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Scheduler, Price Alerts, Studies w/Multiple Settings |
January 25, 2006
16:30 @Ensign_Kimball: Hi. An Ensign Training class is now starting in this room.
16:30 @Ensign_Kimball: Welcome. Today we will cover 3 main topics. Please hold questions until the end.
16:31 @Ensign_Kimball: The topics will be 1) The Scheduler 2) Using Price Alerts 3) Using Studies with Multiple Settings.
The Scheduler
16:31 @Ensign_Kimball: First.....The Scheduler What is the Scheduler ?
16:31 @Ensign_Kimball: Select 'Setup | Scheduler' from the Ensign menu to view the Scheduler screnn.
16:33 @Ensign_Kimball: The Scheduler allows you to setup an activity that will trigger at a specified time. You can see in the screen capture an Example. The Scheduler can do various tasks.
16:33 @Ensign_Kimball: One task is to simple Print message to the screen. The example above will do that. At 14:50 the Message will print to the screen. However, in order activate the Message I must put a Checkmark next to the row.
16:35 @Ensign_Kimball: Each day at 14:50 the software will print the message for me. You can enter any TEXT that you like. You can enter messages on any of the rows.
16:35 @Ensign_Kimball: If a time entry is entered with only the minutes (and not the hour), then the scheduler will trigger every hour. For example, an entry of ' :05 ' will trigger the scheduler every hour at 5 minutes past the hour (24 hours a day). This may be helpful for someone who wants to have an Hourly reminder to do something.
16:36 @Ensign_Kimball: The scheduler can also be used to run ESPL program scripts, display Workspaces, and RUN external programs at a specified time.
16:36 @Ensign_Kimball: To open a Workspace, do the following. Enter the word WORKSPACE and then an = equal sign, and then type the name of your Workspace
16:37 @Ensign_Kimball: In the example above, the Workspace named 'Kimball' will open at 10 AM
16:37 @Ensign_Kimball: If you want Ensign to RUN an external program at a specified time, then do the following. Enter the word RUN and the an = equal sign, and then type the name of the program to run
16:38 @Ensign_Kimball: The example above will run the program named CALC.EXE at 11:45 AM
16:39 @Ensign_Kimball: If you have a particular PROCESS or program that needs to run at a certain time, then the Scheduler can do it for you.
16:39 @Ensign_Kimball: The Scheduler can also PLAY sound files. To play a sound at a scheduled time, make an entry with the keyword PLAY=filename. The filename should specify the path and filename of a .WAV sound file on the computer. 16:39 Example: PLAY=C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA\CHORD.WAV
(Due to length of character restriction in Ensign, it is recommended you create a folder in Ensign directory and copy the wav files there for the shortest path.)
16:40 @Ensign_Kimball: The screen above shows a sample entry.
16:41 @Ensign_Kimball: For those of you who use the ESPL programming language, you can also run ESPL programs at a specified time. For example, entering SCRIPT=CHARTNOW 3 will load the CHARTNOW.SPT ESPL file at the specified scheduler time, and will run the ESPL program with an ESPL variable value of 3.
16:41 @Ensign_Kimball: The Scheduler screen gives you some HINTS at the top of the screen to remind you of the key words to us.
16:42 TOC: Kimball...re the Scheduler could be enhanced to Dramatically improve is usability...by adding TABS at the bottom, increasing the number of messages, similar to other Ensign windows, and DATES, for date specific events, so that that weeks news events could be entered in advance
16:42 @Ensign_Kimball: In summary, the Scheduler can be used to print MESSAGES, play SOUNDS, open WORKSPACES, run PROGRAMS, and ESPL. All at a Specified Time.....or at an Hourly Time.
16:43 @Ensign_Kimball: Suggestion Noted TOC
16:43 @Ensign_Kimball: Any questions on this feature before we move to the next training topic...............
16:44 amg: Do the windows close themselves or require closing before next msg?
16:44 CB: vg Kimball - you were clear
16:44 amg: eg, the "hourly" messages
16:44 @Ensign_Kimball: The messages do not close themselves.
16:44 amg: Will unclosed messages prevent new ones from being opened?
16:44 @Ensign_Kimball: No
16:45 amg: ty
16:45 Vijay: Are there any examples of how the schedular is used by traders?
16:45 TOC: Kimball...yes thanks for the explanation...gave me some ideas...unfortunately...i have already used up the 8 lines...(as usual ;-)
16:45 @Ensign_Kimball: Vijay....The suggestions in this training will hopefully give you some ideas for yourself.
16:46 CB: vijay - one example is market reports and events - another is a warning of market closing maybe 15 minutes before it does.
16:46 @Ensign_Kimball: Each trader is different
16:46 Vijay: Thanks.
Price Alerts
16:44 @Ensign_Kimball: OK....next Topic is Price ALERTS
16:47 @Ensign_Kimball: The IBM chart shown above can have some PRICE ALERTS added (both above and below the current price). To add the ALERTS manually, do the following. Move the Mouse cursor to the level where you would like an Alert level and then press CTRL-A on the Keyboard
16:53 @Ensign_Kimball: You can see the IBM chart alerts on this screen. There is a HIGH alert and a LOW alert. You can edit the exact prices on the this screen. You can also set alerts for many other PRICE fields, like the BID price, ASK price, TICK volume, DAILY volume, etc. Plus, you can setup some ALERT features
16:55 @Ensign_Kimball: For example, You can specify what kind of SOUND to play -- Select Silent, Beep, or WAV as the desired sound setting. If you place a check mark in th e 'MESSAGE' box then the program will print an ALERT message from the Alert price is triggered. Uncheck the box if you don't want to see an alert MESSAGE
16:56 @Ensign_Kimball: For sounds.....you can have Silent or a Beep. Or, you can play a WAV file
16:57 @Ensign_Kimball: You must specify what WAV file to play in the 2 entry boxes at the bottom of the window. You can browse for a sound file by clicking on the BROWSE buttons. Make sure that the PATH and FILENAME of sound file is not too long. Otherwise it won't find your file.
16:58 @Ensign_Kimball: If you can't see the entire path in the entry box, then you should copy your sound file to a FOLDER that is nearer to the root directory - (Ensign Directory)
16:58 @Ensign_Kimball: The samples in the Window will play the CHORD and DING sounds when Alerts are reached. I know Traders who will RECORD their own Voice using the Window Sound Recorder. Then Play those sound files when the Price Alerts are reached.
16:59 @Ensign_Kimball: So, you could create your own sound file, and say. "HEY...LOOK AT THE SCREEN...You are supposed to be BUYING HERE"
17:00 @Ensign_Kimball: You can manually ADD alerts to this screen by clicking on the ADD button. You will need to specify a Symbol.....like MSFT
17:01 @Ensign_Kimball: I have added an Alert to the screen for MSFT
17:01 @Ensign_Kimball: Anytime that you add an Alert to a CHART it will appear on this screen. To manually remove Alerts from a CHART window, just press CTRL-R on the keyboard.
17:02 @Ensign_Kimball: You can see the Alerts will appear on the CHART if entered on the ALERT screen.
17:03 @Ensign_Kimball: If you click the 'LOG' TAB up in the top left corner of the ALERTS window you will see the window above
7:03 @Ensign_Kimball: There are a couple of settings that you may want to use. The Check boxes on the right edge of the screen allow you to control ALERTS.
17:04 @Ensign_Kimball: The Alerts Log displays a list of the last 500 alerts that have been triggered. Use the vertical scroll bar to scroll up and down through the list. Each entry in the list shows the Symbol, time of the alert occurrence, the alert price, and the alert type. Click the Clear button to clear the list. The list will rebuild as new alerts are triggered. The Alerts Log is not saved when the program is exited.
17:05 @Ensign_Kimball: Place a check in the ‘Log 1st Price’ check box to limit the Alert Log to list only the first occurrence of a Price alert in the log. This will keep the LOG window less cluttered. Especially if the Symbol you are following has a lot of TICKS
17:06 @Ensign_Kimball: Place a check in the ‘Log 1st Block’ check box to limit the Alert Log to list only the first occurrence of a Tick Volume (block trade) alert in the log.
17:06 @Ensign_Kimball: Place a check in the ‘Beep only 1st’ check box to limit any alert sound to just the first alert occurrence for each specific alert. This will prevent your computer from going wild with ALERT SOUNDS (unless you want it to)
17:07 @Ensign_Kimball: Place a check in the 'Show Log' check box to cause the Alerts window to automatically open when an alert is triggered. Note: Ensign will only sound an alert once every 3 seconds (even if more than one sound alert has triggered)
17:07 @Ensign_Kimball: This keeps the computer from being bogged down processing Sound requests
17:08 @Ensign_Kimball: The Alerts that we have been discussing are simple PRICE ALERTS. These are very useful in Trading. The Alerts can notify you when a Chart is breaking out to a higher level or breaking down to a lower Level. There is not a lot of Technical magic behind Price Alerts. But most Traders use Price Alerts to help them mark key Support and Resistance levels. Or, to help remind them to Place a STOP or GET OUT of a trade (take Profits) at a certain price level
17:10 @Ensign_Kimball: Any questions on Price ALERTS
17:11 Bubba: nope, good job
17:11 REB: Bubba,
17:11 CB: YES - VERY CLEAR KIMBALL
17:11 @Ensign_Kimball: Ok.....Lets move on to the last Training Topic......Using Studies with Multiple Settings
Using Studies with Multiple Settings
17:13 @Ensign_Kimball: The MSFT chart has a Moving Average study applied to the Chart. There are dozens of Studies and Tools that can be applied to charts. To apply a Study to a chart do the following
17:13 @Ensign_Kimball: First, Open a Chart. Make sure that the Chart is the 'Active' window. Then, Click the 'Studies' button on the Toolbar. (Or right click and chose "studies" from the menu that will appear - this right click feature is very useful if you have many monitors) A drop down List will appear that shows all the Studies
17:14 @Ensign_Kimball: You can see a sample of the Studies drop-down list above
17:14 @Ensign_Kimball: Next, click the Study that you want to apply to the chart (example: Moving Average ). The Study will then appear on the Chart
17:15 @Ensign_Kimball: Well.....What is you don't like the DEFAULT settings...Or COLORS....Or LINE thickness, etc
17:15 @Ensign_Kimball: Ensign allows you to change the PROPERTIES (settings) for the study by doing the following
17:16 @Ensign_Kimball: Press CTRL-O while viewing the chart to open the CHART OBJECTS window. You can also click the 'Chart Objects' button on the Toolbar. (Charts objects is also in drop down menu when you right click)
17:16 @Ensign_Kimball: You can see that for my sample MSFT chart, there is only 1 study listed, The 'Simple Average'. To open the PROPERTIES window for the Simple Average, just click on it Twice (or select it, and then click the 'Properties' button)
17:18 @Ensign_Kimball: Once the Properties window is open, you can start to change any of the settings for the Study. Up in the Top Left Corner are the main Parameter settings for the Moving Average Calculation. You can see that the study is using a 3 and 9 period moving average.
17:19 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets say that you have have 5 different sets of Moving Average Parameters that you like to use. How do you setup all 5 sets ?
17:19 @Ensign_Kimball: The ANSWER....The TABS at the bottom of the Properties window7:20 @Ensign_Kimball: There are 15 TABS at the bottom of the window (if you count the 'Default' TAB). Each TAB can save and remember a Unique study setting
17:21 @Ensign_Kimball: In the Example above, I have clicked on TAB 5. I then changed the Parameters to be a 5 and 20 period average. I also changed the LINE STYLE -- The lines are a lot THICKER. (If you forget to click on a tab before making the changes and still want the changes saved, just click on copy tab and then a tab number.)
17:22 @Ensign_Kimball: I can click on a different TAB if desired. And setup another complete and unique set of Moving Average settings.
17:23 @Ensign_Kimball: I have clicked on TAB 2 and change the Moving Average settings. This setting is not a Simple Moving Average. I changed the Formula (in the bottom right) to be an Exponential Moving Average calculation. I also changed the 'Study Mode' to be 'Rising...Falling'. This causes different COLORS to plot depending on the Direction of the Study. I also changed the 'DATA POINT' for each average. The First Moving Average is using the HIGH price as the Data Point. It is a 7 period Exp Average of the High prices. The 2nd Moving Average is using the LOW prices. It is a 14 period Exp Average of the Lows. The Colors and Line Styles are different
17:27 @Ensign_Kimball: The TABS at the bottom of the Properties window allows you to Setup 15 different settings for the Moving Average. To switch to a different setting, just open the Properties window, and click a TAB number. The Chart will automatically change to the new settings
17:28 @Ensign_Kimball: The TABS used by Chart Studies is also a feature for Chart Draw Tools
17:29 @Ensign_Kimball: Once you start using the TABS, you can really beef-up and increase the variety of your Study and Chart Tool settings. This allows you to switch quickly between your favorite Study settings, without having to manually re-enter them all the time.
17:30 @Ensign_Kimball: Any Questions on using Multiple Setting with your Studies ?
17:30 fibs: If you want more than 2 MA on the same chart -- do you just apply the studies separately by reopening the study window each time ?
17:30 @Ensign_Kimball: You can apply as many as you want..Just click the Studies button and click the Moving Average selection again. The 2nd application will use the default setting, but you can change it. This allows you to have dozens of Study lines on 1 chart
17:31 fibs: Thanks
17:31 CB: Kimball - so you mean I can have what I set in tab 2 5 6 and 9 at the same time?
17:32 @Ensign_Kimball: You would need to apply 4 Moving Averages to the chart. Each Study could then be using a different TAB setting
17:32 fibs: For the Hull you must do something other than you just described? Is that correct?
17:33 @Ensign_Kimball: Hull is different
17:33 fibs: How do you apply the Hull? From a template or ????
17:33 CB: but Kimball - when I click those tabs - how does it know not to use 1 347 and 8 tabs - I means when I close the property window - how does it distinguishe which tabs I want?
17:34 @Ensign_Kimball: Each of the 4 moving averages, knows which you selected for IT. All 4 averages will be listed in the Chart Objects window. You can setup the Parameters differently for each average. The TABS just make it easier for you to apply different settings to the currently selected Averaeg
17:36 @Ensign_Kimball: Read the following Newsletter for complete info on the Hull Average: http://www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/tradingtips72.htm
17:36 fibs: thanks Kimball Will read it...
7:37 @Ensign_Kimball: It can be downloaded as a TEMPLATE from the Internet Services download screen in the program - HullAverage
17:38 fibs: great thanks Kimball -- template will make it easy :-)
17:37 @Ensign_Kimball: Here is a sample of the Hull average
17:37 REB: Concerning the questions - He needs to set up the chart and then hit the specific tab number?
17:35 CB: so if I setup 1 thru 8 - how does it know which 4 I want to use - sorry - probably a simple thing I did not see yet
17:38 @Ensign_Kimball: 1) Open the Chart
17:38 @Ensign_Kimball: 2) Apply a Moving Average to the Chart
17:38 @Ensign_Kimball: 3) Open the Moving Average Property window
17:38 @Ensign_Kimball: 4) Click the TAB that you want to select
17:38 @Ensign_Kimball: If it already has your unique settings, then they will be applied to that Moving Average. Or, you can change the settings on that TAB to be what you want
17:39 @Ensign_Kimball: When you click OK to close the window, then settings will be saved on that TAB
17:40 @Ensign_Kimball: Howard used the 'Design Your Own' study (as shown above) to implement the Hull Average. It has specific settings. This is an advanced example Don't get queazy looking at it :)
17:41 @Ensign_Kimball: We can discuss 'Design Your Own' in another Training Class.
17:41 @Ensign_Kimball: There are Hundreds of Design Your Own (DYO) example on the Ensign Web site
17:41 REB: Thanks - Will be looking forward to it
17:42 Randy1: There are many examples in the Q&A Knowlege base under your Help menu in Ensign
17:43 @Ensign_Kimball: thanks Randy
17:42 Kongfuzi: Q on the alerts discussion, can you have the alert fire X number of times, instead of just once or continuously?
17:43 @Ensign_Kimball: Kong....no...
17:43 Kongfuzi: ok, something like that would be nice too.
17:43 minuteman: I would like to suggest adding alerts to Andrews lines (and/or GV's)
17:43 CB: limball - sorry - but I am still stuck on the tabs - multiple - of the study - if I setup 8 tabs - how specifically does the thing know which ones I want it to show?
17:43 @Ensign_Kimball: CB...if you setup TAB 8 and you want it to be the DEFAULT, then do the following
17:44 fibs: CB can also use your mouse wheel to select the tabs...
17:47 @Ensign_Kimball: You can use the Mouse Wheel when the Properties window is OPEN
17:44 @Ensign_Kimball: After setup TAB 8 then place a check mark in the 'Use as Default' check box (right side). This will cause all subsequent applications of the Moving Average to use the new DEFAULT setting
17:45 CB: Kimball - What if I want tabs 2 4 6 7 all at once?
17:45 @Ensign_Kimball: Then you must apply 4 different sets of Moving Averages to the Chart. Then, change the setting for each Moving Average to be Tab 2, then Tab 4, then Tab 6, and Tab 7. Each average will use a different TAB setting. You select and change the settings for one of the 4 averages from the Chart Objects window. They will all be listed there separately
17:47 CB: ok - so - add the study 4 times - and in each of the objects - change the tab to what I want until I have all 4 tabs in the study?
17:48 @Ensign_Kimball: In theory, this will display 8 lines. But, you can HIDE some of the lines if you want by unchecking the SHOW check box
17:48 CB: neat!
17:48 @Ensign_Kimball: In the sample above, I have UNCHECKED the SHOW box for the 2nd average. So, the 9 period average is not plotted on the Chart, only the 3 period averageun
17:49 @Ensign_Kimball: OK. Class is OVER - Sorry. But I have to run. I hope that you learned a few things.
17:50 CB: thanks you very much Kimball :-)
17:50 fibs: thanks good class Kimball
17:50 @Ensign_Kimball: It is good to review some of these basic program features once in while
17:50 REB: THanks
17:50 @Ensign_Kimball: If you have further questions, you can e-mail me at Kimballh@ensignsoftware.com
17:50 Bubba: thank you very much
17:50 @Ensign_Kimball: Hasta la Vista.....
17:52 @Buffy: Great class Kimball thank you