Save to Portfolio

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Whenever UA creates a new chart that was not selected from a portfolio, there is a large button in the lower right corner allowing you to "Save to Portfolio."

Click the button to bring up the following screen:

This screen lets you submit the necessary information to save your chart settings as a portfolio entry. Once saved in a portfolio, the chart can be easily recalled, or the data series may be written to disk for analysis with third-party software. If the desired portfolio does not exist, it can be created during this process.

Supply entries as follows:

Start Date

The default start date is the beginning date of the original chart (the first day provided with your CSI subscription, unless you changed the date when creating your chart). The example above shows a start date of January 3, 1949, but it is likely that your start date is within ten years of the current date. You may type a later date in a CCYYMMDD (century, year, month and day) format if desired to minimize computation time and disk space consumed. Modifying the start date might be useful if, for example, your trading system only looks at the last two years of data. In this case, you would receive no benefit from writing data files going back to 1949 or even 1995. Click the arrow at the right of the text box for the option of restoring the "As available" date range.

Stop Date

The default stop date is the last date updated. Do not change this date if you plan to have UA update this file on a regular basis. Doing so will cause a gap in your export file. A different stop date might be useful if you were creating a set of files that reflected trading for a given time period that did not approach the current date. If you enter a stop date, use the CCYYMMDD (century, year, month, day) format shown above.

File Format

Select the format or formats desired for the files that will be written to your hard drive, if any.

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ASCII - These text files present data in alphanumeric characters that can be read by people and computers. When ASCII (or Excel) is chosen, the [Options] button displays at right. Click it to display the following:

Make your selections as described below:

Field Separator: The Separator is used exclusively in writing ASCII format data files, where it determines what will be used to separate the fields (open, high, low, etc.). Click the arrow to the right of the text box to reveal the choices of "comma," "tab" or "space" as shown above. Make your choice according to your preference or the requirements of your analytical, spread sheet or publishing software.

Date Format - Include Century: This choice is used exclusively in writing ASCII and Excel format data files. It determines whether the year will be represented in two digits (without century) or four digits (with century). We recommend the century be included to preserve data integrity in cross-century analysis. Of course, this is a Y2K issue. Some software written in the 20th century is unable to handle a four-digit year presentation.

Example of date without century 041201 (December 1, 2004)

Example of date with century: 20041201 (December 1, 2004)

Edit Portfolio Options: Several additional ASCII file preferences were selected during portfolio creation and correspond to the selected portfolio. Click the [Edit Portfolio Options] button to review and/or edit these options. They are explained in the Edit Portfolio Setting chapter under "Settings Affecting ASCII Files."

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CSI for all programs that support the QuickTrieve format

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CSIM for compatibility with older MetaStock-compatible programs and perhaps new MetaStock

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MS format for use with MetaStockÒ

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Excel format for use with Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software. Excel also uses the "File Specific Format Preferences" described for Ascii files, above.

Portfolio

The Portfolio selection determines where your files will be on your UA portfolio list and where they will be physically stored on your drive. Keep in mind that each portfolio has a set of specifications that you have selected for handling the files within it. Traders typically group data files together by format and requirements for third-party software programs to take advantage of the UA's multiple portfolio capabilities.

To select an existing portfolio, click the arrow at the right of the selection box to view all portfolios on your drive that are linked to UA. Click your choice to select. If no export portfolio is desired, select "Charts."

To create a new portfolio or select another folder that already exists on your drive, click the [New] button. The portfolio creation screen displays (partial view shown below), giving you the choice of entering a portfolio name or browsing to an existing folder.

The top portion of this screen (shown above) lets you select the name and location of your portfolio as follows:

Name: Enter the name of your new portfolio. Simply type a description or whatever nomenclature you prefer into the "Name" text box. We used "SamplePortfolio" in the example above.)

Directory: As you type the portfolio name, you'll notice that a corresponding directory name is inserted into the "Directory" text box below. The directory specified there will be the physical location of all files in your new portfolio. The default location is a directory whose name matches the portfolio name within the C:\UA\Files subdirectory. If you prefer to store this data in another directory, simply edit it here. UA will automatically create the directory if it does not already exist. Another option is to click the [Browse] button and navigate to the existing directory of your choice.

The lower portion of the screen shows portfolio settings, which you may edit as desired. These are explained in the Editing Portfolio Settings chapter.

Click [OK] to accept the portfolio entries and return to the Choose Portfolio Format screen.

Periodicity

Check the appropriate box to choose (D)aily, (W)eekly, (M)onthly, (Q)uarterly, (S)emi-Annually or (Y)early presentation in your export files. Note: Most analysis programs can easily process daily data files as weekly or monthly series, but more condensed files cannot be reverse-engineered back to daily or weekly files. If in doubt, create daily files.

Click [OK] to save the selected file(s) to your specified portfolio.