WinMidas 2.1 Installation Procedure Stokes Fishburne Associates 1) Installing WinMidas 2.1 (Early version) Please note>> WinMidas 2.1 MUST BE RUN FROM THE \WM21 directory, NOT THE \PROGRAMS\WM21 directory or the \XYZ\WM21 directory or any such combination. You will be given the opportunity to change the destination directory when WinMidas 2.1 is being installed. This feature was added so that you could install WinMidas 2.1 on a drive other than C. But do not change the directory name. If you change the directory to something other than \WM21 then WinMidas 2.1 simply will not work properly. If you follow the procedures provided below, all necessary files and appropriate file commands will be placed in the Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 startup structure. 1.1) Installing from a floppy disk. 1.1.1) Windows 3.1 Installation: Place the disc in the A of B drive. Go to the Windows 3.1 Program Manager and select File|RUN. Type in A:SETUP (or B:SETUP) in the box provided and RETURN. 1.1.2) Windows 95 Installation Click Start, click Run and insert A:SETUP (or B:SETUP) in the box provided and RETURN. Do NOT use the Windows 95 Install or Add Program command. 1.2) Internet Installation: First, you must unzip the files from the WM21.ZIP file. This will provide a number of files as well as SETUP.EXE. 1.2.1) Windows 3.1 Installation: Go to the Windows 3.1 Program Manager and select File|RUN. Type in DRIVE:\DIRECTORY\SETUP (directory is the path to the SETUP.EXE file >>for example C:\DOWNLOAD\UNPACK\SETUP) in the box provided and RETURN. 1.2.2) Windows 95 Installation: Click Start, click Run and insert DRIVE:\DIRECTORY\SETUP (directory is the path to the SETUP.EXE file >>for example C:\DOWNLOAD\UNPACK\SETUP) in the box provided and RETURN. 2) Starting WinMidas 2.1 This very short tutorial will introduce you to the basic features of WinMidas 2.1 and show you how to employ the point, click and drag features of the mouse to maximize your effectiveness. 2.1) Run WinMidas 2.1. When WinMidas 2.1 is initiated, you will see a display which may or may not quite fill the screen. If not, then maximize the display (800x600 grid is preferred). Next, you will see the names of the pull down menu selections (File, Setup, Display, Tools, Hotlists, Help). You must first select the Setup option to be sure that WinMidas knows where to look for the appropriate data. If you have problems obtaining the dialog boxes please go to 3) Potential Problems. The default directories are: WinMidas 2.1 Working Directory C:\WM21 TC2000 Data Directory C:\TC2000\DATA TC2000CD ROM D:\TC2000CD MetaStock Data Directory C:\WM21 ASCII Data Directory C:\WM21 If you installed WinMidas on drive C and are happy with the default directories, then WinMidas should run smoothly. If you installed WinMidas on the D drive then change the WinMidas working directory to >>D\WM21 since all initialization data and ancillary files are stored in this directory. At this point do not change the MetaStock file directory, wait until after you have gone through the tutorial below, since the tutorial procedure uses MetaStock files stored in the \WM21 directory. Next, click on File and then on "Primary Hot List". "Primary Hot List" allows you to go to your priority hot list. The default hot list is DEMO.NAM which contains Cisco Systems, Mattel, and General Motors. Immediately the display will fill with the stock data on Cisco Systems. 2.1) Display Information The first thing you will note is the absence of the usual Windows type buttons on a tool bar. This omission was intentional to maximize the space available for the price graph. You will find, however, that many point and click features are built into the operation of WinMidas 2.1, The company name is provided in the upper left corner of the display and the symbol just below the name. When TeleChart 2000 or MetaStock data are used the company name will appear. ASCII files do not contain the name of the company and, hence, the symbol is displayed in both placed. The normal color of the name is BLUE. If the stock increased in price by more that 5% the color will be GREEN and RED if it descreases more than 5% - note, that Cisco decreased by more than 5%. The rest of the information across the top of the display is rather obvious. The StdDev is the computed standard deviation of the stock over a user selected time period. If the change in price is greater than X standard deviations (user selected) then a colored box will appear behind "Change" (RED for down, GREEN for up). In this graph, a color coded alert for VOL UP is provided. This occurs when the daily volume is three times the average daily volume. GAP UP and GAP DOWN alerts also appear in this space. The Hot List name in the upper right hand corner indicates which of your user selected hot lists is currently running. The information on the left provides the dates for the data displayed in the graphs. The price plot is on the top and On Balance Volume on the bottom). The SKIPSkip window is next and it allows you to input a symbol and proceed immediately to that stock. Insert MRK and hit return. Immediately Merck (symbol MRK) will be displayed. Now insert CSCO to get back to Cisco Systems. Below the SKIP window are the launch dates and current values for each of the active Support or Resistance levels (S/R). Immediately below this box is the Top Finder results. Below this area are the available conventional indicators which may be used in conjunction with the support and resistance features of WinMidas. The graph across the bottom (x-axis) is the cummulative volume (default) from the first date of the data displayed in the Price graph. This can be changed easily to time. 2.2) Mouse Operations Place the cursor on the dates in the upper left hand corner and click with the leftLeft arrow. The display will zoom in and display fewer data points. The dates change appropriately. Now click with the rightRight button, the display zooms out displaying more data. Pretty easy. This change also can be accomplished with the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the display or the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys. Now place the cursor on the word "Hot List: " or the hot list name in the upper right hand corner and click with the left button...you will move to the next stock in your user-defined hot list. Try It. Now, click with the right button and you will get the previous stock in the hot list. The use of the hot list feature allows you to immediately go to the stocks, funds, indices, etc., contained in user defined hot lists. Now place the cursor just to the left of the Y-Axis close to the bottom of the graph (next to the On Balance Volume window) and click with the left button. The size of the window will move through 4 values providing you the ability to tailor the display size of Price (upper graph) and On Balance Volume (lower graph) to your desires. The same feature is available with the F9 key. Now place the cursor at some point along the Price graph where you think that a support level might be generated, typically at a bounce from a downward trend to an upward trend, and click with the left button. A new support level will be generated (along with the support curve) and the date and price associated with that level will be displayed in the S/R box on the left of the screen. Note that the cursor should be at least approximately 10% of the screen height above the line separating the Price display from the On Balance Volume display for this option to work . Do the same thing with the right button to generate a resistance level. To eliminate any of these levels simply click with the right button in the appropriate S/R date and price box in the left table and the level disappears. You also may click with the right button in an empty S/R date or price box and generate that level. Clicking with the right button in the S or C date or price box will generate a Top Finder analysis. You may also click on the Top Finder box on the left of the screen. Click again and Top Finder is turned off. Next, place the cursor on any of the indicators Indicat in the Indicator box on the lower level and left click. The long term average (LTA) and short term average (STA) lines appear in the Price graph and the LTA and STA change color. The STO (stochastics), RSI (relative strength indicator), BOL (Bollinger bands), and MACD have curves which appear in the On Balance Volume window. The COM (combination of indicators) feature allows you to combine outputs from all other indicators into one indicator (at least one of the other indicators must be active). Time periods and buy/sell trigger levels may be set for each of the indicators by using the Indicator pull down menu. Note, when COM is selected with other indicators (a necessary condition), red sell arrows and green buy arrows are display where appropriate in the price window. Try it. Select MACD, STOC and COM. Note that the buy/sell arrows do not appear until COM is selected. The indicator results displayed in the OBV window mya be eliminated (while keeping the arrows in the price window) by using the display pull down menu and clicking on the Display Indicator. Place the cursor on the X-Axis label and click with the left button. The axis changes from a Cumulative Volume display to a time display (years, quarters and months). Click again and the axis changes to the original value. Finally, place the cursor in the center of the On Balance Volume window and click with the left button. The daily volume display turns off and on. This same feature is available with the F6 key. Note, if your data contain open interest, then the plot of the open interest is toggled with the daily volume. WinMidas 2.1 Remembers All of the changes you make to the display and your generation of the various support, resistance levels, Top Finder, and the various indicators are retained stock by stock so that the next time you examine a particular corporation you can take up exactly where you left off. 3) Potential Problems The only problem which has been encountered concerns the dialog boxes which allow you to insert information or make selections. If the dialog boxes do not appear (i.e., the HELP|ABOUT box cannot be displayed) then you have a problem with too many BWCC.DLL files on your computer. These files are widely used by developers. The most recent version should always be in the \Windows\System directory. Some developers place their BWCC.DLL in the Windows directory. The Windows handler will pick up the first BWCC.DLL file it finds in the path. If this version is earlier in time than the one used by WinMidas then the dialog boxes may not work properly. Borland (the C++ developer) recommends that all BWCC.DLL files be deleted from your system except the very last in time. This file should be placed in the Windows\System directory. Since all BWCC.DLL files are backwards compatible, all of your other applications should still work OK. As a precaution, you might want to rename them all to BWCC.SAV until you are sure that all of your applications work successfully with the latest BWCC.DLL file in the \Windows\System directory.