SIMPLIFYING YOUR ANALYSIS WITH WATCHLISTS F A C T S H E E T AUTHOR DARREN HAWKINS AUGUST 2015

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "SIMPLIFYING YOUR ANALYSIS WITH WATCHLISTS F A C T S H E E T AUTHOR DARREN HAWKINS AUGUST 2015"

Cecilia Short
5 years ago
Views:

1 SIMPLIFYING YOUR ANALYSIS WITH WATCHLISTS F A C T S H E E T AUTHOR DARREN HAWKINS AUGUST 2015

2 Introduction Managing a large portfolio of charts can be time-consuming and difficult to maintain. Watching clients struggle with a large universe of securities to monitor led us to create and enhance Watchlists in Market Analyst. The full power of Watchlists can be seen when combined with other features such as the scripting language, Symbol List, Page Layouts and Scanning Manager. Background A Watchlist is a list of codes such as those in your portfolio, a benchmark, on a backoffice server, or market scan results. A price chart of these codes can appear alongside the list and contain your analysis, even previous analysis when combined with a Chart Layout. The Watchlist can also be a table of statistics. Your Analysis Your Way The flexibility of Watchlists begins with the various ways they can be created. If you only have a few codes to keep an eye on, you can manually enter them under the New menu. But it is likely that your list will be longer. 2

Linking to a Symbol List By saving your list in either an Excel file or in comma-separated (.csv) text format, it can be imported via the Symbol List manager located under the File menu.

3 Linking to a Symbol List By saving your list in either an Excel file or in comma-separated (.csv) text format, it can be imported via the Symbol List manager located under the File menu. Additionally, if importing a portfolio, you can bring in your fund weightings and those of your benchmark: As the Watchlist by default is linked to the source file, although it can be unlinked if the Excel or.csv file is updated, these changes will be synced in the Watchlist automatically. If you have access to Bloomberg and are subscribed to Professional Services then it is also possible to automatically create and sync a Watchlist with your custom Bloomberg Portfolio, or the components of an index. Type the portfolio ID located on the PRTU screen or the index code (such as SX5E Index for the EuroStoxx 50 companies) in the Symbol List manager to import: 3

4 To add the components of the EuroStoxx 50, type the Bloomberg symbol then Add Index and open as a Watchlist: 4

5 Again, when importing a list directly from Bloomberg, the symbols in Market Analyst will be linked. Any changes made in the Bloomberg Portfolio or Index will automatically be revealed when the Watchlist is next opened in Market Analyst. Customising your Watchlist There are a number of standard Watchlist columns available by default (ticker, name, volume, % change, high, etc.). What takes the Watchlist to another level is the ability to create your own custom columns using the powerful scripting language. Contact us for the general overview paper on scripting. Depending on the script formula used, the custom columns can either show a True/False result (such as MA(BARS=50) IsUp to determine if a 50 period moving average is sloping up) or a value, as shown here in the 5 Day % change, daily RSI(14) and weekly 10 period ATR column. The Rank column is user-defined and can be added manually: Grouping your list When reading a list from Excel or.csv you may wish to add another column, such as an analyst s name or sector. When importing, Market Analyst will recognise the column heading and make this another Watchlist option, allowing the codes to be grouped. (If using Bloomberg, the GICS levels are automatically available from the code and do not need to be imported). 5

6 Note that the groups can be expanded or contracted by clicking the + or - buttons in the headers. Each group can be opened as charts, RRG, sector map etc from the Open List As icon in the group header. Summary information can also be calculated for each group column, such as count or average. In the example portfolio above, the Last column has been counted, and the Change % column averaged. So there were 10 energy companies with an average change of 0.57% and 6 in materials with an average of -1.07%. If grouping by a numerical column it is also possible to group them by decile, quartile, bin (specified number) or sign. Here is an example of a Watchlist grouped into P/E ratio deciles: 6

If using multiple columns, they can easily be sorted in any order by either holding the Ctrl key and clicking the column headings, or selecting the columns in the

viewed in your local currency. User-defined fields It is also possible to create user-defined fields in watchlists.

7 If using multiple columns, they can easily be sorted in any order by either holding the Ctrl key and clicking the column headings, or selecting the columns in the properties: If your Watchlist contains stocks from overseas exchanges, the data can be converted to a master currency in the properties so that all data can be viewed in your local currency. User-defined fields It is also possible to create user-defined fields in watchlists. For example, click the + to add a column and select New > User-Defined Field. This opens the External Data Field window allowing you to name and format the field. For example, here is a column called Price Paid: 7

Either the whole list or the separate groups can be opened in any number of formats, including RRGs, Market Intelligence charts, or one of your pre-saved Layouts containing existing

8 Once saved it is available to be added to a watchlist and the values manually typed into the cells. Using the DATAFIELD(FIELD=Price_Paid) function, the Pct Change Column can be calculated: Quickly access your charts Opening charts from a Watchlist is a couple of mouse clicks away. Either the whole list or the separate groups can be opened in any number of formats, including RRGs, Market Intelligence charts, or one of your pre-saved Layouts containing existing analysis. One more click of the mouse will set the auto-cycle in motion to scroll down the list, updating the charts on the screen as it goes. Following is an example of a Watchlist code opened with an existing Page Layout, showing tiled charts and favourite indicators: 8

Watchlists and the Scanning Manager Another time-saving feature that needs to be mentioned is the ability to combine the powerful Scanning Manager and Watchlists.

9 Watchlists and the Scanning Manager Another time-saving feature that needs to be mentioned is the ability to combine the powerful Scanning Manager and Watchlists. Let s say you run a scan each day on the S&P500 stocks to show which have closed above their 52 week high or below the 52 week low. You can open the scan results as a Watchlist (or a Page Layout with your custom columns and charts) and then save the workbook. As long as the Watchlist remains linked to the scanning file, every time you open the workbook the scan will run and your Watchlist will update dynamically without having to manually run the scan. 9

Summary Such is the flexibility and power of the Market Analyst Watchlists - particularly when combined with a Bloomberg datafeed - that we view it as the veritable hub of your analysis.

10 Summary Such is the flexibility and power of the Market Analyst Watchlists - particularly when combined with a Bloomberg datafeed - that we view it as the veritable hub of your analysis. This paper serves as an overview as to what can be achieved, but there is greater flexibility and multiple features to help speed up your workflow. Should you wish to see Market Analyst in more detail or arrange a demonstration, please let us know. 10

ONLINE ACCOUNT ACCESS: YOUR USER GUIDE. access to your portfolio anytime, anywhere

ONLINE ACCOUNT ACCESS: YOUR USER GUIDE access to your portfolio anytime, anywhere ONLINE ACCOUNT ACCESS: INTRODUCTION Richardson GMP Limited realizes the importance of having access to accurate and timely