Lee,
If you're new to windows, you should take some time and just work your way through all the menus just to see what's there. Try some things. You won't break anything! In addition, always try clicking with the right mouse menu to get a context-sensitive menu of functions. The menu relates to the object you click on, so clicking in the grid area of a quote chart will produce a different menu than clicking on the row of column names.
Regarding QCharts in particular, the following is a post I made on Anthony@Pacific's private site (http://www.anthonypacific.com) which I thought would be helpful to new QCharts users. I retrieved it so you can print it as a starting guide.
BTW, in answer to your "lists of quotes" issue, don't forget you can keep as many quote windows open as you wish. Make several, one for each list you want to maintain. If you don't have the screen space to view them all at the same time, just minimize the window and keep it as a small bar on the bottom of your QCharts screen. You can pop it up in an instant. If you lose one of the minimized bars from view, you can rearrange them all from the Window menu item by choosing Arrange Icons. That should bring them back into view.
I hope the following is useful:
QCharts is one of the best real-time quote and charting packages for traders. Because of its many features, it can be difficult to understand how to best utilize the product, so I thought I'd start a thread where we can all provide some guidelines and tips for getting the best from Qcharts.
General Information:
* When starting with QCharts, it is helpful to understand what all the resources are within the package. Always experiment with any entity on the desktop by right-clicking the mouse on both the object's header and in the body. Often, there are different context menus for the two areas.
* Each object in QCharts has a small button marked "Sym" with a light on it. When the light is green, the contents will change to reflect the active symbol (last clicked). When the light is grey, the contents will change with the active symbol only when the object is the currently selected object (chart, single quote, etc.). When the light is red, the contents are frozen. The same rules apply to the Interval button.
* You can type either a symbol or a company name into the symbol window at the upper left. If something is a BB stock, you might have to put "BB:" in front of the symbol.
* You can type a symbol followed by the interval. For example, "AAPL,3" would produce a chart of AAPL for 3-minute intervals.
* You can enter formulas into a quote sheet or the symbol window by enclosing them in parentheses: ((CSCO - COMS) / csco) * 100 ) would show the price difference between Cisco and 3Com as a percentage of the Cisco price. You can add studies to this.
* You can alter the symbol in a quote window by using F2 (Edit) or double-clicking the existing symbol. You can delete a symbol with the delete key and insert a new space with the insert key.
* Studies, lines and text can be added to charts from the menu or toolbars while the chart is selected. (They can be removed from the mouse menu, but not added.) Once added, they can be removed with the right mouse menu.
* There is a large amount of research information available either from the Market Guide data which can be loaded into a single quote window or into a News (Browser) window. When the News/browser window is active, review all your options on the menu.
* When starting QCharts, you can have it resume the prior session and its layout, start with a pre-defined layout, or start with an empty screen. If you want to be sure to retain your layout, make sure the option to be prompted to save your workspace is checked.
* For each object, you can choose a format which becomes the "default format" for that object. You can save multiple formats of each as well by right-clicking and using Save Layout.
Below are the main objects within QCharts:
- Workspaces
- Charts
- Quote Windows
- Single Quote
- Level 2 display
- ISLD display
- Hotlists (or Hotlists loaded into Quote Windows)
- News
1. Workspaces
QCharts views your entire desktop layout as a "Workspace". The position of all your charts, quote windows, hotlists, etc. and their preferences are "remembered" as a workspace. You can have as many workspaces as you wish and can define which workspaces should be invoked via the CNTL key and a number: CNTL-1, CNTL-2, etc.. QCharts switches workspaces in only a couple of seconds.
I use the following workspaces set up for two 21" Viewsonic monitors:
A. Main (CNTL-1)
* One 5-min chart with Volume, Stochastics, RSI and MACD.
* One daily chart.
* L2 and ISLD displays.
* Hotlists (loaded into quote windows): Trade Rate, %gain, %loss. My Hotlists include columns for Float and 65day avg volume so I can see when something pops up which has volume far in excess of its averages.
* A quote window called TODAY for items to watch for the day.
* Two quote windows containing the same symbols for my permanent watch list. One is grouped by sector (Internets, financials, software, etc.), the other is sorted by %Gain/Loss for the day. (To protect from accidental sorting of the grouped list, right-click and choose Sort Locked.)
* A Single Quote window with lots of fundamental information such as Float, % owned by institutions, Sales/Employee, etc..
* An Indexes quote window for INDU, COMP, COMPX, SP99Z, US99Z, Advancers, Decliners, and HHH, the new Internet Index.
B. Hotlists
This workspace has 8 Hotlists loaded into quote windows. It also has a 5minute chart, daily chart, L2, and single quote with fundamental information to view each symbol.
C. Large
This workspace has only two very large graphs, one daily and one a 5-minute. These graphs have multiple studies on them. This gives me a large format to study the exact behavior of a stock over time.
D. Internet
This workspace has a quote window loaded with the ISDEX internet stocks and two very large graphs, one daily and one a 5-minute. These graphs have multiple studies on them. I use this to see how the InterNuts are doing,
2. Charts
QCharts charts can be Candlestick, bar or line. There are built-in intervals to select from, but you can choose any interval and type it into the interval window. In addition, you can temporarily compress or expand the horizontal dimensions using the chart toolbar. You can also drag the vertical scale to expand or contract the scale and grab the chart and move it up or down using the mouse. As mentioned above, charts can reflect formulas involving several symbols or special indicators like (QC:ADVN.NQ -QC:DECL.NQ) which will chart the difference between the advance/decline lines for the Nasdaq. You can add studies to these as well. You can chart TRIN by using TRIN.NY, TRIN.AM, or TRIN.NQ.
Don't forget to use the Weekly and Monthly periods as well to know the long term trends of your stocks!
3. Quote Windows
Quote windows update the information with every trade and/or bid/ask change on a symbol. You can choose the columns to be displayed. You can rearrange columns by dragging them to the desired location. Use the right mouse to insert or delete columns. You can also maintain the quotes in a sorted sequence. Click on a column and it will sort on that column. Click on it again, and the sort will reverse sequence. Once more and the sort will be turned off. If you want to sort into ascending sequence, then leave it unsorted, just insert a line (insert key) then delete it and that will turn off the sort while in ascending sequence. You can also sort on fields not being displayed. Use the right mouse and choose Sort. If you do not want a quote window to be sorted, use the right mouse and choose Sort Locked. By loading a quote window with a hotlist, you can choose which columns to display with your hotlists. You can also sort on a field other than the primary hotlist field. (For example, sort on Float for %Gainers.)
4. Single Quote
Single Quote provides a window where you can load a lot of information about a single symbol. Included in available data is a vast amount of fundamental data from Market Guide. You can create several formats to fit your various workspaces: very wide, but shallow; large block; small block, etc..
5. Level 2 Display
QCharts provides a standard L2, but optionally allows you to display a single-quote window as well. In addition, you can color-code particular MMs so you can spot them easily on the display. QCharts permits traditional format (side-by-side) or vertical with bids on the bottom and asks on top (my preferred format). If you right click on an MM, you can get the contact information for them.
6. ISLD Display
This displays the ISLD ECN in a format similar to the L2 Display. It is often not current.
7. Hotlists
Hotlists are lists of symbols maintained on the servers based upon various conditions such as highest % Gainers, Point Gainers, Trade Rate, Volume Rate, etc.. They change every minute or so and the symbols jump around as they change their rank within the hotlist. If you see something you want to track, drag the symbol to your TODAY quote list before it disappears from the hotlist! Hotlists are most useful when loaded into a standard Quote Window. Once there, you can add columns of other information which helps you identify potential trading symbols. You can also sort on any data value.
8. News
You can view the news for a symbol with the News window. (Hit the small globe on the toolbar to get news.) Once the Browser is activated, there is a ton of other information available in the browser window. Check the menu contents while the News window is active. There is a backarrow on the News toolbar or you can use the right mouse menu to go back to a prior page.
Well, that's it for now! I hope all of you will contribute your "tricks" and "tips" for QCharts! |
