By now you should have downloaded the ProphetStation software and logged on for the first time. If you haven't, we recommend that you return to the Download page now.

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Topics:

• Backfill Chart - New Feature!
• Basic Tips
• Intraday Chart Settings
• Symbol Pop-Up Menu
• Changing the Contents of a Portfolio
• Customizing Portfolio Views
• Preferences

• Right-click a symbol for links to charts, news and research
  Detailed information about the contents of this menu is provided later in this document.
  
  
• Click the header of a column to sort its contents.
  To sort the data contained in any column, click on the header of the column to sort the data in ascending or descending order. For example, clicking on Volume sorts all the stocks by their volume in ascending order (A to Z); clicking it again sorts the list in descending (Z to A) order. The sort function allows you to view a variety of potent views, such as seeing the stocks that have moved the most (either in terms of percentage or dollars), the most active issues, and the stocks with the most volatility for the day.
  
  
• Double-click the symbol to view an intraday chart
  Double-clicking on any symbol will bring up an intraday chart that you can resize and position anywhere on your screen. Additionally, you can draw and edit lines on the intraday charts to aid you in detecting trends. You can have as little or as many charts on your screen at one time as you need.
  
  
• Track indices for major market moves
  The indices you have selected from the Preferences dialog are displayed at the top of the screen. Right-clicking on any index will show the intraday chart for that index.
  
  
• Automatic data updating
  In the upper-left corner of ProphetStation you can set the frequency that ProphetStation should fetch price data. It can be as often as every 3 seconds. Every time this amount of time has passed, ProphetStation will retrieve quotes for you, updating your list of stocks in all your portfolios, as well as their charts.
  
  
• WebUpdate
  With ProphetStation, updates to the software are handled automatically via the web. When there has been an upgrade to the Prophet Station software, you will be notified by the program and simply have to click "OK" to perform the upgrade. If you would like to check to see if there are any updates you might have missed, select Web Update under the Options menu to insure that you have the latest version.
  
  

When an intraday chart is displayed in ProphetStation, you can right-click on the chart to customize it. Features include:

• Chart Type
  Permits users the option of viewing the intraday chart in Line, Candlestick or OHLC format.
  
  
• Select Indicators
  Choosing Select Indicators brings up a new dialog box that allows you to select from a variety of indicators that will be applied to all your intraday charts; each indicator gets updated in real time with your charts.
  
  
• Hide indicators/Show Indicators
  Removes or shows the selected indicators from the intraday chart view.
  
  
• Hide Bottom Chart
  Hide the bottom chart removes the chart, which displays indicators and volume; this will instead say "Show Bottom Chart" if you have already selected to hide the chart.
  
  
• Hide Bid/Ask
  Hides the bid/ask bars on the price chart; this says "Show Bid/Ask" if it is already hidden. Showing the bid/ask is helpful for seeing the strength and spread of the market makers for a stock.
  
  
• Show All Day (or other time period)
  Allows you to zoom in on a short span of time displayed on an intraday chart (10 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, etc.), up to the entire day (default).
  
  
• Clear Chart
  Empties the day's contents from this chart.
  
  
• Sync All Charts
  Syncing applies the same visual parameters to all open intraday charts. For instance, if you like the size and parameters of a given chart, you can click on Sync All Charts to apply the same characteristics to the rest of your charts.
  
  
• Set as default
  To change settings for all charts, you can configure one chart with the settings you want all the charts to have (size, Indicators, time period, etc). Once you have it set to your preferences, right click on the chart and select Set as Default. All charts for symbols that do not already have saved settings for them will now show these settings.
  
  
• Reset to default
  If you bring up a chart that already has saved settings different from the new defaults, you can reset it to the new default settings by right clicking on the chart and selecting "Reset to Default".
  
  

Right-clicking on a symbol presents a menu of options for that given symbol.

• Open Intraday Chart
  Opens a graph, sketching the performance of that symbol for that day. Same as double-clicking a symbol; right-click on the chart to customize the view.
  
  
• Backfill Chart
  When you begin the ProphetStation program, it immediately begins fetching quotes from the Prophet data feed and building graphs based on those quotes. However, if you start the program late in the trading day, you will have already missed a portion of the data for the day, meaning your graphs will not be complete.

  You can remedy this problem with the Backfill function. There are two ways to use Backfill - either for individual stocks or for your entire portfolio.

  When you double-click on a stock from your portfolio, its graph will automatically backfill. In a couple of moments, the complete intraday graph will be presented to you. If you want to Backfill your entire list of stocks, you can choose Backfill All Stocks from the Portfolio menu. This will fetch the day's history for every stock, which is particularly useful if you watch the miniature charts in your portfolio list.

• Island Level II
  Displays market maker quotes from the Island Level II system. Viewing Multiple windows and streaming ISLAND support is available under the menu Options >Edit Preferences >Misc tab.
  
  
• See News
  Depending on which symbol you are right-clicking on, for example IBM, you will see a menu option that says News for IBM. Selecting this option will open a window containing all the different news stories for that symbol. On the left hand side, you will notice an additional list of symbols that you can choose to view news for.
  
  
• Historical Charts
  Gives you access to Prophet's SnapCharts system and enables you to view charts spanning as much as 5 years; a huge variety of indicators can be applied to these charts.
  
  
• Research
  Provides access to analyst research on the stock.
  
  
• Interactive Chart,
  Provides a Java-powered JavaChart for the visual analysis of trends and patterns. You can add trendlines, expand, zoom, and enlarge the chart to full screen.
  
  
• Select View
  Allows you to quickly interchange between views to see the different aspects of your portfolio.
  
  
• Resize Columns
  Instantly optimizes the column widths based on the content of each column. This is a very handy feature for tidying up the information in your portfolio.
  
  

Portfolios allow you to keep track of the progression of your selection of symbols. You can have many different portfolios in order to keep your selection of symbols organized. For instance, you might have one portfolio called Internet Stocks, another called Current Long Positions, and another called Large Cap Issues. The number, names, and contents of your portfolios is your choice.

The first time you use Prophet Station, there is only one portfolio, named Default Portfolio, with two stocks, INTC (Intel) and MSFT (Microsoft). You can delete this portfolio entirely, or simply add more stocks to it. To change any aspect of a portfolio, either:

(a) Click on the Portfolio icon near the top of the screen 

(b) Choose Edit Portfolios from the Portfolios menu

This displays a dialog box showing all your portfolios and the contents of the selected portfolio. You can click on any portfolio name in the upper half of the dialog box and see the contents of that portfolio in the lower half.

The Portfolio box's functions are as follows:



Add (in Portfolio section) [#1 in picture] - Click this button to create a new portfolio. A new portfolio is an empty shell in which you can build up a list of symbols. When you create a new portfolio, the symbol list beneath it will be blank, and its name will be New Portfolio. You should give it a descriptive name to help describe the kinds of symbols that will be in that portfolio.

Delete (in Portfolio section) [#2 in picture] - Clicking this deletes the selected portfolio from your list. ProphetStation will confirm you want to delete the selected portfolio, as doing so is permanent. All the symbols you have put into that portfolio will be deleted.

Name [#8 in picture] - This is where the name of the selected portfolio is displayed. You can also change the name of the portfolio here.

Sort [#3 in picture] - There are two icons displayed in the dialog box that are to be used for sorting. The left icon allows you to do an ascending sort (which is the normal "A to Z" sort); the icon on the right will sort in descending order (Z to A). This is an easy way to organize the symbols in your portfolio editor.

Add [#4 in picture] - To add a symbol to a portfolio, click this button. A new space will be inserted in the symbol list, and you can enter any stock symbol. If you are unsure of the symbol, click the magnifying glass icon to look up a symbol. If you have a position in this stock, you can enter the number of shares you bought and the price paid.

Delete [#5 in picture] - Clicking this button deletes the chosen symbol from the list of symbols in a given portfolio.

Save Changes [#6 in picture] - When you are through making changes to your portfolios, click this button to save your changes.

OK [#7 in picture] - If you want to return to the program, click the OK button; ProphetStation will verify whether or not you want to keep the changes you made to your portfolios

When ProphetStation displays information about your symbols, it resembles a spreadsheet - the symbols in your portfolio are in the leftmost column, and information about each of those symbols is in subsequent columns to the right.

Choosing the items that will be displayed is called Creating a View. There are many different types of information you can view in regards to a symbol, such as its bid price, ask price, volume for the day, 52 week high and low, a miniature intraday chart, and so on. No screen is wide enough to accommodate all the possible information, so you need to select what information is important to you.

When you first start the program, the Default View is chosen, for simplicity you can leave this as is. Or, you can alter this view or create new kinds of views to suit your taste. You might want a view that focuses on fundamental information, another view with just the bid and ask prices (for a very minimalist view of the market), or a view that has the key price information, including the price range, for the day.

To alter or add a view, follow these steps:

1. Choose Edit Views from the View menu located at the menu bar across the top of the screen. A dialog box will appear that shows all the information you need to create, delete, or alter views.
   
   
2. At the top, next to the words Custom View, is the list of possible views. When you select a view from this list, the contents and arrangement for that view are displayed in the right column. The unused fields are shown in the left column.
   
   
3. To move a field from one column to another, double-click the field name you wish to move. Or click on the item and then click the left or right arrow between the columns.
   
   
4. To change the order of fields in a view, click the field name and use the up and down arrows to rearrange your layout.
   
   

Here are the components of the dialog box you can use:

1. > (right arrow) [#1 in picture] - This moves an information field from Available Columns (where it is not being used) into Columns to View. The selected view will now display this column.
   
   
2. < (left arrow) [#2 in picture] - This moves an information field out of Columns to View and into Available Columns, which means it will no longer be included with the currently selected view.
   
   
3. ^ (up arrow) [#3 in picture] - You may want to organize the order that the fields of information are displayed. If you select one of the fields in Columns to View and click this button, it will move the field higher up, which means it will be displayed farther to the left in your portfolio view.
   
   
4. v (down arrow) [#4 in picture] - If you select one of the fields in Columns to View and click this button, it will move the field lower down, which means it will be displayed farther to the right in your portfolio view.
   
   
5. New View [#5 in picture] - To create a new view, click this button. Next give the view a meaningful name (such as "Simple View" or "Prices and Charts"). You can then start selecting what fields you want included with this view.
   
   
6. OK [#6 in picture] - When you are through modifying your Views, click OK to save them. If you don't want to save any changes, click Cancel instead.
   
   
7. Available Columns [#7 in picture] - List of field names not used in the currently selected view.
   
   
8. Columns to View [#8 in picture] - List of field names in the order to be shown in the selected view.
   
   

You can further customize ProphetStation via the Preferences dialog box. From the Options menu, choose Edit Preferences. Click on any of the tabs at the top of the dialog box lets you view these specific parts:

Connection: The main purpose of this portion is to enter your user name and password. Click the Save Password checkbox so you don't have to enter this information every time.

Fonts: You can change the size, style, and type of font used to display your portfolios here. Changing this can make your screen easier to read or hold more information.

Charts: You can alter the default appearance of the intraday charts - their background, colors, and so on. These changes will apply to all intraday charts.

News: This is where you decide what news source you prefer to use from the web.

Indices: ProphetStation offers dozens of indices you can track. Select your Quote Source site (CBS MarketWatch or Yahoo) and select the indices you want to see. A check mark will appear indicating which indices you have chosen.

Timing: You can now set up timing offsets in order to be able to watch stocks using your local time (instead of US Eastern time). You will find two settings there:

1. Rollover Point - This specifies the time when ProphetStation will clear out the previous day's data every day (midnight US Eastern time by default). Change this to your choice. It is best to set it to reset somewhere between midnight and Market Open in your time zone.
   
   
2. Time Offset - This lets you specify the time offset for all displayed times in ProphetStation. For example, if you are in Australia and want local time displayed, you would most likely set it to be +14 since your time zone is 14 hours ahead of US Eastern Time. If you are in US California, you can set it to be -3.
   
   

Misc: A variety of "fine tuning" options in the program, including how you want ProphetStation to alert you about a price trigger, quote prices displayed in fraction or decimals, and the selection of all your portfolio's updating with every refresh interval.