StockMarketEye - Blog

We’ve just updated and refreshed the StockMarketEye User’s Guide.

It includes lots of new screenshots and explanations as well as a number of new sections including:

• Introduction to StockMarketEye (for new users)
• Configuring Columns
• Managing your Portfolio’s Cash Balance
• The Portfolio’s Transactions View
• and more…

We’ll be adding more sections in the future. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions for improvements or features you’d like to see better documented, don’t hesitate to contact us.

We are very proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.8.1 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release includes a couple of new features and many bug fixes. It is a recommended update for all users.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.8.1

New Features

• Automatic backup runs at startup. See Preferences -> Advanced tab to enable/disable.
• Manual backup files can be encrypted. Automatic backup files are always encrypted.

Changes

• Allow editing of Price/Sales column.
• Make the symbol field larger to fit options in entry dialogs.
• Much faster backup process.
• More exchange and currency mappings for Google Finance symbols.
• Allow for entering dividends for stocks that are not in the portfolio as sometimes they can be distributed later, after selling a stock.
• 52-week high/low is now calculated from historical quotes rather than pulled from data providers.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Rounding errors fixed.
• Fixed: Google fundamentals not working due to change in JSON.
• Fixed: Problems with handling of dividends/split detection for historical data.
• Fixed: Portfolio deleting doesn’t work.
• Fixed: Transaction costs incorrectly handled in some circumstances.
• Fixed: Portfolio Totals does not sum YTD/1Y income columns in the total.
• Fixed: All chart ranges not available for a stock/fund if intraday quotes not available.
• Fixed: Printing to PDF leaves off header.
• Fixed: Google historical quotes data cleanups.
• Fixed: Chart range problems for “younger” stocks when EMA was used.
• Fixed: Buying a stock on the ex-div date should not show that dividend in dividend search box.
• Fixed: Gain showing in MarketVal column.
• Fixed: Google Hist quotes fixed for issues with timezone (visible with Tokyo exchanges values).
• Fixed: Calculation of TR was incorrect if sharesAffected value of transactions was not specified.
• Fixed: Calculate and save a transaction’s sharesAffected value, if it doesn’t have a valid value already, such as when imported from MSMoney.
• Fixed: Interest payments are not taken into account in the portfolio’s total return.
• Fixed: Chart scaling for certain stocks.
• Fixed: Chart lines do not fall on first trading day of the month.
• Fixed: In some cases, symbol changed information caused quote updates not to work.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are very proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.8.0 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release includes many new features that were requested by our users over the last 12-months. A lot of work and testing has gone into this release and we’d like to thank everyone that contributed ideas and pointed out problems.

We now support using Google Finance, in addition to Yahoo! Finance, as a data provider in StockMarketEye. Google Finance provides real-time quotes for US, Indian and Chinese stocks, new fundamental data, and historical end-of-day and intraday prices.

Google Finance has a slightly different ticker symbol nomenclature than Yahoo! Finance. The easiest way to find ticker symbols for both Google and Yahoo! is through the symbol search box in the upper right corner of the StockMarketEye window. The symbol search has been updated to show an icon that corresponds to the data provider for this symbol. You can find more information on the Google and Yahoo! ticker symbol nomenclature in the section Ticker Symbols and Data Providers of our User’s Guide.

Additionally, we have updated our support of Yahoo! Finance so that we can provide intraday charts for both Google Finance ticker symbols and Yahoo! Finance ticker symbols. Intraday charts are available for 1-day and 5-day ranges and will auto-refresh every 3 & 6 minutes respectively if left visible in the chart area.

We have also enhanced the portfolios summary section (click on the “Portfolios” item in the folders area on the left-hand side of the window). In addition to the previously available portfolio totals section, we now provide a combined portfolio view. The combined portfolio shows you the holdings of all your stocks, aggregated into one large portfolio. You can export the total and combined portfolios to CSV or print them to a PDF file. It is also now possible to exclude one of your portfolios from the portfolio summary using an option in the portfolio’s Settings window.

Another often requested feature that we have added in this release is password protection. You can enable password protection from the Preferences window. When enabled, your StockMarketEye data will be encrypted (AES-128 encryption) and you will be asked for your password before StockMarketEye opens. Don’t forget your password! If you loose or forget your password, there is no way to recover it and your data will not be recoverable. When enabling password protection you can optionally enter a “Hint” that will be available when entering your password, in case you need help remembering.

There are many other additions and changes in this version, including chart speed improvements, new chart types, new portfolio columns, new display options for portfolios and the folders area, watchlist printing and many more.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.8.0

New Features

• Updated and streamlined look-and-feel. Refreshed icon. Quote loading bling.
• Support for using Google Finance as a data provider. When using Google Finance ticker symbols, real-time quotes are available for US, Indian and Chinese stocks.
• Intraday charts for 1-day and 5-day periods. Intraday charts will refresh automatically every 3-minutes and 6-minutes respectively.
• Enhanced portfolios summary section, including portfolio totals view and combined portfolio. Total and combined portfolios can be exported to CSV or printed to a PDF file.
• Option to password protect and encrypt (AES-128) the StockMarketEye data on your computer.
• Chart speed improvements, including blazing fast tracer.
• New chart types: Candlestick Green/Red, OHLC Green/Red.
• New portfolio columns: YTD Income and 1Y Income. These columns display the total income received (dividends, capital gain, etc) and recorded in the Transactions for the specified time period.

Changes

• Option to display/hide the “Today” and “Overall” columns in the folders area.
• Portfolio option to include/exclude the “Cash” balance line.
• Portfolio option to include/exclude a portfolio in the portfolio summary.
• Print to PDF for watchlists.
• BollingerBands technical indicator now supports decimal deviation settings. This supports John Bollinger-recommended, alternative settings (10 periods, 1.9 deviations; or 50 periods, 2.1 deviations).
• Days Held column now shows high and low values if there are multiple lots.
• New icon for Get All Quotes (F5) menu item.
• Change the order of quote loading so that portfolios go first.
• Support improvements in About window.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Days Held column could be off by 1 day depending on several factors.
• Fixed: Watchlist add window should start with focus in Symbol field.
• Fixed: Exporting a file (CSV, PDF, etc) should warn before overwriting existing file.
• Fixed: Freeze when shutting down due to deadlock with ensuring quotes.
• Fixed: Chart OHLC values corrected.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.7.2 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This is a maintenance release that includes a number of small additions and improvements, while fixing a couple of minor bugs.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.7.2

New Features

• Double-clicking on a portfolio’s cash line opens the Add Cash Transaction window.
• Update historical quotes for all symbols on startup. You can disable this feature in the Preferences window under the “Advanced” tab. It can also be run manually from the “Advanced” tab.

Changes

• Multi-lot portfolio items now take their comment field from the comment field of the first sub-lot.
• Startup speed is now almost 1 second faster.
• CAGR column now displayed in green/red, like the Total Return and Gain columns, based on positive/negative performance.
• Support for securities that are denominated in British Pounds (as opposed to the more common Pence), using currency ‘GBPD’.
• Transaction sorting now uses the transaction date column to differentiate when the primary sorting columns are the same.
• Option in the Preferences, “General” tab, to disable showing the warning window when StockMarketEye is unable to download data from Yahoo.

Bug Fixes

• Fix for change percent columns that are out-of-date due to caching of historical quotes.
• Fix for when cash balance editing did not actually change cash balance value, only added a transaction.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.7.1 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This is a maintenance release that fixes a number of bugs and improves stability.

It also includes an important new column for portfolios, CAGR. CAGR is the Compounded Annual Growth Rate of an item in your portfolio. When you add this column to your portfolios, the annualized growth rate will be computed for all current, individual lots of your portfolio.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.7.1

New Features

• CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate column for portfolio items. Displays the annualized growth rate for individual lots in a portfolio.

Changes

• Improve closing speed of main window.
• Allow editing of the exchange rate column in Portfolio Totals view.
• Percent change columns (3M%, 1Y%, etc) are colorized for gain/loss.

Bug Fixes

• Fix: Transactions view, shares column, now uses the “Shares” preferences format.
• Fix: Calendar improved to allow for 4-digit year manual entry.
• Fix: Problem related to portfolio value chart for portfolios that contain UK stocks corrected.
• Fix: When adding an “invalid” symbol, set the currency to that of the portfolio, rather than USD.
• Fix: Importing from transactions with Cash entry with CashAffected=true sets the value to false and display incorrect.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.7.0 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release adds 2 powerful, often requested features: Portfolio value charts and comparison charting.

Portfolio value charts allow you to view the historical values of your portfolio in StockMarketEye’s chart area. Simply click on the “Total” line in the portfolio or, in the Portfolio Totals view, click on the portfolio’s line to view the chart. The chart is computed on the fly from the transactions recorded for the portfolio, so it can take a few seconds to load the first time you view the chart.

If you have been using StockMarketEye since before v2.6.0 (December 2, 2010), you will be required to synchronise your current portfolio with the transactions that have been recorded for this portfolio. StockMarketEye will walk you through the synchronisation process the first time you want to view the Portfolio’s chart. You’ll find a longer explanation of what the synchronisation is all about on our Portfolio Synchronization Guide page.

The other major feature of this release is comparison charting. You can now add any index or stock to the chart area to compare with the currently displayed chart. This even works with the new portfolio charting feature so you can compare the performance of your portfolio with that of an index or other stock.

You can add a comparison index from the chart area’s “Chart Options -> Compare to…” menu. A set of pre-selected indexes is available, but you can add any symbol you want by typing it into the “Comparison Symbol” field. When you have a comparison index or stock in the chart, the price axis (y-axis) values are shown in percentages. Any comparison symbols you add will stay in the chart until you click the small, red X to the right of it in the chart.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.7.0

New Features

• Portfolio charting! View the end-of-day market values of your portfolios in the chart area. Note that synchronisation may be required.
• Comparison charting! Add an index or stock (or any chartable symbol) to the chart to compare with the currently visible chart.
• Preferences: Separate formatting is now available for a Portfolio’s “Shares” column. It can be configured with 0 – 4 decimal places.
• Preferences: Percentage and currency symbols are now optional.
• New column: “Volume % Ave 3M” which will display today’s volume as a percentage of the average 3 month daily volume (from the “Volume Ave 3M” column).
• New Portfolio Transactions column: “Cash Affected” which displays whether the proceeds of this transaction were added/deducted from the Portfolio’s cash balance.

Changes

• Improved split handling.
• Improved historical FX charts.
• “Previous Close” column renamed to “Close”
• Portfolio’s total buy value removed from “Buy Price” column in Total line. Please use “Buy Value” column instead.
• Closing the application is now much faster when many Watchlists and Portfolios are present.
• Exporting a Portfolio’s Transactions with import compatible formatting adds 4 new columns: Exchange Rate, Currency, Cash Affected and Name.
• Importing a Portfolio from a CSV Transactions file now also supports the same additional 4 columns. See the documentation in the User’s Guide for the details.

Bug Fixes

• Stability improvements for the update and restart process.
• Linux startup script permissions are now correctly set after upgrade.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.6.1 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release contains a number of important bug fixes and we recommend updating so you can take advantage of the improved stability.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.6.1

Bug Fixes

• Fix for editing portfolio item’s details.
• Fix for proper transaction recording when selling multiple lots in a portfolio.
• Fix for buy value calculation for stocks denominated in a currency different from that of the portfolio.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

We are proud to announce the release of StockMarketEye v2.6.0 for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

This release brings the long awaited “Stock Alerts” feature. You can now set alerts on certain values in both Watchlists and Portfolios. For example, you can set StockMarketEye to alert you when a stock passes a certain price. Or if a stock is up/down more than a certain percentage in one day. The supported alert values (columns) are: Last Price, Volume, Today’s Percent Change, P/E, Position % Gain/Loss, Position Gain/Loss, Watch % Change, Watch Points.

When one of the alerts is raised, StockMarketEye will display a special indicator next to the item and in the folders list. If you have Growl or Growl for Windows installed, StockMarketEye will also send a notification that gets displayed on your desktop. Growl notifications can even be forwarded to your iPhone using Growl add-on applications. Now, StockMarketEye makes it that much easier to keep your eye on the markets.

Other interesting new features in this release include a new column for Portfolios that shows you the percentage of the portfolio represented by the item, and a pre-set option for exporting a Portfolio to CSV in a format that can be imported back into StockMarketEye without changes.

One other important change in this version is an internal upgrade to the StockMarketEye database. You’ll notice this change the first time you run the new version of StockMarketEye when a small window will be displayed while StockMarketEye automatically upgrades. This change brings stability and speed improvements.

Below is a complete list of the additions and changes in this version of StockMarketEye.

What’s New In StockMarketEye v2.6.0

New Features

• Alerts!!!
• Set alerts on Last Price, Volume, PE, Watch % Change (Watchlist only), Watch Points (Watchlist only), Position % Gain/Loss (Portfolio only) and Position Gain/Loss (Portfolio only).
• Visible indicators for alerts raised within StockMarketEye’s Folders list (left-hand side) and on the stock itself in the Watchlists and Portfolios.
• Notification of alerts raised also pushed to Growl for Mac or Growl for Windows.
• New Portfolio column: “Portfolio %” which will display the percentage of the total portfolio value represented by this item. This is useful when analysing your current portfolio allocation vs your investment strategy.
• New Portfolio column: “Buy Val Yield” which will display the dividend yield on the purchase value of the Portfolio item.
• New Portfolio Totals column: “Cash” which will display the Portfolio’s cash holdings (from the “MarketVal” column of the Portfolio’s Cash line).
• New Portfolio Totals column: “Cash %” which will display the percentage of the Portfolio’s total value held in Cash.
• New option in CSV Portfolio Export to create a CSV file that can be imported without changes using StockMarketEye’s CSV import feature.

Changes

• When creating a Portfolio, initial deposit is required.
• Speed improvements for importing a Watchlist via CSV file.
• Improved quote retrieval for some corner case symbols.
• Upgraded StockMarketEye database software version for speed and stability improvments.
• New, lighter-weight installer for Linux.
• Many consistency improvements when editing portfolio item, transactions and Cash value.

Bug Fixes

• When editing a Split transaction, set the date in the split window to be that specified in the original split transaction.
• Fix to export % and $ symbols when requested in Advanced options for CSV export.
• Fix for tiny window bug.
• Fix for Comment and DateAdded columns not updating after editing details.
• Fix for importing Watchlists with European number formats.

There is no charge for this upgrade so we highly recommend that all users (trial and licensed) upgrade to the newest version.

You can download the latest version of StockMarketEye here.

MacSoftwareSpotlight is running a special promotion on StockMarketEye for 1-day only on Tuesday, October 19, 2010.

During 24-hours (starting at midnight PDT [i.e. California timezone]) you can get a 50% discount on StockMarketEye just by visiting their website and using the coupon code you find there.

The coupon is only valid for 24-hours, so you’ll need to purchase on Tuesday, if you don’t want to miss this opportunity to get StockMarketEye at a big discount.

StockMarketEye was recently reviewed in the Third Quarter issue of Computerized Investing, part of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). Here’s a direct link if you don’t want to dig through the site:

StockMarketEye Review in AAII Computerized Investing

The review was mostly favorable and fair, although we do wish they’d used version 2.5 rather than version 2.4 for the review.