MedVed QuoteTracker Software

[electron]

Quote from version77:


As far as indicators, I think most charting applications have more
indicators than QT...

QT has been steadily adding indicators which is why I was using it at some point instead of Sierrachart that is not as indicator-rich as QT, so your statement that most charting applications have more indicators than QT may not necessarily be true. But it's not only about indicators... I would say that now almost all charting packages out there have all the indicators you need unless you are very choosy or really don't know what you want.

 

[terr]

Quote from BSAM:

Easyrider is "easily" correct here in his argument. This, to me, is a no brainer.

How exactly do you expect to specify the fixed scale. Do you say "I always want it to be 20 points" and allow QT to center the chart inside those 20 points, or do you want to say "I want it to be from 40 to 60"?

 

[BSAM]

Quote from terr:

How exactly do you expect to specify the fixed scale. Do you say "I always want it to be 20 points" and allow QT to center the chart inside those 20 points, or do you want to say "I want it to be from 40 to 60"?

Uh.....I'd really like it to look like any other chart I've seen in my life. QT seems to be so close to greatness, but some things STILL hold you guys down. Why not fix it and charge for it?

 

[terr]

Quote from BSAM:

Uh.....I'd really like it to look like any other chart I've seen in my life. QT seems to be so close to greatness, but some things STILL hold you guys down. Why not fix it and charge for it?

Ok, it seems my question is misunderstood. When you tell QT "I want fixed scale chart", QT has to decide what the Y scale is somehow, right? So you would have to specify how to display the Y scale. It could be "The Y scale should be 20 points", and QT will just take whatever portion of the chart it is showing to you and center it within a 20-point scale. Or you could say "The Y scale should be between 20 at bottom and 40 at top" and QT would display that. So, what exactly is meant by "fixed scale"?

 

[jkd]

Here're the basics of how I'd like a "fixed scale" to behave:

1. When encountering a symbol for the first time, autoscale and autoposition it, just to get things started. This is what QT does now.

2. Then leave it up to the user to adjust the vertical scale factor and the vertical positioning, independently, and remember these two parameters for that symbol forever (or some reasonable amount of time).

That's all there is to it, at its simplest.

Possible fiddles (since you guys are so good at features):

1. Turn on/off some kind of autopositioning, like perhaps keeping the last bar near the middle of the chart.

2. Turn on/off a synchonization the VS across all concurrent views of the same symbol

3. Possibly expire the remembered VS and VP settings of a symbol that hasn't been viewed for some settable amount of time.

The key is to leave the vertical scale, and the vertical position, under the control of the user.

QCharts works this way, but its ability to remember a symbol's settings seems broken. At least I can't get it to work after all kinds of fiddling. The help available for QCharts is total and absolute CRAP (i.e., non-existent), yet I put up with QCharts because I can adjust the VS and VP.

QT, as it is now, is like having a stereo that measures the incoming sound level of every passage of every tune it is playing, and plays it at maximum volume (no matter how soft or loud it originally was).

Thanks for listening.

BTW, add my voice to those who sing the praises of QT -- there is a LOT of good stuff in your program and I use it 1) as a backup to QCharts and 2) to view tick charts, and 3) to keep live data going for a large number of symbols.

 

[kjkent1]

Quote from j_medved:

And I would have thought that the way QT's transaction panel is designed where you can have the price field pegged to bid/ask/last, it lends itself particularly well to single stock trading.

The price field peg is a nice feature, but that's not my complaint. We chatted at length on your support board about this issue, and it's been a while since I've tried to use the portfolio window to keep track of the intraday P&L -- but, as I recall, QT's portfolio window doesn't accurately track and consolidate a position when a trader is both long and short the same stock simultaneously, because when QT records a short sale, it does not add cash to the account totals -- it subtracts it.

This may accurately reflect the trader's cash value for margin purposes, but it does not accurately reflect the intraday P&L.

In order to correctly reflect intraday P&L, the portfolio must subtract from the cash total on buys and covers, and add money to the cash total on sells and shorts.

 

[j_medved]

Quote from kjkent1:

The price field peg is a nice feature, but that's not my complaint. We chatted at length on your support board about this issue, and it's been a while since I've tried to use the portfolio window to keep track of the intraday P&L

I was not referring to the QuoteTracker Portfolio window. I was referring to the Account Info panel that shows positions/balances. Intraday P&L is reported there straight from the broker. (what is available would depend on the broker)

 

[j_medved]

Quote from jkd:

Here're the basics of how I'd like a "fixed scale" to behave:

...

2. Then leave it up to the user to adjust the vertical scale factor and the vertical positioning, independently, and remember these two parameters for that symbol forever (or some reasonable amount of time).

Yes, I understand that, but thats too high level. What Mike was asking was what specific mechanism is wanted for actually making the adjustments to the scale.

 

[jkd]

For adjusting the vertical scale, one way is to do what QCharts does -- a click and drag on the vertical annotations stretches and compresses the VS. AFIK, there is no keyboard shortcut for it, but I'd like one, perhaps PgUp and PgDn. Vertical positions can also be done with a click and drag, but done on the data part of the chart. However, I prefer using the up and down arrows because the click and drag also affects the horizontal positioning.

 

[reiehaxm]

easyrider.....thanks for posting the two charts side by side. Any trader should see the problem with auto scaling.

I can get the charts in quotetracker to the scale I would like..... but it is very tedious to continue to "re-adjust" during the day.

In esignal...when a chart is loaded it fills up the screen ...you then just click on the price column on the right hand side and adjust the scale to you liking. The scale will NOT change once you do this and you have to manually move the chart if the price goes beyond the screen.

Obviously.....if i do that with Quotetracker it starts drawing a line. A simple solution would be to have an optional right click scale box for EACH individual chart where you could enter a number. Example--YM chart--I like to have my scale to show 120 points. By typing a number in that box you are asking for a manual scale which will put a scrolling tab automatically on the right side of the chart. This tab will allow the user to manually move the price up and down if price goes outside the borders of the chart. The first time the chart loads, it will put the most recent price in the center of the chart and earlier price may be going out the top and bottom. If I want to see those hidden price bars, I need to scroll up or down. Very simple

I hope this helps the Medveds with what I am looking for. If others have suggestions....please speak up.

Thanks guys......I voted over on the scaling thread and the auto-scalers are winning. Go figure.