Metastock Question

[Jay]

Would someone please help.
I keeping coming across charts that I have previously used the system tester and plotted the result on the chart. To my knowledge I did not
save this chart, however the indicators pointing to where the buys & sells were still show.
Is there an easy way to get rid of them, aprt from right clicking on every instance and deleting and then saving the chart again.
Or do I have to download the history of the symbol again?
My default template is blank.

[Phaedrus]

Hi Jay,
Here are 4 ways of doing what you want :-

(1) You are using "SmartCharts". These automatically save all changes made to the chart, including buy/sell symbols from system testing. If you use "Charts" instead, no changes are saved unless you want them to be. You are prompted as to whether you want to save the changes or not when the chart is closed.

(2) Don't plot the buy/sell signals on the chart in the first place.
In System Tester go to Options, Reporting, then uncheck the "Display Buy/Sell arrows" box.

(3) Remove the buy/sell symbols when you have finished looking at them.
Click on Edit, then click on Delete All, select Symbols (only) and then click OK. Note:- This will delete ALL symbols from the chart, including any that you have put there manually.

(4) To delete ONLY test buy/sell symbols, set up an "Expunge" utility.
In System Tester, click on New and then click on OK. (You are setting up a completely blank system test, with no buy/sell rules at all). Whenever you select and run this "test", any previous test buy/sell signals will be removed but your own manual ones will remain unaffected. Note:- The "Display Buy/Sell arrows" box must be checked for this to work.

There, that's probably more information than you need - right?

[Jay]

Thanks Phaedrus.
As always you are a mine of information.
Yes mostly use the System tester on Smart Charts
Did not realise (1).
Will check (2)
Should have relised (3).
Did not know (4)

No not too much information ;)

[Jay]

Is there a way I can easily see if I have loaded an adjustment for a distribution in Metastock.
I'm a bit slack I know, but I can't remember if I loaded the divvy payment for CBA in February

[Phaedrus]

Jay,
The dividend (at $1.13) is small in comparison with CBA's daily fluctuations - in other words it matters little whether you have corrected for it or not.
If you really are determined to sweat the small stuff, look at the CLOSE on 15/2/08. If it is $46.38, I think you will find that your data has not been corrected for the dividend.

[dumbass]

one feature which frustrates me is the need to keep on hitting the text button

for every text entry , is there a way you can add text without always having to go back

and click the text button .

thanks P

[Phaedrus]

DA,
Go to Tools/Options/General/ and uncheck the "Return to Select Mode after Drawing" option.

[dumbass]

fantastic , thanks so much

[arco]

DB

What I do is highlight a previous piece of text.......then

Press CTRL which duplicates - pull where you want the new text to be.

Right click / Text properties to amend.

(Alternatively keep one 'letter' on the chart and use
with the above steps)

.

[Jay]

Jay,
The dividend (at $1.13) is small in comparison with CBA's daily fluctuations - in other words it matters little whether you have corrected for it or not.
If you really are determined to sweat the small stuff, look at the CLOSE on 15/2/08. If it is $46.38, I think you will find that your data has not been corrected for the dividend.


Thanks, you make a good point, but what about other smaller companies, or does it not make a huge difference.
The best way is to check the closing price on the date before??

[Phaedrus]

Strictly speaking, you should always correct your data for dividend payments. Some dividends are so small, however, that it is hardly worth the effort. It's nothing to do with the size of the company, though.
Certainly you should always correct your data if there is a discernable "step" when the stock goes ex.
When you correct your data, you deduct the amount of the dividend from all prices before the ex date. Generally the shareprice drops by approximately the amount of the divi, so this correction has the effect of removing any abrupt "step" in the price plot.

[Jay]

Thanks again Phaedrus.
I really meant to say the share price v the dividend amount rather than small or large companies.
I generally only look at dividend amounts and dates at the companies I am looking at, rather than try and load every dividend on the ASX and NZX.
Anyway will take on board your comments and probably do it the way you mention in the main

[Abracadabra]

I purchased Metastock a little while ago and have spent the last couple of months trying to get my head around this programme.
I have been building up lists of indices etc and putting them in folders under the Favourites
area. It has taken ages to get everything correct, but they have now disappeared!!!!
I think I must have pushed the 'clear favourites' button without meaning to. Obviously I am gutted as it has taken such a long time to get it right. If I start again, I am worried I will do the same thing again accidentally.
Have I been saving them incorrectly? or is there somewhere else to put them, as it seems that one button to erase everything can't be right.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

[Phaedrus]

This doesn't qualify as "help", but I can tell you what you have done. Normally when you clear your "Favourite" folders, MetaStock asks for confirmation before doing so. A "Clear all entries?" dialogue box pops up requiring a Yes/No answer. Another box is there too... "Don't ask me to confirm folder clearing in the future". You will have checked this box at some stage, so now you are not asked to confirm deletions.
I don't know how you reverse this. This is a shame, because I have managed to reproduce your problem on my PC!

[arco]

Gentlemen

I'm not sure if this could help, but if you do a system restore to an earlier date will the files re-appear?

I think this is the procedure.................

go to start
all programs
accessories
system tools
system restore.

click system restore
set your computer to an earlier time
click next.

you see a calendar
click the date you want,
and click next
after restore your computer will shut down
and restart automatically at the previous date selected.

arco

[Phaedrus]

Yes - all fixed! Thanks Arco. I'm so computer illiterate that I didn't even know that "system restore" function even existed. I'll bet I use it again sometime.

Abracadabra should be able to retrieve all his Favorites since he knows when he accidently bumped them, but it might be hard for him to reset MetaStock to again ask for confirmation of deletions because the odds are he won't remember when he altered that setting and so will not have a clue what date to reset to.

[Hoop]

Hi Abracadabra.
I'm assuming...1... you have checked your recycle bin and they are not there.
2..the files are deleted and not just lost or moved.

If restore suggested by Arco does not help

I use a freeware program called Recuva installed onto my computer. I have a bad habit of going too fast and clicking wrong buttons. This software is like gold to me it has saved my ars3 a few times now. It is an open source program.. so it is free to download and use (donation is optional), and has no spyware attached.

click here (http://www.recuva.com/) to go to that site.

or

If you are apprehensive to install something you are no sure of.. you can read up on what it can and can't do at Piriform's forum page (http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=14299).

The worst thing you can do is use the computer before using the recovery program, because once that deleted file's space on the Hard drive gets overwritten it becomes harder to recover if not impossible.. so don't procrastinate. If your machine has two HD (or paritions) use the other drive(/partions) until recovery is done.

Alternative (I have not tried it)

Rick Rogers (Microsoft employee) mentions Brian Kato's recover program as one of the best click here (http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windows-vista-hardware-devices/86999-recover-files.html) it's for Windows XP but runs on Vista (I think)
Hope this helps
keep in touch ..would like to know your outcome.


EDIT...Just saw your last post Phaedrus good to see Restore did the job................Note the date of your restore, check and see if files downloaded after that restore date are present. Maybe absent and need reinstalling.
Cheers

[Phaedrus]

Hoop, I don't think the problem is one of a deleted file, but rather an altered file. MS Favorites are kept in C:\Programfiles\Equis\Metastock\Favorites and that file is always there even though its contents may have been altered or deleted.

Similarly, somewhere there will be some sort of "settings" or "preferences" file which registers whether you want to confirm deletions or not. Using that "restore" function I was able to put mine back to how it was, without even knowing the identity of the file. Again, nothing had been deleted - just altered. That's my (limited) understanding of the problem, anyhow.

Piriform have some really good freeware. I use their CCleaner cleanup utility.

[Abracadabra]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Looking at it again, it would appear I haven't deleted but altered as Phaedrus suggests.
Unfortunately, I must have something else going on with my computer. I restored the settings to last week, I know it seems strange but my Favourites file is not back where it was, can't understand it as everything else has reverted to where it was. I will ring a computer expert tomorrow as my last resort, otherwise it is back to making up a new Favourites folder.
I have now learnt to look very carefully at anything that mentions 'delete', 'cancel' and I am now adding 'clear' to that list!!

Thanks again, I feel sure I will be using the restore function again in the future.

[mike8]

So do most people use Metastock for the NZ market for charting?
I have not invested here for a while, due to lack of good charts, and have been investing in US etf's as I can get similar charts as Metastock from my broker over there.
I am looking to move the funds back here due to the FIF confusion, all my trades come under the quick sale rules.
Would I still be taxed as a trader here, buying and selling within the year?

[arco]

Mike

I think you will find that may come under trading and will be taxable. But, best to check with your accountant.

arco

[Jay]

Can anyone tell where/how these are stored, especially those you build yourself.
I have had a computer meltdown (HDD failure :eek:) and even though I backed up the entire Equis Folder, I only seem to have the standard Indicators and Exporations and none I created myself.
My charts etc are all there

[Jay]

Found them, they are .DTA files in the Metastock directory. I had not copied them back or did not allow the overwrite by the look of things.

Note to self- make sure you back these up!

[Jay]

I don't know what I've done.

Run one of my usual explorations - running fine after I found them (refer above) a week ago and had 5 candidates, now every time I run the same exploration (the last one shows 100% rejected), click on reports and the same 5 shares are still there.

Yes I have been updating the data for each day!
I have even "rebuilt" the exploration.

[Footsie]

im new to metastock and im just trying to creat a basic index chart of the NZX50 with a twin m/a system that generates buy sell signals
and might produce a chart similar to what Phaedrus posts.

Phaedrus can yuo perhaps post this steps you take to create that chart?
also it doesnt seem to offer me weekly data???



lastly can anyone recommend an online tutorial.

thanks

[Phaedrus]

To add a couple of moving averages to a basic chart :-
(1) Click on the "Scroll-down arrow" in the Indicator Quicklist box in the toolbar at the top of the chart.
(2) Left click on "Moving average" and drag it to the chart plot.
(3) In the "Moving average Properties" box that then pops up, enter your chosen ma parameters (period in days, moving average type, etc.)
(4) Click "OK".
Repeat the above 4 steps using the parameters of the second ma that you want to plot.

If you want to use weekly data points instead of daily, go to the "periodicity" button at the bottom of the screen and select W rather than the default D.

MetaStock comes complete with built-in online tutorials. Click on "Help" then select "Quickstart Tutorials".

It also comes with an excellent 550 page manual covering all features of the program in detail.

[Footsie]

Phaedrus or anyone?

I can now complete charts no problem

How do i add comments and how do I add the Buy/sell indicator periods that you use?
I cant seem to find this in the manual.

Thanks

[Jay]

Hi Footsie

Firstly check under (Menu) View/ Toolbars and make sure Line studies is checked.

To add comments look at the very left hand side of the window and you should see an icon that has abc - click on this to add comments to the chart. It can be moved around etc or "anchored" to the date.
If you cannot see the abc there should be at the top of the tool bar two arrows "<>"
click on this until you see the abc appear.

Not sure on the Buy sell indicator periods, if I understand you correctly , you put these in manually using the line studies (Menu -View/Toolbars check Line Studies)
at what ever periods or inline with triggers to buy or sell.

[arco]

Footsie.

Just to add to what Jay has posted.

Text can also be found from the top menu bar -

INSERT and choose ABC from the drop down menu.

With text you can also highlight it (right click on it) then CTRL/left click and pull, which duplicates. Highlight/left click to amend the wording.

Not sure what you mean re the buy and sell, but if you want to use arrows for Buy or Sell they can be found under the same menu.

INSERT - and choose SYMBOLS from the drop down menu. You can also add you own text to Arrows. (Right Click - Symbol properties - LABEL), and change their colour

You can also highlight an arrow (right click on it) then CTRL/left click and pull, which duplicates you you need more arrows. (Arrows come in 3 sizes).


rgds - arco

[arco]

I'm not trading any shares at the moment,
so I canceled my daily EOD download about
a year ago. However, occasionally I would like
to check out a Kiwi or Aussie share and be able
to chart it in Metastock.

Is there any free site that you can download
EOD prices (and history) from for transfer into Metastock

rgds - arco

[Phaedrus]

You can download historical OHLCV data (as a spreadsheet) on individual stocks from finance.yahoo.com Ticker codes need a suffix eg PPP.NZ or PPP.AX

Historical data already in MetaStock format can be downloaded from some brokers eg Commsec.

[arco]

You can download historical OHLCV data (as a spreadsheet) on individual stocks from finance.yahoo.com Ticker codes need a suffix eg PPP.NZ or PPP.AX

Historical data already in MetaStock format can be downloaded from some brokers eg Commsec.

Many thanks Phaedrus

I still have an share account with ASB and just tried to
check their website, but it seems to be down. As they
are owned by Commsec, can anyone confirm if the ASCII
data is down-loadable from ASB (ASX/NZ only regd)

[Footsie]

phaedrus or others?

I want to screen for stocks that are trading above their 21 day EMA... how can I do this on metastock.

manually it would take hours.

I need an automated screen for all ASx and NZX stocks.

[Phaedrus]

Click on the "Explorer" Icon
Select <New Exploration>
Click "Filter"
Enter C>Mov(C,21,E)
Click OK.
The actual search should only take a couple of minutes - depending on your PC and the number of stocks you are screening, of course.

[Jay]

Anyone help??

I have a Exploration as below to find stocks that have the 10 day EMA xover the 30 EMA. (bullish)

I'm not sure how to code it if I want it in the last say 5 days etc plus using a EMA of Volume over the last say 20 days
Using the stock screener on Incredible Charts I get about 10 stocks using the last 5 days as opposed to a lot more in the filter below (for the same "day" ) and then have to sort the ones closest to zero (never remember in which column which then takes longer!)

Col A – CLOSE

Col B - Mov(CLOSE,30,EXPONENTIAL)

Col C - Mov(CLOSE,10,EXPONENTIAL)

Col D - ((CLOSE-Mov(CLOSE,30,EXPONENTIAL)) /Mov(CLOSE,30,EXPONENTIAL)) * 100

Col E - ((CLOSE-Mov(CLOSE,10,EXPONENTIAL)) /Mov(CLOSE,10,EXPONENTIAL)) * 100

Filter - When(colA > colC) AND C>0.100 AND V>501000

[Phaedrus]

Hi Jay, I have only just now noticed your query of 3 months ago! This will do what you want :-

Col A Mov(C,10,E)
Col B Mov(C,30,E)
Col C Mov(Ref(C,-5),10,E)
Col D Mov(Ref(C,-5),30,E)
Filter colA>colB AND colC<colD

You wanted to filter on the volume as well. That is very easy to do, but a filter on $ turnover is far superior if you want stocks of a certain liquidity level.

Put this in ColE to get average turnover Mov(VOLUME,20,E)*Mov(C,20,E)
and add this to the filter AND ColE>100,000

This will pull up a list of all stocks that have a turnover of greater than $100,000 per day and whose ema10 has crossed above its ema30 within the last 5 trading days.


PS:- You don't have to use the columns at all if you don't want to. The entire thing can be set up using the filter alone :-

(Mov(C,10,E)>Mov(C,30,E)) AND
(Mov(Ref(C,-5),10,E)<Mov(Ref(C,-5),30,E)) AND
(Mov(VOLUME,20,E)*Mov(C,20,E))>100000

[Jay]

Thanks Phaedra's
I have been playing around with something like you have posted , but could not get it right.
I had got the Mov av of Volume sussed, will look at using turnover instead as you suggested.

Cheers

[mccollr]

I hope this is the correct place to ask this question. I have just purchased and installed Metastock 10. I subscribe to end of day data downloads from FinData for NZ,ASX and NYSE. I try and open a security in MS and get an error message that it does not handle that type of file. Findata is in .pro format and Metastock is looking for .mwl. I have searched high and low for an import function and in downloader looked for a conversion type function. No luck. There must be and easy way to have your end of day data directed to Metastock. Any help on this one very much appreciated.

Apart from that the programme looks great and I am looking forward to learning how to drive it.

Regards
rod - Upper Hutt

[Phaedrus]

Rod, Whatever suffix is used, the data you get will be a simple flat ASCII file (probably CSV). You need to convert it into Metastock format as follows :-
Click on "Tools", then "Downloader", then click on the "Convert" icon. This will pull up the Convert Securities dialogue box :-
Source
File Type select ASCII Text
Folder enter the location of your raw data files. (Usually desktop)
File Name enter the file(s) you want to convert (*.pro in your case)
Destination
File Type select "Metastock"
Folder enter where you will keep your Metastock data files.
Then click "OK" and the conversion will begin. It will tell you when the job is done and list any problems, if there are any.

[mccollr]

Thanks Phaedrus (http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/member.php?u=4593)
That has worked a treat. I was thinking in a different sequence as to how MetaStock handles the data. I should be good now.

On a side issue. It has been through observing your knowledge and use of the charts that has motivated me to invest in software, books and data feed to commence my education. I want to take responsibility for my own trading decisions. I have been impressed with your generous sharing of your vast knowledge and this group is a far better place for it.

Keep up the good work I for one very much appreciate it.

Rod