MetaStock FAQ

MetaStock™ has the ability to read data from Premium Data and Data Tools. This FAQ has a number of categories:

Set MetaStock to read in data from Premium Data
Set MetaStock to read in data from Data Tools
Only seeing 2 years of data? Set the Load Options
Still can't locate the data?
Lots of securities appear in your explorations that haven't traded recently?
Metastock reports Not a valid Metastock for Windows file?
I cannot see any security names - just EMASTER, F1.dat, f2.dat etc.?
I hate having to add all of the individual A-Z folders in an exploration. Is there an easier way?
When I start Metastock it comes up with the error message "The online vendor account is not configured properly or does not support this feature". How do I fix this?
I want to be able to show padded data - can I do this in Metastock
I have stock data with another data provider in MetaStock format and I want to copy the information from those charts to your data. How can I do this?
I am accessing the US historical data with Metastock and looking at the Open Interest field to obtain the unadjusted close. However, this is only shown in whole numbers. How can I see the actual unadjusted close?
Where can I get help on using MetaStock?

Set MetaStock to read in data from Premium Data

Click on File then Open.

Before you do anything further, ensure that the Files of Type towards the bottom of the window is set to Smart Charts.

Click on the Look In part of the Open dialog box and select your Drive C: You should see the following as you do this:

Now double click on the Trading Data folder. You will see:

Now double click on the Stocks folder. You will see:

then double click on either ASX, SGX or US (depending upon which exchanges you sbuscribe to), then double click on Equities (if applicable). You should now see something like:

Now, Double click on the A folder and this will show:

You may now click on the stock you wish to view.

When navigating, you will need to click the Up One Folder button to go up to the previous level

Set MetaStock to read in data from Data Tools

Follow the same steps as Premium Data above but navigate to the Futures folder instead of the Stocks folder.

Only seeing 2 years of data? Set the Load Options

By default, Metastock only shows 400 periods of data (around 1.5-2 years). To view more data in your chart, when you open a chart click on Options then Load Options and change the "Load XXX Periods" to a higher value. 65500 will show all data in your chart.

Still can't locate the data?

Perhaps you have your data installed to a different location. To check where your data is installed, start up Premium Data and click the Configuration Tab. In there you will see an entry called "Data Folder". Use this as a reference when you are navigating to your data.

Lots of securities appearing in your explorations that haven't traded recently?

Our data is unpadded. That is, if it doesn't trade, it doesn't get a daily candle. Some listed securities do not trade every day (either due to low liquidity or perhaps due to a market event such as a trading halt or suspension). Some securities can even be suspended for months or years. MetaStock doesn't have a easy facility to prevent this but the Nexus Date Plugin will allow you to add a small formula to your explorer filter and ignore these securities that haven't traded recently.

Metastock reports Not a valid Metastock for Windows file

You need to change Files of Type to "Smart Charts" in your open window. See the screenshots above for further information.

I cannot see any security names - just EMASTER, F1.dat, f2.dat etc.?

You need to change Files of Type to "Smart Charts" in your open window. See the screenshots above for further information.

I hate having to add all of the individual A-Z folders in an exploration. Is there an easier way?

In Metastock v7.2 and below, it used to be easy - you would add the folder once and save out the list of folders. In Metastock v8 and above you need to go into each individual folder, select all the securities in there and add them to the list. For an A-Z folder structure this can take you several minutes. There is a free Add Folders Utility from John DeBry that helps you buy automatically sending down the keystrokes to go into each folder, select the securities, add them to the exploration list, then come back out of the folder and go to the next one. For some of the exchange data we supply, we offer you the ability to collapse the A-Z folders into a single folder. (e.g. Inside Premium Data click the Configuration Tab, then the Database Structure button and follow the steps from there). Note that your charting package will need to be compatible with the 6000-securities-per-folder format (i.e. MetaStock v8+ format).

When I start Metastock it comes up with the error message "The online vendor account is not configured properly or does not support this feature". How do I fix this?

It appears you've put the Norgate/Premium Data login details into Metastock's configuration for Reuters Datalink. Reuters Datalink is a data service operated by Reuters and has nothing to do with Norgate/PremiumData.

To remove your Norgate username and password from the Metastock Datalink configuration, start up Metastock and after it presents the error message, click "Work Offline". Then click Tools then Options then select the Reuters Datalink tab. Then click on each of the username and passsword boxes and delete them. Then click OK and shut down Metastock. This will remove the error message upon startup of MetaStock.

I want to be able to show padded data - can I do this in Metastock

This is possible to emulate in Metastock. Dates that do not trade will be shown as blank price gaps in the price chart.
1. Open up a chart of any stock
2. Right click on a blank area of the chart and select Chart Windows Properties
3. Make sure Show Inner window title bars, and Show inner window splitter bars are enabled then click OK.
4. Open up a chart of an index you want to use as your base set of dates for padding. eg. for ASX: All Ords or S&P ASX 200 etc, for US: DJIA, S&P 500 etc.
5. Click Window-> Tile. You should now see both the chart of the stock and the chart of the index.
6. Left click on the index price candles/bar/line and drag it to the bottom of your stock chart around where all the dates are shown. You should now see a chart of the stock's price on the top most section of your stock chart and the index price chart in the bottom-most section.
7. Close down the index chart you opened in step 4.
8. Right click on a blank area of the chart and select Chart Windows Properties
9. Untick Show Inner Window title bars and click OK.
10. Drag the splitter bar just above the index price downwards to the bottom of the chart. This will "resize" your index data so that it is now invisible.
11. Click File -> Save As, then in the Save as Type select Template and call it "Padded".

Any time you want any other charts to show padded data, simply right click and apply template -> padded and you have padded data showing.

I have stock data with another data provider in MetaStock format and I want to copy the information from those charts to your data. How can I do this?

Such information is stored within "Smart Charts" (*.MWS) files within MetaStock. Please contact Premium Data Support and we can provide you with a program that can copy Smart Chart data from your old data folder to the Premium Data stock data folder. Note: The stock codes used by both Premium Data and your old data provider must be identical for the copying to occur.

I am accessing the US historical data with Metastock and looking at the Open Interest field to obtain the unadjusted close. However, this is only shown in whole numbers. How can I see the actual unadjusted close?

The limitation on displaying the open interest field is a limitation within MetaStock. It is only displaying the whole number part of the security.

To "trick" MetaStock into displaying the full value, just create a new indicator in the indicator builder called OriginalClose then inside the formula of this indicator put in OI + 0

This will then plot the full decimal value of the original close.

Where can I get help on using MetaStock?

For a basic tutorial on the Metastock formula language, see the Metastock Formula Primer. For a fantastic Metastock newsletter see Metastock Tips and Tools Newsletter. For a wide range of indicators and also custom programming services see Jose Silva's Metastock Tools site. There are a few Metastock support forums available on the Internet too - Equis Metastock Forum, Yahoo Finance Equis Metastock Group, ReefCap's Metastock Forum and Stock Meeting Place Metastock Forum.