gstalker Stock Charting Tool

Copyright (c) 1998 Stefan S. Stratigakos

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307,  USA.

Table Of Contents

  • Main Screen
  • File Menu
  • Edit Menu
  • View Menu
  • Tools Menu

    •  

    1. Main Screen:

    When you start gstalker, you are presented with the main screen. It will try to load the
    the group that was active the last time you used gstalker, if there was none, then no charts
    will be displayed on start up. The main screen consists of from top to bottom,
    pulldown menus, buttonbar, chart stats bar, the chart area, chart data bar.
     

    Pulldown Menu:

    The pulldown menus gives mouse access to all of the functions available in gstalker.
     

    Buttonbar:

    The buttonbar gives quick access to most of the major functions in gstalker. Briefly they are  from left to right;

    Work with Charts
    Work with Groups
    Previous Chart
    Goto Chart
    Next Chart
    Compress Chart
    Expand Chart
    Edit Chart Indicators
    Edit Alerts
    Alert Scan
    Update Quotes
    View Data Window
    Toggle Chart Grid
    Toggle Chart Style
    Toggle Volume Indicator
    Toggle Chart Compression
     

    Chart Stats:

    This area gives some details on the currently loaded chart. They are;
    CH= is the all time high for the data contained in the chart.
    CL= is the all time low for the data contained in the chart.
    LD= is the last date for the chart.
    LC= is the last close value for the chart.
    NC= is the net change in value since the previous close.
     

    Chart Area:

    This is where all the chart indicators and plots will be drawn.
     

    Chart Data:

    This is an updated display of the data contained in the chart relative to the position
    of the mouse inside the chart area. If the volume indicator is active, and the mouse
    enters the volume area, you will see the data be displayed for volume. Another feature
    is if you left click and hold with the mouse anywhere in the chart area, you will see
    the exact price level be displayed in the data display and not the actual close data.
    This is useful for gauging the scale of moves on the chart so that you can note stops
    and trendlines.
     

    2. File Menu:

    New Group:

    This will create a new group in which to associate individual charts. Just enter the name
    of the group you would like to create and pressing ok will do it.
     

    Work With Groups:

    This window gives the ability to perform functions that apply to chart groups. There is
    a button on the button bar for this function. By highlighting a group from the list you can:
     

    New Group:

    This will create a new group in which to associate individual charts. Just enter the name
    of the group you would like to create and pressing ok will do it.
     

    Open:
    Open a chart group for viewing. This will load all the charts that are associated with
    a group you have created. By default, the first chart in the group will be displayed.
    If the group has no charts associated, then an message will be displayed warning you.
    The [group name], chart symbol and (chart name) will be displayed in the titlebar window that
    gstalker is running in. eg [nasdaq] - redhat (Red Hat Software).

    Edit:
    This gives you the ability to edit an existing chart group. By clicking this button
    an edit window will appear. The edit group window displays on the left, a list of all the
    charts in the gstalker database. The list on the right displays the current contents of
    the group being edited. The buttons in the middle allow for editing functions. The insert
    button will insert the highlighted selection from the chart list and place it above the
    highlighted selection in the group contents list. The add button will append the highlighted
    selection in the chart list to the end of the group contents list. The delete button will
    delete the highlighted selection from the group contents list. The ok button will save the
    changes and exit the edit window. The cancel button will not undo any changes, but just
    exits without saving changes.

    Rename:
    This allows you to rename an existing group, by clicking this button, a new window will
    appear and let you enter in the new name for the selected group.

    Delete:
    Obviously, by clicking on this button, the group highlighted in the list will be
    permanently deleted from the group list, once done, there is no way to undelete it.

    Cancel:
    This just exits from the work with groups window, it does not reverse any changes
    that may have be made prior to clicking this button.
     

    Work With Charts:

    This window gives the ability to perform functions that apply to individual charts. There is
    a button on the button bar for this function. By highlighting a chart from the list you can:

    Open:
    Opens a single chart for viewing. The chart symbol and (chart name) will be displayed in the
    titlebar window that gstalker is running in. eg redhat (Red Hat Software).

    Edit:
    This gives you the ability to edit the data of an existing chart. By clicking this button
    an edit chart window will appear. All fields can be manually edited except the curent record
    and date fields. The buttons allow for navigating through the data and saving changes. The
    first button brings you to the first record in the chart. The next button advances forward
    one record. The back button retreats one record. The end button skips to the last record.

    The save button saves the changes made to the current record. The delete button will delete
    permanently the current record. The close button will exit without saving changes. If you
    make changes to a record and move to another one without saving, the changes will be lost.
    The Goto button allows you to jump to particular record number. A dialog will pop up asking
    you for the record number to goto. Entering an invalid record number will do nothing, the
    dialog will stay displayed until you press the cancel button or enter a valid record number.

    Delete:
    Obviously, by clicking on this button, the chart highlighted in the list will be
    permanently deleted from the chart list, once done, there is no way to undelete it

    Cancel:
    This just exits from the work with charts window, it does not reverse any changes
    that may have be made prior to clicking this button.
     

    Import Data:

    You are presented with several choices. Clicking on the 'import from' button will bring up
    a file selector, which you use to choose the file you want to import into gstalker.
    The 'import field format' gives some choice on the format of the ascii data to be imported.
    Second, the format of the date field.

    *Note (It does not matter if there are / slashes in the date field as gstalker will
    ignore them, but the date field must be at least 6 characters in length not including
    any slashes.)

    This function reads ASCII data from a file and converts it to binary, then either creates
    or updates a chart in the gstalker database. This is the only way to display data in gstalker.

    ASCII is the only file format gstalker understands in this release.

    If any errors during import are encountered, they will be written to the error log which
    you can view for details with any text editor. The error log is located in the gstalker
    directory as error.log.
     

    Quit:

    This cleanly exits gstalker and saves any configuration changes that may have been made.
    Use this way of terminating the program, if you kill it via the window manager, changes
    may not be saved.
     

    3. Edit Menu:

    Edit Chart Indicators:

    This window allows you to modify any technical indicators for the current chart displayed
    in the main window. You are shown a list of all the indicators possible and their current
    status. There are two display modes to the indicators, global and single mode. You change
    modes by clicking the 'Globals' button. You are then prompted if you want to switch modes
    You can tell what mode you are in by looking at the titlebar of the Edit Indicator window.
    If you see the word 'Global', then you're in global mode. If you don't see it, then you're
    in single mode.

    Global mode applies the same set of indicator settings to every chart displayed, while
    single mode lets you apply custom settings to each chart. The first column displays the
    on or off status of each indicator. The second column shows the indicator type. The third
    column shows the color of the indicator displayed on the chart. The fourth indicator shows any
    parameters used for the indicator. You may leave this window open all the time so that you
    have quick and easy access to the indicators for each active chart.

    There is a button on the button bar for this function.

    gstalker has currently these technical indicators;

    Volume
    3 Moving Average types (Exponential, Simple, Weighted).

    Any changes are displayed on the chart immediately. The indicators are enabled or
    disabled by clicking the toggle status button. You can also change the Moving Average
    parameters by high lighting the indicator and pressing the edit button. Here you can change
    the period lengths. eg entering 10 will create a 10 day moving average.
     

    Edit Alerts Window:

    gstalker has 6 alert settings. They operate the same way as the technical indicators.
    You have 2 modes two work in, global and single mode just like the indicators. The alerts
    do not go into effect until an alert scan is performed.

    There are up to 3 seperate moving average alerts, which are based on the 3 moving average
    indicators. You can't edit the parameters from this window, only enable/disable them.
    To use them, you must enable the related indicator and the alert by using the
    toggle button. It's important to remember that if you turn on the alert, the indicator
    must also be enabled, otherwise nothing will happen during the alert scan.

    The 3 moving average alerts will trigger if the close plot line penetrates any of the moving
    average plot lines either above or below it. What you do with this info is up to you :-)

    The last three alerts are edited only here. These are kind of an alert/indicator hybrid.
    They can be edited by using the edit button.

    The percent net change works by entering a value eg. 60.75 will trigger an alert if the
    close has gone up 60.75% from the previous close, or entering -60.75 will trigger the alert
    if the close has gone down 60.75% from the previous close.

    The percent volume change works by entering a value eg. 60.75 will trigger an alert if the
    volume has gone up 60.75% from the previous close, or entering -60.75 will trigger the alert
    if the volume has gone down 60.75% from the previous close.

    The threshold alert works by entering a value eg. 60.75 will trigger an alert if the close
    has penetrated the 60.75 level from the previous close. This is a one-way alert, the alert
    will be triggered if it crosses the threshold value either going up or down. This is used
    to monitor prices when they break out of sideways price trends.
     

    Edit Options:

    This is where you can customize some of the general features in gstalker.
    Pressing the Save button saves the changes and updates gstalker immediately.

    Status Bars Page:
    Enable status bars just enables or disables the chart stats and data areas, if disabled,
    more space is created to display charts.

    Stats bar field enables or disables each individual stat you want displayed.

    Data bar field enables or disables each individual data field you want displayed.

    Charts Page:
    This specifies the maximum amount of data to load for every chart. eg. 500 would load a
    maximum of 500 plot points of data. If 0 is entered then the whole chart will be loaded.

    Colors Page:
    This is where you can specify colors for the indicators. The combo box contains a list of
    the objects you can specify a color for. The list below it shows all the available colors
    you can choose from. Changing colors is as easy as selecting an object from the combo box,
    the color associated with the object will scroll down the list and highlight for you. To
    change the color, just click on any other color in the list and that's it. Whatever color
    you select is changed, no fuss, no muss.
     

    4. View Menu:

    Expand Chart:

    This will increase the spacing between the plot points on the chart by one pixel, changing
    the scale at which the data appears on the chart. The maximum you can expand is 20 pixels.
    There is a button on the button bar for this function.
     

    Compress Chart:

    This will decrease the spacing between the plot points on the chart by one pixel, changing
    the scale at which the data appears on the chart.
    If OHLC style is active, there is a minimum spacing limitation imposed so the chart is still
    legible. There is a button on the button bar for this function.
     

    Line Style:

    This draws the price plot on the chart as an uninterrupted line. There is a button on the
    button bar for this function.
     

    OHLC Style:

    This draws the price plot on the chart as an open/high/low/close series of ticks and lines.
    Where the tick to the left of the high/low range is the open level, the vertical line is the
    range of the high/low levels, and the close is the tick to the right of the high/low range.
    There is a button on the button bar for this function.
     

    Toggle Chart Grid:

    This will display the background grid in the chart area.
     

    Toggle Volume Indicator:

    This will toggle the volume indicator as the default for all charts displayed.
     

    View Data Window:

    This will display in a separate window, all the data in the chart in detail form. The window
    can be left active at all times, and will be updated whenever a chart is displayed. There
    is also the function of left clicking anywhere on the active chart, will immediately highlight
    the associated data in the data window if it is active. There is a button on the button bar
    for this function.
     

    Goto Chart:

    This allows you to display any chart that is in the currently loaded group. Just highlight
    the chart you wish to view and press the OK button. Useful if you have a lot of charts in
    a group and do not want to advance to it one at a time using the left and right buttons on
    the button bar. There is a button on the button bar for this function.
     

    5. Tools Menu:

    Alert Scan:

    This function allows you to scan each chart in the database, and trigger any alerts that have
    been set for it. There is a button on the button bar for this function.

    The Select Groups To Scan window will display which allows you to choose either a particular
    group to be scanned, or you can scan the entire database by enabling the scan all charts
    check button. The scan date is the date you want to scan backwards from. eg 19980715 will
    scan from July 15, 1998 to the previous date, presumably July 14, 1998 and trigger any alerts
    accordingly.

    Once the scan is started, the Alert View report window will display a list of any alerts
    that have been triggered with a short detail of the alert. Highlighting an alert and pressing
    the Goto button will immediately display that chart that triggered the alert. Pressing the
    Close button will exit the Alert View window.
     

    Update Quotes:

    This function allows you to download quotes from Yahoo's free quote server and import them
    directly into gstalker. The top left box allows you to choose which quote server you would
    like to download from. The top right box allows you to enter a new symbol which does not
    appear in the symbol list to download. The large middle area is the list of all symbols that
    appear in the gstalker database. The bottom area displays the download in progress.
    To download all symbols in the database, you just press the select all button which will
    select all the symbols, or you can select individual symbols just by selecting each one
    with the mouse one at a time. When you have finished selecting, just press the download
    button and watch the status area. As each quote you selected is downloaded, it will be
    un-highlighted and updated in the symbol list until done. If there are any problems during
    the download, you will be notified with a message. Make sure when you are ready to download
    that you have an active network connection to the internet or the download will not work.
    Also, if you are on a network with a proxy server, you must update the quotes page in the
    edit options dialog with the proxy server name and port number info.