![[DollarLink Logo]](dlink.gif)
Because of the way the BMI datafeed handles system indices, the symbol for NASDAQ Composite Index on the BMI datafeed that DollarLink uses is $ACCO and the symbol for the Arms Index on NASDAQ is $ASSZ. In an attempt to use similar names for the various datafeeds we support, you can now use $COMPQ for the NASDAQ Composite and $TRINQ for the NASDAQ Arms Index on any of the feeds.
You can use either $ACCO or $COMPQ but not both. If you have both of them in the portfolio then $ACCO will be used. The same applies to $ASSZ and $TRINQ.
If you start using the new names, you may want to convert the symbols used for historical data. You can use the utility NEWNAME for that.
For example, to use NEWNAME to change the symbols in the daily data
files, from the DollarLink directory execute
NEWNAME $ACCO $COMPQ 1 [enter]
Chapter 15 of the DollarLink manual discusses NEWNAME in detail.
We have modified DollarLink to handle $COMPQ in a way similar to when Dow-Jones Industrials went over 6553. DollarLink now subtracts a user-input number (called offset) from an incoming $COMPQ price and then stores the result as a two-byte number. To use this stored number, the two-byte number is converted back into a floating point number and the offset is added.
The file called ACCURATE contains the offset to use. It is a small text
file and you can modify it with any text editor or word processor. DollarLink
reads this file at startup. If it finds a line of the form
CMPQ,700
then it processes $COMPQ numbers in the new manner. If it does not find such a line, it processes $COMPQ numbers without offsetting the internal numbers.
We supply this ACCURATE file with new updates.
Historical Data
After you upgrade, one step remains. The upgrade will affect all historical
charts of $COMPQ. All the $COMPQ prices that were stored prior to this
new way of storing will appear incorrectly. To correct the historical data
for $COMPQ we have written a special utility called COMPQADJ. To use it,
from the DollarLink directory execute
COMPQADJ date1 date2 [enter]
where date1 is the starting date (inclusive) and date2 is the ending date (inclusive) of the data to be adjusted.
To adjust all data enter
COMPQADJ 0 0 [enter]
To adjust all data prior to, say, 10/15/97, enter
COMPQADJ 0 10-14-97
In this example, COMPQADJ will go through all your historical files up to and not including data on 10-15-97 and save the $COMPQ data in the new way. It will retain the original files with the same name, except for the last letter which is replaced by B, e.g.,
07-07-97.CLS will be the new modified file and the original is still there but called 07-07-97.CLB.
Since COMPQADJ does a careful check of the data files, allow plenty of time (a few hours) for COMPQADJ to complete its work. Also, make sure you have plenty of free space on your hard disk. COMPQADJ will check hard disk availability before proceeding.
After a few days of verification, you should delete all these historical
files that end with a B from the disk because they take up room. To do
that, from the DollarLink directory execute the following 5 commands:
del cls\*.clb [enter] del 05m\*.05b [enter] del 15m\*.15b [enter] del 30m\*.30b [enter] del 60m\*.60b [enter]
Back up your data prior to COMPQADJ
Back up your historical data before running COMPQADJ. Simply copy all
your historical data to some temporary directory on your hard disk. We
have included a batch file that you can use to back up all historical data
to a directory called TMPDATA. To use it, from the DollarLink directory
execute the command
BACKDATA TMPDATA [enter]
Again, after a few days of verification, you can delete all these back-up files with the command
del \TMPDATA [enter]
The PC will ask you Are you sure? Say yes.
Will Need an Update
To modify $COMPQ, you can request an update from us. All updates are free to currently active customers.
Active customers include all renters, all those on a six-month lease, all purchasers within the last 12 months, or purchasers who have paid the $300 support fee within the last 12 months. Contact us if you wish to check or change your status.