Getting Started Tutorial Gannalyst.com Gannalyst Professional
5.0 Gannalyst Standard 5.0 Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Gannalyst Lite 5.0 Table of
Contents I ntroduction _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _3 How to use this document
________________________________________________ 3 Getting Started_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _3 Setting
Preferences_____________________________________________________ 3
Preferences Page 1
____________________________________________________________ 4
Preferences Page 2
____________________________________________________________ 5
Preferences Page 3
____________________________________________________________ 6
Introducing the Application
Interface_______________________________________ 7 Interface
Description
__________________________________________________________ 7 The
Chart Page Toolbar
________________________________________________________ 8 The
First
Section______________________________________________________________
8 The Third Section
_____________________________________________________________ 8 The
Second Section
___________________________________________________________ 9
Introducing Highlights
__________________________________________________ 10 What are
Highlights
__________________________________________________________ 10 Why
use Highlights
___________________________________________________________ 10
Highlights by Example
________________________________________________________ 10
Multiple Highlights
___________________________________________________________ 12
Introducing the Data Access Panel
_________________________________________ 13 What is the Data
Access Panel __________________________________________________ 13
Locating Data File
Folders______________________________________________________ 14
Copying to the Security
Panel___________________________________________________ 15 Finding
and Selecting
Securities_________________________________________________ 16
Creating a New
Portfolio_________________________________________________ 17
Exploring the Data Access
Panel_________________________________________________ 17 Using the
Data Access
Panel____________________________________________________ 18
Finding and Opening Security
Files_______________________________________________ 18 Opening and
Navigating a Portfolio. ________________________________________ 19
Moving between Securities
_____________________________________________________ 19
Maintaining State
____________________________________________________________ 19
Adding More Securities
________________________________________________________ 20 Adding
a Basic Drawing to the Chart (2
Step)________________________________ 20 Adjusting and Editing the
Trend Line _____________________________________________ 21 Adding
a Drawing with Highlight (3 Step)
___________________________________ 22 Drawing the Triangle
_________________________________________________________ 22
Editing the
Triangle___________________________________________________________
23 Applying an
Indicator/Oscillator__________________________________________ 24
Drawing Indicators
___________________________________________________________ 24
Editing Indicators
____________________________________________________________ 25
Working with
Templates_________________________________________________ 25
Creating a Template
__________________________________________________________ 25
Applying a Template
__________________________________________________________ 26
Adding an Advanced Drawing with Highlight (2 Step)
__________________________ 26 Drawing the Price Retracement
_________________________________________________ 27 Editing the
Price Retracement
__________________________________________________ 27 Editor Page 1
Basic Features __________________________________________________
28 Editor Page 2 Retracement Levels
______________________________________________ 28 Editor Page 3
Highlights. _____________________________________________________
29 Applying a Stop Loss Tool (1
Step)_________________________________________ 30 Drawing the ATR
Long Stop Loss ________________________________________________ 30
Editing the ATR Stop Tool
______________________________________________________ 30 Applying
a User Trade Block ______________________________________________
31 Drawing the User Trade Block
__________________________________________________ 31 Setting Trade
Properties _______________________________________________________
32
Summary____________________________________________________________
33 Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
Introduction This document has been prepared to provide the new
user with the ability to
familiarisethemselveswiththeGannalystSoftwareandtostartbeing
productive as soon as possible. As with most things new, its
sometimes a bit of a trial having to learn how to do something
unfamiliar so this document is concerned with the taking the reader
step by step through the most important
facetsofthesoftware.Itshouldbenotedthatthisdocumentisprimarily
concernedwiththeProfessionalversionofthesoftwareandassomay discuss
features that may not be available in the Lite or Standard
versions. As humans, we are obsessed with patterns, and the ability
to recognise them.
Followingwiththisconcept,theGannalystsoftwarehasalwaysbeen designed
with the one catches all concept in mind. This means that once you
know how to do one thing, that is perform a pattern, you pretty
much know how to do all of them. Once you know how to use one
drawing tool, then you know how to use all of them. Once you know
how to edit one feature of the software, you will know how to edit
all of it. If you are stumped at any point, simply remember this
maxim: Using the mouse...Right Click on it
Ifyoucandoanythingwithwhateverisunderthemouse,youWILLseea
popupmenutoguideyoufurther.Ifnopopupmenuappears,youcantdo anything
with it anyway so move on. How to use this document This document
has been structured to take the reader from beginning to end,
startingwithsettingtheprogrampreferencestoapplyingtoolstocreating
charts and manipulating your selected Portfolios. As a PC user you
may have
moreexperiencethatothersandcanelecttoskipasection.Allnewusers
shouldhoweverreadthesectionIntroducingtheDataAccessPanelasit
contains important information on accessing your data. Getting
Started Before we begin loading charts, creating Portfolios and
analysing securities, it
isappropriatetoadjustsomeofthesettingtothesoftwaretosuityour
individual tastes and needs. There are a number of global settings
that you
canalter,someofthemostimportantbeingthelocationofyourdatafiles.
Setting these preferences should only take a few minutes and will
save you considerable time later on. Firstly, Start the Software by
selecting the Icon on your Desktop. Setting Preferences
ToopenthePreferenceswindow,selectiontheToolbarButtonasindicatedabove
(highlighted by the red box).As shown, the following window should
now display. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005
30/08/2005 Preferences Page 1 Snap to Price
SnaptoPriceisafeaturewherebytheendsofadrawingtoolsuchasa trendline
will automatically attach themselves, or Snap to the high or the
low ofthepricebarcurrentlyunderthemousepointer.IfSnaptoPriceisnot
enabled, you can place the ends to such a drawing tool anywhere on
the chart
surface.ProvidedisalistoftheDrawingtoolsthatareavailabletotheGannalyst
version that you are using. From this list you can selectively
switch on or off this Snap to Price functionality. Default Display
WhenanewsecurityisloadeditwillloadinDailydataformatby
default.YoucanchangethisdefaultbehaviourtoloadinWeekly format.
TheChartcandisplayyourselectedsecuritiesineitherTradingday
format,weekendsandholidaysremoved,orinCalendardayformat
wheretheweekendsandholidaysareincluded.WithCalendarday format,
weekends and holidays are display a blank where a price bar should
be. The Chart display can also be altered to display the chart in
Semi Log format, whereby the Price axis is altered to a Log basis.
Highlights Highlights are a transparent, coloured area enclosed by
a set boundary and
areexplainedingreaterdetaillaterinthisdocument.Duetotechnical
limitationsofsomePCOperatingSystems,Highlightsareswitchedoffby
default. If you are using Win2K or Win XP as your operating system,
you can switch this feature on. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Preferences Page 2 Grid Settings
Using the checkboxes you can set the default Grid appearance. The
default setting is off. Decimal Places Different securities display
differing levels of precision. Indices generally are whole numbers
whereas currencies can go to 4 decimal places. The defulat setting
is 2. Chart End Spacing When a chart loads, there is an amount of
whitespace at the right hand side of the chart. This is also known
as the Hard Right Edge. Here you can set the width of this
whitespace. The default setting is 10. MSFL
TheGannalystsoftwareprovidestwomechanismsforaccessingMetastock
format files. There is the default method which is limited to 255
data files per
folder,oryoucanswitchtousingtheMSFL651.DLLwhichallowsfor accessing
up to 2000 securities per folder. Use of this feature is dependent
upon your Data Vendor being able to provide you data in 2000 files
per folder format.Default Font Setting Some of the Drawing tools
will display some form of text on the Chart surface. You can
globally set the font and the font size for all drawing tools that
use this feature. Drag Handles
Forthoselikemyself,whoareslowlybecomingvisuallychallenged,Ihave
provided a facility for adjusting the size of the Drag Handles
(little red boxes at the ends of the lines) for the draw tools. The
default setting is 3. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com
2000-2005 30/08/2005 Preferences Page 3 Default Metastock Folder
This is the folder where the software will initially look for your
Metastock data files. As an example, if you were using a quality
Data Vendor such as J ust Data then you would set this to this
folder to C:\My Databases\MetaStock. Default CSV Data Folder If you
are using CSV or Text data files instead of Metastock formatted
data files, this is where you tell the software where to locate
these files. Again, as an example, if you are using a quality data
vendor such as J ust Data then you would set this to this folder to
C:\My Databases\AsciiCsv. It should be noted here that CSV data
files come in a variety formats and you will be required to
describethelayoutofthesefiles.Thisprocessisdefinedinaseparate
documentConfiguringTextDataFileswhichcanbeaccessedunderthe Help
menu on the main menu Default Portfolio Folder. All charts are
saved into a Portfolio file. This is where you tell the Gannalyst
Softwarewheretolookforthemwhenrequested.Thedefaultsettingisthe
Portfolios folder which is beneath the application install folder
egC:\Program Files\Gannalyst\Gannalyst Professional 50\Portfolios
Default Templates Folder Indicators and oscillators applied to a
chart can be saved as a template. This
iswhereyoutelltheGannalystsoftwarewheretosavethemandwhereto
lookforthemwhenrequired.ThedefaultsettingistheTemplatesfolder which
is beneath application install folder egC:\Program
Files\Gannalyst\Gannalyst Professional 50\Templates Author Bill
Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Introducing the
Application
InterfaceOnceyouhavestartedtheGannalystSoftwareandhaveeitheropenedan
existingPortfolioorhaveelectedtocreateanewportfolio,youwillbe
presented with the following interface. Interface Description
Startingatthetopofthescreenanddependingonwhichversionofthe software
you are using, you will have a number of tabbed toolbars on the
right side of the screen and a set of 2 main toolbars on left side
of the screen. If
youareunsurewhateachbuttonwilldo,placethemouseoverthetoolbar button
(but dont click) and you will see a little yellow window appear
giving you a hint as to its functionality. This is standard windows
behavior and will work for all toolbar buttons that appear
throughout the software. Below the main toolbar region we have the
Portfolio Chart interface. This can be broken into three sections:
1.Toolbar Each Chart window has its own toolbar for selecting
various features that are applicable to the chart surface as well
as introducing some more esoteric functionality. This will be dealt
with in more detail in the following section. 2.Chart Interface
This is primary display for the security data. You have a number of
options for how this data is displayed, as well as altering to
colorsofthebars,theduration(dailyweeklyetc)andmanymore. These will
be covered under the Chart Page toolbar. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
3.SecuritySelectorWhenaPortfolioisopen,allthesecurities
containedwithintheportfolioarelistedintheseBlueTabsatthe bottom of
the page. The currently selected security is colored Orange. The
Chart Page Toolbar The following is a image of the Chart Page
toolbar. As can been seen from its structure, it can be divided
into 3 distinct sections and we will discuss these in order of 1st
and 3rd sections leaving the largest section, (2), till last. The
First Section As can be seen from the associated image there are
four buttons on this section of the Tool Bar. 1.Data This is the
button that will Open and/or Close the Data Access Panel. This
panel is described in greater detail in the previous section and
again in the following section. When you want to access your data
filesthisisthebuttonyouwillpressandtheDataAccessPanelwill slide
into view from the left hand side.
2.DurationPressingthisbuttonwillcauseapopupmenutoappear listing the
possible selections for altering the duration of the bars. The
Options available are daily, weekly and monthly.
3.PrecisionPressingthisbuttonwillcauseapopupmenutoappear allowing
you to select to what precision you want your data to display. The
standard is 2 decimal places for securities and 4 decimal places
for currencies. There are no rules here; you can select whatever
you like to see. 4.Hide - Pressing this button will cause a popup
menu to appear listing all the drawing tools that are currently on
the chart. If they are visible they will have a Tick mark next
them. If they are currently hidden, they will not have the tick
mark. You can use this list to toggle the visibility of all the
tools appearing on the chart surface. The Third Section
Ascanbeseenfromtheassociatedimagethere are three buttons on this
section of the Tool Bar.
1.Overlay-Pressingthisbuttonwillcauseapopupmenutoappear listing the
3 possible types of Gann Swing Overlay charts that you can apply to
the underlying chart surface. Only 1 Gann Swing Overlay can appear
at any one time. You also have the option to Edit or Delete the
Swing overlays
2.Symbol-Pressingthisbuttonwillcauseapopupmenutoappear listing 36
different symbols that can be attached to the chart.Author Bill
Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 3.Text -
Pressing this button will allow you to create a text label that
will appear on the chart.The Second Section Ascanbeseenfromthe
associated image there are 20 buttons on this section of the Tool
Bar. Listing from left to right
1.CompressData-IncreasethenumberofBarsthatappearonthe Chart.
Maximum is dependent on screen resolution. 2.Expand Data - Decrease
the number of Bars that appear on the Chart. This process is
virtually unlimited. Minimum number of Bars is 1.3.Increase Chart
Height - Expand the Left Axis limit on the Chart height
4.DecreaseChartHeight-DecreasetheLeftAvislimitontheChart height
5.Increase Chart Base - Expand the Left Axis limit on the Chart
base 6.Decrease Chart Base - Decrease the Left Avis limit on the
Chart base 7.Horizontal Grid Toggle the appearance of the
Horizontal Grid 8.Vertical Grid Toggle the appearance of the
Vertical grid 9.Go to Start Immediately go to the beginning of the
Chart data 10. Go to end Immediately go to the end of the Chart
data 11. Zoom Start the Zoom process. Once pressed, you can then
draw a rectangle around a section of the Chart display and the
chart will zoom into this section 12.
UnZoomTheChartwillimmediatelyreverttoitspreviouslyun-zoomed
settings. 13.
DeleteAllThiswilldeletealldrawingtoolsfromtheChartsurface. This
deletion will occur without warning. 14.
CandleBarThiswillimmediatelyaltertheChartdisplaytoCandle Bars 15.
Bar Chart- This will immediately alter the Chart display to Bar
Chart 16. LineChartThiswillimmediatelyaltertheChartdisplaytoaline
Chart. The line is based upon the closing price. 17.
DataWindowThiswilltoggletheappearanceofaBarInformation data
window.18. CrosshairThiswilltoggletheappearanceofCrossHairsonthe
mouse pointer. This will draw a horizontal and vertical line across
the Chart at the mouse point. 19. Training Mode This will toggle
the initiation of Training mode. There
isaseparatedocumentcoveringtrainingModeanditcanbefound under the
Help menu. 20. Calendar/Trading This button will toggle the display
from trading day
displaytoCalendardaydisplay.Whentoggled,alldrawingtoolsthat have a
horizontal component will be automatically adjusted to the new
scale. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005
30/08/2005 Introducing Highlights What are Highlights One of the
new features in Version 5 is Highlights. This feature is Operating
SystemdependentandwillonlyworkcorrectlywithWin2korWinXP. Previous
versions of Windows will produce spurious results, if at all. What
are Highlights? To put it simply its a mechanism whereby an
enclosed
regiononthechartcanbegivenatransparentcoloredbackground.The
transparency part is an important feature as you want to be able to
see the chart bars underneath. Obviously not all the tools have
this feature but a majority of them do have it in one form or
another. For example a rectangle can have a transparent fill
colorascanthedivisionsofaPriceRetracementaswellastheregions mapped
out by a Gann fan. In each case the tool itself has defined a
region on the chart be it price or time and you can instruct the
software to fill these regions with a colored transparent blend.
Why use Highlights The idea behind the highlight regions is quite
simple. I was looking for a way of presenting a region on the chart
as opposed to a hard line. For example when you place a Price
Retracement tool on the chart you see lines drawn horizontally as
the percentages that you have defined. Mostly you will have one of
these at say the 50% retracement level.
Thisisgreat,howeverwhenwedrawalineonachartwealsoimplanta
psychologicalexpectationagainstthatline.Westartseeingtheunderlying
market in absolutes when in actual fact we should be looking at the
market
performanceasawhole,i.e.lookingatthemarketapproachingaregionor
trading with one. At the same time we also want to be able to draw
those absolute lines on the chart as well. To cater for both sides,
I have designed the highlight function to be independent, just as
the division percentages are so you can elect to have both or
either displaying.Highlights by Example The best way to understand
highlights is by use of a simple example. I have
createdacoupleofsnapshotswhichgraphicallydisplaytheeffectsthat
Highlights can have when used on a price chart. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
BelowisachartdisplayingtheStandardPriceRetracementtoolwiththe
divisions set to 25, 50 and 75%. As we can see the market trades
down to the 50% level and then proceeds to trade slightly through
it for the next 2 days. In this next picture we have the exact same
Price Retracement tool but this
timetheRetracementlevelshavebeendeselectedandtheHighlights(25-45%,
45-55%, and 55-75%) have been switched on.As we can see it is very
similartoastandardPriceRetracementtool,howeverinsteadofabsolute
lines we have regions. We can see the market traded for 3 days
within the bounce zone before trading out of. Generally we get a
different picture of the
marketandassuch,seeitfromaslightlydifferentperspective.Theother
advantage of this process surfaces when we have a number of these
tools on
thechart.Matterscanbegintolookverycomplicatedwithlinesrunning
everywhere. If we set the Highlight regions correctly, we can
forego the lines and just leave the regions. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Multiple Highlights
The Highlight concept also carries over to using a number of tools
on concert. For example when we are using a Price Retracement tool
in concert with a Price Extension tool and looking for clustering
price zones. We can use the standard form and look for lines
clustering, and we can also use the Highlight Regions method and
look for where colored regions overlap. The effect is quite
striking and very easy for the eye to recognize immediately. This
also applies to the time tools that divide the chart space
horizontally.
TheaboveimagewasconstructedusingoverlappingGannFans.The60s
psychedelic look is simply for effect in this document. Hard to
miss isnt it!
Whilstitwillalwaysremainarguableastotheusefulnessofusingtoolsto
defineregionsinsteadofusingthetraditionallines,Ibelievethatthe
traditional method has had a run for over one hundred years and
although still
extremelyuseful,ithasgoneasfarasitcango.Perhapsitstimetostart
looking at price charts from a perspective thats a little
different. As mentioned earlier, all the tools provide for both
approaches, so if this is not for you, simply switch it off! Author
Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
Introducing the Data Access Panel
Beforewestartlookingatportfoliosandchartsthereisonemoreitemthat you
will need to familiarize yourself with, and that is the Data Access
Panel. This is concerned with building Portfolios which is covered
in the next section however its important to at least get familiar
with this interface, because you will be using it quite often.What
is the Data Access Panel For us to load a chart we first need to be
able to locate the data file we are looking for. This is probably
the issue that creates the most pain for new users
asitrequiresanelementofPCprowessandnoteveryoneisaPC
heavyweight.TheGannalyst5implementationhasbeendesignedtobeas
flexibleaspossiblewhilststillmakingiteasyforthenovicetobecome
accomplished. If you know how to double click a mouse you should be
ok. Below is an image of the Data Access Panel which each of its
components defined. J ust like your car dashboard, everything is in
a place for a reason. What we are trying to achieve with the Data
Access Panel is to locate folders in the Folder List Box that
contain Metastock data files and copy them to the Security Panel.
Next we will look at how we locate these folders. Author Bill
Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Locating Data
File Folders Previously I said that if you know how to double click
your mouse then youd
beok.Wellthisiswherethedoubleclickingcomesin.Ifyouhaveused windows
explorer or have ever had the need to move through folders on your
hard drive then this part will be obvious. What we want to do is
find your data Files. If you are using a Data Vendor for your data
supply, then they will always be located in a specific folder on
your hard drive. In the case of J ust Data, they always place their
data in the C:\My Databases folder. So how do we move around the
folder list? Simple, we Double Click on the folders in the list to
open and close them. In the image on the previous page, the folder
was set to: C:\Program Files\Gannalyst Professional 50 Below is a
picture of the Folder List Box showing the folders selected to the
J ust Data folder: C:\My Databases\MetaStock\ASX So how did we get
here? Simply by double clicking on the folders as follows:
1)Firstly we went back to the root of C drive by double clicking on
the C:\ icon. This now gives us list of all the folders on the hard
drive. 2) Secondly, we then scrolled down
thislistuntilwefoundtheone namedMyDatabasesandwe
doubleclickedonthattoopenit. Thisgaveusalistoffolders
underneath,oneofwhichis MetaStock 3)Thirdly,oncewehavelocated
Metastock,wedoubleclickonit which then presents us with a list
offoldersunderneaththatone (sortoflikeatreebranchingout isnt
it).4)FinallywelocatetheASXfolder anddoubleclickonittodisplay
thelistoffolderswherethe securitiesaredividedinto alphabetically
sorted folders. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com
2000-2005 30/08/2005 Copying to the Security Panel We have now
located the folders where our securities are located. So now we
want to move them to the Security Panel so we can start search and
selecting the securities we want to view. To add a folder to the
Security Panel it MUST contain Metastock data files. If it does
not, then nothing will happen. The image below shows 2 folders have
been added to the Security Panel: A0
andB0.InthiscasetheseareallthesecuritiesontheAustralianStock
exchangethatstartwiththelettersAandB.Togetthemthereisavery simple
process we double clicked on them Following on from the previous
page, we had a list of all the folders beneath the ASX folder.
1)FirstlytoselectA0wesimply scrolleddownalittleandDouble Clicked on
it. Immediately this was added to the Security Panel
2)Secondlywewentbacktothe FolderListBox,andDouble Clicked on ASX
again to re-open it and provide us with the listing.
3)ThirdlywelocatedtheB0folder by scrolling down a little and then
we double clicked on the B0 folder and it too was immediately
copied to the Security Panel. Wevenowcopied2DataFoldersinto
theSecurityPanel,sowhatsinthere? Have look by simply clicking on
the little crossboxnexttofolder,justasinthe
imagetotheright,anditwillopenthe
folderdisplayingallthesecuritiesthat are contained within that
folder. NextyoucanalterthedisplayofTickerSymbolsorSecurityNamesby
alternately pressing the blue Security or Symbol buttons. If this
is the permanent location of your Data Files you might also like to
press the Set as Default button so that the Software will open
there next time its starts. Next we will look at selecting and
searching for securities. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Finding and Selecting Securities
So far we have done everything we have set out to do. We have
located the folders that contain our Data Files and we have copied
them into the Security
Panel.Atthispointyoumaybeaskingyourselfwhysuchanapparently
convolutedprocessjusttogettoadatafile.Thereasonforthisisthatits
unlikely that you will only want to open one security. You will
probably want to open 5, 10 or even 50 of them, so you will want a
fast, efficient way to do this. By adding the folders to the
security you will have all your Data files in the one place that is
optimised for searchingas we shall see. Following on from the
previous page we have all the securities whose names start with A
and B. In this case its very simple to find, but imagine we had all
the folders from A to Z. The solution is simple: 1)Firstly we type
in the ticker symbol wearelookingforintheplace
providedatthebottomofthe SecurityPanel.Thenwecan either hit the
Find button, or even better,wecansimplyhitthe
Enteronthekeyboard.Ifthe securityisinoneoftheselected folders, the
software will open that Folderandwillscrollitsselection into view.
2)Secondlytoopenthatselected security, simply hit the Enter Key
again. 3)Now, type in the Ticker symbol of your next selection and
repeat the process.4) Now do it again. and again and again. You get
the idea. See how fast you can build you portfolios.
BeforewemovealongtoCreatingPortfoliosinthenextsectionits worthwhile
noting a prime constraint of the Data Access Panel. The selected
Security Folders will remain whilst the Portfolio window is open,
however once its closed, this information will be lost and you will
have to repeat this process when you open a new Portfolio window.
The reason for this is simply software performance.
Bearingthisinmind,itmaybeworthwhiletodecideinadvancewhat securities
you want to add to a Portfolio, so that you can minimise as much as
possible this coursing through your Data set. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Creating a New
Portfolio To create a new portfolio simply select the New Portfolio
Button from the Main toolbar as indicated below
(highlightedbytheredbox). For this example we will be using
Metastock Data Files. Once selected, a blank chart window will open
and the DataAccessPanel will scroll into view from the Left Hand
side. Although this was fully covered in the previous section, I
will be going through it again, just to make the point.
TheDataAccessPanelistheprimaryinterfacetoaccessyourDataFiles. After
a period of time without activity, this panel will automatically
close, that is, it will slide to the left out of view. If this
occurs, you can re-open the panel by pressing the Data button on
the Chart Page toolbar. Pressing this button will toggle the
Opening and Closing of the data Access Panel. Exploring the Data
Access Panel If you set the default folder for your Metastock Data
Files in the Preference Setting, this should be the Starting folder
when the display opens. Starting at the very top, you can select
the Drive to be accessed. Below this is
aFolderListBoxdisplayingallthe foldersthatareavailableonthe
selected drive. The display is similar to
windowsexplorerandbehavesinan identical way, that is, double
clicking or Navigatingonafolderwilltoggle
openingandclosingofthefolder.On the lower pane, the Security Panel
you can see two tabs: MetaStock Data and CSV data. This is an
important note:IftheMetastocktabisselected,
thennavigatingtheFolderList box will ONLY look for Metastock data
Files.IftheCSVDatatabisselected thennavigatingtheFolderlist
boxwillONLYsearchforCSV data files. The Lower Pane will
store/display any Folders that are found when navigating the Folder
List Box. You have two options at the top of this pane: Symbol and
Security. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005
30/08/2005
WhenSymbolisselectedthePanewilldisplayalltheavailablesecurities
TickerSymbols.IftheSecuritybuttonisselectedtheSecuritynamewill
displayinsteadoftheTickersymbol.Atthebottomofthepanelisthefind
Security feature. This will be explained in the next section. Using
the Data Access Panel Now we know how the Data Access Panel works
we can now start using it. Again in this example we are using
Metastock data files. In the following example I have selected the
A0 folder, the B0 folder and the
C0folder.Whenthisisdone,theentireFolderiscopiedtotheSecurities
panelbelow.Oncecopiedthereyoucaneasilysearchforyourselected
security by Ticker Symbol. Adding to the Security Panel
WhennavigatingtheFolderListBox, youcanselectanappropriateData
FolderbysimplyDoubleClickingonit with the mouse. When you do this,
and theselectedfoldercontainsMetastock Data Files, it will copy the
folder into the Security Panel below. Each valid folder selected
will be selected, and duplicate folderswillalsobecopied.Onceyou
have copied a couple of folders into this
panel,usingthemouseyoucanopen each folder in the Security Panel
simply byclickingonthelittleboxwiththe cross in it. This will open
the folder and displayallthesecuritiescontained
withinit.Clickingagainwillclosethe folder. This method is used so
that you can add as many folders as you like as quickly as
possible. If your data vendor is supplying data in 2000 files per
folder format,thenyoumayonlyhaveto select one folder to cover your
needs. Finding and Opening Security Files 1.Using the mouse, place
the cursor in the Find Box and type in the 3-4 letter Ticker symbol
for the security you are looking for.2.Either press the Find button
with the mouse or better still press the Enter key. If a security
is located, it will open the folder in the Security Panel and
scroll it into view. Now for the fun part3.If this is the security
you were looking for you can : a.Double Click on the selected
Security to open it or b.Press the enter key again and the security
will open in the Chart Interface using the default setting. 4.Now
enter the next Security you are looking for and repeat the process.
Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
Using the above procedure, it can be seen just how quickly you can
quickly
createaportfolioofsecuritiesfromscratch.Onceyouhaveyourselected
Securities you can now save this set as a Portfolio simply by
pressing the Save Portfolio button on the Main Toolbar. You have
now created and saved your first Portfolio! Opening and Navigating
a Portfolio. Following on from the previous section we now want to
re-open this Portfolio and peruse some of the primary activities
that you will be doing. Note, you can open as many Portfolios as
you like. Each time you open a Portfolio, the Title is added to the
Window List you will find under the Window Menu. Using this you can
navigate between open Portfolios. To open an existing portfolio
simply select the Open Portfolio Button from the Main toolbar as
indicated below (highlighted by the red box). The Chart Window will
open and the Securities selected in the Portfolio will populate the
security tabs at the bottom of the page. You most likely noticed
this when building your portfolio in the previous section. Notice
that the Data Access Panel does NOT scroll into view. The Security
that opens first is the security that was selected prior to saving
the portfolio. This will be the case every time you save the
Portfolio, it will always open on the security that was selected
last. Moving between Securities Asyoucanseeonthebottomofthescreen
you will have a series of tabs representing the
Tickersymbolsofthesecuritiescontainedwithinthisportfolio.Toswitch
between securities, simply click on the selected tab with the
mouse, and the selected security data will now load into the Chart
Interface. Pressing on the Red Cross box will present you with an
option to delete the selected security from the Portfolio.
Maintaining State This is all about saving where you are on the
chart when you switch between securities. If you are working on one
security and suddenly need to switch to another for a quick look
and then come back to the first security, you want it just the way
you left it. The variable options available are too numerous to
list here, but you can play with some of the options such as the
Data Scroller, the
ChartStylesetcanddefineeachsecuritywithdifferentsettingandswitch
between them. Notice how your settings are restored every time. It
should be Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005
30/08/2005 noted that if you do not save your Portfolio prior to
closing the Window, these setting will NOT be saved, however if you
elect to Save your portfolio prior to
closing,allthesesettingarestored,andwhenyouOpenthePortfolionext
time, it will open exactly as you left it. This is Maintaining
State. Adding More Securities Once you have a portfolio, it is not
fixed, and you can add or delete securities at will. If you want to
add more securities, simply press on the Data button on the Chart
page Toolbar to bring the Data Access Panel into view. Following
the process as described in the previous Data Access Panel section,
select your desired security, and simply add it to your Portfolio.
There is no theoretical limit to the number of securities that can
be applied to
aPortfolio,howevercommonsensewouldsaythatitisbesttodivideyour
portfoliointomanageablesections.Thisisofcourseamatterofindividual
taste, and personally I find more that 30 securities too unwieldy
when scrolling and navigating the Security tabs. Adding a Basic
Drawing to the Chart (2 Step) To start drawing on the Chart, we
will need a Portfolio Open. If you still have the Portfolio open
from the previous section then we will use that, otherwise, simply
open the Portfolio, using the process described in the previous
section. Depending on the version of the Gannalyst software you are
using, you will
haveanumberofdrawingtoolsatyourdisposal.Eachtoolhasitsown
characteristics, but can be broken down into one of three main
categories: 1.Single Step Process 2.Two Step Process3.Three Step
Process The number of steps describes the process you use with the
mouse to place the drawing tool on the Chart surface. For this
example we are going to draw a trend line on the Chart. This will
be a 2 Step process. Drawing the Trend line Firstly Locate the
Trend line tool. This can be found on the Basic Tools tab. The
following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for.
Click this button once with the mouse. You should see the mouse
pointer change shape asyoumoveitovertheChart Surface. Step 1)Move
the mouse over the Chart to the starting point for the Trend line.
This may be either a high or a low price on the Chart. Press the
mouse downand keep it pressed down. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Step
2)Withthemousestilldepressed,movethemouseinthedirectyouwantto draw
the line. As you move it you can see the line being drawn Once on
the Chart, you will see 2 red boxes at each the end of the Trend
line. Thesearewhatisknowasdraghandlesandcanbeusedtoresizethe
drawing, or to adjust the start or end of the line. Adjusting and
Editing the Trend LineOnce the trend line is placed on the Chart,
it is not a permanent fixture. You can move it anywhere you wish
around the chart, you can alter its properties such as line color
and width and you can simply delete it! Moving the Trend line Using
the mouse, place it over the Trend line until the mouse pointer
changes to a Hand 1.Press the Left Mouse button to select the Trend
line. This will make the red boxes or Drag Handles reappear, this
is a visual signal to you that you have successfully selected the
drawing tool. 2.Press down the Left mouse button over the Trend
Line and, keeping it
depressed,movethemousearoundthescreen.TheTrendlinewill now get
dragged around the chart maintaining its original gradient.
Resizing and Adjusting the Trend line
PlacethemouseoveroneoftheendsoftheTrendlineuntilthemouse changes to
Pinched Fingers This is a visual signal that you can resize the
tool. Press down the Left Mouse button and keeping pressed, you can
now dragthemousearoundthescreenbythedraghandlesandtheendofthe trend
line will move with it. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com
2000-2005 30/08/2005 Editing the Trend line
Usingthemouse,placeitovertheTrendlineuntil the mouse pointer
changes to a Hand NowpresstheRightmousebuttonandyoushould see the
Drawing tool menu popup next to the mouse. On it you will see a
number of options including all of
whichareprettymuchselfexplanatory.Selectthe Option that says Trend
Line Properties. TheTrendlineProperty windowwillnowappear.As basic
drawing tool there arent toomanypropertiesthatyou
canchangehoweveryoucan altereverythingthatyoucan
see.Asyouchangeeachof these settings you will see the
selectedtrendlinedrawnon the chart change to the setting
selected.Ifyoulikewhatyou see,pressOK,andifyou always want trend
lines to look this way, select the Set as Default option prior to
pressing the Ok button.
Youhavenowmastereddrawingtoolsonthechart.Ifyoucandothisone then you
can do all of them since they all behave in the same basic way.
Each tool just has differing properties. Adding a Drawing with
Highlight (3 Step) Since we have just added a basic drawing tool
onto the chart we can now go and add a basic drawing tool that also
includes a highlight feature so that we can explore the basics of
using highlights. To add a little more to the mix, we shall use the
Triangle as it is also a 3 step drawing tool Drawing the Triangle
Firstly Locate the Triangle tool. This can be found on the Basic
Tools tab. The
followingdisplaysthetoolbarbuttonyoushouldbelookingfor.Clickthis
buttononcewiththemouse.You shouldseethemousepointer change shape as
you move it over the Chart Surface. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 1)Move the mouse over the Chart
to the starting point for the Triangle. This may be either a high
or a low price on the Chart. Press the mouse downand keep it
pressed down. 2)With the mouse still depressed, move the mouse in
the direction you want to draw the line. As you move it you can see
the line being drawn3)Release the mouse button, move the mouse in
the direction you want to draw the 3rd point of the Triangle. As
you move it you can see the 2 connecting lines being drawn. You
should now see something similar to the image below: We have
already covered the concept of adjusting and moving the tool around
the chart space and the process is identical for all the drawing
tools. Instead we will go straight to Editing the Triangle so we
can explore the extra feature of Highlights.Editing the Triangle
Using the mouse, place it over the Trend line until the mouse
pointer changes to a Hand Now press the Right mouse button and you
should see the Triangle tool menu popup next to the mouse. On it
you will see a number of options including all of which
areagain,prettymuchselfexplanatory.Selectthe Option that says
Triangle Properties. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com
2000-2005 30/08/2005 The first properties are similar to the Trend
line Properties however there is an added section for this tool:
Highlight Blend 1.PresstheVisible checkboxandyouwill
immediatelyseethe Trianglecolorfillwith the selected
color.2.Changingthecolor usingtheColorPicker willimmediatelyalter
thecolorofthe Highlight. 3.SlidetheTrackbarto alter the
transparency of thehighlight,from barelythereat100and
completelysolidat0. Thedefaultis90which appearstobean effective
value. If you like what you see, press OK, and if you always want
Triangles to look this way, select the Set as Default option prior
to pressing the Ok button. You have now mastered a 3 step drawing
tool with added highlight properties! Applying an
Indicator/Oscillator
Oneofthebasicfunctionsthatallchartingpackagesofferisabewildering
supply of indicators and oscillators. Whilst Im not a big fan of
these tools, they are however present in the Gannalyst Software.
SwitchtotheIndicatorsTabonthemaintoolbarandselectfromtheDrop
Downlistofavailableindicators.Forthisexercisewewillbeusingthe
Exponential Moving Average (EMA) 1, the RSI and the ATR Drawing
Indicators 1.Select Exponential Moving Average 1 from the Indicator
List and then presstheApplybutton.TheEMAwillappearimmediatelyonthe
screen. The Period used will be the default setting and the color
and width of the line will also be the default setting. 2.Next,
select the Relative Strength Index (RSI) from the Indicator
listing. Again, press the apply button and the RSI will immediately
appear on the bottom of the chart page using the default settings.
Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
3.FinallySelectAverageTrueRangefromtheindicatorlistandagain,
presstheapplybutton.TheATRwillappearimmediatelyabovethe RSI band.
It should be noted that this stacking feature is only available in
Gannalyst Standard and Professional versions. Editing Indicators
Usingthemouse,placeitoveroneofthe
indicatorlineslineuntilthemousepointer changes to a Hand Now press
the Right mouse button and you shouldseetheIndicatortoolmenupopup
nexttothemouse.Onityouwillseea
numberofoptionsincludingallofwhichareagain,prettymuchself
explanatory. Select the Option that says Relative Strength Index
Properties. Thesepropertiesaresimilartothe
TrendlinePropertieshoweverthereis an extra option for altering the
Period of theindicator.Differingindicatorshave
differingpropertieshoweverbynow youshouldbeabletoaltertheseto
whatever you want them to be. If you like what you see, press OK,
and if you always want Triangles to look this
way,selecttheSetasDefaultoption prior to pressing the Ok button.
You have now mastered adding Indicators to your chart.Next we will
look at how we can add groups of indicators in one step!Working
with Templates A template is a mechanism whereby a set of
indicators and oscillators can be applied to a chart as a group.
Before we can apply a template, firstly we have to create one.
Creating a Template
Youshouldstillhaveyouchartopenfromthepreviousexercise,andthere
shouldbeatleast3indicatorsappliedtothechart.Ifyoudonothaveany
indicators applied to the chart then do so now and apply the 3
indicators as listed in the previous exercise. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
Whatwewanttodonowistosavetheseindicatorsasatemplate. Accomplishing
this is extremely simple! Anywhereonthechartsurface,simplyright
click the mouse until you see the Chart Popup menu appear as
follows. As you can see there are a number of option available to
you, but the oneweareinterestedinatthispointisthe Option that says
Save as Template SelectthisOptionandthestandardWindows
SaveDialogboxwillopenrequestingthatyou
enteranameforthetemplate.Thefolder shouldbetheonethatyouenteredwhen
settingthePreferencesinthePreferencesection.Forthisexerciseenter
Test1 as the template name and then press the save button. You have
now created and saved your first template. Applying a Template If
you though that saving a template was easy, then applying one is
just as simple but first we must have a clear chart space so switch
to another chart in your open portfolio that does not have any
indicators on it. Again,anywhereonthechartsurface,simply
rightclickthemouseuntilyouseetheChart Popup menu appear as follows.
As you can see thereareanumberofoptionavailabletoyou, but the one
we are interested in at this point is the Option that says Apply
Template. SelectthisOptionandthestandardWindows Open Dialog boxwill
open requesting that you selectatemplatefromthelistprovided..The
folder should be the one that you entered when setting the
Preferences in the Preference section. Select the Test1 template
andthenpresstheOpenbutton.Allthreeindicatorswillnowbeappliedto your
chart. Its that simple. You have now mastered Templates! Adding an
Advanced Drawing with Highlight (2 Step) So far with the drawing
tools, we have only been using the basic ones, so it is
nowworthwhiletolookatoneofthemoreadvancedtoolsandinvestigate some
of the more important Property editing features. For this exercise
will be using the Price Retracement tool as this is one that most
users will be familiar with. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Drawing the Price Retracement
FirstlyLocatethePriceRetracementtool.ThiscanbefoundonthePrice Tools
tab. The following displays the toolbar button you should be
looking for.
Clickthisbuttononcewiththemouse.Youshouldseethemousepointer change
shape as you move it over the Chart Surface.
Step1)MovethemouseovertheCharttothestartingpointforthe Retracement.
This may be either a high or a low price on the Chart. Press the
mouse downand keep it pressed down. Step 2) With the mouse still
depressed, move the mouse in the direction you
wanttodrawtheRetracements.Asyoumoveityoucanseethedefault
retracements expanding as you move the mouse. We should be quite
proficient by now on moving the drawing tools around the chart
surface, so we will dispense with describing this again. Instead we
will go straight to editing the properties of this tool and explore
the considerable functionality that has been provided for you.
Editing the Price Retracement
Usingthemouse,placeitoveranyoneofthetwoprimarylinesuntilthe mouse
pointer changes to a Hand NowpresstheRightmousebuttonandyou
shouldseethePriceRetracementtoolmenu
popupnexttothemouse.Onityouwillseea
numberofoptionsincludingallofwhichare
again,prettymuchselfexplanatory.Selectthe
OptionthatsaysPriceRetracement Properties. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Editor Page 1 Basic
Features Aswecansee,theproperty editorismadeupofthree pages.
Thisfirstpagelabeled Propertiesmaintainsthebasic
properties,ofwhichwehave seeninpreviousexerciseswith
othermorebasictools.Wecan alter the line width and color as well as
alter the font that is used todisplaytheRetracement values. We also
have the ability toswitchthehighlight functionality off or on
completely forthetoolitself.Thiswill becomemoreapparentinthe next
section. Editor Page 2 Retracement Levels On page 2 of the property
editor labeled Retracements, we have alistingofthecurrent
retracement levels that are set. This listing shows the Level as a
percentage, the color of the line that will be drawn, and a switch
towhetherthelineisdrawnor not. On the right hand side we have 3
buttons, Add, Edit and Delete. Usingthesebuttonsyouhave the
capability to add new levels, editexistinglevelsanddelete existing
levels. The adding and editing functionality is limited to entering
the Line Percentage level and the Color that the line should
display in. Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005
30/08/2005 Editor Page 3 Highlights. Onpage3oftheproperty
editorlabeledHighlight Zones,wehavealistingof
thecurrentHighlightZones or regions that are set.
Thislistingshowsthetwo Levelsthatareselectedand
thecolorofthetransparent Highlighted region that will be
drawnbetweenthesetwo levels. Thereisalsoaswitchto determine whether
the line is drawn or not. If Highlights are switchedoffonPageone
then this will have no impact. When comparing the features on Page
2 and Page 3 they do appear to be almost identical and that
impression has been part of the design so that there
islittlenewtobelearntwhenusingHighlights.Itshouldbenotedthat
Highlights behave independently.
InthiscasetheHighlightRegionsareinnowayconnectedtothevalues
enteredintheRetracementlevels.Thisindependenceisimportantandyou the
user should be the one that defines what these Highlight regions
should be.
Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
Applying a Stop Loss Tool (1 Step) We have looked at the basic
drawing tools well as one of the more advanced drawing tools, so
now its time to look at the Stop Loss tools. These are a set of
markers that you can apply to your chart to provide levels of what
is known as Trailing Stops Drawing the ATR Long Stop Loss Firstly
Locate the ATR Long Stop tool. This can be found on the Stop Loss
tools tab. The following displays the toolbar button you should be
looking for.
Clickthisbuttononcewiththemouse.Youshouldseethemousepointer change
shape as you move it over the Chart Surface. Step 1) Move the mouse
over the Chart to the starting point for the Stop. As
thisisaLongStoptool,itispreferablethatyouselectalowonthechart.
Press the mouse downand release it. This is a 1 Step tool! You
should now see a Trailing line beneath the data Bars on the chart.
Editing the ATR Stop Tool
Usingthemouse,placeitovertheGreenTrianglemarkeruntilthemouse
pointer changes to a Hand NowpresstheRightmousebuttonandyoushould
seetheATRLongtoolmenupopupnexttothe
mouse.Onityouwillseeanumberofoptions
includingallofwhichareagain,prettymuchself explanatory. Select the
Option that says ATR Long Properties. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Aside from the basic properties
we can alter a few new ones. Firstlythemultiplierwhichis
thenumberofATRvalues belowthedaysclose.For moreonthisseehowATR
values are calculated. BreakonStopwillstopthe
ATRcalculatingoncetheline hasbeenbreeched,thatis,a stop has been
triggered. DisplayStairs,willtoggle eitheracontinuouslineora series
of small marks on the chart. Thats all there is to it. You have now
mastered applying Stop Loss tools! Applying a User Trade Block We
have now covered all the basic functionality that can be achieved
when using the Gannalyst software as an analysis tool. Finally we
will look at what to do when you have entered a trade want to mark
up your chart and display the trade parameters. For this we need
the Trade Block tool and in this case we will be using the Trade
Block (Long) tool as an example.Drawing the User Trade Block
Firstly Locate the User Trade Long tool. This can be found on the
Stop Loss tools tab. The following displays the toolbar button you
should be looking for.
Clickthisbuttononcewiththemouse.Youshouldseethemousepointer change
shape as you move it over the Chart Surface. Author Bill Voeten
Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Step1)Movethemouseover
the Chart to the starting point for theTradeBlock.Thismaybe
eitherahighoralowpriceon theChart.Pressthemouse down. Once pressed
you will be promptedtoenteryourTrade parameters: Setting Trade
Properties Apart from the obvious standard
properties,youcanseewhere youcanenterthestandard
informationforyourtrade.As youenterthevalues,theTrade
Toolwillbegindrawingthese valuesasHighlightRegionson
thechartsurface.Asyoucan seeyouhavetheoptiontoset various levels
including: TheStopLossLevelwhich indicateswheretheTrade
shouldbeliquidatedshouldthe price drop below this level.
TheLimitEntrylevelwhichisthelevelthatmustbetradedpriortoatrade
being taken. The Partial Exit Point which is the price level that
must be traded for a partial amount of your traded position should
be liquidated.
ThePyramidpointwhichisthepricelevelatwhichyouwouldaddtothe
position. The final exit target point. You have now seen and
mastered the User Trade Block. This is the last of the
instructional information. Author Bill Voeten Copyright
Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005 Summary
Wehavenowreachedtheendofthistutorial.Youmayhavenoticedthat there is
a considerable amount of repetition when describing how to do
things. This repetitiveness is intentional on my behalf as I know
that if the software is designed with just a few patterns in mind,
then it is much easier for the new user to become proficient. At
first glance the vast array of buttons and options may be a little
intimidating but as we have seen, each of these options is just a
slight variation on the other and becoming proficient in applying
these tools should be a very short term process. There is much more
to this software, far too much to be covered in this format however
you are now armed with the most important parts. You can now be
comfortablewiththisknowledgeandstartmovingforward,playingwiththe
software on your own. Good Luck Bill Voeten www.gannalyst.com
Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005
