



       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)





                                 Table Of Contents




           Introduction                                           3
               Requirements to use Personal Ticker Tape           3
               Personal Ticker Tape Features                      5
               About the TRIAL period                             6
               Description of PTT Features                        7
                   Translation of Ticker Symbols                  8
                   Overview of PTT Processing                    10
           Personal Ticker Tape Installation and Setup           11
               Extracting the PTT program files                  11
               Setting up PTT for use with your system           11
                   Setup Your Data Directories                   11
                   Raw Quote Input File                          12
                   Formatted ASCII File                          13
                   ASCII Format Type                             13
                   Notify of Possible Splits                     13
                   Prompt for Missing Symbols                    14
                   Reverify Data Files                           14
                   Rebuild Symbol Index                          15
                   Maximum LookBack Period                       15
                   Maximum Number of Ticker Symbols              15
                   Append to Log File                            16
               Specifying Modem Parameters                       16
                   Communications Port                           17
                   Pulse or Tone                                 17
                   Carrier Detect (CD)                           17
                   Data Set Ready (DSR)                          17
                   Modem Initialization Commands                 18
               Setting up for Downloading                        18
               Downloading Quotes                                19
           PTT Operation                                         20
               Command Line Options for PTT                      21
                   The -f option                                 21
                   The -a option                                 21
                   The -D option                                 21
                   The -Q option                                 22
                   The -u option                                 22
                   The -x option                                 22
                   The -m option                                 22
                   The -RY and -RN options                       22
                   The -M option to look for Missing Updates     22
                   Specifying the Raw Quote Input File           23
                   An Few Examples                               23
               Creating Reports of Current Price/Volume Activity 24
                   "Formatted" ASCII Data                        24
                   Prodigy Market Close Information              26



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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   PRODIGY "&" Symbols                           28
               Description of PTTSYM files                       29
               Raw Quote Conversion Notes                        29
                   Dow Jones News Service Quotes                 30
                   Converting DOW JONES HISTORICAL QUOTES (//HQ) 30
                   Converting DOW JONES AVERAGES (//DJA)         30
                   Converting DOW JONES //TRADELINE quotes       31
                   GEnie quotes (Daily and Historical)           31
                   CompuServe Quick and Basic Quotes             32
                   CompuServe Information Manager quotes         33
               Additional PTT Usage Notes                        34
               How to create Metastock Format files              35
               PTT Restrictions                                  35
           Support for Personal Ticker Tape                      35
               How to Get Help                                   35
               PTT BBS Operation                                 35
               SAMPLE PTT SUMMARY REPORT                         36








































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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                                    Introduction


                     Personal Ticker Tape, PTT, is a software program
                     designed to assist you, the investor, in maintaining
                     current security data. PTT has many features which you
                     should find useful in the daily process of obtaining
                     security quotes and updating historical data files.

                     PTT updates the following types of historical data
                     files:

                     - MetaStock (1)
                     - MegaTech or ChartPro (.PRO format files)

                     PTT has a downloading feature to access quote services
                     from the

                     - Compuserve Information Service "Basic" Area.
                     - GEnie Closing Quotes service
                     - Other services to be added in a future release


                     PTT can also process downloaded data from several major
                     on line services.

                     PTT generates "color coded" daily update screens,
                     highlighting symbols whose volume and/or price has
                     changed by percentage amounts that you specify.  In
                     addition, PTT generates a file containing a summary
                     report for all symbols processed. This file is named
                     "PTT.RPT" and is placed in the current directory.

       Requirements to use Personal Ticker Tape

                     Personal Ticker Tape requires an

                        -  IBM PC or Compatible with 640K of Memory


                     Optional hardware

                        -  Hard Disk
                        -  Extended Memory with an EMS Driver Loaded
                        -  Mouse
                        -  Hayes-compatible Modem

                     Software Required:

                        -  DOS 3.3 or later
       ____________________
       1 MetaStock is a trademark of Equis International
       MegaTech is a program produced by Ret-Tech



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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)



                     Optional Software:

                        -  Metastock format data files
                                or
                        -  ChartPro format data files
                        -  Expanded Memory Driver (QEMM, 386MAX, etc)

           What You  FlexSoft can provide you with another program, called
       Will Need to  PDL, to get the quotes from Prodigy. PDL is a program to
            Use PTT  download Prodigy (2) Quote Track data into a file. Using
                     QUOTE TRACK, PDL  can retrieve a maximum of 4000 quotes
                     in each session.































       ____________________
       2 Dow Jones News Retrieval is an information data service provided by
       Dow Jones and Co. ]
       GEnie is an information data service provided by General Electric Co.
       CompuServe is an information service provided by Compuserve Inc
       Prodigy is a registered service mark and trademark of
       Prodigy Services Company





       (May 2, 1993)                                                  Page 4






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       Personal Ticker Tape Features

                      1)  Automatically builds the list of stocks to be
                          downloaded in order to update your databases on a
                          daily basis.
                      2)  Extracts quote data from many captured quote files,
                          such as Prodigy, Compuserve, GEnie, Dow Jones and
                          other sources you can define yourself. PTT applies
                          extensive checking to each line of the print image
                          file to ensure that only stock/bond/fund quote data
                          is extracted.
                      3)  Translates Ticker Symbols from the data vendor's
                          symbol format to your own version of the Ticker
                          Symbol.
                      4)  Registered version notifies you of potential stock
                          splits while updating and can create a report of
                          securities not updated.
                      5)  Ignores non-quote lines in the print image file,
                          allowing you to use the same file for saving
                          printed mail, screen images, etc.
                      6)  Fixes up the dates of the quotes so that they are
                          on the correct business day, no matter which day
                          you download them. This allows quotes to be
                          retrieved on weekends or early in the morning
                          before the market opens.
                      7)  Allows multiple quotes for the same stock to be in
                          the print image file. This allows you to accumulate
                          quotes in a file as long as you want without making
                          you create a new file daily.
                      8)  Optionally creates an ASCII formatted quote file
                          suitable for input to a spreadsheet program.
                      9)  Replaces and enhances the updating functions of
                          QUOTREAD (Chartpro utility) and MSU (Metastock
                          Utility). Duplicate dates are not allowed in the
                          data file.
                      10) Allows the creation of a new data file when a
                          symbol is added for the first time.
                      11) Easy to use installation and customization. Online
                          HELP while customizing PTT.
                      12) Fast Indexed symbol lookup via auxiliary files for
                          FASTER file access.
















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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       About the TRIAL period

                     If you are evaluating PTT, you are allowed to use the
                     program for 3 weeks. It will give you an opportunity to
                     try the program in a somewhat limited fashion(3).

                     When you run PTT, you will see the date on which the
                     trial period ends.  After that date, you will be
                     reminded to register your copy of the program. This
                     reminder occurs as you are updating your data files. In
                     addition, as a trial user, you can only update one data
                     directory at a time rather than 20.

                     You are allowed to copy and distribute the ENTIRE and
                     UNALTERED package freely. It may be uploaded to bulletin
                     boards or given to others, as long as the registration
                     information is not transferred.

                     If you believe that the registration amount is
                     appropriate for the usefulness of this program and its
                     features to you, print the file REGISTER.DOC which came
                     with this program and follow the instructions for
                     registering the program.

        Disclaimer.  The author assumes no responsibility for any damages
                     caused by the use or misuse of this product.  This
                     product is distributed "as is" with no warranty
                     expressed or implied. The author will not be responsible
                     for any losses incurred, either directly or indirectly,
                     by the use of this product. The author reserves the
                     right to make modifications at any time.  Prices are
                     subject to change without notice. FlexSoft makes no
                     warranty for continued use of this program or
                     maintainance of compatibility with any of the data
                     services and formats supported.

       Registration  You may not divulge or redistribute your registration
       Code Secrecy  code , nor may you transfer it to anyone else.

                     If you divulge or publish your registration code to an
                     unregistered party, or parties, that registration code
                     will be invalidated and your code will not work for
                     future upgrades to PTT or any other FlexSoft product
                     until a new code is obtained at the full price for the
                     product whose code was compromised.





       ____________________
       3 The unregistered PTT will allow only 1 data directory, and cannot be
       run from a batch file. The unregistered PTT download feature allows
       only 40 ticker symbols to be downloaded from a data service.



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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       Description of PTT Features

          Downloads  Personal Ticker Tape can download quotes directly from
         Compuserve  the Compuserve Basic Quote area. There is no limit to
       Basic Quotes  the number of quotes you can obtain from this source.
                     The advantage over other sources is that the Compuserve
                     Basic Quote area is accessible for $7.95/mo with no
                     connect charges.

        Translation  PTT reads and automatically determines the type and
             of Raw  format of a file containing the printed output from any
        Quotes from  of the source shown below. A file containing quotes from
            Various  any of these sources is referred to as a RAW QUOTE INPUT
            Sources  FILE.

                     + PRODIGY QUOTE TRACK or QUOTE CHECK
                     + PRODIGY & Symbols for Market Indices
                     + Many PRODIGY "Market Close" Indicators
                     + DOW JONES(*) HISTORICAL QUOTES
                     + DOW JONES //TRADELINE Pricing History
                     + GEnie(*) Daily Quotes
                     + CompuServe Quick Quotes (QQUOTE)
                     + CompuServe Basic Quotes (BASICQUOTE)

                     PTT then extracts stock quotes from the file.  These
                     quotes are written to a "FORMATTED ASCII" file that can
                     then be imported into a spreadsheet or loaded directly
                     into your data base.

                     The 'FORMATTED ASCII' file which PTT creates can have
                     multiple quote formats. See the description below for
                     the various format types.

                     PTT has a Setup Menu interface which allows you to set
                     processing parameters for the historical data file
                     update function.

                     When PTT is installed and run the first time, it creates
                     a pair of "index" and "summary" files which are used to
                     lookup the data files much more rapidly on subsequent
                     runs of PTT.  These files allow PTT to go directly to
                     the data file without scanning the directory index.

                     The registered version of PTT allows you to update up to
                     50 Metastock data directories at one time.












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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Translation of Ticker Symbols

        Please take  Because the various data vendors have different symbol
        the time to  conventions, especially for securities other than common
         read this!  stock and mutual funds, switching from one vendor to
                     another can cause problems.

                     For example, suppose that you have SP-500 as the symbol
                     in your data files. The SP-500 quote on Compuserve is
                     obtained by asking for "SP 500", while on Dow Jones
                     //TRADELINE, it is "SPX.I". Since PTT obtains the list
                     of ticker symbols which it should download from your
                     data directory's ticker symbol, if it were to attempt to
                     download "SP-500" from Compuserve, the symbol would not
                     be found. And, even if you had downloaded the quotes by
                     some other method, the Compuserve "SP 500" would not
                     match your data directory's "SP-500" symbol, so it would
                     be treated as a new symbol.

                     One solution to this problem is to have a set of
                     "translate" files for each data vendor. So, for
                     Compuserve, you would translate the data directory
                     symbol "SP-500" to "SP 500" before requesting the quote
                     from Compuserve, then when the quote was processed by
                     the update, you would translate "SP 500" to "SP-500" in
                     order to locate the ticker file in your data base.

                     PTT has this facility to translate based on this
                     translate list. For each vendor, you create a file that
                     contains the translation rules to translate that
                     vendor's ticker symbols to your data directory symbols.
                     The names of the translate files indicate which data
                     vendor the translation is provided for. These files are
                     named as follows:

                       PRODIGY.XLT   for PRODIGY downloaded data
                       GENIE.XLT     for GEnie downloaded data
                       CIS.XLT       for Compuserve downloaded data
                       DOWJONES.XLT  for Dow Jones downloaded data

                     The contents of each of these files is a list of lines,
                     where each line contains the following:

                           data_dir_symbol = service_symbol

                     For example, if you have BP% (British Petroleum 93
                     Warrants) in your data directory symbol, and you know
                     that issue has a symbol of "BP/WS" on Compuserve, you
                     would put the following line into your CIS.XLT:

                           BP%=BP/WS






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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                     and, if you wanted to translate "SP-500" in your data to
                     "SP 500" quote request on Compuserve, you would add the
                     line:

                           SP-500=SP 500

                     to your CIS.XLT file.


















































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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Overview of PTT Processing

                     The diagram below presents an overview of the processing
                     which takes place during the various phases of Personal
                     Ticker Tape's execution.

                                                    Using PTT or your own
                                                   communications program,
                             PTT DownLoad         download daily quotes to a
                             or User Comm              "Raw Quote" file
                                Program

                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
                                                  The "Raw Quote" file is an
                            Raw Quote Input      unformatted file exactly as
                                 File              it is retrieved from the
                                                         data vendor.
                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
                                                  PTT now scans and extracts
                            PTT Processing        the quote fields from the
                          Convert from Raw to    vendor's format, and creates
                               Formatted           a "Formatted ASCII" file
                                                 according to the format you
                                   |                       specify.
                                   |
                                   |
                                                 This "Formatted ASCII" file
                            Formatted ASCII         is used by PTT when it
                                 File            updates, and it can also be
                             "PTTASC.PRN"         used by your own programs,
                                                   especially spreadsheets.
                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
                                                   PTT reads the formatted
                            PTT Processing        quote file, locating each
                           Update Data Base        security symbol in your
                            from Formatted         historical data base and
                              ASCII File                updating each.

                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
                                                 Finally, the result of this
                            Updated History        process is a completely
                               Data Base           updated historical data
                                                            base.






       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 10






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                    Personal Ticker Tape Installation and Setup


       Extracting the PTT program files

                     Personal Ticker Tape should be installed in its own
                     directory. For consistency, it is recommended that it be
                     installed in the \PTT directory. If you received PTT
                     from FlexSoft on an installation disk, follow the
                     instructions that come with the disk.

                     If you have downloaded PTT from a bulletin board or
                     other source, it may be in either self-extracting format
                     (with a suffix .EXE) or it may be in another compression
                     format. In the first case, simply make a directory for
                     PTT, copy the PTT*.EXE file into the directory and then
                     type PTT*.EXE (where * is the a number indicating the
                     PTT release and version number).

                     If you received PTT in some other format other than an
                     .EXE file, you should follow the instructions that come
                     with the file compression utility (e.g., PKZIP and
                     PKUNZIP).

       Setting up PTT for use with your system

                     Once PTT's program files are extracted, you need to
                     customize PTT for your configuration. Type the command

                                                PTT

                     to invoke the program. You will be asked to enter your
                     registration code and name at this point. If you have
                     registered the program, enter the number provided to you
                     when you registered. If not, simply fill in your name
                     and hit ENTER until you are brought to the Main Menu.

                     The Main Menu of PTT is a single line across the top of
                     the screen which shows you what your options are. Choose
                     the Setup option by moving the cursor to that item and
                     hitting ENTER.


                   Setup Your Data Directories

                     Choose the Data Directories option. If you have
                     registered the program, you will be presented with room
                     to insert up to 20 directories.

                     If you are evaluating PTT, you will only see room for
                     one directory.





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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       Specify your  Enter the full path to your Metastock or ChartPro format
         historical  directories in each entry field.
        data format
                     Next to each directory name entry area is an entry field
                     where you tell PTT which kind of historical dataIf you
                     have Metastock data, choose the "MSP" option, and if you
                     have ChartPro data format, choose the "PRO" format
                     option.

                     Once done, hit CTRL-ENTER to save the entries.

                For  Since PTT opens all of the directories at the time it
          Metastock  begins the update, as well as several other files, you
         Users Only  may have to modify your  CONFIG.SYS to increase the
                     setting of FILES= parameter by the number of DATA
                     Directories you define plus about five.  For example, if
                     your CONFIG.SYS setting for FILES= is FILES=20 and you
                     have 20 DATA directories, you might have to change the
                     number to

                       FILES=45         (This is 20 for the original plus 25)




        Now specify  Then, go to the Update Options menu item and fill in the
         the Update  entry fields in that panel. See the discussion of the
            Options  Formatted ASCII file (page 24), Raw Quote Files (page
                     7), and other terms used by PTT for information on how
                     to set these values.

                     If you need help on any of the fields of this screen,
                     hit the F1 function key while your cursor is positioned
                     in the field. The PTT.HLP file contains descriptions of
                     of the usage and meaning of each field.


                   Raw Quote Input File

                     Raw Quote Input File is the name of the downloaded file
                     from Prodigy, Compuserve, GEnie or Dow Jones News
                     Service. This file is "raw", in that it looks just like
                     the terminal session you had with that service.

                     If you have PDL, the normal name for this file is
                     "\PDL\PDL.OUT".











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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Formatted ASCII File

                     The Formatted ASCII file name is where PTT will place
                     the "formatted" quotes. The default name for this file
                     is PTTASC.PRN. This file is the one that contains the
                     "comma delimited" records formatted according to the
                     "ASCII Format Type" shown below.


                   ASCII Format Type

                     This is a coded number that corresponds to various
                     combinations of symbol, date, high, low, close, volume,
                     open, and open interest orders in the Formatted ASCII
                     file. The code of "1" will provide all the data items
                     above. Other combinations specify different formats for
                     the date field, and order of data field, i.e., whether
                     to put quotes around the symbol name and date..hit F1 on
                     this field to see the explanation.


                   Notify of Possible Splits

                     If you want PTT to notify you of possible stock splits
                     while it is updating, specify 'Y' in this entry.
                     Otherwise specify 'N'. Look in the PTT.LOG file for the
                     suggested split ratios.






























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       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Prompt for Missing Symbols

                     If you have ChartPro/Megatech, setting this to "Y" will
                     cause PTT to AUTOMATICALLY add the .PRO file for any
                     symbol it encounters for which a data file does not
                     exist. If you specify "N" for this field, PTT will skip
                     the missing symbols and not add them to the database.

                     For Metastock Users, the situation is somewhat more
                     complex: If you want PTT to stop when it encounters a
                     symbol in the ASCII file which is NOT in the MetaStock
                     data base, specify 'Y' in this entry.  By doing so, PTT
                     will allow you to enter the COMPANY NAME associated with
                     the symbol.  PTT will then ADD the symbol and the quotes
                     to the MetaStock data base.

                     If you decide to start following a stock, fund or bond,
                     say AAPL, and you haven't added the security to
                     MetaStock yet; then when PTT comes across a new symbol,
                     it will ask you for the "full company name" of the
                     symbol and add it to the data base for you.  Be sure you
                     have enough room left in your data base, however.  You
                     can only have 255 data files per MetaStock
                     datadirectory.  Occasionally you should run MSSORT to
                     drop any old ones.

                     As just described, PTT will stop and ask you to input a
                     company symbol if it encounters a symbol not contained
                     in the METASTOCK MASTER file.  If you are gathering
                     quotes into one file and updating more than one
                     MetaStock MASTER file, this could be a real hassle.

                     If you run one file past 2 or more MetaStock data bases,
                     only the symbols that are in a data base will be
                     updated.  This means you'll have to use the more
                     traditional method of adding stocks to your MetaStock
                     data base, i.e., you'll have to do it through MetaStock.


                   Reverify Data Files

                     Leave this setting set to "N" unless you have reason to
                     believe that there are duplicate dates or dates out of
                     order in your data files. If you set this to "Y", PTT
                     will read the entire historical data file, sort the
                     quotes by date and rewrite the file, dropping any
                     duplicates or quotes with invalid high,low,close
                     relationships.









       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 14






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Rebuild Symbol Index

                     When you first install PTT, or whenever you add or move
                     a historical data file that you want PTT to update, you
                     should set this parameter to "Y" to cause PTT to
                     "Reverify/Rebuild" its symbol lookup files (PTTSYM.IX
                     and PTTSYM.DB). If you do not change your data directory
                     contents by moving or adding symbols or changing the
                     order of the directories from one run of PTT to another,
                     then this parameter can be set to "N" to speed up the
                     updating and reporting functions.


                   Maximum LookBack Period

                     This value is the maximum number of quotes in the past
                     that PTT will access when computing the volume and price
                     averages and new high, new low figures. To enhance PTT
                     performance,  you can set this value to a lower number.
                     By default, the number set is 260 days, providing a
                     comparison of the last year of daily data.

                     If this value is set too large, PTT may reduce it to
                     some value that it can accomodate in the memory
                     available.

                     If this value is set too low, you may not be able to add
                     an imported historical data file containing more quotes
                     than the lookback period.


                   Maximum Number of Ticker Symbols

                     Specify the maximum number of ticker symbols that you
                     will want have in all your data directories. This number
                     is used to build the PTTSYM.IX and PTTSYM.DB speedup
                     index so that PTT can find any symbol, in any directory,
                     in the shortest time possible.
                     If you make this number too small, PTT will crash when
                     it encounters more than the number of symbols in all
                     your data directories.
                     Note that changing this value requires you to delete the
                     PTTSYM.* files before using PTT again. In addition, PTT
                     will need to recompute the high, low and averages for
                     each symbol. The specification of this value consumes
                     the following amount of disk space:

                       11 * 4 * max_symbols +
                           44 * number of symbols actually updated

                     For 300 symbols, this would be

                       11 * 4 * 300  = 13200 +
                       300 * 44      = 13200



       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 15






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                                     = 26400 bytes

                   Append to Log File

                     PTT keeps a "log" file where it places status and error
                     messages that may occur during the process of converting
                     and updating your data. If you specify "Y" to this
                     setting, PTT will add the messages to the end of the
                     file each time it runs. If you specify "N" to this
                     setting, PTT will erase and restart the file from the
                     beginning each time it runs. The name of this file is
                     "PTT.LOG".

                     The author uses the following setup on this page:

       +--------------Setup Process/Update Options-------------------------+
       | Raw Quote Input File        C:\PDL\PDL.OUT                        |
       |                                                                   |
       | Formatted ASCII File?       PTTASC.PRN                            |
       |                                                                   |
       | ASCII Format Type?  1 Average Volume Calculations # of Days?  1   |
       |                            Flag Changes in Volume above?     50   |
       | Notify of Possible Splits  Y         and in Price above?     10   |
       |                         Maximum Number of Ticker Symbols   1000   |
       |                                  Maximum Lookback Period    260   |
       | Prompt for Missing Symbols  N          Append to Log File?  Y     |
       |                                                                   |
       | Reverify Data Files?        N                                     |
       | Rebuild Symbol Index?       Y                                     |
       --------------------------------------------------------------------




       Specifying Modem Parameters

                     If you plan to use PTT to download directly from a data
                     service (such as Compuserve or GEnie) you will need to
                     fill in the Modem Setup screen shown below. This is
                     where you specify the serial communication port, and
                     other parameters shown below in order to use PTT to
                     download.

       +----------------------Modem and Phone Type-----------------------+
       |                                                                 |
       |  Communications Port      1                                     |
       |                                                                 |
       |  Pulse or Tone (P or T)   T                                     |
       |                                                                 |
       |  Modem Supports CD?       Y  DSR?   Y                           |
       |                                                                 |
       |       Modem Initialization Commands (without AT prefix)         |
       |  Z^ME1Q0X1V1^M&C1&D1                                            |
       |                                                                 |



       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 16






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       |          Hit the F1 Function Key for Help on each field         |
       +-----------------------------------------------------------------+



                   Communications Port

                     Choose the Modem Port menu item and fill in the number
                     which corresponds to the serial port number to which
                     your modem is attached. You can place the modem on any
                     port from 1 to 4.

                     PTT only operates with "Hayes compatible" modems. It
                     works with MNP, V.32, V.32bis and V.42 modems, but it is
                     necessary that the command set for the modem comply to
                     the minimal Hayes standards. This is generally the case
                     with most modems purchased in the last few years.


                   Pulse or Tone

                     If your telephone system uses Tone Dialing, enter a "T".
                     Otherwise, enter "P" for Pulse Dialing. Tone dialing
                     sounds like a series of tones when you dial rather than
                     a ratatat sound of a "pulsed" dial.


                   Carrier Detect (CD)

                     If your modem is set to report the presence of a
                     "carrier signal" when there is an online connection,
                     specify "Y" here. The CD signal is the only way that PTT
                     can tell if the session is still connected. Most modems
                     can be set to report the presence of CD. Consult your
                     modem manual if you don't know how to do it. In general,
                     the modem command "&C1" is used to enable this feature.


                   Data Set Ready (DSR)

                     If your modem can report DSR, then PTT can test if the
                     modem is plugged in and available. If you specify "Y"
                     here, PTT will attempt to test the modem's presence
                     before starting to send commands to it. If you receive a
                     message indicating the "modem port is not valid", it is
                     possible that your modem is not sending DSR in to your
                     computer. If this occurs, set the DSR setting above to
                     "N".









       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 17






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Modem Initialization Commands

                     Most modems and programs require some special "commands"
                     in order to work together. Since PTT can be used with
                     many different modems that do not share identical
                     command sets, it is up to you to customize the modem so
                     that it can be used with PTT.

                     The Modem Initialization string is not normally needed,
                     but if you encounter problems connecting, you might need
                     to set some modem parameters, and this would be the
                     place to do it. Do not include the "AT" command prefix
                     in this area, since that is automatically inserted by
                     PTT when it issues this command.

                     PTT expects the settings shown below. The items shown
                     before the explanations are the "usual" modem commands
                     for the option.

                      V1  Verbose return codes
                      Q0  Report return codes after each command
                      E1  Echo Commands
                      X1  Report Connect message only
                      &C1 Data Carrier Detect (DCD) shows true state of the
                          remote carrier signal
                      &D2 Data Terminal Ready (DTR) should reset modem if
                          dropped

                     An example of a modem initialization string that should
                     work for many modems is the following:

                       Z^MV1E1X1Q0^M&C1&D2


       Setting up for Downloading

                     Once you have told PTT where your data files are and how
                     you want to update them, you need to specify some
                     information necessary for communicating with the data
                     vendor (Compuserve or GEnie at this time).  Choose the
                     vendor (Compuserve or GEnie) Setup option.

                     Here you will be asked for your userid, password, access
                     number and connect speed. Consult your service
                     documentation for the correct userid and password. You
                     need to fill in the phone number which is to be dialed
                     to connect to the service.

                     Save your settings by hitting CTRL-ENTER.








       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 18






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

            Special  Before using PTT to download quotes from Compuserve,
       Requirements  make sure that your Compuserve TERMINAL setting
                for  specifies "Other" as the terminal type. To verify this,
         Compuserve  log on to Compuserve, GO TERMINAL, and look at your
             Access  Session Settings. If you have any other setting, PTT
                     will show some "strange" character sequences at the
                     bottom of the page whenever Compuserve tries to clear
                     the screen. This will cause PTT to wait, since it won't
                     recognize this sequence.

                     In addition, you should set the PAGED DISPLAY setting to
                     "NO" to prevent PTT from having to wait every 24 lines
                     during quote downloading.

            Special  In order to download from GEnie, you must set up your
       Requirements  GEnie User Settings correctly. Prior to running PTT for
          for GEnie  the first time, log on to GEnie using some manual
             Access  procedure. Type "SET" to go to the User Settings section
                     of GEnie. Choose the item "Review/Update User Settings".
                     Then, you will be presented with a menu entitled
                     "Terminal Settings". You should have Terminal Type set
                     to 6, Page Width set to 80, and Page Length set to 0.
                     Any other settings for Page Length cause GEnie to prompt
                     for a Carriage Return in the midst of the download.

       Downloading Quotes

                     You can download quotes to the file or directory you
                     specified in the Update Settings as the Raw Quote Input
                     File. Choose the Download Menu item and move to the
                     service name from which you wish to download. Hit ENTER
                     on that service.

                     PTT now reads each of the data directories you specified
                     in the Setup Data Directories menu and creates a list of
                     quotes to download based on the type of service you are
                     accessing.

                     For a daily quote service, PTT builds a quote request
                     for each symbol, unless that symbol has not been found
                     on a prior download (these symbols are found in the file
                     NOQUOTE.???, where "???" is the service name4).

                     After reading all the ticker symbols in your data
                     directories, PTT will read an additional file named
                     "TICKER.IN" for any new quotes you wish to download.
                     This file should contain a ticker symbol on each line.
                     For example, if you want to start accumulating quotes
                     for IBM and AMH, you would create the 'TICKER.IN' file
                     with the two lines below:

       ____________________
       4 Service extensions to file names are "CIS" for Compuserve, "GEN" for
       GEnie.



       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 19






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                       IBM
                       AMH

                     The ticker symbols must begin in the first position of
                     the line and there should not be anything following the
                     ticker symbol.

                     If you have specified a "translate file" (see the
                     section on "Translation of Ticker Symbols"), PTT will,
                     at this point, translate your ticker symbols to those
                     required by the data vendor.



        To stop the  PTT will now log on to the service, request the quotes
          download,  and place them in the file. To stop the download while
        hit the ESC  it is running, hit the ESC key once to cause PTT to log
                key  off the data service.

         If a quote  Once the quotes are downloaded, you should run an Update
         should not  Data command from the Main Menu.
          be in the
        NOQUOTE.SYM  Any symbol not found on the data service will be placed
              file,  in a file "NOQUOTE.SYM" which will be used in the first
          remove it  step (above) to avoid asking for that symbol again. This
        with a text  prevents the needless asking for quotes that do not
            editor.  match those on the service.

                     If you have a symbol in your ticker file that does not
                     match the symbol on the data service, you need to either
                     change your historical data file's ticker symbol, or add
                     that symbol to the vendor.XLT translate file.

        Determining  Specifying the file name to which PTT is to download can
           the file  be done in several ways
       name for the
           download
                      1)  Specify a specific name in the RAW QUOTE FILE name.
                      2)  Specify a directory name in the RAW QUOTE FILE
                          name. If you specify a directory name, PTT will
                          download to a file name created in the form
                          'YYMMDD.svc' where 'YYMMDD' is the current date
                          according to your system clock, and 'svc' is
                               'GEN' for GEnie
                               'CIS' for Compuserve.
                      3)  Specify a file or directory name on the PTT command
                          line as the last argument



                                   PTT Operation





       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 20






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       Command Line Options for PTT

       Command Line  Personal Ticker Tape is meant to be run from the DOS
         parameters  command line rather than interactively. In order to do
           are Case  this, it has numerous command line options that can set
          Sensitive  and control the PTT processing run.
       (meaning you
       must specify  The following section will cover the major useful
          upper and  command line options that would be used on a day-to-day
         lower case  basis.
       where shown)

                   The -f option

                     The "-f " option allows you to set the ASCII Format Type
                     from the command line. The parameter following the "-f "
                     should be one of the formats listed in the Setup Update
                     Options panel.


                   The -a option

                     The "-a " option tells PTT that the file (or file list)
                     following this "-a " contains Formatted ASCII files in
                     the format specified by the current ASCII Format Type
                     setting. You can use DOS type "wildcards" in the RAW
                     QUOTE FILE name to process more than one file.

                     If a Raw Quote Input File is specified, the file
                     following the "-a " will contain the output of PTT's
                     scan of the Raw Quote File.

                     If no Raw Quote Input File is specified, then PTT will
                     assume that the file specification following the "-a "
                     contains an already formatted file and will use it as
                     input to the update process. You can use DOS type
                     "wildcards" in the FORMATTED ASCII FILE name to process
                     more than one file as well.


                   The -D option

                     To invoke an automatic download from the DOS command
                     line, use the "-D " option on the command line.
                     Following the "-D ", specify the line number of the
                     Download menu choice as shown on the Main Menu. For
                     example, to download from Compuserve Basic Quotes (the
                     first line in the DownLoad Menu), use
                                              "-D 1"








       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 21






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   The -Q option

                     If you want to turn off the report that goes to the
                     screen and the PTT.RPT file, use this option (Q for
                     "quiet").


                   The -u option

                     The "-u" option on the command line with a -D request to
                     DOWNLOAD will tell PTT to do an update with the current
                     downloaded data after the download completes
                     successfully.


                   The -x option

                     The "-x" option on the command line (before the RAW
                     QUOTE FILE name) will cause PTT to do all processing
                     except the historical data file updating. This option is
                     useful if you want PTT to parse the Raw Quote Input
                     File, but do not want to update your data files without
                     inspecting the Formatted ASCII file.


                   The -m option

                     You can specify the Maximum LookBack Period by using the
                     "-m" option followed by a number between 1 and 10000
                     which will be used for the lookback period


                   The -RY and -RN options

                     To tell PTT to rebuild the Index files, specify "-RY" on
                     the command line. To avoid rebuilding the index files,
                     specify "-RN" on the command line. See page 15 for a
                     description of PTT symbol index processing.


                   The -M option to look for Missing Updates

                     PTT can be used to create a report of those securities
                     which have not been updated. It does this by scanning
                     the PTTSYM files looking for the most recent update
                     date. Then, it scans the securities looking for those
                     whose last update is not equal to that highest update
                     date. A report is generated to the screen and to the
                     PTT.LOG file if any securities are found to have a
                     different update date.







       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 22






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Specifying the Raw Quote Input File

                     The last parameter on a PTT command line must be the
                     name of the Raw Quote Input File. If you are downloading
                     via the -D command option, the downloaded data will be
                     placed in this file and the update will take place from
                     this file.


                   An Few Examples

                     If you want to simply run PTT from a batch file (and you
                     have registered), you can place the following command in
                     the batch file:


                              PTT input_quote_filename

                     where "input_quote_filename" is the name of the RAW
                     QUOTE INPUT file. The update process will use the
                     parameters you last specified in the PTT menu for PTT
                     Update Parameters (raw quote file name, etc) and the
                     data directories you specified in the DATA Directories
                     screen.

                     To download from Compuserve Basic Quotes, place the
                     quotes in file CIS.LOG, format the files according to
                     ASCII Format 1 (7 field with quotes around symbol and
                     date), you would use this command:

                                       PTT -f 1 -D 1 CIS.LOG

                     To download as just shown above, and then to update your
                     data files in one step, place the "-u" flag on the
                     command line as follows:

                                      PTT -f 1 -D 1 -u CIS.LOG

                     To update your historical data from a previously
                     formatted data file contained in DJ30.PRN in 5-field MSU
                     export format, you would say:

                                        PTT -f 8 -a DJ30.PRN

                     Assuming you had a directory, called \DATA with several
                     5-field .PRN files in it, each named with the symbol
                     name as "symbol.PRN", you could run PTT to update all
                     the symbols in the directory as follows:

                                      PTT -f 8 -a \DATA\*.PRN







       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 23






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)



                     The Free Financial Network (FFN) stock data file for
                     04/28 of the current year can be processed by the
                     following command

                                     PTT -f 6 -a STK0428.PRN

                     or if you had placed your Stock, Futures, and Index data
                     from FFN in the directory FFN, you could process them
                     all by the command

                                      PTT -f 6 -a FFN\*.PRN



       Creating Reports of Current Price/Volume Activity

                     PTT generates a report as it updates the data files.
                     For each symbol updated, it contains the number of
                     quotes, the AVERAGE VOLUME for the symbol, the CHANGE IN
                     PRICE from the previous close, and the VOLUME%CHANGE
                     (from the average volume).  This last value can be very
                     useful in spotting unusual activity in a security.  This
                     report can give you a jump on the rest of the world as
                     they wait for their Investor's Daily to arrive.  This
                     report is written to the file PTT.RPT in the \PTT
                     directory.

                     The first time you run PTT to update your data files, it
                     will take LONGER than normally will be required, because
                     it reads each file completely to compute the necessary
                     statistics, such as TOTAL VOLUME, HIGH, and LOW price.
                     After the totals have been computed and stored in the
                     file "PTTSYM.DB", it will not be necessary for PTT to
                     re-compute these amounts, so the update will be
                     extremely fast.

                     PTT will also allow you to create these reports on your
                     Data without actually updating them with PTT.


                   "Formatted" ASCII Data

                     All "raw" quote sources are converted and written to a
                     "formatted ASCII" file, sorted by symbol and date.  You
                     can define the style of Formatted ASCII that you want
                     PTT to produce in the PTT menu area "Describe PTT
                     Updating Parameters". The field you should set is
                     labelled 'ASCII FORMAT TYPE'. Choose one of the codes
                     below. The default format is 0.






       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 24






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                        Type   Description

                        0      "symbol","mm/dd/yy",hi,lo,cl,vol
                               (5 field format)

                        1      "symbol","mm/dd/yy",hi,lo,cl,vol,open,0
                               (7-field)

                        2      symbol,yymmdd,hi,lo,cl,vol

                        3      symbol,yymmdd,open,hi,lo,cl,vol,0

                        6      symbol,hi,lo,cl,vol
                                     or
                               symbol,open,hi,lo,cl,vol,open_int

                               Free Financial Network'FFN'
                               Historical Data Svc 'HDS'

                        7      "mm/dd/yy",open,hi,lo,cl,vol,open_int
                               (Chartpro)

                        8      yymmdd,hi,lo,cl,vol
                               (MSU ASCII EXPORT)

                        9      symbol,yymmdd,open,hi,lo,cl,vol,vol


                     In formats 0 and 1, the symbol and date have quotes (")
                     around them so that you can import them into a
                     spreadsheet easily.

                     The following is a sample of the format 0 output in the
                     PTTASC.PRN file with the 6 fields, Symbol, Date, High,
                     Low, Close, Volume (in hundreds):

                       "AAPL","05/24/90",42.250,41.500,42.000,13226
                       "ABT","05/25/90",73.875,72.500,73.125,2024


















       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 25






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                     The default name for this file is "PTTASC.PRN".  Though
                     this file can be named anything you want, the rest of
                     the document will refer to it as PTTASC.PRN.

                     As shown above in the Overview of PTT Processing, PTT
                     both creates and reads this Formatted ASCII file. It
                     creates the file when you are "translating" quotes from
                     "raw quote" sources to "formatted ASCII". Then, when you
                     are updating data files, it reads the Formatted ASCII
                     file.

                     If you don't specify a RAW QUOTE INPUT FILE in the
                     Update Parameter menu, PTT will read the FORMATTED ASCII
                     file. This is a convenient way to avoid the time-
                     consuming "translation" process if you have to run PTT
                     against multiple groups of data directories. You must be
                     sure that the ASCII FORMAT TYPE code is set so that it
                     correctly describes the format of your file.

                     If you choose options 6 or 8, the data is assumed to
                     already be in that format, so there should not be a Raw
                     Quote Input File specified. Both options 6 and 8 are
                     'export' formats for either Chartpro or Historical Data
                     Service (phone 212-752-8660 to contact FFN).

                     For option 6, FFN/HDS format, you can specify a file
                     name of the form 'YYMMDD.*' where 'YYMMDD' is the year,
                     month, and day of the quotes. If you look at this
                     format, you will notice there is no date in there.
                     Alternativly, PTT understands the FFN nameing
                     conventions for stocks, futures and indices.


                   Prodigy Market Close Information

                     PTT will make a "best effort" attempt to convert
                     selected values from the Market Close Screens of
                     Prodigy.

                     Unfortunately, some information is missing from these
                     screens, and you should be aware of that. For example,
                     the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price is given,
                     but there is no figure for the High, the Low, the Open,
                     or the Volume. So, when PTT converts it, it places the
                     closing value in all of the price fields with a volume
                     from the NYSE Regular Volume.

                     The following is a list of the indexes and market
                     information pulled out of the Market Close screens:








       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 26






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                              TICKER  DESCRIPTION

                              SP-500  SP 500
                              SP-100  SP 100
                              DJ-30   DJ INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
                              DJUA    DJ UTILITY AVERAGE
                              DJTA    DJ TRANSPORTATION AVERAGE
                              AVOL    AMEX VOLUME
                              NVOL    NYSE VOLUME
                              NYAD    NYSE ADVANCING ISSUES
                              NYDE    NYSE DECLINING ISSUES
                              NYSE    NYSE COMPOSITE
                              SPNU    NYSE UP VOL
                              SPND    NYSE DN VOL
                              NYNH    NYSE NEW HIGHS
                              NYNL    NYSE NEW LOWS
                              NYNHNL  NYSE NEW HIGHS - NEW LOWS
                              AMEX    AMEX Market Vol
                              SPAU    AMEX UP VOL
                              SPAD    AMEX DN VOL
                              AMSH    AMEX NEW HIGHS
                              AMSL    AMEX NEW LOWS
                              AXAD    AMEX ADVANCING ISSUES
                              AXDE    AMEX DECLINING ISSUES
                              XMI     AMEX Major Market
                              XOI     AMEX OIL
                              XII     AMEX INSTITUTIONAL INDEX
                              XCI     AMEX COMPUTER INDEX
                              AMNHNL  AMEX NEW HIGHS - NEW LOWS
                              COMP    NASDAQ Comp
                              INSR    Insurance
                              BANK    Banks
                              FINL    Financial
                              TRAN    Transport
                              XSUV    NASDAQ Volume
                              XSNHNL  NASDAQ NEW HIGHS - NEW LOWS
                              XSUU    NASD UP VOL
                              XSUD    NASD DN VOL
                              XSUH    NASD NEW HIGHS
                              XSUL    NASD NEW LOWS
                              XSUA    NASD ADVANCING ISSUES
                              XSUC    NASD DECLINING ISSUES
                              PRMR    Prime rate
                              TB91    3-mo T-bills
                              T182    6-mo T-bills
                              USTB-C  12-mo T-bills
                              SP-15   10-yr T-notes
                              SALO    30-yr T-bonds
                              DJB     DJ 20 bonds
                              DJPU    DJ 10 util
                              DJIL    DJ 10 industrials





       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 27






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)


                     The column on the left is the TICKER symbol which will
                     be used by default when PTT converts the quotes. If you
                     want to use some other TICKER symbol for one of these
                     values, you need to create a file called "TICKER.CNF".
                     Place the new ticker symbol in the file as shown in the
                     example below.

                     As an example, suppose you want to have the ticker
                     "DJIA" for the Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average, and you
                     also want "SPX.I" for the SP-500 Index. You need to use
                     an editor to create a file called TICKER.CNF. Place the
                     following lines in TICKER.CNF (5).

                           DJ-30 = DJIA
                           SP-500 = SPX.I
                     Now, instead of updating the TICKER symbol SP-500, PTT
                     will update "SPX.I". Similarly, DJIA will be used
                     instead of DJ-30.


                   PRODIGY "&" Symbols

                     As of October 1992, PRODIGY began providing special
                     symbols (beginning with "&") that include major indices,
                     currency rates, and volume and issue totals.

                     With release 1.09 of PTT, PTT will translate the &
                     symbols as downloaded by ProDownLoad (PDL). These
                     symbols are generally translated one for one, i.e., a
                     single symbol generates a single quote, with the
                     exception of the "Issues Traded" and "Exchange Volume"
                     symbols for the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ. Each of those
                     symbols generates 4 quotes, for Total, Advancing,
                     Declining and Unchanged.

                     For example, the PRODIGY quote for &AMVL contains the
                     total volume, advancing volume, declining volume, and
                     unchanged volume. PTT breaks this quote line into 4
                     individual symbols, &AMVL, &AMVLA, &AMVLD, and &AMVLU,
                     respectively. The "Issues Traded" quotes will have the
                     same suffixes  "A", "D", and "U" for Advancing,
                     Declining and Unchanged.

                     The PRODIGY.XLT file should be used to translate the "&
                     symbol" tickers to those found in your historical data
                     files. For example, the author uses the following:




       ____________________
       5 This procedure can be replaced by using the PRODIGY.XLT translation
       file as described on page 8.



       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 28






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                    DJ-30= &DJIA
                    SP-500=&SPX
                    SP-100=&OEX
                    AMEX=&XAM
                    AVOL=&AMVL
                    XCI=&XCI
                    DJTA=&DJT
                    DJUA=&DJU
                    FINL=&FINL
                    GOLF=&NYGL
                    INSR=&NSXI
                    TRAN=&TRAN
                    PRMR=&PRM
                    XII=&XII
                    XMI=&XMI
                    XOI=&XOI
                    COMP=&IXIC
                    NYSE=&NYCI
                    VALU=&VLIC
                    R2000=&RUS2

                     Other translations can be used for other symbols as
                     PRODIGY adds them.

       Description of PTTSYM files

       Raw Quote Conversion Notes

                     When you first run PTT, it creates a pair of files in
                     the current directory. They are PTTSYM.IX and PTTSYM.DB.
                     The .IX file tells PTT, for each symbol, how to find the
                     data in the .DB file.  The .DB file, for each symbol,
                     has a "summary record" which contains:

                      1)  HI price for the symbol
                      2)  LO price for the symbol
                      3)  the number of quotes in the file
                      4)  an "index" which tells which DATA DIRECTORY this
                          symbol was found in (from your PTT setup screen),
                      5)  what the offset in the MASTER directory was for the
                          symbol.
                     There are three reasons PTT issues the message
                     "Rescanning for HI and LO ....":

                      1)  It cannot locate the summary record for the symbol.
                      2)  The number of quotes (item 3 above) does not match
                          the number of quotes in the actual data file. This
                          is usually caused by manual updating of the symbol,
                          MetaStock EDIT DATA. If you have added or deleted
                          data without PTT, PTT rescans to find out what you
                          have changed.
                      3)  You have set REVERIFY DATA FILES to "YES"





       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 29






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                     For the first cause (1), if you go to the directory
                     where you run PTT and dump the PTTSYM.IX file, it should
                     contain all the symbols in all the symbols that you
                     updated from that directory.

                     Then if you dump the PTTSYM.DB file, it also contains
                     all the symbols. Each record in PTTSYM.DB is pointed to
                     by a record in PTTSYM.IX (for the same symbol).

                     If you have any doubt about the correctness of these two
                     files, you should delete your PTTSYM.IX and PTTSYM.DB
                     files and force PTT to recreate them.

                     For the second cause, that's to be expected.

                     For the third cause, PTT is only doing what you asked it
                     to do.







                   Dow Jones News Service Quotes


                   Converting DOW JONES HISTORICAL QUOTES (//HQ)

                     PTT will convert a file containing DOW JONES HISTORICAL
                     QUOTES and create the intermediate file containing the
                     formatted ASCII output. DOW JONES HISTORICAL QUOTES are
                     obtained from Dow Jones News Service database //HQ, by
                     typing, for APPLE COMPUTER,

                       //HQ
                       AAPL P1
                     You should capture the entire session to a disk file.
                     Then this file is described to PTT as the "raw" quote
                     input file. It will be converted and you will then have
                     historical quote data on the stock.


                   Converting DOW JONES AVERAGES (//DJA)

                     PTT will convert the output of the //DJA command for the
                     INDUSTRIAL average only. This output is obtained by
                     typing

                       //DJA
                       IND P1
                     The quotes for INDUSTRIAL averages (DJIA) will be
                     converted to the symbol DJ-30.




       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 30






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                   Converting DOW JONES //TRADELINE quotes

                     PTT will translate the "Pricing History" output of the
                     //TRADELINE data base as well. This allows you to get
                     all the major indexes as well as stock price history.

                     You must turn on capture BEFORE typing in the
                     //TRADELINE command.


                   GEnie quotes (Daily and Historical)

                     GEnie quotes from the GEnie *STAR service are also
                     translated by PTT. Capture the entire output of the
                     GEnie quote request, including the line where you enter
                     the symbol.

                     Early in 1991, GEnie changed their quote format to
                     include the ticker symbol in the line with the quote
                     information. This makes the job of converting the quotes
                     considerably easier. However, they also chose to leave
                     off the YEAR in the quote line.



































       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 31






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       PTT will not  Be sure to apply all the quotes from one year during
         handle the  that year if your quote source is GEnie Closing Quotes.
           crossing
          over from  Also, GEnie gives back all the classes of a stock when
        one year to  you ask for an issue. This means, for some utilities,
           the next  that you can get MANY QUOTES for a single request. PTT
         with GEnie  doesn't know which one you want, so it converts all of
            Closing  them. Preferred classes of a stock are indicated by
             Quotes  adding a period followed by the CLASS to the stock
                     symbol. For example,

                       Philadelphia Electric (PE) Preferred Class G will be
                                              "PE.G"
                     If the Preferred Class is blank, then the symbol
                     generated by PTT will be the ticker followed by a
                     period.

                     PTT will create the common classed stock symbol by
                     adding the class to the symbol, e.g., WAN Class B
                     becomes "WANB" for Wang Class B.

                     Other suffixes, such as WS (Warrant), WI (When Issued)
                     are also added to the end of the basic symbol to
                     indicate the different quote type, for example,

                                MVL.WS for Manville Corp Warrants
                     Mutual fund symbols will not be terminated with (.X), so
                     if you ask for FMAGX, the symbol generated by PTT will
                     indeed be "FMAGX", not "FMAGX.X".

                     In addition, now that GEnie is providing Mutual Fund
                     data with only the NAV quote, PTT will place the Net
                     Asset Value (NAV) in all of the price fields,
                     (HIGH,LOW,CLOSE,OPEN).


                   CompuServe Quick and Basic Quotes

                     PTT will extract CompuServe Quick Quotes (QQUOTE) or
                     BASICQUOTES if they are in the "standard" format. This
                     format contains the fields:

                           Name,
                           Volume,
                           Hi/Ask,
                           Low/Bid,
                           Last (Close),
                           Change,
                           Update (Date)

                     in the order listed.

                     You must capture your entire session in QQUOTE starting
                     from the line which begins:



       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 32






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

                       Quick QuoteQQUOTE                   (for QUICK QUOTES)
                               OR
                       Basic Quote BASICQUOTE              (for BASIC QUOTES)


                     PTT allows you to enter MULTIPLE symbols at the prompt:

                                               Issue:

                     See the previous section regarding MULTIPLE quotes per
                     line (GEnie Quotes) for restrictions on the size of the
                     line.


                   CompuServe Information Manager quotes

                     If you have CIM, PTT will convert CIM quotes obtained
                     via the QUOTE Service. The CIM quotes must have the line
                     below Ticker Volume High Low Last Change Update at the
                     beginning of the list of tickers.





































       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 33






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       Additional PTT Usage Notes

                     One nice feature of PTT is that it can "fix" your DATA
                     files if they get out of date sequence.  It reads the
                     entire data file, merges in the quotes from Prodigy (or
                     Dow Jones), sorts them, matching dates up, and then
                     writes the whole file out in order, dropping any
                     duplicates.  Dates read from the ASCII quote file
                     supersede those in the data file, so you can make
                     corrections by changing your ASCII quote for a
                     particular date.

                     PTT will allow you to obtain your quotes on weekends or
                     early Monday morning before the market opens.  Even
                     though the Prodigy header says that the quote is for a
                     Saturday, for example, PTT is aware that the market
                     isn't open on Saturdays, so the quote is "fixed up" to
                     be for the preceding Friday.  Even if the quote is
                     listed on Monday, if it is prior to the market opening,
                     it will still be fixed up to be a Friday quote.

                     Also, you can keep gathering print data to the Prodigy
                     print file for days, weeks or months.  PTT doesn't mind.
                     It can handle up to 21,500 quotes in the Prodigy print
                     file.  No need to keep creating "daily" files.
                     Personally, I let the quotes and letters, bulletins,
                     etc. accumulate for a month or so.  Then I start a new
                     file and name the old one something like "upto1209.lst"
                     and then back that up to a floppy for historical
                     reasons.  You can input that file to PTT again any
                     time..no problem.

                     If you decide to start following a stock, fund or bond,
                     say AAPL, and you haven't added the security to Chartpro
                     yet; then when PTT comes across a new symbol, it will
                     automatically add it to the data base for you.  Be sure
                     you have enough room left in your data base, however.

                     If you have Dow Jones Historical quotes, just specify
                     the input file containing the quotes as you would the
                     Prodigy print image file.  PTT will pick out the quote
                     data from any Dow Jones News or other text. If you have
                     captured DJA (Dow Jones Averages), it is necessary to
                     modify the text slightly.  PTT will change the heading
                     "INDUSTRIALS"to "STOCK DJ-30" (if you are calling the 30
                     Industrials by some other symbol name, you should edit
                     the PTTASC.PRN file to change this name).  Also, PTT
                     adds one zero to the volume figures, because it appears
                     that Dow Jones lies; they claim the volume is expressed
                     in 100's, but it is really in 1000's.







       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 34






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       How to create Metastock Format files

                     PTT can create Metastock format files from scratch. The
                     PTT package comes with a "seed" file called "MASTER"
                     which can be copied to any directory to make it a
                     Metastock directory. When you do that, you can use the
                     PROMPT FOR MISSING SYMBOLS option to have PTT request
                     the symbol (company name) for any tickers not already in
                     the Metastock directory. Once you have either Metastock
                     format or Chartpro/Megatech format files, you can use
                     other charting or analysis programs (such as Technical
                     Analysis Scanner, "TAS") with them.

                     PTT also creates and updates Chartpro/Megatech format
                     files. This option is actually easier to use, since
                     there is no company name associated with the file, nor
                     is there a limit on the number of files per directory.
                     PTT will just create (without prompting you for a name)
                     each ticker's history file as it finds them.

       PTT Restrictions

                      1)  No more than 20,000 quotes can be contained in a
                          single Raw Quote File. If you need to input more
                          quotes, break the file into pieces and use multiple
                          file names in the command line.
                      2)  This program will not work beyond the year 1999.
                      3)  No provision is made for holidays when date fixing
                          is done.


                          Support for Personal Ticker Tape


       How to Get Help

                     If you have any questions regarding the use of this
                     program, or you discover any problems, please send me a
                     message on Prodigy (JBMD65A). I can also be reached on
                     GEnie -M.MOORE41

       PTT BBS Operation

                     If you would like to check for a newer copy of PTT, or
                     if you  have a problem to report, you can also contact
                     the FlexSoft Bulletin Board System (BBS) at
                     510-829-2293.










       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 35






       PTT (Personal Ticker Tape)

       SAMPLE PTT SUMMARY REPORT

                          Personal Ticker Tape (PTT 1.00)
                            Summary Report for 10/12/90
                                                          VOL% PRICE  PRICE%
       EQUITY NAME        HIGH     LOW   CLOSE   VOLUME CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE

       AXP              18.875  18.500  18.750    12864   -16% +0.125    +1%
       BEV               8.375   7.875   8.375     4797   -19% +0.875   +12%
       BMY              79.875  78.250  78.625    11587    +5% -0.625    -1%
       BV               11.625  11.500  11.500     3863   -75% +0.000    +0%
       CCON             27.250  26.750  26.750      278   -11% -0.250    -1%
       CNR              15.250  14.500  14.875     7866    -4% +0.500    +3%
       MO               70.750  70.000  70.625    16350   -35% +1.000    +1%
       NH


                     The PTT Summary Report (found in file "PTT.RPT")
                     contains a summary of the symbol updates for the day. If
                     the volume exceeds 50% of the average volume, a 'V'
                     appears in the right column. If the price is a New Low
                     or New High, the characters "NL" or "NH" are shown in
                     the far right columns.


































       (May 2, 1993)                                                 Page 36








       Append to Log File                                        16
       ASCII Format Type                                         13
       ChartPro.                                                 12
       Evaluating PTT                                            11
       FFN                                                       24
       Formatted ASCII File                                      13
       Free Financial Network                                    24
       Maximum LookBack Period                               15, 22
       Maximum Number of Ticker Symbols                          15
       Metastock                                                 12
       Notify of Possible Splits                                 13
       Prompt for Missing Symbols                                14
       Raw Quote Input File                                      12
       Rebuild Symbol Index                                      15
       Reverify Data Files                                       14
       Setup Your Data Directories                               11












































