Import ticker symbols

[ksangler]

We need the ability to quickly import multiple ticker symbols and download the historical graphs, then save the symbols with *.dat extension. While researching trades, it's important to be able to quickly import the ticker symbol after running stock screens. Manually entering 25 ticker symbols, then downloading an historical graph is very time consuming now. What do you think?

[Mark]

Hi ksangler,

Thanks for the idea/feedback. Yes, bulk ticker creation isn't easy through the user interface. A couple of suggestions for now:

1) Use the "New Portfolio Wizard". This makes it easier to enter in bulk.
2) Use the "File / Import / Transactions / Generic..." command to import/create all of these automatically for you from a text file (CSV or TXT).

[ksangler]

I'm not able to import symbols only based on your recommendation. I have a txt file of about 60 ticker symbols only separated by a comma. No other transaction information, so my file is of the format:
symb, symb, symb, symb.... and I get an error message that the format is illegal. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your support. I've always loved this software!

[Mark]

Hi ksangler,

You can't import in that format. If you don't have any data on these symbols, you can enter a fake price to get the investments created, and then retrieve prices to overwrite that fake price. Make your file look like this:

symb1,1
symb2,1
symb3,1
symb4,1
...

and then use "File / Import / Prices / Generic..." with these settings:

Specify Date: On, and use the most recent trading date
Specify Symbol: Off
Input Format: SYMB,NAV
Create New Investments Automatically: On

After the investments are created, retrieve prices and overwrite the fake $1 price.

[ksangler]

That worked! Thanks. It automatically created all the *.dat files and the ones that were duplicates were named symb1.dat vs. symb.dat, so I can easily see which ones I already had in my database.

I also like it, because the ticker symbol is inserted as the name so symb shows at the top of the graph.

That was another recommendation I was going to submit, to place the ticker symbol at the top of the graph along with the investment name. when researching stocks in yahoo or other sites, I have to click Edit>Investment properties just to see the ticker symbol.

Idea #3, is to add industry groups or sectors (up to 200) similar to Asset Type (I was using asset type as industry, but there's not enough fields with all the sectors.

Thanks

[Mark]

Hi ksangler,

Glad that worked out, and thanks for the feedback/ideas.