Ensign: Quote Pages

Quote windows display the current price for every symbol collected.  The symbols are grouped into market groups (ex. NYSE, Nasdaq, Futures, Index, etc.).  A button bar at the bottom of the quote window is used to switch market groups.  A button keyboard of alphabet letters is also located on the bottom of the quote window.  The button keyboard is used to spell-out symbols with the mouse.  To change the color of a quote window select Window | Set Window Color.  To change the font, font size, and font color select Window | Set Window Font from the menu.

Finding a Quote
To view a quote for a symbol, select a market group by clicking on a market group button at the bottom of the quote page.  For example, to view a quote for 'IBM' click on the NYSE market group button (New York and American Stock Exchanges). The symbols in the 'NYSE' market group will be displayed in alphabetical order. Use the vertical scroll bar to scroll down to the 'IBM' symbol, or click the mouse on the button keyboard to spell-out I B M.  The button keyboard at the bottom of the quote page is patterned after the computer keyboard.  The computer keyboard can also be used to type IBM. As each letter is typed the quote page will sort down to the 'IBM' symbol.  Click on the New button (in the button keyboard) or press Enter on the keyboard before starting a new symbol search.

Quote Columns and Rows
The quote window displays several columns of price data for each symbol (ex. High, Low, Last, etc.). The columns can be moved and rearranged by dragging the column titles to a new location with the mouse.  For example, to move the 'High' column to a different location, click on the word 'High' and drag the mouse left or right to the desired location.  The column will be repositioned when the mouse button is released.  The width of each column can be adjusted by dragging the separator line between column titles. To reset all the columns to a default width select Quotes | Reset Column Widths from the menu.

Each row on the screen displays a different symbol.  The rows on 'Custom' quote pages can be moved or rearranged by dragging the symbol to a new row.  For example, if IBM were listed on a custom quote page, it could be moved down the page by clicking on the word IBM and then dragging the mouse down to a different row location.

Column Titles
The title that is displayed for a column can be changed by double-clicking on the column title.  A selection window will appear after double-clicking on the column title.  For example, to change the 'High' column to display the 'Bid' prices instead, double-click on the word 'High' and then select 'Bid' from the pop-up selection window.  Changing the column titles can also be accomplished by using the drop down list box on the right edge of the quote window button bar.  Select a column title from the drop down list box to change the title of a selected column.  To clear (blank out) a column, click on the column and then select Clear from the drop down box.

The following column titles are available for quote display (if the data-feed contains them): 
%Change, % Off High, % Off Low, % Off Open, %Range, 52 Week High, 52 Week Low, Arrows, Ask, Ask Size, Ask Time, Ask Yield, Bid, Bid Size, Bid Time, Bid Yield, Clear, Dividend, Down, EPS, Expiration, Gap, High, Interval, Last, Low, Market, MidBidAsk, Name, Net, Net Bid, Net High, Net Low, Net Open, Open, Open Interest, PE Ratio, Range, Scale, Spread, Strike, T-Counter, Total, T-Time, T-volume, Unchanged, Up, Volume, Xdiv Date, Yesterday, Yield. Note: The Up, Down, Unchanged, and Total price fields display 'Statistic' quotes.

In addition, DTN IQFeed users will have the following fields: Assets, Liability, Volatility, Capitalize, Long Term Debt, Shares Outstanding.

Calculations:

% Off High = (High-Last)/Last
% Off Low = (Last-Low)/Low
% Off Open= (Last-Open)/Open
% Range = (Last-Low)/(High-Low), this is a raw Stochastic for Today's range
Gap = Open-Yesterday's Close
Mid Bid/Ask = (Bid+Ask)/2
Net Bid = Bid-Yesterday's Close
Net High = High-Last
Net Low = Last-Low
Net Open = Last-Open
Range = High-Low
Spread = Ask - Bid
Yesterday = Yesterday's Close

Changing the Quote Page Format
Click the Format button or select Quotes | Format from the menu to toggle the quote page format from a vertical format to a horizontal format. The default format displays symbols in a vertical format, with the symbols listed down the left edge of the window. Clicking the Format button will toggle to a horizontal format, with the symbols listed horizontally across the window. The first 4 columns of price data (from the vertical format) will be displayed in the horizontal format. Drag and arrange the columns so that the horizontal format will display the desired 4 price fields. Click Format again to toggle back to the vertical format.

Opening a Chart from a Quote Window
There are multiple ways to Open a chart from a quote window.
1) Double-click the mouse on any symbol in the quote window (uses default time frame).
2) Select a symbol and then press the '=' equal sign key on the keyboard (uses default time frame).
3) Select a symbol and then click the chart Times button on the chart Toolbar.
4) Press Ctrl-1 through Ctrl-0, or Ctrl- - or Ctrl- = Top row of keyboard. Displays a chart for the selected symbol, using one of the first 12 time frames from the Time Frames button panel.

NOTE: The double-click default chart time frame is specified in the charts set-up screen. Select Set- Up | Charts from the menu to view and edit the double-click time frame.

Browsing Charts from the Quote Window
Once a chart has been opened from a quote window, the Home and End keys on the keyboard will display charts for the next symbols in sequence on the quote window (up or down).  Browsing up and down through the quote window symbols is a convenient way to quickly look at all the charts on a custom quote page.  Press the Home key to display the chart for the preceding symbol up the quote page.  Press the End key to display a chart for the next symbol down the quote page.

If a chart is opened directly from a symbol's market group quote page (like the 'NYSE' market group), then the Home and End keys will browse through only the visible symbols in the window. If a chart is opened from a 'Custom' quote page, then every symbol in the custom quote page can be browsed (even those symbols that are not currently visible in the quote window). 

Editing Bad Quote Prices
Occasional reception of bad ticks or prices may corrupt the High or Low prices for a symbol.  The daily price ranges in the quote page can be corrected by editing a Daily chart for the affected symbol.  Display the daily chart and graphically edit the current day's bar by pointing to the correct price with the mouse. Once the mouse is positioned on the current bar, and at the correct High or Low price level, right-click the mouse and select Edit | Low or Edit | High from the pop-up menu.  You can also press Ctrl-L or Ctrl-H on the keyboard to edit the bar to the price that the mouse is pointing to.  Note: For DTN users, the easiest way to correct bad prices is to display the symbol on a quote page and then select Quotes | Refresh Visible Rows from the menu.

Copying Quotes and Symbols to the Clipboard
Select Quotes | Copy to Clipboard from the menu to save the currently displayed symbols and prices to the Windows clipboard. The first eight price columns will be copied to the clipboard. Once the quotes have been copied to the Windows clipboard, they can be pasted into Spreadsheet programs or other Windows applications. Only the visible symbols from the quote window will be copied to the Windows clipboard, except when using the Top-100 feature (all 100 symbols will copy to the clipboard). Select Quotes | Symbols to Clipboard from the menu to copy just a list of the symbols to the clipboard. This list can be pasted into the Internet Services ‘Download’ window for internet chart updating.

Showing News Stories
Select a symbol on a quote page and then click the News button from the quotes button bar to display any news stories that are related to the symbol. Selecting Quotes | Show News Stories from the menu will also accomplish the same task. A news window will open and display the news story titles that have been received that are related to the selected symbol.

For example, selecting IBM on a quote page and then clicking the News button will display all news stories related to IBM. This feature is a quick link from a quote page to the news window. If there are no current news stories for a particular symbol then the news window will not be displayed.

Printing a Quote Window
Select Quotes | Print Quotes from the menu or click the Print button from the main Toolbar to print the currently displayed symbols to the printer. Only the symbols that are visible in the quote window will print. The first eight price columns will be printed if printing in Portrait mode. The first eleven price columns will be printed if printing in Landscape mode. To print an entire market group, save the market group to an ASCII file first, and then load and print the ASCII file from a word processor.

Settlement Prices
An asterisk character '*' will be placed next to a symbol's 'Net Change' value when a settlement price is received for the day. Settlement prices for futures and options are usually received within a half an hour after a market closes. Any symbol that has an asterisk in the 'Net Change' column is either settled for the day (after market hours), or hasn't traded yet that day.

Changing Net Change Colors
The color of 'Up' and 'Down' net change values can be customized and changed. Click on the square color box labeled 'Up Net' to select a color for positive net change prices. Click on the square color box labeled 'Down' to select a color for negative net change prices. The color boxes are located in the lower right corner of the quote window. The default colors are 'Green' for up nets and 'Red' for down nets.

Hiding the Quote Button Bar and Tabs
To hide the quotes button bar, click on the Buttons button or uncheck the Quotes | Show Button Bar menu item.  This button is not shown in the Quote.com version of Ensign Windows.  Hiding the button bar will provide more screen space for viewing quotes.  To redisplay the button bar again, select Quotes | Show Button Bar from the menu or press the ESC key on the keyboard while the quote window is the active window.

To hide the custom quote page 'Tabs' at the bottom of the quote window, uncheck the Quotes | Show Tabs menu item. Select Quotes | Show Tabs from the menu to redisplay the tabs again.

Using the Keyboard on a Quote Window
Several keyboard keys can be used on a quote window. Press ALT-Q to access the quote menu selections.  Press the Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll up and down through the quotes.  Use the Up, Down, Right, and Left arrow keys to select rows and columns.  Press the Delete key to delete a selected row.  Press Home to jump to the first quote in the market group. Press End to jump to the last quote. Press the Tab key to change the keyboard focus on the market group buttons.

Custom Quote Pages

Custom quote pages are created by simply typing a new page name in the custom quote drop down list box. For example, to create a custom quote page named MYSTOCKS, click the mouse in the drop down list box and type in the word MYSTOCKS. Press the Enter key to complete the entry. The page will be cleared in preparation for symbols to be entered and arranged on the new page. A file on the hard disk will be created named MYSTOCKS.QUO. Only the first eight characters of your custom quote page name will be used for the filename. Therefore, do not use multiple custom quote pages that share the first eight characters.

A new custom quote page Tab labeled MYSTOCKS will appear at the bottom of the quote window. The tabs are used to quickly display different custom quote pages.  Click on a tab to switch to the indicated custom page.  The tabs can be rearranged by dragging a tab left or right.  Click on the Custom button to display the custom quote page shown in the drop down list box.  The custom page shown in the drop down list box can be changed by clicking on the box's down arrow and selecting a different page.

Note: Ensign Windows is installed with a custom quote page named 'Custom'. This custom page can be deleted, renamed, or used as desired. Also, typing a new name over the previously displayed name in the drop down list box does not harm or remove the previous custom quote page.

Entering Symbols on a Custom Page
There are two ways to enter symbols on a custom page, 1) manually typing the symbols from the keyboard, or 2) using the mouse to select and transfer symbols from market group quote pages.

1) Click the Add Symbol button to manually enter symbols. An entry window will appear that allows symbols to be typed. Type in a symbol and then press Enter. The symbol will be inserted into the custom quote page at the cursor location. The entry window will not close until the OK or Cancel button is clicked. Several symbols can be entered, one after another, to populate the custom page. 'Blank' rows can be entered by pressing the space bar and then Enter. Titles or Headings can be entered on a quote row by preceding the entered text with a space character. For example, entering ' GRAINS' will add the word GRAINS to the quote row.

The entry window allows 2 wildcard characters to be used when making symbol entries ( '?' and '*' ). The wildcard characters can be used to transfer several similar symbols to the custom quote page at the same time. The '?' character will substitute for any symbol character in the indicated character position. For example, an entry of SP?4 will add all symbols to a custom quote page that contain SP?4 plus one more character (ex. SPH4, SPM4, SPU4, etc.). The '*' character will match on the remainder characters of any symbol. For example, an entry of OEX* will add all symbols to a custom quote page that contain OEX plus any other letters or numbers (ex. OEXHA, OEXHB, OEXHC, etc.). Make sure that wildcard entries are made carefully to avoid unnecessary matches. For example, an entry of A* would add every stock, option, future, etc., that begins with the letter 'A' to the custom quote page.

2) Transfer a symbol to a custom quote page with the mouse by doing the following: a) select a market group, b) locate and select a symbol, c) click the Transfer button on the quotes button bar. The symbol will be transferred (copied) to the custom page shown in the drop down list box. Transferring symbols can also be accomplished by selecting Quotes | Transfer to Custom from the menu. To transfer several adjacent symbols from a market group to a custom quote page, drag the mouse over all the symbols to select them, and then click Transfer to transfer the selected symbols.

Using Relative References for Futures Symbols
Symbols from the 'Futures' market group can be added to a custom quote page by using a relative reference. The relative reference determines what the spot or lead month contract is, and displays the symbol in relation to the lead contract. This feature allows custom quote pages to be created for futures symbols without having to reorganize the page whenever a contract expires. The symbols will simply roll-up the page when the lead month expires.

A relative reference includes the futures symbol and the # character. For example, an entry of SP# is equal to the lead month for the S&P 500 futures contract. An entry of SP#1 equals the next contract out (lead contract plus one). An entry of SP#2 equals the next contract out, and so forth. Relative entries can be made for contracts as far as three years ahead. For example, an entry of CL#36 would equal the Crude Oil contract that is 36 contract months out in the future.

To enter relative references for futures symbols on a custom quote page click the Add Symbol button. Type the relative references in the entry window. Press Enter between each entry. For example, the front 4 contract months of US Bonds would be entered as US#, US#1, US#2, and US#3. Making these entries would cause the custom quote page to always display the front 4 contract months for US Bonds, regardless of the expirations.  Ensign Windows determines the correct contract month to display by using the continuation chart 'Month' table from the Symbol Properties table.  Select Set-Up | Symbol Properties to view or change the months associated with a future symbol's continuation chart roll-out schedule.

Sorting Symbols on a Custom Quote Page
Symbols that are entered on a custom quote page can be sorted in several ways. Symbols can be sorted Alphabetically, by Market Group, Up %, Down %, % Off High, % Off Low, % Range (similar to Fast Stochastic), and by Volume. Select Quotes | Sort from the menu to specify the sorting desired.

Renaming or Deleting a Custom Quote Page
To rename a custom quote page, select Quotes | Rename Custom Page from the menu and then enter a new name. To delete a custom quote page, display the custom quote page and then select Quotes | Delete Custom Page from the menu. The custom quote page shown in the drop down list box will be deleted.