Stock traders

Hello,
I would like to talk to some stock traders on how they have their MC set up. Basically, I'm looking for ways to use MC more efficiently when dealing with several hundred stock symbols. MC, while good in many respects, is cumbersome in other ways and I'm hoping I can mitigate some of these deficiencies by learning from other stock traders. My email is raven4ns@yahoo.ca I hope you will consider this request. Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Hi Tim,

Could you please tell us in what ways MultiCharts is cumbersome when it comes to working with features?

We have been constantly improving the program's usability. For example, we have made the scanner easier to work with, changed the behavior of the drawings (that are now linked to a certain symbol within a chart window and not to the chart window as a whole).

What would you like to see improved?

Hi Marina,
It is good to see some of the changes. Here are a few things that need improvement in my humble opinion, some we have already spoken about:
1. Method to get lists of symbols into workspaces, QuoteManager and Scanner
2. Ability to alphabetize symbols in these spaces
3. Hot keys for users to work with MC more efficiently
4. Multiple key strokes reduced in order to accomplish a task
5. user designated volume charts i.e. 117649,11608 etc
6. written description of indicator functions to better understand their use
7. Method of scrolling through charts and symbols with a single keystroke
8. I still believe watchlists are more efficient than workspaces because it allows you to scan through the charts with up/down keys.
These are a few things that I believe would make MC easier to use. If you are only using a dozen symbols they are likely not too important. However, if you are using several hundred symbols these would help reduce workload. It seems to me that to offer these time saving features would improve the software for everyone. I'm sure there are a few other suggestions I have forgotten to include but you get the idea I'm sure. One of the biggest time savers would be the reduction of multiple keystokes to accomplish a given task. Thank you for asking for my input, Marina, and I hope you find these suggestions useful. These are meant to benefit all of us not just a select few. Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Tim

Marina,
I agree with Tim on most of the points. The most important are 1, 4, 6, 7, 8

I would also like to see Multicharts more capable to deal with lists of stock symbols in the range of few hundreds. Right now I turn to third party online stock screener, although the new Market Scanner is a step in the right direction.

To me the most important are:

1. Import/Export lists of stocks from/to *.csv OR copy and paste them to/from Excel spreadsheet.

2. Easy navigation/scrolling through list of stocks symbols in Market Scanner using keyboard Up/Down keys or navigation buttons, if you use mouse. (the way it's setup right now: hit "arrow down" key in the scanner window, then press Enter, then wait for charts to update - prohibitively slow). The Key sentence here is to "scroll through hundreds of stocks quickly on a daily basis". That would make Multicharts outstanding.

What prevents using Market Scanner as a Stocks Screener right now is that it's slow. Every time a stock in the list is selected, Multicharts must refresh all the charts linked to it. I want to be able to screen dozens and hundreds of stocks a day. It's impossible at this moment. One of the possible solutions could be:

3. Generate reports from the Market Scanner
A single report would be generated from the Market Scanner and will include all stock symbols (may end up many pages long). Each stock symbol in the report would need to have the following detail included: Studies from the Market Scanner Window and a snapshot of the Chart. Each page of the report would cover 1 (or max 2) stocks with more room given to to the chart.

Reports could be generated in *.html format. Then opening in web browser and screening stocks would take mere seconds for each stock symbol, and minutes to go through hundreds in order to identify good chart patterns and potential trading opportunities on a daily basis. If reports generated in *.html or *.pdf format, then user can publish reports on the web or e-mail Stock picks to investing crowd, if used by financial advisers. This opens up world of opportunities for Multicharts. There is lots of marketable opportunities to explore once you have the reports.

The above solution is addressing a problem of finding swing trading opportunities on the daily basis. It,s still might not be the best approach for a daytrader. Then you may need watch lists like Tim is suggesting.

But hey, sometimes you become a swing trader and other times you are a daytrader - the Market dictates who you need to be, what strategies work the best, and when. Some people may want to swing trade in their tax-free registered account and daytrade in their other account at the same time.

Cheers,

2. Ability to alphabetize symbols in these spaces

Double click on the column header to sort the list.

See attached workspace as an example to screen the stocks

Regards,

Yes Geizer, I was referring to the workspaces. If you have a hundred or two in them you have to search a bit till you find the right symbol and/or chart size i.e. 2401,16807 etc. By having them alphabetized it cuts down the searching.

Tim