DollarLink News -- April 30, 1996

Enhancements Added

Turn off/on news on the fly

Datafeeds are getting more and more saturated with the increased flow of quotes -- especially prices on options. In order to facilitate processing of price quotes, you may want to turn off the processing of incoming news temporarily. This is particularly handy when the markets experience waves of high trade activities: you may not want the news -- especially the very detailed Dow Jones news -- to clog up the computer.

With that in mind, we added a toggle choice to turn incoming news on/off. To use, press N (for News) from the basic text screen and then O (for On/off). When the processing is turned off, DollarLink will ignore (and not store) all incoming news headlines and stories until you turn it back on.

Directional Logic Custom Index

At the request of our customers, we have added a custom index that returns +1.0 if the change field of the underlying stock/future/index is positive, -1.0 if the change field is negative, or 0.0 if it is unchanged.

To create a custom index using this feature, pick choice L in the field choice whenever you create the custom index. Choice L will then let you choose between a logical index on price or a logical index on change.

Grain Prices

DollarLink uses a very compact data-storage procedure in order to minimize the amount of RAM needed. However, the procedure assumes that the prices will be within certain ranges.

99% of the issues comply, but once in a while the numbers get too large.

In the last month or so, Soy Beans have surged to their highest prices in nearly a decade. This has caused some numerical problems for DollarLink.

We have implemented two possible solutions. Use only one; they are mutually exclusive.

Method 1. Divide by 10

About 18 months ago we implemented the ability for our customers to modify price magnitudes on their own. In the DollarLink directory there is a text file called DOWNSIZE.TBL which allows users to define which symbols should be divided by 10, 100 or 1000 before DollarLink will accept them.

Thus, to adjust the Soy Beans (or another grain commodity), add the following line to the bottom of the DOWNSIZE.TBL file:

commodity:S ,10

This tells DollarLink on startup to divide all incoming Soy Bean prices by 10. Thus, an incoming price of 823.50 will be stored and used as 82.35. However, 823.75 will become 82.38, and 823.25 will be 82.33.

(You will have to run our SPLIT utility to divide all historical data by 10, because after the above adjustment all numbers will be stored as one tenth of the actual prices.)

Method 2. Subtract a chunk from the price

There is a text file called ACCURATE in the DollarLink directory that tells DollarLink how to handle prices for symbols that have large values AND still keep the decimal accuracy.

This is done by going through a special treatment for selected symbols (such as $SPX, $OEX and IN X) where DollarLink subtracts a number (specified in the ACCURATE file) from the incoming price. Thus a large number becomes a reasonable after the subtraction operation. DollarLink then stores this smaller number without loss of accuracy. When it comes time for DollarLink to recall this number for display or charting or computations, it knows to add that same offset amount.

We have now extended the ACCURATE file for the grain (wheat, corn, oats and soy beans) commodities.

Just add between a text line to the bottom of the ACCURATE file. It should look similar to this:

S ,N

(Don't forget the space before the comma.)

This tells DollarLink to subtract N (where N is a number such as 500 or 700) from the actual value for all the soy bean contracts. Thus, for example, if the incoming number is 832.25 and you set N to 700, then DollarLink subtracts 700 from 832.25 and stores 132.25 internally. Since 132.25 is a reasonable number, there is no loss of accuracy. When DollarLink needs that value back, it knows that it has to add 700 to 132.25 just before using that value.

N should be a positive number. Different grains can have different offsets. The idea is to bring down the internal value to below 165. Thus, if soy beans go crazy and climb to, say, the 1200 range, a good N would be 1100.

(Again, if you decide to use Method 2, you will have to run our SPLIT utility to adjust all historical data. You shouldn't change N too often because it affects historical data.)

After you go through this subtraction process, you will have full accuracy and the numbers can be large.

For Method 2, you need to order an update from us.

Memorial Day Holiday

DollarLink Software will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday May 27, 1996.

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