There are times when I only want to look at the current number or
ratio of a given instrument, when I don’t need to see a line or
chart. Here is one way of setting up a chart to minimize the desktop
space used in such a situation. I will use the advance-decline ratio
to illustrate.
I use IB as a datafeed so for the NYSE the symbol name is $AD-NYSE. Here
are the steps I go through
Set up the chart as usual. I use a 1 minute timeframe but you
can obviously choose what suits you. Double click on the chart
and uncheck all the “show” properties (Bars, Bar Data
Panel, Study Data Panel and Tick Count).
Now right click on the chart, select “show” and uncheck
the “Scale and Time” selection. |
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That should give you a minimal chart
window with no time or price scale and no bars or data panels.
Now add the DYO that shows the numbers you want to see.
The following DYO calculates the advance/decline ratio (advancing
issues/declining issues) as well as the spread (advancing issues – declining
issues). |
You may notice that there are no “Show” markers checked.
This is because the output is via the Section message location. The message
text is setup to show the ratio and spread values calculated in lines E
and F. Change the font size in line B according to how large you want the
final text to be. This needs to be tuned to the final size that you want
the window to be.
I found it important to use section 3 for the message output as this
ensures that the text will be centered in the window when you resize it
to show only the bottom section in the chart window. This is what you now
do.
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First, left click in the bottom section
and pull the section right up to the top of the window so that you
can’t see any of the main chart area (which of course is blank).
Your chart may look something like this on the left before you
adjust it.
Now grab the bottom right chart window corner using left-click
once you can see the little double arrow marker when you mouse-over
the window. |
Hold the click and drag the window to the size that you want
to see. As you do this, just ensure that the bottom section fills
the entire window.
When you finish it should look like this on the right. You’re
done. |
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Using this technique you can create
a kind of “radar screen” section on your desktop that
shows at a glance any key numbers, ratios and so on.
The attached workspace shows this for Tick, Trin, AD ratio (using
Issues) together with Spread as above, and finally for AD Ratio using
advancing volume and declining volume (I call it vRatio to differentiate
from the ratio using issues, iRatio).
With a few simple extra DYO commands you can easily setup a more
sophisticated regime to change the output color and fire off alarms
upon reaching key levels.
Remember that the symbols used here are for IB, you will have to
change symbols according to your data feed needs.
Hope this helps.
Sniffy. |
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