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Questions and Answers
Q.
Unfair Advantage® (UA) was updating an ASCII formatted export
file when it produced a "range check error" on one of my stocks. How do I
correct this?
A.
This type of error indicates that the file may have been
corrupted or damaged. Fortunately, it is relatively rare and easily corrected.
Use UA's "Refresh History" feature (from the Database menu) to download a
replacement SDB file.
Q.
I use CSI for data retrieval, but another company for
analysis software. My trading system runs on the CSI (not UA) format. When I
run my studies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a few other indexes seem
to be corrupted. What's the problem?
A.
The original CSI format is showing its age when it has
trouble handling lofty index values. Back in the mid-1980's when it was
created, such high values were not anticipated, and were not supported by the
format. We have recently added a second set of data files to the CSI-format
output set, which can be identified by the filename extension ".DT2." The files
whose names end in .DT2 are identical to the files whose names end in .DTA,
except that the data records can hold more characters, including the high
values needed by several indexes.
We attempted to notify all CSI-compatible software vendors
of the availability of the "DT2" files to accommodate larger values, but the
format change has not yet been universally adopted. If the vendor of your
analysis software is not reading the ".DT2" files, please contact them and ask
that they do so. We at CSI will be happy to provide whatever information and
support is necessary to help with the transition.
Q.
A consequence of the decimalization of the stock markets is
smaller price increments for penny stocks. Does CSI's presentation of stock
prices handle the necessary four digits of precision following the decimal
point?
A.
Yes. A stock selling at $2 per share will now be quoted and
held in customer data reserves as $2.0000, with precision to the nearest
hundredth of a cent. This action will more precisely represent NASDAQ penny
stocks and bulletin board stocks that, for large quantities of shares, could
otherwise reflect imprecise capitalization estimates.
Unfair Advantage users should find this to be a seamless
transition because the work done here is transmitted remotely to all customers
during your daily download. Users of the original CSI format could have a
problem if they have not adopted the DT2 conventions.
Q.
Recent analysis revealed that the April, 2000 platinum
contract doubled in price during its last two or three days of trading, but the
corresponding Perpetual Contract® data series does not show the same behavior.
Does this indicate a data error?
A.
A check of our platinum data shows all prices to be correct.
A review of our secondary historical reserves tells us that Russia temporarily
halted the distribution and sale of platinum ore, causing a short squeeze on
prices near the end of trading for the April, 2000 contract. The obscure report
was noted in our historical reserves, verifying the unexpected price jump. CSI
Perpetual Contract data views the market forward a variable number of months
and days from the computation date, which is why the Perpetual Contract data
did not mirror the raw data.
Q.
I use Unfair Advantage to string futures contracts together
for testing trading systems, and use the "n days before expiration" roll
forward option in my back-adjusted series. How can I overcome the fact that,
although this technique will back adjust almost all contracts based on rollover
"n" days prior to expiry, the most recent contract isn't adjusted until its
actual expiration?
Q.
As explained in the manual, this late roll-forward date and
resulting delayed adjustment of the most current contract occurs because UA
does not know when a contract will expire until it actually expires. You could
move up the roll date for the current contract by changing the "roll trigger"
to any of the alternate techniques offered by UA.
Rolling on volume and/or open interest will tend to switch
contracts early, as liquidity moves into the next delivery month. However, this
will probably not produce a consistent roll date for all contracts in the
series. The technique that would most closely resemble your current method
involves selecting a specific date relative to the start of the month. Check
the expected expiration date of the current contract in UA's "Facts &
Events" calendar, and then plug it in as the roll trigger date for all the
contracts. Granted, this is a two-stop process and there will likely be a
slight variance from your previous calculations, but your objective of rolling
out of the current contract early will be satisfied.
Q.
I am a programmer and want to access the CSI database using
C++ or Perl. The API2 Reference Guide and other programming reference material
all use VBScript coding examples. Does CSI offer any coding examples of how to
use CSI's API2 interface in C++ or Perl?
A.
The information you are seeking is at your fingertips in the
UA\UAPI directory. It also includes example code for Visual C, Delphi and
Builder3.
Q.
I run a mutual fund and rely on Unfair Advantage to provide
updates on thousands of stocks each day. The recent conversion of trading units
from 64ths to decimal was completely unexpected and threw off the calculations
of my custom programs. Why didn't you give notice about the upcoming change?
A.
We did! The switch to decimalization was discussed not only
in this Journal (see CTJ 9/2000, 2/2001, 4/2001), but was also widely reported
in the general news media.
This question brings up two important points regarding UA's
intended use and the levels of service provided by CSI. Most subscribers,
including users of our basic $19-per-month stock service, are limited to
personal and private use of the UA database. Managing a mutual fund with the
data would be in violation of our standard licensing agreement.
Personal and private users of Unfair Advantage are expected
to read the CSI Technical Journal (either a hard copy or online) to stay
abreast of changes that may affect applications. Commercial customers, such as
managers of mutual funds, operate under a different license agreement. Although
commercial users pay significantly higher fees, they also receive a greater
level of service, including a daily detailed report of all changes affecting
the database. Anyone using Unfair Advantage for commercial applications is
asked to contact our Commercial Accounts Representative at (800) 274-2727 or
(561) 392-8663 ext. 40 to discuss a change in licensing agreement, monthly
rates and additional service availability.
Q.
Is the data release schedule published in the UA manual still
current?
A.
We're happy to say, "no." The data feeds we recently added
have allowed us to improve our release times by more than an hour for stocks.
We hope to deliver more timely data in all areas soon. All data vended by CSI,
including mutual funds, are now typically available before 7:30 p.m. Eastern
time. Foreign ADR's are released at around 6:50 p.m., and futures markets are
typically ready between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. Please check our website for the
actual time of release for different categories of various markets.
Cusip numbers have been added to the CSI database recently,
and many other added services will soon be available to all users. More
automation on data collection is also underway to reduce the handwork in
getting data from remote sources.
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