
- Sort Criterion:
Select the criterion you wish your stocks to be sorted by, the default is the Stock name. Currently the
only criterion available are Name, EPIC, Change or Buy or Sell date. Note when change is selected it is
sorted based on the percentage change not the absolute values.
- Move Range:
Moving the range of displayed values in the historic views (and the current one in the snapshot view)
is controlled in the following ways:
- Oldest - view the oldest page of snapshots.
- Previous set - go back one page of snapshots
- Back one - go back one snapshot
- Forward one - go forward one snapshot
- Next set - go forward one page of snapshots
- Latest - go to the latest snapshot
These controls are all available on the toolbar as well. The page size is the current number of
snapshots displayed which is controlled by Set Range.
- Set Range:
The number of snapshots displayed in historic views is controlled in the following ways:
- Full Set - display all stored data both intra-day and end of day.
- Intra-day set - display all stored intra-day data (not end of day data).
- Expand One Set - double the number of displayed snapshots
- Expand One - increase displayed snapshots by one
- Contract One - decrease displayed snapshots by one
- Contract One Set - halve the number of displayed snapshots
- Set 10 - set the number of displayed snapshots to 10
These controls are all available on the toolbar as well.
- Comms Error Summary:
Displays a summary of the results of the most recent attempts to download from the Internet.
- Fonts:
the Font can be changed on a global basis (ie the same for all open documents), and are stored for
the next run of the program. My choice is Arial bold set to 8 for an 800x600 screen and 9 for a larger
resolution screen.
-
Update
When the update is taken whilst the market is closed, date information is not always available, therefore
the date stored is set to the same as the previous stored snapshot. The date from your internal clock was not
used in case the update was taken after midnight or at the weekend. In the latter case it would have caused
significant problems for the graphing where the weekends are ignored. This arrangement may cause problems if
no data is downloaded during the day and then downloaded after market close or even the following day. The date
will be set to the same as the previous day requiring it to be modified for correct graphing. I am not entirely
happy with this arrangement and am open to suggestions for other approaches. Also the time is set to the close
time set in File/Preferences.
- Update:
Takes a snapshot of the current values in your stockwatch by connecting to and downloading from your
selected service (see Edit Properties). Note currently if an internet session is already open it will use it otherwise it will
dial up, however this will go through the normal Dial Up Networking dialogs and will not hang up at the
end. Whilst I plan to fix this it will not be for a while - see the work around
below
- Update All:
As above but for all open documents.
- Start Auto Update:
Begin the automatic update Cycle. Specify an end time using the 2 hour clock. 00:00 indicates to keep
updating until told to stop (see next item). Specify Auto Update Cycle Time: this the frequency to
update in minutes. IMPORTANT NOTE currently this will not hangup after doing an update, making it only really
appropriate for people permanently online. Whilst I plan to fix this, there is an easy work around - see
the work around below. A start time can also be specified if 0s are entered
there will be no auto start. If a valid time is entered the program will automatically start updating at
that time (if it is earlier than the current time it will start the next day). If you wish to modify
these settings without actually activating the auto update then click "Apply" instead of "OK".
- End Auto Update: - manually stop the auto update cycle. Note this
will not hang up the connection - see above.
-
Tools
- Profit Calculator:
Enter details of quantity, and two of buy price, sell price and profit and it will calculate the remaining
one (along with a number of other values). The calculation is based upon the the total cost of the buy and
sell based upon the commission and stamp duty figures entered for the current stockwatch.
-
Help
There is no on line help, only this html file.
- Tips
Selecting tips will display the next tip in the list. Unless deselected these tips will also be
displayed at program start up.
Return to contents
- Toolbar Buttons
Pause the mouse cursor over a button and it will tell you it's function. All buttons duplicate
functions available through the normal menus. A number of more popular views can be activated directly
using these buttons.
Return to contents
- Mouse Buttons
The mouse butons provide the easiest way of navigating around the graphs.
Right Button
- Clicking the right mouse button will generate a menu with many of the more commonly used options from the main menu.
Left Button
- In Text Mode
- A single click of this button selects an individual stock.
- A double click of this button selects a graph for the stock clicked. The primary graph depends
upon the current view. The default (for non historic views) is the mid price.
- In Graph Mode
- Click in the left margin to go to the graph for the previous stock in the stockwatch.
- Click in the right margin to go to the graph for the next stock in the stockwatch.
- Click in top margin to go to the Single Stock detailed view for this stock. Double
clicking in this view will return to the graph.
- Double click anywhere else in the graph and the original text displayed will be returned to.
Return to contents
- Status Bar
The status bar is the information bar at the bottom of the main window. There are 7 separate panes on the
right hand side of the status bar; the first four of these indicate the type of display currently selected.
- First pane - This shows the basic type of display and may be: Snapshot, Previous Diff or History.
See above for detailed description.
- Second Pane - This shows the category of historic display: Bid, Offer, Spread, Current, Change,
Volume or Single Stock.
- Third Pane - This shows the style of display for any of the difference views - Previous Diff or
any of the History views if Historic Difference selected. It may be either absolute or percentage
differences, and displays either blank or the % symbol
- Fourth Pane - This shows whether an Historic view is displaying the actual values at the given times
or the difference with the previous value. This may be absolute differences or percentage (see above).
The very oldest data snapshot is always shown as an actual value.
- Fifth Pane - This shows where you are in the history. The first number is the latest snapshot displayed,
if this is not 0 then you are not viewing the latest data. The second is the number of snapshots displayed, and
the third is the number of snapshots in the history. Note this last one may not be the actual number of values
stored for more recently added stocks.
- Stock Alerts
There are three kinds of Alert available.
- Stop Losses - alert value rises with the price, but does not fall.
- Start Rises - alert value falls with the price, but does not rise.
- Alert Price - fixed alert value, generated an alert if crossed in either direction.
All of them can be viewed in the Alert View. Any alert will make the stock name
display in red. Alerts can be acknowledged to change the name display back to black, but stop losses and
start rise's will need to be reset if you want them to start again from the new prices.
Note: unregistered users can use stock alerts but the data will not be saved on program exit.
See Registration.
- Tips and "How do I?"
Below are all the tips that are displayed at program start up (unless deselected - they can be reslected
from the Help menu). Some have additional details added.
Tips
- Graph Zooming In graph mode, to zoom in on the latest data, click the double down arrow button - this will halve
the number of snapshots being viewed. Clicking again will halve again... Also use the |<<>>| and |<>|
buttons to switch between viewing all available data - intr-day and end of day - and just end of day data.
- Latest Data If you frequently scroll back to view older data it is always worth clicking the >>| button every now
and then to ensure you are viewing the latest data. A zero in the first field of the snapshot pane in
the status bar indicates the latest data is being viewed.
- Alert Acknowledgement When acknowledging a stop loss or start rise alert. You should also decide whether or not to reset the
alert. Remember that the stop loss value will not follow a price down after it has been crossed (and
vice versa for start rise).
- Graph Navigation Double clicking a particular stock in any text view will take you to the appropriate graph for that
stock. ie. if in a historic volume display the graph will be the volume graph. Non historic displays
default to the mid price graph. Double clicking again will return you to the text display.
- Graph Navigation When in a graph view, single clicking in the margins will take you to the next or previous graph
in that stockwatch.
- Volume Difference Try the volume difference secondary graph. This will display the volume traded since the last
snapshot as a vertical bar. I generally set this to 1/3rd height so it doesn't mess up the display too
much. Beware, if you occasionally take more frequent snapshots then this will result in smaller
differences even if there is actually more relative volume being traded. If the display is showing
both end of day data and intr-day data then the intra-day volumes differences will obviously appear
very small in comparison with the end of day data where the differences actually represent the entire
volume for that day.
- 1/3rd Height Graphs It is worth selecting 1/3rd height for some secondary graph displays (the volume difference in
particular) as this stops it from cluttering the main graphs.
- Graph Navigation When in a graph view double clicking anywhere in the main graph area will return you to the last text
display.
- Graph Navigation When in the graph view clicking at the top of the graph will take you to the single stock detailed
display for that stock. Note double clicking will then take you back to the graph, but double
clicking gain will take you to the original text display not the single stock display.
- Right Mouse Button The right mouse button will give a pop up menu with many of the more common menu options
available.
- Problems and Suggestions If you have any problems or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at
mike.franklin@btinternet.com.
- SETS bid and offer Be wary of using graphs of the bid price for SETS stocks, as they frequently have massive down
swings at start of trade prior to the official opening. The offer price can also behave in a similar
manner. Though these swings can be filtered out with the graph filter option.
- Profit Calculator In the profit calculator a series of profit calculations can be made without setting the profit value
back to zero, but to calculate a subsequent sell price (or buy price) it must be set to zero first.
- Fonts A good font for use with StockHistory is Arial Bold with size 8 for 800x600 and 9 for higher
resolution screens. You can of course try others!
- Closed Holdings Try setting up a "Closed Holding" stockwatch with the connection set to none and when you sell a
stock copy it to this stockwatch (use add not overwrite). You will then have a record of your buys
and sells with their profits (set the sort to sell date). You can either set the history to 1 (the
miniumum) or set it up so that you have some historical record to refer back to allowing your sell
decision to be reviewed.
- End of Day History By setting a small Intra Day History size and a large Daily Extended History size you will e
ffectively turn your stockwatch into an end of day chart view. Warning - you will not be able to
later recover any lost intra day data.
- Stockwatch MaintenanceFor ESI users, if you add a stock to your StockHistory stockwatch file, it will be automatically
added to your ESI stockwatch page, unfortunately deleting one cannot remove it from the page. This
will still need to be done in the normal way over the internet using your browser. I do most of my
maintenance of my stockwatches from StockHistory then occasionally go into ESI to clear out old stocks
from the pages - you can of course remove all stocks and then simply let the next update put back only
those selected in StockHistory, however do not remove the stockwatch page itself!
- Multiple Copies of a Stock If you buy a second holding in the same stock you can either add it as a duplicate in your stockwatch
and monitor the profit of each holding separately or you can use the average up/down feature to
combine the two holdings. There is no equivalent to this feature for shorting.
- Graph Zooming The |<<>>| button expands your view to the entire history, and the |<>| button expands/contracts to
the entire intra day history - some end of day data may still be displayed if the intra-day history is not
full. These are mainly useful for the graph views.
- Volume Difference Problem When viewing both the Daily Extended data and the Intra Day data the volume difference display will
be uneven, as the Daily data volume difference shows the total volume for that day.
- Work Arounds
- Auto Dial Up: The current version of StockHistory will not dial up and hang unattended. However
there is a possible work around. Users of NT4 can easily set the dial up networking connection to dial without
prompting the user. In Dial Up Networking User Preferences/Appearance ensure "always prompt before auto-dialling"
is unselected. Hang up can be achieved by setting the idle timeout to say 1 minute in Dial Up Networking User
Preferences/dialling. The same thing can easily be achieved in Windows 95/98. For Windows 95 double click My Computer,
then Dial-Up Networking. In the menu bar at the top select connections/settings. Unselect the check box described as
"Prompt for information before dialling" and click OK. When dialling up the internet you will no longer see a dialog box asking
for confirmation of what connection to dial, it will dial your default connection. Now right click the dial up connection
icon you are using and select Properties. Click the configure button and the Connection tab. Ensure the check box for
"Disconnect a call if idle for more than x mins" is selected and specify a short timeout; say 1 minute. Now after a snapshot download is
complete the line will be hung up after that time. Note you may want to change it back again when doing your normal web
browsing otherwise if you pause to read something for a few minutes you willl be disconnected. Alternatively just do what I
do and run another browser in the background set to a page such as an ESI Stockwatch page set to refresh once a minute. I
find it does not impact browsing times noticeably. I'm not sure about Windows 98, but imagine the same can be achieved in
much the same way.
- Graphing: Some additional graphical analysis can be achieved by using the file export facility.
This will produce a .csv file which should be usable with most popular spreadsheet packages. To use Microsoft Excel follow the
instrructions below:
- It is easiest and fastest to have Excel already open in the background.
- Open the .csv file in Excel (eg. double click the file in explorer)
- Select the data you wish to graph. Tips:
- Move the cursor to the first cell of the row of data you are interested in
- Holding the shift key down, press end followed by the right arrow
- The entire row of data should now be selected. If you have a large number of snapshots in the data
this is a fast efficient method of quickly selecting all of them.
- If you want to plot several rows of data simply select all the desired rows and continue as above. It may be necessary
to copy and paste the rows to get all the desired rows of data grouped together.
- Click the graph wizard icon in the toolbar.
- Select the type of graph you want or just click finish to take all the defaults.
- Drag the sides/corners of the generated graph to the size you want.
- Sometimes the default vertical scale is not appropriate. In this case double click with the mouse over the
left vertical axis, then select the scale tab and enter the minimum and maximum values you wish displayed.
- Note if you do another file export from StockHistory to the same named .csv file, you must first close the file
in Excel otherwise StockHistory will be prevented from opening it. I usually do this as I view these
as temporary files and it avoids ending up with dozens of files littered around.