DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN         RELEASE 3.11         PAGE 1 OF 7

The Stock Select screen (and the View screen) display the contents of the cata-
log file CATALOG.POR.  Each price history file that corresponds to an entry in
the catalog must be in the SAME DOS DIRECTORY as the catalog.  If you have more
price history files than will fit on a single diskette, a hard disk is recom-
mended.

The Stock Select screen can display the names of up to 13 securities at a time.
Securities are always shown in sequence by type and ticker symbol.

A security can be selected for historical analysis (data entry or graphics), or
to make a change or to delete.  A security is selected when its ticker symbol
is highlighted by the selector block (a solid reverse video bar).  The selector
block can be moved through the list of securities by means of the up- and down-
arrow keys and the Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys on the right side of your key-
board.  The best way to see how this works is to try using those keys yourself
and to observe the effects.  The computer will not let you harm anything.

To make a CHANGE or to VIEW additional information (Beta, earnings, dividends,
price goals and buy/sell targets) about the selected security, press C from the
Stock Select screen.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 2 OF 7

To enter or "import" CURRENT price data for all securities for one day or week,
press Esc to eXit back to the Master Menu and then press D or W.

To enter, view or "import" HISTORICAL volume and price data for just the sel-
ected security, or to process a stock split or fund distribution, press E.
To display a bar graph for the selected security, press G.

To select between DAILY or WEEKLY historical data display using the E or G
functions, press the Tab key (usually found on the left side of the keyboard).
The Tab key is a "toggle" - pressing it alternately selects daily or weekly.
This selection is identified in the second menu line and will remain in effect
permanently until you change it again.

Note: invoking the GRAPH, ENTER or EXIT functions will immediately make the
Stock Select screen go away, as they cause different program modules to be
loaded automatically.  Any data you have typed in will automatically be saved
on disk.  The system will also "remember" what part of the data was visible on
the screen and where the selector bar was.

WARNING:  DO NOT turn off or re-set your computer from the Stock Select screen!

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 3 OF 7

                   OTHER MENU FUNCTIONS NOT DESCRIBED SO FAR

T = TAG the security to be used as a base for relative strength analysis, for
    ALL securities.  Only one security can be "tagged" - when you tag the sel-
    ected security any previous tag is automatically removed.  This key is a
    "toggle" - pressing the T key alternately turns the tag function on and
    off.  The "tagged" security is identified at the bottom of the screen.

    The currently tagged security (if any) will remain in effect permanently,
    until it is changed again with the T=Tag function.

    Relative strength can be plotted on the Bar Graph screen.  First, it must
    be activated from the Graphics Option screen by pressing the R key.

B = BUY or SELL the selected security.  The ticker symbol will already have
    been entered when you get to the Add/Delete Transactions screen.  You can
    press Esc to cancel and enter a different symbol.  A portfolio must have
    already been selected for update.  You do that from the CHANGE function
    in the Master Menu.  If your copy of the Stock Charting System does not
    have the portfolio analysis function, BUY will not appear on the menu.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 4 OF 7

A = ADD a new security to the list, in type and ticker symbol order.  This will
    take you to the View Screen for Individual Securities and prompt you to
    enter data. The View screen has its own HELP function for more information.

    The Esc (escape) key is always active and can be used to cancel the ADD
    function, returning the screen display to the way it was.

    In general, all data items are OPTIONAL except the type, symbol and name.
    Just press the Enter key by itself if you want to bypass entry of an indi-
    vidual data item.  You can always enter more data items later on, from the
    View screen.

    The type and symbol are the way in which the computer identifies each indi-
    vidual security.  Therefore you must make up a symbol even if no official
    one exists.  A particular ticker symbol cannot exist more than once in a
    catalog file.  But you can have both DAILY and WEEKLY history files for the
    same security.

    NOTE:  Adding a security makes it available to both the Stock Charting and
    Portfolio Analysis features automatically, since both use the catalog file.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 5 OF 7

A = ADD (cont'd).
    It is recommended that you use the standard ticker symbols, such as CPQ for
    Compaq Computer.  If you obtain current prices from a database service such
    as Dow Jones Information Services, you MUST use the standard ticker symbols
    in order to "import" that data into the Stock Charting System.  Those sym-
    bols can be found in the Standard & Poors Stock Guide.  Your stock broker
    should be able to provide you with a free copy.

    You may use the hyphen (-) or underline (_) characters in a ticker symbol.
    The ticker for an option starts with the hyphen, such as -IBMLD for an IBM
    Dec. 120 call.  Don't use the underline if you download prices from a data-
    base service; it's not recognized as a valid character.

    For a common stock or mutual fund, the program will ask for a category.
    This can be either an industry category such as COMPUTERS or a fund cate-
    gory such as INCOME or GROWTH.  When applicable, the program will ask for
    a maturity date.  These data items can be used for portfolio analysis.




DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 6 OF 7

A = ADD (cont'd).
    When you ADD a stock to the catalog, and you specify daily or weekly updat-
    ing, the program will look in the data directory to see if a price history
    file already exists. If one does, you will be asked if you want to keep it.
    This feature allows you to copy price history files among different disk-
    ettes or different directories; you do that from DOS with the COPY command.

    If a price history file does not exist or you do not wish to keep an exist-
    ing one, the program will create a new file for you.  The latest date on
    that file will be the previous weekday for a daily file, or the previous
    Friday for a weekly file.  All dates are computed by the program automatic-
    ally, based on the DOS system date.  Later dates are added automatically as
    required; you need not ever type in a date!

    WARNING: The dates used for entry of volume and prices are computed by the
    program and depend on proper entry of the current date when you start up or
    re-set your computer.  If the correct date is not entered at startup, some
    IBM-PC or XT-compatible computers may set the current date to Jan. 1, 1980!
    This may not be a problem if your computer has a real-time clock.  But you
    should check it anyway, in case the clock battery runs down.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCK SELECT SCREEN                              PAGE 7 OF 7

D = DELETE the security identified by the selector block, and all of the cor-
    responding volume and price data. You can delete everything, or just delete
    the history files.  A deleted catalog entry cannot be restored (you will
    have to re-enter it).  Deleted history files cannot be restored (unless you
    have an "un-erase" program).

    To stop updating a price history file, but to keep it available for port-
    folio analysis, get into the View screen and change the number of days or
    weeks to zero.  You won't be able to display the historical data, but clos-
    ing prices will remain available for portfolio analysis.

    The name of a price history file (generated by the computer) is D or W,
    followed by the ticker symbol, followed by the extension .SMP.  For example
    a weekly file for Pfizer, Inc. will be named WPFE.SMP.

X or Esc = EXIT to the Master Menu.  Any data you may have typed in is saved to
    disk automatically.
