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Hello all,
I have been using a real time trading environment called Scottrade
Elite (SE). (It has my recommendation.) SE has a feature that allows
you to generate a comma delimited text file of any data you
can "chart". There are MANY useful market indicators available within
SE that Reuters (my data provider for Metastock) does not provide. As
an example (to illustrate the very simple method I stumbled into)
there is a market indicator in SE - $USA/ICD.I. This indicator is the
number of Call Issues Down on the AMEX. This data can be exported
into a comma delimited text file once it has been "charted".
Once exported the first few lines look like:
$USA/ICD.I [372 bars]
Time, Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume
00:00:00, 01/27/2004, 2636.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 2636.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/28/2004, 4032.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 4032.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/29/2004, 4584.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 4584.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/30/2004, 2507.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 2507.000000, 0
Once you have a comma delimited file (of ANY data) here are the steps.
(The method might look complicated and/or lengthy but it is REALLY
simple once you go through it the first time!)
A. Create a directory for Metastock that will contain the files that
you cannot "update" from your data provider or contain custom
calculated data or etc.. (More on that later).
B. In that directory create ANY Metastock data file by the usual
methods. For example, create a small INTC file and load it with some
data so you can select and chart it within Metastock. It will become
irrelevant but is necessary to jump start the method.
C. Define/create an empty Metastock file that you want to put
the 'odd ball' data into. For this example, I defined a file with the
name USAICD and Ticker USAICD. I set the first date to 1/27/2004.
D. Create all of the "empty" Metastock data files you would like.
Note- you MUST have one file that has "chartable" data in it within
the directory where all the empty files are waiting to be filled.
E. Cut & paste the text file (in my case it was USAICD.TXT) into an
EXCEL spreadsheet.
F. Use the [DATA:TEXT TO COLUMNS] menu tool in EXCEL to convert the
pasted data to seperate columns. EXCEL will "remember" to do this for
each text import until you close it.
G. Here is the trick. Open a chart of (in this example)the INTC data
that you created in the 'special directory' in Metastock.
H. Right 'click' on the price plot and select EDIT DATA.
I. The data file, in this example, for INTC will open into a half-ass
spreadsheet displaying all of the price data stored in the file. You
will automatically be 'in' the DOWNLOADER at this point. At the top
of the DOWNLOADER screen will be two "arrows" that allow you to
select "Next" and/or "Previous" Security. Select the "next" arrow and
you will be presented with a data file that has a single row
initialised and waiting for data loading.
J. "High-Light" the rows and columns in the spreadsheet that you want
to transfer into Metastock. Select "Copy"
K. "Enter" the empty cell in the datafile displayed by the Downloader
and "copy" just as if you were Copying a range of cells in EXCEL to
some other range. The Downloader will fill the file with data.
L. Use the "next" arrow to access the another "empty" Metastock file
if you have created another and repeat the process.
You can now understand why the "arbitrary" INTC data file must be in
the directory. Without it there is nothing to "edit" (via a chart)
within the directory. You need at least one "chartable" file so you
can "cycle" through the other files (empty or otherwise) in the
directory.
Note: You obviously must change, in this example, the zero values for
the H & L to equal the C so Metastock doesn't squawk.
A few variations and observations on the theme follow -
Rock On!
WACG
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