How do I open a chart in MetaStock
- Start MetaStock
- Select File then click on Open. The Open dialog will appear
- Ensure that Files of Type is set to 'Smart Charts' see image above.
- Open up the drop down menu to the right of “Look in:” and select the drive in which
the stock data resides. Usually this would be your C: drive.
- Once you have select the correct drive look for a Shares folder (or the folder you
are using to store your data) and double click it.
- Within the Shares folder you will have a number of Database which is dependant on
what you have selected in DD3 or DD2 ...In this instance we will be looking at the
ASX folder (DD3) or Au-Asx folder (DD2), when you double click this folder you will
have the and numder of sub folders, select the Equities folders. All the Securities
are within these folders
- At this stage let us assume you wish to view the AMP chart. From the Equities folder
you can either scroll down the list until you reach AMP and double click on the AMP
stock code to bring up the chart or simply type in AMP in the File Name box and click
Open to view the chart.
DATA FOLDER HAS BECOME LOCKED
MetaStock data requires that only one program use the data at one time. Therefore
you may occasionally receive a message advising that the files are not in use or
are not recognized. This may occur if you are trying to run MetaStock while downloading
data. Or it may occur if MetaStock or your computer has crashed, in which case the
program still thinks the files are in use and will not let you access them.
In most cases this can be rectified as follows:
- Double click on My Computer
- Locate your data folder (usually by double clicking C drive, then Shares and then
Au-asx)
- Double click on the folder you are having problems with
- Look for any files where the name begins with a tilde (~) character. In most cases
there will be four files, with the names ~MSFL.INX, ~MSFL.LCK, ~MSFL.SEC and ~MSFL.USR
Or files that end with a .tmp extension.
- If these files are there, then delete them
Please Note: Do not delete any other files. Doing so may cause permanent corruption
to your database or cause it to be inaccessible permanently. This kind of error is
also represented by the error codes 365 and 247 if you obtain this error message
either through DataDirector2 or the Downloader.
UNABLE TO VIEW FILES IN FOLDERS
If, when you are using MetaStock you find that one
of your folder is suddenly missing data, it may mean that one of your folders contains
temporary files. This may have occurred if MetaStock was shut down abnormally (i.e.
the program froze or Windows crashed).
In most cases this can be rectified as follows:
- Double click on My Computer
- Locate your data folder (usually by double clicking C drive, then Shares and then
Au-ASX or ASX then Equities etc)
- Double click on the folder you are having problems with
- Look for any files with the names Emaster.tmp, Xmaster.tmp and Master.tmp
- If these files are there, the delete them
Please Note: Do not delete any other files. Doing so may cause permanent corruption
to your database or cause it to be inaccessible permanently.
HOW DO I RESET METASTOCK BACK TO DEFAULT SETTINGS
The Windows Registry settings for MetaStock may be damaged. Try deleting the Register
as follows:
- Start Windows.
- Hold down the <CTRL> + <SHIFT> keys.
- While holding <CTRL> + <SHIFT> launch MetaStock (Start | Programs | Equis International
| MetaStock or double click on desktop shortcut).
- Continue holding these keys down until a menu appears, asking if you want to delete
your user settings
- Let go of the keys and Answer yes.
The tutorial will start in MetaStock. Simply cancel the Tutorial and you should return
to MetaStock. Then try to use the program as normal to see if it works. If it works
you are once again fine.
PROBLEM WITH THE ONLINE VENDOR ACCOUNT
Some customers when they start MetaStock for
the first time will see a window similar to the following:
"The online vendor account is not configured correctly"
A work around for this is to click the Work Offline button which should allow you
to access MetaStock.
However, this issue occurs if you had attempted to enter your
Paritech username/password during the installation of MetaStock. When you install
MetaStock, it prompts you for a username and password. However, what many customers
do not realize is that this password is for the Reuters data service. Therefore unless
you are subscribing to Reuters also (this may be the case for some US customers),
you should leave this blank and continue the installation.
To stop this window from appearing every time you start MetaStock, you should do
the following:
- Click Start > Programs > Equis International > MetaStock Offline Mode (this will
start the program without attempting to connect to the Reuters service)
- Click the Tools menu and choose Options
- Click the Reuters Datalink tab
- Delete the Username & Password that you have here (i.e. ensure these fields are blank)
& click OK
Close MetaStock and restart the program in the usual way, you should no longer receive
the window and the program should go straight to a blank screen.
WHY CAN I ONLY SEE 2 YEARS OF DATA, ALTHOUGH I KNOW THAT THERE IS MORE?
By default, MetaStock will always load 500 days of data for each chart that you open.
This is approximately two years worth of trading day data. Sometimes, you may wish
to load more data than this. For example, if you have a twenty year database of the
Dow Jones Index or wish to utilise the full amount of data provided by Paritech historical
data.
- Start MetaStock
- Select File then click on Open
- Click on the Options button at top right.
- Select Load Options.
In the “Load Options” screen, you can either select a default amount of periods to
load or to select 'Prompt for dates when chart is opened'. We recommend using settings
of Load 9999 periods, display 250 if you choose the first option. This allows you
to scroll approximately 20 years of data for any chart that has this historical data
available.
CAN A TEMPLATE DISPLAY DAILY, WEEKLY AND MONTHLY CHARTS ALL IN THE SAME WINDOW?
Start MetaStock.
1. Click File | Open.
2. Double-click a chart eg AMP to display it.(ensure it’s a SmartChart)
3. Click Window > New Window. This will create a copy of the chart that is open.
The copy
will probably be named Chart1 and the security name. Repeat to create Chart2
4. Click Window > Tile and you will now see 3 charts of the same security.
5. Click Chart1 to make it the active chart.
6. At the bottom of the chart window select Weekly and click OK. You should now see
chart1
as a weekly display and the original chart as daily. (see imagebelow)
7. Click Chart2 to make it the active chart.
8. At the bottom of the chart window select Monthly and click OK. You should now
see chart1
as a weekly display Chart2 as a monthly and the original chart as daily.
9. Click File | New | Layout.
10. Click Add All to add both chart views to the Layout and click OK.
11. Click File | Save As.
12. Change the “Save As” field to “Template.”
13. Type a name for your Template (e.g. Daily-weekly-monthly.mwt) into the Name column
and click OK.
You can now apply this Template to any chart and it will display the daily and weekly
and Monthly view for the chart, however it is essential that the “Use templates periodicity”
option is checked in the Apply Template dialog. (see image below) without this option
ticked the template will not display as desired!
See image below for end result: Roll cursor over to see a larger image.
MSFL File Download
Many Paritech applications make use of the MetaStock File Library (MSFL) in order
to access MetaStock data. If you are receiving an error about a missing MSFL file,
you should download the appropriate file from one of the links below.
Click the appropriate link and choose to Save to Disk. You will need to save the
file to the appropriate folder on your computer. Please note that the location of
this folder varies depending on the operating system you are running.
- If you are a Windows 98 or ME user, save the file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder
- If you are a Windows NT or 2000 user, save the file in your C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 folder
- If you are a Windows XP, Windows Vista or Win7 user, save the file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
folder
It is recommended to reboot your computer after downloading the file.
Equis Technical Support
Further information and support on MetaStock can be found
on the Equis website - Click Here.
MetaStock Formula Primer
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