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I'll explain what I'd like to do with a charting package. I'm unsure which
package to use and would appreciate some advice. I've looked at AMI Broker
and Wealth Lab, but the documentation! Who writes this stuff, or rather who
DOESN'T write it? I don't want to use a charting package to assist with
trading decisions. I want to use it to help explain what I've already
decided.
Ok, here's what I'm doing. I have a (changing) portfolio of 50-70 stocks,
some of which I'm short and some long. In the mix there's also a number of
SPYs. The portfolio is usually mostly short stocks and long SPYs. I factor
prices and volatilities to arrive at quantities which cause the portfolio to
be beta neutral.
In one chart I'd like to plot three lines. The net value (longs-shorts) of
the stocks, the value of the SPYs, and the beta between them. (The chart
will show little change in the beta over short periods of 1-3 months). In
another chart I'd like to plot several stocks individually and their betas
to the SPYs. Many of the (individual) betas will change significantly and
with some verbiage demonstrates the merit of the decisions made to choose
the stocks (in the portfolio). Also, it would be interesting from another
perspective to overlay charts with economic data to demonstrate how the
financial markets eventually reconcile with the real economy.
I imagine that a package that can accommodate these needs would have such
features as reading from several data sources simultaneously, plotting
virtual indices, and support scripting so that plots that depict
relationships between data can be constructed. At the risk of asking for too
much, plotting an equity curve of a portfolio in which stocks frequently
change would be pretty good.
My suspicion is that there probably is a package that can accommodate my
needs, but likely it has a steep learning curve and will take me a
considerable amount of time to master. Fortunately or not I have lot on my
plate as I'm sure many subscribers to this list have, so to move a solution
to my needs along at a faster rate than what would usually happen if I did
everything myself, I'm willing to exchange the output on my strategy for
charting assistance over a 1-2 year period.
I expect you'll want to know more about my strategy to consider such an
exchange. Briefly, it's based on fundamental analysis. I scan a considerable
amount of data, mostly sourced nightly from SEC filings which are delivered
to my server, filtering for particular combinations and events that portend
a rise in the volatility of a stock in the near term. It works quite well.
If this idea appeals and we reach some arrangement, you could expect about
10-20 opportunities each month that typically take 1-3 months to realize
profits.
Hope to hear from someone.
Colin West
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