Also see: Importing Symbols from Yahoo! Screener

This Tutorial will demonstrate how to import symbols into Investor/RT.  The topics that will be covered include:

• Obtaining a list of ticker symbols from the web
• Formatting the list in Excel
• Importing the list into an Investor/RT quotepage
• Downloading daily data on the resulting list
• Scanning the daily data for intraday candidates
• Saving the intraday candidates and marking for intraday collection
• Starting a new day

First, you'll need to find a source for your list of symbols.  The following web page is a good place to start:

http://www.finviz.com/

This site will allow you to create a list of symbols using a variety of criteria including exchange, average volume, etc.  Once you've created your list, look for the "export" link at the bottom right corner of the list.  This will provide you with a .csv file.

Now open in this file in Excel so we can inspect it.  When importing from a file, Investor/RT expects the following:

• One symbol per row
• Ticker symbol in the first column
• Optionally, the "Name" in the second column

Some of the files you obtain from the site above will already have the proper columns in the proper order (including the S&P 500 file).  Others may have the name column preceding the symbol column.  If this is the case, here is how you would swap these two columns in excel.  Click on the column title "A" (to select column A) and the choose copy (Edit:Copy or Ctrl-C).  Now click on the column title "C" and choose pasted (Edit:Paste or Ctrl-V).  Now repeat this process, copying column "B" and pasting into column "A", then copying column "C" and pasting into column "B".  You can now click on the column title "C" (to select column "C") and hit the delete key on your keyboard to delete this column.

You may notice that row 1 consists of some column headings like "Symbol" and "Company Name".  Investor/RT does not expect any such titles.  In order to delete this row of titles, just click on the row title "1" (to select row "1") and then hit the delete key on your keyboard.  Your spreadsheet should now be in the proper format and look something like the one below.

Spreadsheet formatted properly for importing into Investor/RT

Now let's save the spreadsheet as text by choosing "File: Save As" within Excel.  When the "Save As" window appears, at the bottom, choose "Save as type: Text (Tab delimited)" and give the file name like "SP500.txt".  Pay attention to the location (folder) in which you are saving your text file.  Finally, click "Save".

Now, close down Excel and switch back over to Investor/RT.  Within Investor/RT, from the menu, select "File: Import".  Within the "Import" window, select "Import Type: Ticker Symbols" and "File Format: ASCII Text File" as seen in the window below.

Import dialog in Investor/RT - Setup to import ticker symbols from a text file

Now, click the "Import" button.  You will be asked to locate the text file we just saved from Excel.  Once you locate and select it, click the "Open" button.  You will then be asked for a name for the resulting quotepage in which your symbols will be presented and kept.  I recommend a name like "SP 500" (remove the ".txt" if it exists).  Your resulting quotepage should look something like the following:

Imported S&P 500 quotepage

Downloading Data

Now that you have our list of stocks, you will want to download data on your list.  Let's say you want to download the last 2 month of daily data (providing us enough data to run a scan we desire).  The best way to perform a bulk download on a large list of stock like this is using the "Download Data" window.  Also, the best data services for quick bulk downloads of daily data is probably "Dial/Data" or eSignal.  Also, Dial/Data access is included with your myTrack account.  With Dial/Data or eSignal, you can download a whole year on 3000 stocks in 20 minutes or less.  Once you've done this initial download, you can then get updated daily quotes each day for your entire list almost instantaneously.  All Internet-based feed do allow bulk downloads (eSignal, DTN.IQ, Quote.com, and myTrack), these two just work much quicker and more reliably.  The other feeds will take longer to perform these bulk downloads.  A Dial/Data account may be used alongside any real-time Internet based feed.  For more information on Dial/Data, click here.  There is no charge to upgrade your Investor/RT registration to include Dial/Data access.  You will however have to pay Track Data for access to Dial/Data quotes (again, that's unless you have a myTrack account, in which case Dial/Data is included).

To access the "Download Data" window, click on the "Download" button on the main toolbar, or hit Alt-D, or from the menu, select "Control: Data Management: Download Data".  In this window, select "Download Type: Historical Quotes", with a Periodicity of "Daily".  Select a "From" date of 2 months back (or wherever you desire to begin) and a "To" date of the last complete session or to Present (could be current day).  The "One Instrument" checkbox should be unchecked, and the "Dow 30" quotepage should be selected in the quotepage list on the left.  At the top you will need to choose your source.  If you have myTrack, or if you have added a Dial/Data to your account, then "Dial/Data" will show up in this list in addition to your realtime data feed.  In this example, we'll choose "Dial/Data" as our source.  If you do not have Dial/Data access, select your realtime server.  Your download window should look something like this:

Investor/RT Download Data Window - Setup to download last
year of daily data from Dial/Data on Dow 30 quotepage

Now click the "Download" button to initiate the download process.  The time of the download will depend on the data service used.  eSignal and Dial/Data should be pretty quick.  For DTN.IQ and/or Quote.com, I'd recommend you find something else to do with your time while waiting on the download to complete.  Once the download is competed, you should be able to open up a daily chart on any of the symbols in the target quotepage, and view about 2 months of data.

Another good source of S&P Symbol lists can be found here.  Use the "Download Table" links on the pages to download Excel versions of the lists.

more to come...