Chartsmart Articles

ADX Indicator

2005-05-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

Below is information on our ADX indicator in Chartsmart but you can also learn much more at

On Line Trading Concepts

The ADX indicator by Wilder is a complicated indicator included in ChartSmart. It often requires not only a specific value but also to specify the trend of the ADX. ChartSmart Pro allows you to specify the previous ADX, +DI and -DI so that you can actually specify the trend in these indicators. For example, one way one might use the ADX is:

When ADX rises above both +DI and -DI it may indicate that the market is becoming overheated and similarly one might take profits when ADX turns downwards from above +DI and -DI. You may wish to go on the web and search on how to use the ADX indicator. The neat thing is that with ChartSmart you can specify the direction of the ADX for screening purposes, unlike any other software.

Chartsmart built in backup

2007-05-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

A new feature has been added so that when ChartSmart starts, it creates a subfolder of the csmart folder called backup_emergency. When ChartSmart starts it automatically saves the 12 custom back files (eg watch lists, your filters, and so on) into a zip file identified with the date and time it was created. A total of 10 zip files are created, one for each of the last 10 times ChartSmart was started. This way, if you have a problem, for example you lose your watch lists or portfolios for whatever reason, you can call a ChartSmart Technician and they can restore your last good backup. Of course, one should always go to MAINTENANCE and BACKUP OF CUSTOM DATA to do your backups regularly, but this emergency option is made available in abnormal circumstances in which case the user has lost some data and needs to restore changes from the previous time ChartSmart was started. This also is beneficial if the user has forgotten to do backups for some time.

In order to see the backups and restore from them one can go to HELP then TECHNICIAN CONSOLE. In the menu on the bottom click on BACKUP EMERGENCY RESTORATION and it shows a menu of the last 10 backups for each time chartsmart was started. Click on any one to restore.

ChartSmart Testimonials

2007-04-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

ChartSmart Stock Screening Software has some great Testimonials. For example read the following after which you may want to go to our web page and download ChartSmart and take your free 30 day trial!
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"I downloaded the demo Chartsmart program yesterday morning off your website, and then spent the entire rest of the morning, afternoon, and evening analyzing everything about it. To say that I am totally impressed would be a huge understatement!! The ease of operation of the program is nothing short of amazing, and considering I attempted to use a trial version of xxxxxxx a few months back, and was completely lost and never could figure it out, even with a lot of phone calls to their help line; Chartsmart is unbelievably easy to use in comparison and I highly recommend it to everyone who is remotely considering a charting program.

While I continue my studies over the next several weeks I'm hopeful that I will possibly learn your code for writing my own custom indicators, at which point then I will be even more impressed! Thank you for a great program, you've got a customer for life!"

Help you to Install ChartSmart

2007-01-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

If you are unsure how to get started with ChartSmart our technicians can actually install it on your computer for you. Just as if they came to your home, put in a Cd and set it up. All this is thanks to the help of the internet and a product we use to do remote support called logmein. Simply phone us and a technician will tell you to go to www.logmein123.com and then we give you a 6 digit pin code. Within seconds our technician, with your authorization, can see your computer screen and move your mouse. This enables one to download the software and install it for you so that you can start your trial ... if you are unsure what to do. Our technicians can even trouble shoot and give you brief tutorials this way on your request. If you are unsure how to get started don't be shy ... simply call us toll free at 18006653389 and let our technicians help you install the software if you require help.

About ChartSmart

2007-01-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

Did you know ChartSmart Software has been in business for over 8 years and has become one of the most popular end of day stock research tools in North America. Well known for it's powerful stock screenings abilities (fundamentals and technicals) it has proven popular with individual investors, brokerage research departments, newsletter writers, investments firms and so on. Not only does ChartSmart offer our investment software but also we remain one of the only remaining Stock Chart Book publishers in North America. We now publish 6 Chart books covering securities on U.S. and Canadian Exchanges. You can find more on our chart books http://www.chartbooks.com. If you have not yet tried ChartSmart, visit our web page at http://www.chartsmart.com and take our free 30 day no obligation trial today. You just download it from our web site and begin. No contact with us is required and you remain totally anonymous. After your trial contact us if you like or simply stop and there is no need to contact us.

New ChartSmart Web Page

2006-08-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

As of August 24th 2006 the new Chartsmart web page has gone live. Lot's of new things in store. One of the great things in our new page is it uses the latest technology to widen to fit different screen resolutions. Probably most important is our videos which you can go to by clicking onto VIDEO on our nav bar. Instead you can also just go to http://www.investormovies.com which will offer videos to show you how to do various stock screening strategies using ChartSmart. Also be sure to see our screen shots on the ChartSmart Home Page.

ChartSmart New Feature - Internet

2006-02-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let our users know of a new feature if this download the upgrade (help, about chartsmart, then download the upgrade). There is now a globe button on the ZTWCH and PORT and other buttons that allows you to get intra-day information on the stocks in your lists.

Also we have added an ALERT feature under TOOLS that allows you to set price alerts for stock charts and screen out the ones that have passed the alert prices.

Finally we have put in a feature to allow users to display a chart only to a specified date, eg 1 month ago. Then you can attempt to predict what will happen and then display the entire chart. This is a great learning tool for our users.

Thanks!

New ChartSmart Feature - Price Alerts

2006-01-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

As of Jan 20, 2006 ChartSmart has added a new feature. Be sure to go to help and about chartsmart and download the upgrade. You now can set price alerts, greater or less than then run a screen for all the stocks that have had their target occur or not. One of the neat features is that it draws the price alert on the chart so you can see at what the alert price is. You can right or left click on the bar on the chart to change the alert value or get information on the alert. A great feature if you are watch lots of stocks and want to know when they have either dropped to your target buy price or gone above your target sell price.

New Feature - Save Screen to image for email

2006-01-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

As of Jan 8, 2005 you can go to HELP and ABOUT CHARTSMART and do the latest ChartSmart upgrade. Upon doing so you will see a feature under the FILE pop down menu in both the filter menu and charting menu. This option allows you to take anying on the chartsmart screen, for example a stock chart that you are viewing with all your indicators, then save the screen to both a bmp and a jpg file. You can then click on another button to call up your email client and send the image to anyone as an attachment. This is a great way to share chart and filter ideas with other chartsmart users or you can use it to send in samples of your screen if you need tech support.

Upgrade Information

2006-01-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

If you go to help and about ChartSmart when you are running Chartsmart you can do the latest upgrade to Version 4.00. In order to see what new features have been added you can click on the new version button which brings you to this web page, http://www.chartsmart.com/versioninfo.html

ChartSmart Backups

2005-12-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

In ChartSmart, if you go to MAINTENANCE at the top of the chart, then to BACKING UP YOUR CUSTOM DATA, you have the opportunity to backup all lists that you have customized. This includes your memos, filters sets, portfolios, watch lists and trendline annotations. It is important to do these backups periodically so that if your computer crashes or you for some reason must reinstall ChartSmart, you can simply do the reinstall then restore you customized lists. The backup only takes seconds and can be to a floppy disk or to your hard drive. We suggest sending it to a floppy disk so that your backup can be placed in a place other than the location of your computer.

Stock Chart Books

2005-12-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

We have noticed ChartSmart that over the last few years, due to the focus of investors on using software for their stock charts, instead of hard copy books, that many stock chart book manufacturors are going out of business, or fading into other areas. At ChartSmart we offer http://www.chartbooks.com which lists all our stock Chart Books. We have found that though our sales in chart books have declined somewhat that there is always steady demand because many investors like the ability to write on the charts and do their analysis without having to carry a lap top with them. This applies especially to longer term investors. This is why we recently added our line of long-term 10 year chartbooks covering Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.

Stock Chart Books

2005-12-14T03:42:00.000-08:00

Did you know that you can visit http://www.chartbooks.com and see details on the 6 stock chart books that are now supplied by ChartSmart Software Inc./Independent Survey Company. We now supply 6 chart books being:

1) The 2 3/4 year Canadian Resource chart book (weekly stock charts)
2) The 2 3/4 year Canadian Industrial chart book (weekly stock charts)
3) The 2 3/4 year Nasdaq Chart Book (weekly stock charts)
4) The long term Canadian Stock Chart Book (monthly charts back 10 years)
5) The long term New York Stock Chart Book (monthly charts back 10 years)
6) The long term Nasdaq Stock Chart Book (monthly charts back 10 years)

For photos and prices visit the web site.

ChartSmart Upgrades and Features

2005-12-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

One of the neat features in ChartSmar Version 4.00 is that you can click on HELP then on ABOUT CHARTSMART and then click on a button to View the latest Version information. The latest version is then displayed on a web page which has the ChartSmart Version and Build. Simply compare it to your version and click on UPGRADE CHARTSMART NOW if they do not match. The version information also displays the changes made in specific builds. The following is the web page for the version informaiton http://www.chartsmart.com/versioninfo.html

ChartSmart Screens

2005-12-14T03:25:00.000-08:00

Basically in ChartSmart we like to break the idea of it's screens into 5 groups. These are:

1) our basic screens. When you click on the Filter button you can make your own filter sets combining the criteria under the tabs available such as price, volume, tech screens and so on.

2) Screens that are on the Charting Menu. These screens are for example, screening stocks that have crossed trendlines, screening stocks that have memos, screening stocks in specific watch lists, portfolios and so on.

3) Screens that are in our searchable database. We also include a database of pre made screens that you can select. For example select from over 70 candlestick screens by simply going to the searchable database finding it then pasting it into a custom formula.

4) Creating your own formulas. This option allows you to go through all the variables available in chartsmart and use them to create formulas. For example you could specify #close#>#sma20# which would mean the closing price is above the 20 day moving average value.

5) Finally ChartSmart Professional allows you to create formulas with backtest files. This feature enables you to create your own formulas using 100's of variables over a period of over 3 years. For example you could specify what the 14 day rsi is 1 day ago, 5 days ago, 10 days ago in your formula which actually allows you to screen out stocks with a very specific trend in the rsi. Similarly you can actually create formulas for chart patterns since you can specify what the closing price was any day over the last 1000 days.

ChartSmart - Screening Trendline Breakouts and Crossovers

2005-12-14T03:20:00.000-08:00

It use to be that one would use stock chart books, draw trendlines on the charts, then watch to see if the stock price crossed the trend line. There is lots of software out there that will allow you to draw trendlines on them but ChartSmart, as a professional screening tool, takes this to a new level. In ChartSmart you can actually run screens for stocks which have crossed the trend lines that you have drawn on them. I personally know of no other software tool that will allow you do do this. For example, of the 15,000 companies that trade on the Major US and Canadian markets, you can select say 138 companies and draw trend lines on them. On any day maybe 28 companies may have crossed upward into descending trendlines and you could screen these companies out in seconds. Further you can set other parameters to reduce your list of 28 such as specifying they are just on Nasdaq or between a specific price range.

Stock Screening of Custom Lists

2005-12-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

On occasion we have users ask how to secondary screens of screens done in ChartSmart. For example, one might screen out all the stocks that had news releases today, all the stocks with memos, all the stocks where there was a crossover of an trendline created in annotations. On the surface it may appear these types of screens are limited but to do further screens on them all you do is go to ZWTCH and import the last filtered list which is the screen that was done. For example, if you had screened out 300 Canadian Stocks that had news today, you could then go to ZWTCH, import the filtered list (300 stocks) to a watch list. Then you can go to the filter menu and make a new filter set then click on the WATCH criteria tab. Select the watch list with the 300 stocks in it as your first criteria, then you can combine other criteria such as price range or volume range and refine your screen further. ChartSmart is a very powerful screening tool and it is just a matter of learning all the features.

Automatic Refresh in ChartSmart

2005-12-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

One of the neat new features in Version 4.00 of ChartSmart is the option to automatically click on the REFRESH SYSTEM tab after download the daily files. This saves the user having to come back to do this step. For all the new feature in ChartSmart Version 4 check out our new features web page at http://www.chartsmart.com/featuresnew.html

ChartSmart Version 4.00

2005-11-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

ChartSmart Version 4 is now available as of November 2005. For a list of some of the new features click on http://www.chartsmart.com/featuresnew.html If you visit this web page you can view videos of some of the great new features in ChartSmart Version 4.00

New Search Engine Feature

2005-10-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Chartsmart users will now find a great new feature if they go to HELP, ABOUT CHARTSMART, then download the upgrade. If you go to the FILTER MENU then to YOU SPECIFY TAB and select a custom calculated list formula, you can paste formulas in from our formula database. Just click on CREATE FORMULA and on the bottom is a button to UPDATE FORMULA DATABASE. Then click on CHARTMART FORMULA DATABASE and you can screen through a list of formulas that we create. If you want a formula customized for you, email us your request and we will create one that you can use in the database. We will be building this searchable database to hundreds of formulas for screening in the near future.

Longer term Stock Screens

2005-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Just a ntoe that as of the end of October 2005, we should have backtest files going back 4 years for Chartsmart pro users. This means that you can run screens going back 4 years. For example, you could specify a gradual decline in the charts prices over 4 years then specify that in the last few weeks it has show volume and price breakout activity.

Backup Program

2005-07-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Just a note that ChartSmart has been working at a backup program. You can take a look at it at
http://www.backuptoserver.com and give it a try. It is independent from ChartSmart and it backs up your computer folders into one file. We also do stock chart books for U.S. and Canadian Exchanges and you can find our chartbooks at http://www.chartbooks.com .

Screening for Declining PE ratio

2005-07-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

With our professional upgrade there is a way to do something like this ... for example

(#last#/#eps#)<10.and.(#100last#/#100eps#)>20.and.(#200last#/#200eps#)>30.and.#eps#>0

would mean the pe is currently less than 10, 100 days ago it is more than 20 and 200 days ago it is more than 30. All stocks meeting this declining pe pattern would be met in chartsmart

Complex Technical Indicator Screens

2005-07-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Chartsmart Professional offers some unique capabilities for screening on technical indicators. You can visit our web site which shows examples. For example, the following would be a formula to screen out stocks over a 150 day period having a gradual decline

An Asymptopic Price Decline over 150 trading days - This formula looks back about 150 trading days then specifies that the price then was at least within 30% of the high of the range, then it specifies that over 75 days ago that it had declined to at least 40% of the range then currently it trades within 30% of the low of the range. Usually this screens out a lot of OTCBB charts. It is a good example though of how you can create your own price patterns.

#150last#/(#150last#-#last#)>.7.and.#75last#/(#150last#-#last#)<.4.and.#last#/(#150last#-#last#)<.3.and.#close#>0

Backing up your Chartsmart Custom Lists

2005-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

In the case of computer problems you risk of losing the work you have done in creating your portfolios, watch lists, and personal filter lists. These are contained in a few files which are in your ChartSmart directory called:

private1.dbf, private1.fptdayfilt.dbf, dayfilt.fptmemos.dbf, memos.fptfgroups.dbf. fgroups.fpttools.dbf, tools.fptmemdata.dbf, memdata.fpt

You can simply copy these files to a floppy disk or you may wish to use this menu to do it for you. First, select the floppy drive, a or b, that you will be working with. Then put a diskette in and click on the button. To restore, place the disk in your floppy drive and click .