Now here's an example:

The initial setup was a long position in an ATM call - in this case 40 QQQ August 25 calls.  This leg of the position is entered into the TP Realtime Delta Neutral Trading Assistant (sample screenshot below) - underlying symbol (QQQ), quantity (40), option symbol (QAVHY), expiration month (Aug02), strike (25), price (1.70), commission (40), and whether it's a call or put (call in this case) and since the initial leg is long we click the Buy button.   The trading assistant then automatically calculates the delta neutral adjustment needed.  In this case it computed that the position was delta long 2400 shares.   So to go delta neutral, you short 2400 shares.  Aside from showing the open position summary as long 2400, clicking the QQQ symbol in the grid causes the Trading Assistant to show you the specific adjustment needed (in this case it said SELL 2400 QQQ shares).

Illustration - screen shot of an active Trading Assistant panel from Trade Prospector Realtime version 1.28

To record the sale of the 2400 shares, you click the "Underlying" option button and enter quantity (2400), price (25.13), and commission (24) and click Sell.  The grid would now show your overall position - each leg's delta (the underlying is always 100% and isn't shown in the grid), delta share equivalent, theta (dollars of time decay per day), cost basis, market value, and open P&L.  Market value is automatically computed using the best ask price for short positions and the best bid price for long positions.

As price and option dynamics change, the Trading Assistant continually updates the position profile.  Typically, you're not going to be making micro-adjustments to the position, you can define a share imbalance alert point (in this case it's 100).   When the share imbalance is greater than or equal to your defined alert level (0 means no alerts), the Trading Assistant will popup an alert to notify that an adjustment is needed.  Note that it's rare that you'll make exact adjustments and so some minor imbalance will be present (e.g., the example able the position is out of balance by 6 shares).

As prices fluctuate and you make incremental adjustments, the Trading Assistant will keep track of the overall combination position and compute its realtime status.  Clicking the History button will produce a text file containing a record of the transactions that you entered into the Trading Assistant.

2. The quote server market scans used by the TPRT quotesheet/scanner component compute comparative values for each scan.  We've added a new ScanParm column property that can be added to quotesheets to show the value of these comparative values (the meaning is specific to each market scan).  This property can also be used in filters.  If used without an active market scan, the ScanParam is always zero.

3. We've implemented workarounds for the inconsistencies in the standard Visual Basic window/form object which now allows TPRT to restore the last location of minimized window bars rather than have them always default to the bottom of the main frame window.

4. The workaround also resolves other inconsistencies in window operation that occurred when the main frame's display area was scrolled.

5. The font size in the chart's T&S panel can now be changed by holding the Shift key and clicking the left mouse button to increase the font size one level or clicking the right mouse button to decrease the font size on level.  There are five font size levels currently supported.

The TP/RT 1.27 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of key new features described below, including:

• New Gann Frame Scanner
• Quotesheet layouts expanded - now saves the active market scanner (if any)
• New user definable Signal Times on signal summary properties page
• New user definable Stops on signal summary properties page
• New Market on Close (MOC) checkbox on signal summary properties page
• Updated sample S&P emini signal chart template showing use of Signal Times and Stops

1. We've integrated a new Gann Frame Scanner for those traders using Gann Frame/Square in Time trading methods.  The new scanner allows traders to define a list of symbols to scan, the timeframe for which the Gann Frame will be computed, and the Gann Frame size.   The scan results will indicate which two x/8th lines of the Gann Frame the current price is in each case so that traders can quickly identify potential trading setups.   Multiple Gann Frame Scanners can be used for traders wanting to scan in multiple timeframes looking for possible synergies and their window captions will reflect the selected timeframe.

To create a new Gann Frame Scanner - click the new GFScan button on the main TPRT window frame's left side button bar.  This will create a window like this:

Select the timeframe over which your scan will take place and whether to include afterhours data - e.g., using 5 minute bars, 1 minute bars, daily bars, etc.   Operation is just like setting the timeframe for charts.

Enter/import your symbol list by clicking the Symbols button.  This will open a symbol property page identical to the one used by the quotesheet component.

Set the Gann Frame size using the GF Settings button.  This will open the standard Gann Frame Properties page and allow you to configure the size of the Gann Frame to use.

Set any scan filters and/or automatic scanning that you'd like by clicking the Filters button.  This will slide out the filters control panel.  To limit the scanner results to only those symbols with current prices above a specific x/8th, simply check the appropriate boxes.  For example, if you want to see only results where prices are below 1/8th and above -2/8ths, check the 0/8th, 1/8th, and 2/8th checkboxes.  If you want to scanner to run automatically every 30 seconds and update its results list, check the "Auto Scan" checkbox.  Click Apply to make the changes.  A scan will automatically be activated.

If you want to link the Gann Frame Scanner to a window cluster (so that clicking a symbol in the scanner's symbol list will cause automatic symbol changes in other windows (e.g., charts, news browser, etc.), use the Cluster menu option that appears on the main window frame's menu bar when the Gann Frame Scanner is the active window.

If you have NOT configured the Gann Frame Scanner into a window cluster, then clicking a symbol in the symbol list will cause a chart to slide out to the right on the scanner window for that symbol.

Once you've configured your symbol list, the Gann Frame, and any filters/autoscan you're ready to scan.   Click the Scan button.  A status message will appear below the results/symbol list indicating the symbol being processed at the moment.  All symbols in the list will be scanned and the results listed in the results list.   If you've enabled filters, then only those results that satisfy your filtering specifications will appear in the list.  The results list is sorted and grouped for easier use.  After the scan, you can click individual symbols in the list to either activate automatic symbol changes in the assigned window cluster (if you've made such an assignment) or activate the slideout chart (if you haven't made a window cluster assignment).

2. Previously, quotesheet layouts only saved the column properties and any filters.   They now save the active market scanner as well.  This makes it easier to save and share complete scanner definitions.  You can now easily export a complete scanner setup to a TP layout file (.TPL) using the Layout->Save As function.  You can then share the .TPL file with others and all they need do is create a quotesheet and used the Layout->Load From function to have a complete copy of your scanner.

3. Signal generation has been enhanced to include user definable signaling time windows.   On the signal summary properties page (left click in the signal area of your chart), you'll now find a Signal Times button.

Clicking this button opens a slide out panel where you can define up to four time periods during the day that signals can be generated. 

This allows users who for instance only like to take trades between 8-11:30am and 1:30-4pm to specify those ranges to TPRT and have the signal generator limit new trade signals to those time periods.  Note that if a buy/sell signal is active during a "no signal" time period, any candidate reversing signal eligible to be generated during that "no signal" window will trigger an exit of the active buy/sell signal only and no new signal will be generated until one is eligible to be generated during a specified signaling time period.

4. Signal generation has also been enhanced to include user definable stops.   Stops fall into three categories - (1) initial, (2) trailing, and (3) breakeven.

The initial stop is the stop that is automatically activated when a new entry is signaled.  It can be defined as a number of points, a percent of current price, or a number of ATRs (average true ranges - based on the active chart timeframe).

The breakeven stop is activated at the user specified point and causes the stop to be moved to the breakeven point.  This move to breakeven is automatically triggered when the position has moved in the direction of the signal by the user specified amount - which can be specified in points, percent of price, or ATRs.  Example, if you want the stop moved to breakeven after the signaled trade has an open P&L of 3%, then enter 3 and select %.  If you'd rather go to breakeven after the signaled trade has an open P&L of 1 1/2 ATRs, then enter 1.5 and select ATR.

The trailing stop has two pieces to it.  First, the definition of the trailing edge which can be in points, percent of price, ATRs, or percent of profit.  Second, the definition of at what point to activate the trailing stop which is defined similar to the way the breakeven stop is defined.  Example, if you want to activate a 50% trailing profit stop (i.e., a stop that always trails at 50% of the highest open P&L the signaled trade achieved) once the signaled trade achieves an open P&L of +5, then enter 50 and select %Pft.and enter 5 for the "when @" and select Pt.  If you'd instead like to run a steady 4 ATR stop from the beginning, then enter 4 and select ATR and enter 0 for the "when @" and select Pt.

% and ATR based stops will vary in size.  You can set minimum and maximum sizes for the stops using the Min Stop and Max Stop parameters.  These can be defined in points, percent of price, or ATRs.  So for example it's possible to define the initial stop as 5% of the price but set a minimum of 2 ATRs.  Likewise, you might want to trail a 4 ATR stop but you want to limit the maximum stop to 6 points (you'd do this by setting the Min Stop to 0 and the Max Stop 6 and select Pt).

Additional stop management features will be rolling out soon in upcoming releases, including user definable profit taking exits and related stop movements, user definable trading plans for the current day which allows users to setup charts for automatic signal/stop/exit generation based on a trading plan (e.g., "long trigger at 950 - initial stop at 946, profit taking at 953 and move to net breakeven stop, profit taking at 958 and move to breakeven stop, begin trailing a 50% profit stop at 960").

5. A new MOC? checkbox is on the signal summary properties page.  This forces a market on close exit of any activate position at the end of the day.  Note that this only works on charts that are NOT using afterhours data since the MOC order is only meaningful for regular trading hours.  Using this option essentially forces all signaled positions to be daytrades.

6. We've updated the ESSignalSample.tpl chart template to demonstrate the use of the Signal Times and Stops.  We've continued to evolve this sample and will continue to do so as additional signal generation enhancements roll out.  You'll no doubt want to adjust the times and stops settings to best suit your needs and/or adapt the stop settings to changes in market choppiness (and you'll want to manually employ your partial profit taking/position management until those enhancements are rolled out).

But you can load the sample by creating a 5 minute ES02U chart (check the AH? checkbox - the chart template will automatically exclude anything before 6am and the sample doesn't start the first signal time window until 8am).  After the chart loads, right click on the chart use the Chart->Load Layout menu function and select ESSignalSample.tpl and click Open.  This should automatically configure the chart.  You can then make any necessary changes to conform it to your trading style and needs.

The TP/RT 1.26 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of key new features described below, including:

• New user definable alerts using one or more criteria like quotesheet/scanner filters
• New Dynamic Fibonacci tool/study
• User control over last trade price label visibility
• Internal enhancements to quote sheets and T&S data handling
• Additional data integrity checks for quote server data glitches

1. The new alerts subsystem has been integrated.  This feature allows you to define alerts for symbols using the same kind of criteria that you use to define filters for quotesheet/scanners.  For instance, you might want to know when the price of ES02U gets within 1/2 point of of its BP1 resistance projection.  You could create an alert for ES02U with Last >= BP1-0.50 using the same definition panel and methods you're used to for defining filters.

Alerts exist independent of quotesheets and charts and can be created either by using the new Alerts->New option on the chart popup menu or the New button on the new Alerts panel or by clicking the new Alert button on the main window's left side button bar.   In any of these cases, this familiar panel will appear to let you define the alert (note that this panel let's you create combination alerts that require more than one criteria to be satisfied prior to the alert being triggered).

The Alerts panel can be displayed by clicking the Alerts button on the main window's left side button bar.  This panel shows all alerts you have defined to the system.   Clicking an alert in the list will display the criteria you have defined for it in the listbox on the right side of the panel.  Note that you can have more than one alert for a symbol - for instance, you might want an alert if Last > BP1 or Last < BP2 (that would be two different alerts).

If you've neglected to define an alert criteria for a symbol, "No Criteria" will be displayed.  If an alert has already fired, "Fired" will be displayed.  You can create new alerts using the New button.  To edit the alert criteria for a symbol, click the symbol in the alert list and then click Edit.  To delete an alert, click the symbol in the alert list and then click Delete.

Note that once an alert fires, it becomes inactive and will not fire again unless you reset it.  If an alert has already fired (which would have displayed an alert message box when it did) and you'd like to reset it to, click the symbol in the alert list and click the Reset button.  To reset all fired alerts, click the Reset All button.

2. The new Dynamic Fibonacci tool/study has been integrated.  To use, select the Tools->Special->Dynamic Fib Tool option on the chart's popup menu.  The cursor will turn to a crosshair.  Left click on the chart and the cursor will become a vertical line that will let you more easily select the starting bar to draw the tool from.   Once positioned over a bar, left click again and the cursor will become a "rubberband line" that automatically finds the high and low of the range over which you are drawing.  Once you've identified the range in this manner, left click again and the tool settings will be computed and a property panel will be displayed that will let you further configure the tool or change its mode of operation.

In addition to the typical functionality wherein you draw a line on the chart to designate the high and low of the price range you want to chart the Fibonacci retracement levels for, the Dynamic Fib tool provides several modes of operation:

Fixed - in this mode, the highi/low prices designated during the initial drawing of the tool on the chart are used to compute the retracement levels.

Anchored - in this mode, the starting date/time you indicated when drawing the tool on the chart is used to anchor the tool and the high/low of the range from which Fib retracements are computed is automatically computed as the high/low of all price bars starting with the anchoring bar through the latest bar.

Dynamic - this mode creates a moving Fibonacci tool that is automatically based on the high/low of the last N bars (user defined).  An optional offset value can be entered that will use the N bar range that starts X bars back.   In this way you can create automatic moving Fib clusters, e.g., using the last 32 bars and the 32 bars before that.

Today - this mode automatically adjusts the Fib tool to the high/low of the current day for those users wanting an easy way to automatically monitor potential intraday retracements.

Open Range - this mode automatically sets the Fib tool to use the high/low of the user defined opening range.  Using the user supplied number of minutes, the Dynamic Fib tool will compute the high/low of the opening range (using the number of chart bars that fit evenly within the specified number of minutes).  This allows users to configure an automatic Fib retracement/projection study that will automatically adjust each day to the specified opening range.

Up to 10 Fib levels can be defined, each with their own line width and color specification.  Both positive and negative numbers can be entered for the Fib percentage.  You can also set specific levels to automatically trigger an alert when crossed.  The "Use?" checkbox enables or disables the particular Fib level definition.  Note that you can save a particular configuration of line widths, colors, and percentages as the default to be used in the future by clicking the Save Default button.

Fib lines can be auatomatically annotated with prices and/or percentages by using the checkboxes in the upper right corner of the property panel.

3. A new item has been added to the chart's popup menu's View menu - the Price Label option lets you toggle the last price label (shown in the price scale on the right side of the chart) on and off.

The TP/RT 1.25 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of key new features described below, including:

• Various additional data integrity mods to Gann Frame in case of bad/discontinuous data
• Support for new SR database format
• New 3DaysHigher and 3DaysLower scans
• # of symbols indicated in quotesheet header
• Added symbol title popup on quotesheet
• New Opening Range Breakout System (ORBS) study
• Sample workspace with demo scan setups
• Incorporated additional internal caching and optimizations to quotesheet/scanners
• Integrated an optional slideout Time & Sales panel for charts

1. Due to weaknesses in the quality and reliability at times of pre/post-market data, we've had to include some additional data integrity checks into the Gann Frame to circumvent potential problems arising from its use on afterhours charts.  If some erroneous condition is detected in the data stream relative to frame calculation, default settings will be substituted and the error will be noted in the lower right corner of the chart where the current frame period's high/low price range is noted.

2. We've modified the SR database format to include additional information for the two new scans added in this update.

3. To facilitate replication of a couple additional scans many traders use or would like to use, we've integrated some additional information into the SR database from the TP infobase and incorporated the new 3 Days Higher and 3 Days Lower scans on the quotesheet scanner menu.  Technically, these aren't "scans" since they don't change during the day, but adding them to the bottom of the existing market scanner menu made the most sense.  Selecting one of these scans will populate your quotesheet with a list of stocks from the TP infobase that have posted at least the last three consecutive days lower or higher.  Coupled with some filters, it is now possible to implement scans for potential short or long reversal swing setups (some traders call these sky scraper and bottom fishing setups).  Sample setups are included in the update.

4. The number of base symbols in the quotesheet/scanner workset is now shown in the quotesheet window title within square brackets (e.g., [10]).  This is the number of symbols in the workset prior to filtering and user defined maximum # of symbols (note that this is specified on the quotesheet Properties panel) and gives the user some additional feedback.

5. We've added a much requested feature to the quotesheet - now hovering the mouse cursor over a symbol in the quotesheet will popup the symbol's title.  For example, if you hover the cursor over the symbol SPX, you'll get a popup that reads "S&P 500 Index (CBOE)".  The popup disappears automatically when you move the cursor away from the symbol.  Especially useful when using scanners to quickly identify unfamiliar symbols.

6. Especially useful for traders who like to trade opening range breakouts, we've added a new Opening Range Breakout System study.  This study has a user definable number of minutes parameter to define what constitutes the "opening".   The study will automatically convert this # of minutes parameter into the nearest number of even bars based on the chart timeframe.

The user can also supply a breakout zone factor.  This is the amount above and below the opening range to set the breakout/breakdown boundaries.  The default is zero, but you can enter any decimal amount representing the number of points above the opening range high and below the opening range low you want the breakout boundaries to be set.

After the opening range has been established (based on the user specified # of minutes from market open), the study will annotate the chart with lines for the opening range high, opening range low, and opening price.  It will also generate alerts when the price breaks above the opening range high or below the opening range low.  Typical "opening range" time periods are 30 or 60 minutes.

7. Several sample scan setups are shown in the included SampleScan.tpw workspace.   Many of these contain requested scanning criteria or are patterned after popularized scan setups.  These samples are implemented using a combination of quote server market scans (and two TP-specific scans) and TP implemented custom filters).   Access to similar realtime scans could cost up to $250/yr in additional datafeed provider fees.  Note that for simplicity, all sample quotesheet/scanner windows use the default maximum symbol count of 10 (can be changed by the user using the Properties panel).  The sample scanners include:

These are examples that are patterned after requested or popular criteria to demonstrate the almost unlimited way in which you can construct combinations of scans and filters to help you identify potential trading candidates.  TPRT users can use these, modify them as they see fit, or build their own from scratch.

Note that when using scanners to look for potential intraday trades, you may find it convenient to add your quoetsheet/scanners to a window cluster and then add a chart window to that cluster.  In that way, simply clicking a symbol in a scanner will cause your predefined chart window to update to that symbol.  This is often more convenient than using the default new chart window that's created when you double click a symbol in a quotesheet - especially if you're going to be checking a number of charts and/or have specific chart setup preferences that you like to use.

8. Due to identified inefficiencies in the Quote.com interface library, we've incorporated a number of additional optimizations and internal caches to the quotesheet/scanner to help reduce CPU utilization when market scans update.

9. We've integrated a new Time & Sales panel into the chart component.  To activate, use the chart's View menu and select Time and Sales.  To deactivate the T&S panel, simply select View->Time and Sales again.  The T&S panel will appear to the right of the chart.  Note that up and down ticks are highlighted with up/down arrows next to the price and user defined color coding is available to highlight a variety of conditions.  An optional comments panel can also be displayed which will display abbreviated comments related to the last four T&S actions, e.g., BidUp, BidVolUp, etc.

Manipulation of the T&S panel is done as follows:

Left click the Time/Price/Volume headings to toggle the display of the time on and off

Left click in the T&S display area to toggle the comments panel on and off.

Right click the T&S display area to popup the T&S property panel where you can set colors, a volume filter, whether you want bid/ask changes displayed in the T&S area, etc.

Trades at the high or low are highlighted with the user defined color as the background of the line.  Trades at or above the high volume value are bolded.  If a volume filter greater than zero is supplied, trades with volume less than that value will not be displayed.

If you'd like some assistance with setting up a scan/filter combination or have additional scanning/filtering capabilities to suggest, please let us know at support@trade-prospector.com

The TP/RT 1.24 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• New BP1b and BP2b support/resistance projections
• New Gann Frame study for Gann and so-called "Square in Time" users
• Enhancements to the quotesheet/scanner Filters Propery page

1. We've added new BP1b and BP2b support/resistance projections automatically computed and displayed by the intraday charts using the TPSR study

2. We've added a new Gann Frame study.  This study displays the geometric frame discussed by Gann and more recently presented as the so-called "Square in Time".  This isn't as complicated as some might make it out.  The Gann frame is basically an automatically adjusting price/time frame produced by intersecting a symmetrical Gann time grid with a Gann 12.5% (1/8th) retracement grid based on the reference trading range (thereby embodying Gann's belief in price/time relationships and 12.5% retracements).

To help those traders who use this technique, we've implemented the Gann Frame study in TPRT.   Please refer to available writings and/or subject matter websites if you're interested in further information on the subject.

As with any study in TPRT, the Gann Frame can be used with the TPSR (TP support/resistance projections) study at the same time to provide Gann Frame followers with the additional information of the analytically based support/resistance projections.

To use it, simply select Studies->Gann Frame from the chart's popup menu.  A properties panel will be displayed that has the following options:

Frame Time Period - this is the number of bars you want to use for the frame size.  Typical settings are 16 or 32, however some traders find other frame sizes more to their liking.

Based on Yesterday? - this checkbox allows the user to specify that the frame is based on yesterday's price action.  This applies only to intraday charts and on such charts supercedes the frame size setting.  We believe that using this probably makes the most sense although some users may still prefer to use the dynamic realignment of the frame throughout the day that is common with other implementations of this type of geometric study.

Candle Body Only? - this checkbox controls whether the user wants to use only the candle bodies to determine the high/low prices within the frame time period or the full candle including wick.  The default is for this checkbox to be off - meaning to use the full candle and wick in computing the frame.

Time Lines? - this checkbox controls whether the user wants to see Gann timelines.  These are based on the user specified frame time period for daily charts and on the appropriate # of minutes per timeline on intraday charts.

Circles? - if timelines are enabled, the user can also select to display circles that represent theoretical zones of influence at particular time/price intercepts.  These can be displayed on both intraday and daily charts.

Up Fan - if timelines are enabled, the user can check this box to automatically display an upward pointing Gann Fan radiating from the start of the latest time frame and 0/8th price level

Down Fan - like Up Fan except that the Gann Fan radiates down from the start of the latest time frame and the 8/8th price level

Up Speed Lines - if timelines are enabled, the user can check this box to automatically display upward slanting speed lines on the chart

Down Speed Lines - like the Up Speed Lines except that the speed lines that are drawn are downward slanting

Note that when using the Gann Frame study, the chart's price scale will automatically align with the Gann Frame's price lines.

The screenshot below shows an intraday chart of the SPX index with the Gann Frame study set to be automatically based on the previous day's price action.

3. The quotesheet/scanner Filters Property Page has been enhanced.  Some users weren't clear about the previous EQ, NE, GT, etc. notation and so we've changed the field comparison list to show = (equals), <> (not equal to), < (less than), etc.   We've also added a Clear button that will delete all current filters and import/export buttons that allow the user to import or export filter definition files (.TPF type files).

The TP/RT 1.23 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• User defined filters have been added to the quotesheet/scanner component
• Added new stock news browser - accessible via a right mouse click on a symbol in a quotesheet/scanner

1. We've added new user defined filters to the quotesheet/scanner component.   You'll find a new Filters option on the quotesheet/scanner menu.  Clicking this option will display the filters property page where you can select/define your filtering criteria to be applied to the stocks you have either entered/imported into the quotesheet or which are found by one of the realtime scans.  The contents of the scanner are filtered on every update of the scan and the contents of the quotesheet (when using it as a user defined stock basket scanner) every 15 seconds.  Filter settings are saved when you save a quotesheet/scanner layout so you can save and share your predefined filters.

Note that filterable quote values can be compared either to user defined values or key SR values (e.g., Last Price greater than DS or Last Price greater than One Month High).   Note that if you choose to compare to an SR value, entering a value (+ or -) in the values box will add or subtract that value from the SR value.  So it's possible to construct a comparison like Last > DS+0.5 if you want to.

The right pointing arrow button moves the currently setup filter definition to the list on the active filter list on the right.  Selecting an active filter in the list on the right and clicking the left pointing arrow button removes it from the list and sets it up on the left part of the panel so you can modify it (it's also how you delete filters from the active filter list).

2. A new stock news browser has been added.  Right clicking on a symbol in a quotesheet/scanner will activate this panel and display headlines for that symbol.   As long as the stock news browser panel is open, right clicking other symbols will cause the browser panel to refresh with that symbol's headlines rather than opening another panel.

The TP/RT 1.22 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• Realtime scanner feature added to quote sheets
• New filter options for scanners
• Added Alt-click and Shift-Ctrl-click features to chart timescales
• Added Title and Tick History properties to the quotesheet/scanner
• Added Tick History2 and Tick Pressure properties to the quotesheet/scanner
• Added Quote History property to the quotesheet/scanner
• Added an option to the Bollinger Band study that plots the study based solely as a Standard Deviation study
• Added Range and %inRng properties to the quotesheet/scanner

1. A new realtime scanner feature has been added to the quote sheet component.   Quote sheets operate as usual except that now the symbols they contain can be updated in realtime from a set of predefined realtime scans supported by the datafeed servers.  A new "Scanner" menu item has been added.  Click this menu option and the list of available scanners will appear.  Select a scanner that you want to use and the quote sheet will automatically start updating based on the results of that scan.  A list of available scans appears below.  Note that all scans result in a symbol order in the quote sheet that is appropriate for the scan (e.g., a Trade Rate scan will display symbols with the highest trade rate at the top going down in descending order).

To deactive the scanner, simply select the Scanner OFF option under the Scanners menu.

2. Scanner filters have been added to the quote sheet's properties panel (select the Properties menu option).  The properties panel operates as before except that if a scanner is active on the quote sheet, a Scanner Filters box will be active on the properties panel.  In this box you can filter the contents of the active scan by exchange (NYSE, AMEX, and/or Nasdaq) and also limit the maximum number of symbols that will appear in the quote sheet.  These filters allow traders who prefer to only trade NYSE or only Nasdaq stocks to easily limit these scans to those stocks.  In addition, since these scans can deliver up to 100 symbols (before TPRT does exchange filtering), the maximum symbol count filter can be used to limit the display to the top N symbols (the default setting is 10).

Predefined realtime scans currently available:

3. In addition to the existing mouse manipulations of the chart timescale via click, Shift-click, and Ctrl-click, we've added a new Alt-click feature.  Holding down the Alt button and clicking the left mouse button will compress the chart timescale to show all bar data currently in the dataset (the size of the initial dataset downloaded from the quote server is governed by a property on the chart properties panel accessible via the Chart->Properties menu option).  While usually an infrequent user task, this makes it possible to see the entire dataset with only one mouse click.  Returning the chart to default timescaling can be done by either the standard Chart->Autoscale Time menu option or now by holding down the Alt button and clicking the right mouse button.

Also, in addition to the Shift-click and Ctrl-click chart scrolling features, we've added a new even more granular scrolling control, you can now use Shift-Ctrl-left click to scroll the chart one bar to the left and Shift-Ctrl-right click to scroll the chart one bar to the right.

4. Title and Tick History properties are now available to be added to quotesheet/scanner panels.  The Title is the text description of the particular security -- e.g., company name of a stock, underlying/month/strike of an option, etc.   The Tick History displays a color coded bar of the last 16 ticks -- green for an uptick, red for a downtick, light blue for a no change tick.  Note that tick history scrolls to the left (i.e., the most recent tick is reflected by the right most color code).

5. The new Tick History2 property is similar to the Tick History property except that it doesn't show neutral ticks.  The new Tick Pressure property presents a color coded bar indicating the degree to which recent up ticks are outweighing down ticks (or vice versa).   A green bar indicates up ticks are recently outnumbering down ticks and a red bar indicates the opposite.  The width of the bar indicates the magnitude of the up/down tick pressure.

6. The new Quote History property is similar to the Tick History2 property except that it shows the up/down ticks of the best bid quote to show you where the quote is moving.

7. There's a new StdOnly? checkbox on the Bollinger Band study properties panel.   Checking this box will cause the study to plot as a pure moving standard deviation study (X standard deviations above and below the price used (typically the close) of each bar) rather than as X standard deviations above/below the moving average (as a Bollinger Band is).  In normal mode, the study timeframe is both the timeframe of the moving average and the timeframe over which the standard deviation is computed.  In StdOnly mode, the study timeframe is just the period over which the moving standard deviation is computed (since the study uses the actual bars rather than a moving average to plot around).

8. The new Range property for the quotesheet/scanner presents the current day's trading range.  The new %inRng property presents the percent that the current trade price is within the overall trading range.  This property is also color coded for easy identification of where the price is within the top and bottom ranges like this: Green - 90-100%,  Blue - 80-90%, Light Blue - 10-20%, Red - 0-10%

Description of the available scanners:

Scanner	Description
US Stocks Point Gainers	Stocks with the largest positive Net change from yesterday's close
US Stocks Point Losers	Stocks with the largest negative Net change from yesterday's close
US Stocks Pct Gainers	Stocks with the largest positive Net percentage change from yesterday's close
US Stocks Pct Losers	Stocks with the largest negative Net percentage change from yesterday's close
US Stocks Volume	Stocks with the highest number of shares traded today
US Stocks: Volume Rate	Stocks with the most number of shares traded in the last minute
US Stocks #Trades	Stocks with the most number of transactions recorded today
US Stocks: Trade Rate	Stocks with the most number of trades in the last 30 seconds
US Stocks Very Short Term Up	Stocks whose current price is farthest above the extreme low price of the last fifteen minutes
US Stocks Very Short Term Down	Stocks whose current price is farthest below the extreme high price of the last fifteen minutes
US Stocks Most Volatile	Stocks with the largest percentage difference between today's high and low
US Stocks Largest Range	Stocks with largest net difference between today's high and low (or yesterday's close, if outside today's range)
US Stocks Unusual Volume	Stocks whose volume today is farthest above the 65-day average daily volume
US Stocks Unfilled Gaps	Stocks with the largest unfilled opening gap - where the stock opens away from yesterday's close
US Stocks Above VWAP (cents)	Stocks whose current price is farthest above the Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for the day
US Stocks Below VWAP (cents)	Stocks whose current price is farthest below the Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for the day
US Stocks: Highest $ Put/Call Ratio	Stocks with the highest ratio (dollar weighted by price) of put options to call options
US Stocks: Highest $ Put/Call Ratio	Stocks with the lowest ratio (dollar weighted by price) of put options to call options
US Stocks: New Yearly Highs	Stocks making new yearly highs
US Stocks: New Yearly Lows	Stocks making new yearly lows
US Stocks: Weekly Pct Gainers	Stocks with the largest percentage gain in price in the last five trading days
US Stocks: Weekly Pct Losers	Stocks with the largest percentage drop in price in the last five trading days
US Stocks: Monthly Pct Gainers	Stocks with the largest percentage gain in price in the last month
US Stocks: Monthly Pct Losers	Stocks with the largest percentage drop in price in the last month
US Stocks: Quarterly Pct Gainers	Stocks with the largest percentage gain in price in the last three months
US Stocks: Quarterly Pct Losers	Stocks with the largest percentage drop in price in the last three months
US Stocks: Yearly Pct Gainers	Stocks with the largest percentage gain in price in the last year
US Stocks: Yearly Pct Losers	Stocks with the largest percentage drop in price in the last year
US Options #Calls	Options with the most number of call options in existence
US Options #Puts	Options with the most number of puts options in existence
US Options Call Volume	Options with the highest volume of call options traded today
US Options Put Volume	Options with the highest volume of put options traded today
US Index Pct Gainers	Indices with the largest percentage increase since yesterday's close
US Index Pct Losers	Indices with the largest percentage decrease since yesterday's close

The TP/RT 1.21 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• Dropdown list of most recently used symbols
• # of bars override in Chart Properties
• Fixed glitch in RSIV when used on certain thinly and sporadically traded stocks or time periods
• Added special handling for Quote.com special symbol formats in chart buttons
• Added signal/confirmation feature to stochastics study
• Added optional confirmation between boundaries on RSIV confirmation study
• New Signal Report
• Corrected a negative value charting problem with certain Quote.com unique symbols
• Modified SR line annotation to indicate the range of SRs the chart line represents
• Added afterhours time range control to charts
• Added support for optional Equivolume bar sizing
• Changed chart cursor to crosshair when detail box is enabled
• Added automatic symbols for for index futures - ES*, SP*, NQ*, ND*

1. The symbol entry field at the top of the main window has been replaced with a drop down list.  It continues to work just like the original symbol field, but now can also be dropped down to display a list of all symbols manually entered during the session.

2. We've added an optional number of bars parameter to the Chart Properties page.   If you leave this blank or zero, the default number of bars for the chart timeframe will be downloaded from the server (this is usually more than enough for most uses and the default is set to minimize both datafeed server and client PC resource demands).   However, for instances where the trader wants to look back further in time, they can now specify a number of bars to download.

3. Corrected a problem in the RSIV study when dealing with thinly and sporadically traded stocks.  The problem materialized on only certain stocks during afterhours trading.

4. Added additional handling for the special class of Quote.com QC:xxxx.yy symbol formats when used in TPRT chart quick access buttons.

5. The stochastics study can now generate signals or confirmations.

6. We've added an optional checkbox to the RSIV Confirmation properties page that will generate buy/sell confirmations between the user specified boundaries rather than just above/below the boundaries.  The default operation will generate sell confirmations above the user specified upper boundary and buy confirmations below the specified lower boundary only.  If the new optional "Confirm btw?" checkbox is checked, in addition to the normal confirmations generated above/below the specified boundaries, buy confirmations will be generated between 50 and the upper boundary and sell confirmations will be generated between 50 and the lower boundary.

7. There is a new Signal Report function on the chart's Chart menu.  Clicking this option will popup a signal report panel which will list all generated buy/sell/exit signals with date/time, entry/exit price, net, and maximum favorable/adverse excursion stats and will also summarize the results.  Note that to minimize resource consumption, currently signals are only generated for the displayed part of the chart.   If you want to test the results of your particular chart setup over a longer time period, remember to compress the timescale sufficiently to encompass the testing time period you're interested in.  You can also use the feature mentioned in #2 above to increase the number of bars that you're working with.  This feature was introduced as a prelude to the more advanced backtesting and optimizing capabilities that will be available when the backtest/optimize component is released.

You can also export the signal report to a text file.  The signal tags in the report are "Buy" (Enter long), "Sell" (Enter short), "RvCls" (Closing in preparation to reverse), "Stop" (Stop hit - initial, trailing, etc.), "Exit" (Signaled exit), "PrTak" (Partial profit taking triggered).

8. There was a problem that affected certain Quote.com specific symbols that caused their bars to always originate at zero.  This has been corrected.

9. The charting system automatically collapses support/resistance lines that are too close together (given the current chart price scaling) to show separately.  This modification now indicates the price range of the collapsed SR cluster rather than just the first SR in the cluster as it had been doing.

10. The Chart Properties page now contains a "User Specified Time" box.   This allows the user to specify a non-standard charting time frame.  Normally, charts display prices for regular trading hours (typically 9:30-16:00 or 16:15).   However, many traders like to see what's happening with prices about an hour or so before regular trading opens.  This is especially true for index futures traders where the trading cycle often actually starts about 8am ET.  To see these non-regular trading hours prices, traders could click the AH? checkbox and reload the chart.   However this would show ALL afterhours prices (which for futures would be after about 16:30 the previous afternoon to 9:30 the current morning) and because of thin trading during much of the afterhours time period, chart indicators, studies, signals, etc. often become useless during these times.

The current modification will now allow traders to check the afterhours checkbox but can filter price data based on their own specified time range.  So an S&P futures trader might set the user specified time period to 08:00 to 16:15.  Afterhours data outside of the user specified time period will be automatically filtered from the price stream.

To use this feature, simply call up the Chart Properties page and check the User Specified Time? checkbox and enter the desired time period.  To turn off the feature, simply uncheck the checkbox.  Note that this feature is enabled/disabled on a chart by chart basis to provide maximum user control.

11. Optional Equivolume bar sizing is now supported.  Use the Chart Properties page to (on the chart popup menu select Chart->Properties) to select this option.   With Equivolume enabled, bar widths will be drawn relative to their respective volumes.

There are two option supported - Absolute scaling and Relative scaling (you'll find an "Absol" and a "Rel" checkbox in the Equivolume area of the Chart Properties page).  With absolute scaling the bars are sized as a percentage of the high volume bar on the chart (e.g., on a chart with the high volume bar @ 100,000, a 50,000 volume bar will be half as wide).  Absolute scaling is the setting to use for most cases.

With relative scaling the bars are sized based on each bars relative difference from the low volume bar versus the difference between the high and low volume bar (e.g., if the high volume bar is 100,000 and the low volume bar is 10,000 then a 50,000 volume bar would be (50-10)/(100-10)=4/9ths of the width of the high volume bar.  Relative sizing can be used to increase the fidelity for more visibly highlighting changes in volume on stocks with relatively consistent volumes.  Use for special cases.

Note: since this is volume oriented, you should not bother to use it on symbols for which no real bar volume such as indices and non-electronically traded futures contracts.

Here's an example of a chart with Equivolume enabled - notice the different bar widths:

12. The chart cursor has been changed to a crosshair when the detail box is enabled to make movement over the chart more precise

13. Added automatic symbols for index futures - entering DJ*, SP*, NQ*, ND*, ES*, or ND* will now automatically convert the symbol into the current front month contract symbol..

The TP/RT 1.20 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• "Export Text" and "Export Map" buttons have been added to the quote sheet's symbol properties page
• Action Maps are now clusterable
• Added Relative Volume % to available quote sheet columns
• Action Maps can now be color coded by Relative Volume %
• An updated Quote.Com ContinuumClient.DLL library including a fixed bug in a QC interface component that could sometimes cause TPRT to crash

1. Two new buttons have been added to quote sheet's symbol properties page.  The Export Text button will export the symbols listed on the quote sheet property page to a text file (default name is Symbols.Sym however a filename selection dialog box will popup).  The Export Map button operates similarly except that it writes a Trade Prospector Action Map file definition using the symbols on the quote sheet property page (default name is ActionMap.TPM, however a filename selection dialog box pops up).   These two new functions allow you to share your quote sheet symbols with others (who can then import them into their quote sheets) and/or automatically prepare action map file definitions which you can use and share.

2. Action Maps are now clusterable (see discussion for the 1.11 update (#11 in that update description) below for information about window clusters.  This means that you can assign a window cluster (containing charts, quote sheets, etc.) to which you want an action map to belong.  As with quote sheets that are assigned to a window cluster, clicking a symbol box on the map will automatically resynchronize all other windows in the associated cluster to that symbol.  With this change, the feature to automatically open a new intraday chart for the symbol has been changed from clicking the symbol to an option on the popup menu accessible by right-clicking the symbol.

This enhancement adds the following menu bar item for action maps:

Cluster - this menu is used to link the action map to a particular window cluster.  By linking an action map with one or more chart and/or stock news browser windows (and when they're released, L2 and/or T&S windows), all of the windows will automatically update in synchronized fashion to the new symbol.  So, for instance, having an action map linked into a cluster containing a 5 minute chart, clicking on one of the symbols in the action map will automatically cause the chart to update to show that symbol

3. .We added a new field to our realtime quote object (and it's therefore now an available column for quote sheets) called Relative Volume %.(RelVol%).  It is a computed value which computes the percentage of the current volume traded versus an approximation of the relative percent of the average daily volume expected to have been traded by the current time of day.  Example, assume a particular stock has an average daily volume of 20 million shares.  If at a given moment of the day approximately 50% of the total daily volume is expected to have been traded and the current volume is 9 million shares, then the RelVol% value will be 90% (9 million divided by 50% of 20 million).  The current model approximates relative volume using a simple average weighted distribution of 25% traded 9:30-10:30am, 12% traded 10:30-11:15am, 12%/hour traded 11:15-3:15pm, and 15% traded 3:15-4:00pm.  For general use, this model appears to work fairly well.  However it will eventually evolve toward a security specific parameterized, overall market normalized model by the time the watchlist component is released.

4. With the introduction of the Relative Volume % field, the action maps can now be color coded based on this value.  It's operation is similar in operation to color coding by % of average volume and should produce similar results using the current approximation model.  However, the results will start to differ as the relative volume model eventually moves from a simple weighted distribution to a more complex or parameterized model.

5. We've included the latest Quote.com ContinuumClient.DLL library and a copy of a Quote.com interface component in which we found and corrected a bug that could cause an MFC crash (especially when frequently switching symbols in charts).

The TP/RT 1.19 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• a new speed line study has been added which which can be used to plot up and down sloping diagonal speed lines on the chart to visualize relationships
• the Gann Box tool has been enhanced to make timelines optional and to support minor price lines
• the SR study has been enhanced to show next day SR stubs after the new SR database has been downloaded
• a fix for a problem with displaying intraday high/low boundaries that occured under certain conditions
• undercover mods to the summary signal generation infrastructure

1. The new Speed Line study will allow you to have automatic speed and momentum lines of defined slope drawn on the chart.  This study works with the Gann Box study (which must already be on the chart before adding the Speed Line study).

On non-logarithmic price charts, lines are defined using simple price and time increments (price in dollars/cents and time in bars).  For example, if you want speed lines that represent $5 price changes every 60 bars, you would use 5 for the price increment and 60 for the time increment (you could also use 2.50 and 30 - that's the same slope).

For logaritmic price charts, they are defined using price change (similar to the change to the Gann Box in 1.18) and time increments.  Since logarithmic charts show price changes normalized to similar % changes, the speed line's price change factor is consistent with this.  For example, if you want speed lines for a logarithmic price chart that represent 5% price changes every 100 bars, you would use 1.05 for the price increment and 100 for the time increment.  Note that because the chart is logarithmic and price increments represent price change factors (which work like compound interest), you can NOT use 1.025 and 50 to produce the same line.

If you use a lines/price increment of zero (0), major lines and minor speed lines are drawn based on the Gann Box's parameters using the speed line price/time increments solely to define line slope (this is the usual way of using them).  However, if you use a value other than zero as the lines/price increment, major speed lines will be drawn (starting at the Gann Box's base price and base time) at increments based on the speed lines specified price and time increments and the specified number of minor speed lines (the lines/price increment) will be drawn between the major lines.

Note that you can turn display of the lines on and off using the "Show Lines" checkbox in the property box and you can also enable automatic line filtering.   Automatic filtering will automatically remove speed lines that would create too dense a pattern on the chart for its current scaling - very useful when looking at something like a multiyear chart of the SPX (the filtered lines will be drawn as the chart's scaling dynamically or manually changes as you zoom in or out of the chart).

Here's an example:

This is example uses a logarithmic daily chart for the SPX, a Gann Box with a price increment of 5% (i.e., 1.05) price change per horizontal line, and speed lines set at 5% per 60 days (i.e., price increment of 1.05 and time increment of 60) to help reflect trend rate of change.  More complex geometric patterns can be drawn using minor lines and/or multiple speed line studies at the same time and you can use their property box controls to turn them on or off.

2. The Gann Box study now has an optional checkbox on the properties panel to enable/disable drawing the box's timelines.  There is also a minor line count on the properties panel.  Use this to draw horizontal minor price lines between the major price lines defined by the price increment factor.

3. In the past, the SR study only drew the SRs after the start of trading on the day the SRs were projected for.  Now, if the SR database is for tomorrow and you're looking at a chart tonight or prior to market open tomorrow, you'll be able to see SR stubs and labels.

4. The intraday high/low boundaries were miscomputed under certain conditions. This has been corrected.

5. Several internal mods to the summary signal generator.

The TP/RT 1.18 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• an enhancement to the Gann Box tool/study to automatically handle logarithmic charts - with this modification, the Gann Box uses the price increment as a price scaling factor for charts with logarithmic prices
• a new Average True Range study has been added - the study can be configured to compute the ATR over a user specified number of periods (default is 14) and the user can choose to include interbar gaps or not - including the gaps is the classic method for computing True Range, not including them turns the ATR into an Average Trading Range study
• automatic price scaling has been modified to improve scaling for line charts
• charts can now be scrolled right/left along their timescale by whole chart widths by holding the Control key down and clicking the right/left mouse buttons - this is contrasted to using the Shift key which scrolls the charts by 1/10th their chart width
• mods to the NDX-related action map definition files to account for the recent change to the NDX that became effective this week
• a mod to the signal summary control panel to correct a disparity in a couple of spin controls
• a mod to save/load the alternate signal summarization parameters in a chart layout

Upcoming enhancements include:

• Automatic speed lines study
• Moving trend channel tool/study
• Automatic exit management study
• New pending volatility breakout signal

1. The Gann Box tool/study has been enhanced to automatically handle logarithmic price charts.  For charts using logarithmic scaling, the Gann Box's price increment is now a scaling factor instead of an absolute increment (e.g., a price increment of 1.25 will draw horizontal lines at 25% price change increments above and below the base price for the box - which on a logarithmic chart will be equidistant from each other).  The use of a scaling factor produces consistent horizontal line spacing for the box since the prices are scaled logarithmically.  For further information about the Gann Box, see the 1.11 update information below.

2. The Gann Box has also been enhanced with user selectable automatic line filtration.   With filtration active, the Gann Box will automatically filter intermediate horizontal lines that are too dense to be displayed properly.  This makes it possible to use a price increment which will produce consistent meaningful results regardless what price range is displayed.  Without such filtration, a price increment that worked fine on a chart that only showed a brief time period with a fairly contained price range could produce an extremely dense set of lines when several years (and a large price range) was displayed.

3. The automatic price scaling for line style charts has been changed to use only the closing prices rather than the highs/lows for the time period (since for line charts only the closing price of each time interval is used to draw the line).  This produces better results on line charts of symbols such as the VIX.

4. The timescale of charts can now be scrolled right/left more quickly by using holding the Control key down and clicking the right/left mouse buttons.  The normal Shift-click scrolling moves the chart 1/10 of its width.  With Cntrl-click scrolling, the chart is scrolled its entire width each time to much faster scrolling.

5. Updated the NDX-related action map definition files with the latest list of stocks in the NDX.  Nasdaq replaced 13 stocks in the NDX effective this week.

6. A couple of minor mods to correct a misalignment of spin controls on the signal summary control panel and to insure proper save/load of the alternate (second) signal summarization parameters in a chart layout.

The TP/RT 1.17 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• a modification to correct a problem with gradual slippage in simple moving averages
• a modification to delay the alert popup if a property window is already open - it will now just beep every 1/2 second to tell you that there is an alert pending display and will wait for the property window to be closed before popping up the alert box
• a modification to more properly update the %AvgVol on the quote sheets

The TP/RT 1.16 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• the moving average crossover and moving average price crossover can now optionally generate a confirmation rather than a signal
• SR text alignment adjustment when left alignment is selected
• some performance mods

1.  Both the moving average crossover (MAXover) and moving average-price crossover (MAPrXover) signal studies can now optionally generate confirmations instead of signals.   This makes it possible to construct signal/confirmation combinations where you could restrict the generation of a summary signal based based on the relative position of moving averages or the price to a moving average.  For example, you might not want to generate a buy signal if the price is below the 10 period EMA or you might only want to see sell signals if the 20 period EMA is below the 50 period EMA.  The property panels for these two studies (accessed via Edit Studies) now shows Signal? and Confirm? checkboxes (they're mutually exclusive).

2.  When the user selects left alignment for SR boundary labels, prior versions displayed the text at the left side of the chart even though the left side of the chart may not have been for the current day.  This modification corrects that and SR labels with left alignment will now appear at the start of that day's SR boundary on the chart to make it easier to read.

3.  We've integrated some internal performance mods to a few studies.

The TP/RT 1.15 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• mod to correct cluster save/restore for quote sheets
• mod to onchart signal and alert generation
• mod to correct restore of a minimized quote sheet
• performance optimization for moving averages

1.  Quote sheets were not always saving the their window cluster definition.   This mod corrects that.

2.  A couple of mods to improve the handling of onchart signal generation and certain occurances of related alert generation

3.  A modification to resolve a problem that occured during workspace restoration if a quote sheet was minimized

4.  A modification to the moving average study (which is also used internally by other studies) that exchanges memory usage for lower CPU usage.

The TP/RT 1.14 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• modifications to the new quote sheet component to correct some property page mechanics
• changes to the signal/confirmation configuration panel - added an optional alternate parameter configuration
• all window clusters are active by default now

1.  Column setup in the quote sheet's property page had a couple of glitches.   These have been corrected in this version.

2.  A second column of parameters has been added to the signal/confirmation configuration panel.  This now allows you to specify two ways of generating a signal - for example, needing 2 signals and 2 confirmations OR 1 signal and 3 confirmations.   You can also use different lookback periods for each set of parameters.

3.  All 10 possible window clusters are active by default.  In previous versions, you needed to create a window cluster using the cluster managment panel.   Now all ten are active (C01-C10).  You can use the cluster managment panel to change the name of a cluster if you want to, but you no longer need to create them in order to use them.

The TP/RT 1.13 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• new quote sheet component
• new internet components - integrated browser, automatically refreshing news browser, (automatic stock related news panels and research panels are coming in next release)
• miscellaneous minor enhancements

1. The integration of the new realtime quote sheet component (see screenshot below) has been completed.  Click the Quote button on the left-side navigation bar to open a quote sheet window.  The window automatically sizes itself based on the columns you've specified to be displayed and the number of symbols on the sheet.

Note that clicking a symbol in the quote sheet will change the currently focused symbol in the main frame's symbol box and change the active symbol for any other window panels that are clustered with the quote sheet (see below).  Double clicking a symbol in the quote sheet will automatically open a new intraday chart for that symbol.

The window has four menu bar options:

Cluster - this menu is used to link the quote sheet to a particular window cluster.  By linking a quote sheet with one or more chart and/or stock news browser windows (and when they're released, L2 and/or T&S windows), all of the windows will automatically update in synchronized fashion when a symbol changes.  So, for instance, having a quote sheet linked with a 5 minute chart, clicking on one of the symbols in the quote sheet will automatically cause the chart to update to show that symbol.

Properties - this option pops up a properties page that allows you to change the quote sheet window title, the colors used for quote sheet background, text, and to highlight changed fields, and the columns (and their order) that are shown on the quote sheet.  The property page has controls to select which columns of quote information you want to use and to adjust their relative order.

Symbols - this option pops up a symbol definition property page that allows you to define which symbols are shown on the quote sheet.  You can add new symbols, remove existing symbols, and change the order in which the symbols are listed on the sheet using the simple controls.

Layout - this menu contains functions to save and load quote sheet layouts.  Layouts define the columns and their order for a quote sheet.  The default layout is automatically loaded when a new quote sheet is opened.  You can change the layout of your quote sheet using the Properties function and then either save that layout as the new default or as a named layout file.  You can also load either the default layout (assuming you had changed your current quote sheet layout and now want to revert to the default) or any named layout files that you've created or shared with others.

The Properties panel looks like this:

The Symbols panel looks like this:

2. A new "Inet" navigation control button has been added to the left-side navigation bar which provides internet integration capabilities.  Clicking this button will popup a menu that allows you to select the type of internet integration panel you'd like to open.  Currently your choices are:

Browser - opens an integrated browser panel that you can use to navigate the internet without having to switch out of the program.  Note that the last URL is preserved when the workspace is saved and the browser will open to that URL when the workspace is later reopened.

General News - opens a general news panel that provides access to a variety of different news categories and sources.  The panel will automatically refresh based on the timeframe that you specify using the panel's Refresh Cycle menu.

Soon to be added Internet integration options:

Stock News - opens a stock news panel that displays news items specific for a particular stock symbol.  This panel will also automatically refresh based on the timeframe that you specify using the panel's Refresh Cycle.  Note that including a Stock News panel in a window cluster will automatically display stock news for any symbol selected in another window within the cluster (i.e., if you have a quote sheet in the cluster, clicking a symbol on the quote sheet will cause the Stock News panel to display news for that symbol).

Research - opens a research panel that provides structured access to a variety of research links to obtain information speciifc to the currently selected stock symbol.  Note that like the Stock News panel - if the research panel is included in a window cluster, it's contents will update automatically as the active symbol within the cluster changes.

The TP/RT 1.12 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• change to off-chart study display of last value
• minor changes to chart component handling of invalid symbols and line charts
• persistence of alert popup panel location
• new signals area on chart
• new signal summary feature
• new confirmation type signals (confirmation option on specific charted studies and as color coded confirmation signals)
• certain studies now can also generate signals/confirmations

1. Off chart studies now show their last values as part of their descriptions.   For the volume study - the last value of the average volume line is shown in parenthesis next to the current volume.  With this change, off chart study values no longer appear in the chart legend.

2. Changes to the chart component to better handle invalid symbols and thinly traded issues using line chart styles (time periods during which no trading occurs will now be shown with a thin red line to indicate the lack of trading).

3. The alert popup panel now saves its last screen location and subsequent popups will appear at that screen location.

4. Signals can now be placed either on the chart or in a special signals area (the preferred place when using multiple signal/systems on a chart).  Use the Edit Studies feature to edit the specific signal/system you're using and turn on or off the "On Chart?" checkbox.

5. A new signal summary feature has been added.  This feature will combine the buy/sell signals from the various signal/systems you have on your chart into a single buy/sell signal based on parameters you supply.  Using the Chart->Signal Summary right-click menu function (or clicking in the signal summary area), you can turn the summary on or off and set the summarizing parameters.  The parameters are:

Lookback period - # of candles back the summarizer will look back to accumulate buy/sell signals (using zero will only summarize the signals from the current bar).

Minimum matching signals - # of buy/sell signals within the lookback period need to potentially generate a summarized signal (e.g., if you need a minimum of 3 - then if you have more buy signals than sell signals during the lookback period, you'll need a minimum of 3 buys too before there's a chance of generating a summary signal.  This allows you to decide how to filter singular signals by requiring confirmation from other signals during the lookback period.

Minimum to resolve conflict - once you have a potential signal (i.e., you have the minimum # of buy or sells in the lookback period), you need to be able to resolve conflicts (i.e., when there are some buy signals and some sell signals).  This parameter lets you determine the margin over which one side must outnumber the other.   For example, let's say you have 5 signal/systems on your chart.  During the lookback period, 3 are signaling buys and 2 are signaling sells.  You've got your minimum matching signals parameter set to 2.  Since buys outnumber sells and the number of buys is at least your minimum matching signals parameter, you have a potential summary buy signal.  But since you have conflicting signals (3 buys vs. 2 sells) you need a way of resolving the conflict.  If all you're interested in is that one side is greater than the other, then use a value of 1 for this parameter and since buys outnumber sells by at least 1, you'll get a buy signal generated on the summary line.   But, let's say that if you have a conflict in signals you decide you need one side (buys vs. sells) to outnumber the other by at least 2.  In this case, the 3 buys vs. 2 sells will NOT generate a summarized signal because total buys only outnumber total sells by less than the amount you said you need to resolve a conflict.  This allows you to decide by what margin conflicting signals will be resolved before triggering a summarized signal.  This becomes more important as more signal/systems are rolled out and traders add more and more of them to their charts.

Minimum confirms - this is the mininum number of confirmation type signals (e.g., the MACD and RSIV confirmation signals noted below) needed to confirm a buy/sell signal generated by applying the three other parameters.  See the examples below

6. A special class of signal has been introduced - a confirmation signal.  These types of signals do not themselves generate buy/sell signals or alerts but are used in aggregate to help confirm other generated buy/sell signals.  Using the "Minimum Confirms" parameter discussed above, the user can specify the net number of confirmations needed to confirm a generated buy/sell signal.  Confirmation signals are either buy biased (green), sell biased (red), or neutral (white).  To confirm a buy signal, the number of buy biased confirmations must be greater than the number of sell biased confirmations by the "minimum confirms" value specified by the user in the signal summary properties pannel discussed above.  Sell signals are similarly confirmed.

We have currently implemented MACD and RSIV confirmation signals.  For the MACD confirmation signal, it is buy biased (green) when the MACD is above zero and it is sell biased (red) when the MACD is below zero.  The MACD confirmation properties are the same those used by the MACD study except that the confirmation signal only displays its color coded bias in the chart's signal area not in a separate charting zone as the MACD study does.  If you also like to show the MACD study on your chart, there is a "Confirm?" checkbox on the MACD property panel that adds MACD signal confirmation without showing the color coded band in the signal area of the chart (since you've already got the full MACD study being displayed).

For the RSIV confirmation signal, the user specifies a buy biased boundary and a sell biased boundary (as well as the normal RSIV study's number of periods and whether or not to use the average off method of calculation - RSIV is similar to the normal RSI oscillator but integrates volume in the calculation).  Any area between the two user specified boundaries will give a neutral confirmation.

Additional signal/studies and confirmation signals are in the process of being implemented.

7. The MACD and Volatility Band technical studies can also now either generate signals or confirmations.  This makes it convenient to generate these signals or confirmations when you already have these studies on your chart rather than also having to add one of the confirmation signal studes.  Select these attributes using the respective study's property panel.

8.  The user can also decide whether to generate alerts only from the signal summary line (the anticipated method) or from each signal/system added to the chart.   They can also decide whether to show the summary signal on the chart or just on the signal summary line.  These choices are made on the Signal Summary Properties panel (Chart->Signal Summary or click in the signal summary area of the chart) discussed in #5 above.

When the user selects to generate signals from the signal summary line, alerts will be generated based on the signal summary rather than each individual signal/system.  In this way, a chart with multiple signals that all fire will now generate at most one alert for that chart rather than multiple or redundant alerts.  It also allows the user to specify how signals are to be confirmed across multiple signal/systems before generating an alert.

The two charts below (one for the S&P Emini on a 5 minute timeframe and the other for the SPX on a daily timeframe) are examples of using this signal summary feature.   Note that this feature can be used on any timeframe chart to generate tradable signals (the properties were set to show the summary signals on the price chart in addition to the signal summary line and the properties of the individual signal/systems were set appropriate to the chart timeframe).

You can see how the application of lookback period and multiple confirming signals can cut through the noise of repeatedly oscillating signals.  This feature will only become even more powerful as we add additional signal/systems in the near future and eventually an automatic optimization capability.

These are examples of using signals and confirmations to generate summary buy/sell signals.  As always, the use of a trading plan, incremental profit taking, and trailing stops are still important but you can see the potential power and profitability of using combinations of signals in this manner.  In addition, we're working on more signal/systems that will offer multiple ways of confirming your signals and an optimizer component that will help you automatically find the best settings for each signal/system.

The TP/RT 1.11 update contains the following enhancements:

This update integrates a number of new features described below, including:

• A new categorized sector watch Action Map
• The new special Tool-Study (a chart study activated by using an interactive tools interface)
• New Gann Box Tool-Study
• New Gann Fan Tool-Study
• Change to the main window frame control panel
• Snapshot change highlighting
• The new Signal/System-Study (a chart study that generates buy/sell signals)
• New Moving Average Crossover Signal/System
• New Price Moving Average Crossover Signal/System
• A new Price Tag tool for highlighting prices on charts
• New Window Clustering support that automatically keeps related charts/T&S/L2 windows synchronized when symbols change

1. A new "Categorized Sector Watch" Action Map Definition File has been added.  Access it using the MapFile menu option in the action maps.  This contains the same indices that the normal Section Watch action map contains but they've been categorized for you for easier reading.  It looks like this:

2. The Tools menu in the right-click popup menu in the charts has a new "Special" submenu.  We've created a new special class of interactive tool-assisted studies which will be appearing on this menu.  These are special graphical on-chart studies that can be activated via a tools interface (i.e., the user sets up the initial parameters for the study by using an interactive tools interface).  This "Special" submenu will initially contain tool-studies that we are creating but when we release the TP/RT software developer's kit (SDK), users and third party developers will be able to easily create regular studies (on or off chart), tool-studies, signal-studies (buy/sell signal generators/alerts),. and other add-ons that extend the capabilities of TP/RT.

3. The first tools-study being introduced is the Gann Box.  This kind of graphical assist is used by many traders (although they typically have to compute and then draw all the lines manually) who trade using geometric concepts popularized by Gann.  One of the more popular applications is to use the first 13, 15, or 30 minutes of the trading day to compute the Gann Box (usually on a 1 or 5 minute chart).  By selecting the Gann Box tool from the Tools->Special menu in the charts, you will be able to select a starting time and time range from which to compute the basic parameters of the Gann Box.

The sample shows a 5 minute chart using the first 15 minutes (3 bars) to set the Gann Box parameters.  Diagonal geometric trend boundaries can then easily be drawn on the chart using the Ray tool and only using the Gann Box grid lines to set integral angles (e.g., 1x1,   1x5, etc.) or by using the new Gann Fan tool-study (see below).

To use, select the Gann Box Special Tool.  The cursor on the chart will switch to a crosshair like it does for other tools.  Then position the cursor near the chart bar that you want to start the Gann Box.  Click the left mouse button.  This will activate the placement helper (a vertical line that tracks the cursor).  Place the line exactly where you want to start the Gann Box and click the left mouse button.   This will activate the price/time square.  The square will automatically track the high/low for the timeframe you encompass as you move the cursor right or left on the screen.  Use whatever timeframe you prefer (e.g., 13, 15, 30 minutes) to encompass the price/time square and then click the left mouse button again.  This will automatically compute the parameters of the Gann Box, create the Gann Box study on the chart, and the display the Gann Box.

If for any reason you want to tweak the Gann Box, use the Studies->Edit Studies menu option and edit the Gann Box study that you'll see in the study listbox.  You can change the starting date/time, base price, price increment, time increment, line color, and whether you want price lines to show the price text.

4. The second tools-study being introduced works both with the Gann Box tool-study or can be placed independently on the chart.  It's the Gann Fan.

It works like this -  There is an up and down pointing version of it on the Tools->Special menu.  Select the Gann Fan Up or Gann Fan Down tool-study from the Tools->Special menu as described above.  Once the screen cursor is a placement crosshair, click the left mouse button to activate the Gann Fan rubberband cursor that will help you make more precise placement and move it to where you want to start the Gann Fan and click the left mouse button again to activate the Fan.  If you have a Gann Box already on the chart, placing the Gann Fan near a Gann Box intersection will automatically lock the Fan to the corner for you.

The Gan Fan initially displays Gann angles of 1x1, 1x2, and 2x1 (these are the # of integral Gann Boxes (or if you're not using the Gann Box tool-study then it's based on the current chart price/time geometric relationship) - the numbers define a line slope represented by the numbe of boxes to the right by the number of boxes up/down).  Use the Studies->Edit Studies control panel to access the Gann Fan's property page and make any changes to the starting date/time and price, price/time ratio, and which Gann angles you want displayed.

5. The main window frame's control panel button bar has been changed slightly to accomodate upcoming style customization options and make it more ergonomic for those using touch activated screens.  Blue buttons are active, grey buttons have not yet been activated.  Automatic button highlighting has been added as you move the mouse cursor over the button bar.

Less frequently accessed control functions have been moved to popup menus.  The "Wndws" button now activates a popup menu offering access to window cascading and tiling.  A window list will be implemented in the next release and a global alerts control panel will be available via this menu when the testing of the alerts component is complete.

Likewise, the new "Wrkspc" button activates a popup menu providing access to workspace control functions such as Save and Save As.  A window cluster management facility will also soon be available from this menu which will allow you to create named window clusters to which you can associate multiple chart/T&S/L2/etc. windows.  A change to the active symbol in any window in a cluster will then automatically cause a change to all windows in the cluster.  You will be able to create any number of window clusters.

6. Color highlighting has been added to the chart's snapshot quote.  The background of updated fields temporarily changes to yellow to highlight the change.

7. The Oil & Gas - Integrated Industrial Group action map definition has been changed to reflect the Chevron/Texaco merger.

8. A new class of study has been introduced - a signal/system - the first signal is the Moving Average Crossover (MAXovrSignal).  Study/systems are designed to produce systemitized buy/sell signals based on a specific signal generating system and user defined parameters.  In this case, the MAXovr generates buy/sell signals based on crossovers of two different length moving averages (or exponential moving averages).   In this first implementation, the buy/sell signals (green or red arrow heads) are drawn on the chart above or below the price bar.  In the next implementation, the user will have the option of having the signals drawn either on the chart or in a special signals area.  A signal generated on the most recent bar will popup an alert message box (this will be a user option in the next incarnation).  As with any parameterized system, the parameter values that work for a particular security will not necessarily work for another.  So experimentation is important.  One of the future TP Realtime components is an automatic signal optimizer.

The MAXovrSignal study currently appears on the Studies popup menu, but a new Signals submenu will be added soon where this and all future signals/systems will appear.   Here's an example of what you'll see using this signal/system-study.  In this case it's using an exponential 10 period/20 period crossover.  Note the signals (shown with "Xvr") in the left part of the chart - a sell signal on the afternoon of 10/9 and a buy signal the morning of 10/10.

There are more signal/systems being designed (the next one is an SR crossover/proximity signal).  If you have a specific buy/sell system that you'd like to see implemented, please email us with the detailed logic and configurable parameters and we'll see about implementing it for you.

9. A new Price Tag tool has been added to the chart's Tools menu.   This tool will allow you to highlight a point on the chart with a special price tag (see example below).  To use it, select the Price Tag tool from the menu.  The chart cursor will switch to a crosshair to indicate that it's ready.  Click the left mouse button and the cursor will now switch to a representation of a price tag box.   Move the mouse cursor to where you want to place the price tag (note that the price tag pointer will point down if you have the price tag above the high of bar and will point up otherwise.  When you have the price tag placed where you want it, click the left mouse button again.  The price tag will automatically lock to the high or low of the particular bar if you're within the proximity.

10. Similar to the MAXoverSignal in #8 above, we've also added a MAPriceXOverSignal.  Rather than signalling a crossover of two moving averages, this signals when the price bar close crosses the user selected moving average.  This is useful for traders who use a system such as "Buy/sell when price crosses the 20 period EMA on the 5 minute chart".  It's also useful in quickly visually evaluating such moving average based systems on daily or weekly charts for those traders using such systems.  Like all signals, this one will be able to be automatically optimized based on user defined trading parameters when the optimization component is released.  This example is on a daily chart using the 50 DEMA, but you can use any chart timeframe and MA length.

11. Window clustering has been added.  This feature allows you to define up to 10 named window clusters and then associate any number of windows to each cluster.  A symbol change of any window in a cluster will automatically resynchronize all other windows in that window cluster to that new symbol.  So traders who perhaps like to have a 1 minute, 5 minute, and 60 minute chart open simultaneously (note that when they're integrated, windows such as T&S and L2 will also be able to be associated with a window cluster) can create a window cluster and associate the those charts with that cluster.  Then when the trader changes the symbol in any one of those charts, the other related charts will change automatically to match.

To create window cluster definitions, use the Workspace button on the left side control panel and then select Clusters from the popup menu.  You'll then get a Cluster Management Panel that you can use to add, change, or delete window clusters.   The clusters you define in this panel will appear in the Cluster menu of Chart, T&S, and L2 windows.

To associate a window with a cluster, all you have to do is use the Cluster menu for that window and select the named cluster you want it associated with.   A check mark will appear next to whatever cluster the window is currently associated.  If the window is not associated with a window, then the "None" option will be checked.  To change the cluster that a window is associated with, just select a different cluster from the window's Cluster menu.  To completely disassociate the window from any window cluster, select the None option.

Note: Please be sure to upgrade to the 2.0.34 version of the end of day TP program.

Coming up - more index action map definitions, modified map definitions to include more drill down and related industry links, more parameterized signal/systems, T&S, L2, quote sheets, portfolio manager, automatic signal optimizer/backtester, etc.

The TP/RT 1.10 update contains the following enhancements:

1. Added a new "Index" menu option on the Action Maps.  Clicking this menu option will allow you to select a special class of action map for defined indices.   We've currently defined maps for BTK, DRG, MSH, and SOX.  More are being prepared and will come in a future update.

2. Added drill down and related map linkage capability to the Action Maps.  The Sector Watch map definition implements this feature for BTK, DRG, MSH, and SOX.  A future update will contain an updated map definition file that implements the drill down and linkage definitions for all items in the Sector Watch map.  More index map definitions and linked action maps will be rolled out in a future update utilizing this feature.

3. Added a new right-click popup menu to the Action Maps that provides access to the drill down and related map linkages.  When right clicking over a box on an action map, if there are drill down and/or related industry action map links defined the appropriate menu items will be enabled.  For instance, on the Sector Map if you right click over BTK you will be able to drill down by automatically creating a new action map containing the BTK index components.  If you select the "Related Industry" option, you will automatically create a new action map containing the complete Biotech & Drugs industry group map.

This right click menu will also provide direct access to news and research features when those components are implemented.

4. Adapative logic has been added to the charts that attempts to automatically rescale the chart's price scale to show nearby SRs that might be just outside the price range of the bars that are currently displayed.

5. The adaptive logic will also allow for the space occupied by a quote snapshot box if you have one displayed on the chart (the quote snapshot is turned on/off via the chart's right-click View menu) scaling the chart to accomodate for that area..

6. Replaced ADRX for ATHM in the Nasdaq-100 action map file definition.  ADRX goes into the NDX effective 10/4.

7. Added an optional quick access button bar and "QuickList" menu item to the chart window.  The QuickList menu contains options to toggle the button bar on and off, add/remove/access the quicklist of symbols, and add/remove/access the quicklist of charting timeframes.  This is useful for traders who like to quickly switch between symbols and/or common timeframes without having to have multiple chart windows open in their workspace.

In the sample above, the button bar is displayed.  A button is visible for each symbol that has been added to the chart's QuickList.  These buttons appear from left to right.  A button is also visible for each charting timeframe that has been added to the chart's QuickList.  The currently active symbol and/or timeframe is always highlighted in red.

To quickly switch the chart to one of the symbols in the list, you can either use the QuickList->Symbols menu (if you've chosen to not show the button bar) or by clicking the appropriate button on the button bar.  Similarly, you can switch charting timeframes by either using the QuickList->Intervals menu or the by clicking the appropriate timeframe button.  The menues give you access to the QuickList even if you choose not to display the button bar.

The button bar will automatically adjust in height depending on how many symbols/timeframes you have added to the Quicklists and the width of the chart window.

To add a symbol or timeframe, use the QuickList->Symbols->Add or QuickList->Intervals->Add menu options.  These will add the currently displayed chart's symbol or timeframe to the QuickList.  Similarly, using the Remove menu options on the appropriate QuickList menu will remove the currently displayed chart's symbol or timeframe from the QuickList.

The QuickList and button bar settings are saved with the workspace and restored when the workspace is reopened.

If you want to create a standard set of symbol and/or timeframe buttons to be used on all chart windows, create them on one window and then use the SetDefault menu option.   The SetDefault menu option will set the current chart window dimensions and any QuickList symbols/timeframes that you have defined for the active window as the default settings for all new chart windows.

The 1.9 update contains the following enhancements:

1. The popup RT quote box in the Action Maps now only pops up for the active map window.

4. You'll find that we've already replaced EXDS with GILD in the Nasdaq-100 action map file. GILD replaces EXDS (which has gone bankrupt) in the index effective 10/5, but we've already replaced in our action mapfile.

The 1.8 update contains the following enhancements:

1. The line thickness has been increased for charts using the Line Chart style.

Also, remember that if you have your own personal "usual suspects" list, you can create your own map file definitions with Windows Notepad. Just follow the Dow-30.TPM file format as an example.

The 1.7 update contains the following enhancements:

1. An enhancement to the line chart style to correct a couple of glitches. Note: color of the line chart is based on the Candle Line color that you choose in the Chart->Properties panel

4. Several minor enhancements to the quote and symbol set objects to improve timing and connection management.

The 1.6 update includes the following enhancements:

You'll also notice two menu items greyed out on the chart's main frame menu (QuickList and Display). These options will be activated in the next release when the chart component gets a quick list feature that allows you to define multiple symbols for a particular chart and activate any one of those symbols in the chart with a simple click rather than entering the symbol manually. This is useful for traders who frequently switch between a set of favorite or related stocks and don't want to have multiple chart windows always open. This feature will also include an ability to define a set of standard chart timeframes that you want to quickly select between. Both the symbol quicklist and the interval display list will be saved as part of a saved layout if you use the Chart->Save Layout or Chart->Save Default Layout options and the symbol list and display interval list will be loaded into a chart window (either from the default layout when you create a new chart or manually by using the Chart->Load Layout option).

The 1.5 update contains the following enhancements:

1. Candles are outlined to make them stand out more. The next update will make this outlining user selectable on a chart by chart basis (or savable as part of a template).

4. An enhancement to the drawing tools rubberband rendering to improve visibility of the rubberband line for certain color backgrounds (e.g., dark gray).

The 1.4 update contains the following enhancements based on user requests/input:

4. Some minor internal mods and optimizations

The 1.3 update contained only minor mods for special case conditons.

The 1.2 update contains some timescale and technical study related mods.

If the timescale has been adjusted by the user by right or left clicking in the timescale at the bottom of a chart window, the timescale remains as set as long as the chart timeframe remains the same. Changing the timeframe will cause the timescale to revert to autoscaling. If the user wants to revert to autoscaling on the current symbol/timeframe, they can now use the Chart->Autoscale Time menu option.

The 1.1 update contained only minor mods.

Initial 1.0 release information:

Once you've downloaded the SR database for that trading day using the end of day Trade Prospector, you can run the realtime TP software. Run TPRT.EXE (found in your TP directory). This will start the realtime program. A startup panel will be displayed that identifies the program. If there is an Qcharts initialization file in your TP directory (ContinuumClient.ini), this panel will read the server list contained in it and present you with a drop down list from which to pick a datafeed server. This allows you to select a primary server to attempt initial connection with in the event there is a server problem at Quote.Com.