Now you can add symbols to your database. To do so please go to Symbol->New menu. In the add symbol dialog enter one or more tickers (comma separated) you wish to add to your database. If you want to see the chart for newly added symbol just select it from the Symbol tree in the workspace window. Please allow few seconds (depending on the speed of your internet connection) to backfill historical data.
You may add more tickers that your RT account allows. AmiBroker will automatically switch/update/refresh symbols so the most recently used symbols are active and older ones are automatically removed from Data manager. Doing so however may lead to some problems if you exceed your subscription limits too much. So it is advised to use this feature responsibly and not expecting getting 500 symbols while your subscription is limited to only 50.
Note that the above mechanism does not apply to real time quote window and it can not hold more symbols than your subscription limit.
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AmiBroker RT features real-time watch window that allows you to watch streaming quotes. To show this window choose Window->Realtime Quote menu. (see image to the right ---->)
To add symbols to Realtime quote window you either double click on the symbol tree or use right mouse button menu Add to Realtime quote option as shown in the picture above.
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The RT quote window provides real-time streaming quotes and some basic fundamental data. It is fairly easy to operate as shown in the picture below:
You can also display context menu by pressing RIGHT mouse button over RT quote window.
The context menu allows you to access the following options:
Version 5.90 adds Bid/Ask trend - a graphical indicator showing the direction of 10 most recent changes in real-time bid/ask prices. The right-most box is most recent and as new bid/ask quotes arrive they are shifted to the left side. Color coding is as follows:
If bid/ask prices don't change there is no new box. NOTE: This column works only if there are real-time quotes streaming (markets are open)
If your data source supports mixed EOD/Intraday mode (such as eSignal or IQFeed) you can use single database for both types of charts.
However if your data source does not support mixed EOD/Intraday mode and if you want to have long daily histories AND intraday charts you should consider running TWO instances of AmiBroker. One for EOD charts and second for intraday charting. Both may use the same real-time data source.
The data plug-in connection status is displayed in the plugin status display area located in the lower right part of the AmiBroker main window as shown in the picture below. When connection status changes AmiBroker plays a beep sound and pops up bubble tool tip to inform about status change.
The bubble tip provides more detailed information text and disappears automatically after 2 seconds.
If you want to re-display it just hover your mouse over plugin status display area.
To enable quick examination of connection status AmiBroker displays color coded information:
Using plugin context menu
Real time plugins provide some additional controls via plugin context menu. This context menu is available when you click with RIGHT mouse button over plugin status display area. If you do, the menu like this will be displayed:
Please note that various plugins offer various options in this menu, however most plugins provide at least 3 basic and useful options:
Things you should NOT do, or you should do very carefully
You should note the fact that when you are using data plugin then the plugin controls the quotation database (see Understanding database concepts article), therefore you should NOT import quotes from ASCII files (this includes AmiQuote) for symbols that are already present in the real-time database.
If you do, the plugin will eventually overwrite your imports with the real-time data or your database will become corrupted (if you import end-of-day data over intraday database).
So please do not import ASCII (especially EOD data) into real-time intraday database fed by the plugin.
You may ask: why this is not disabled at all. The answer is that sometimes it is useful and sometimes it will work (but these are rare cases). For example it will work if you import INTRADAY data into the intraday database fed by QuoteTracker plugin and both the database and imported data have exactly the same bar interval.
It also works if you import the data for symbols that are NOT present in the database. In this case newly imported symbols are marked by ASCII importer as "use only local database for this symbol" (See Information window for details), so they are EXCLUDED from the real-time update. This is useful if you want to import some other data (even not quote data) and access it via Foreign function while using your real-time database.
So ASCII import is not disabled in real-time database but you have to use it with extreme care and know what you are doing.
Second thing is using Quote Editor. Although data are controlled by the plugin it is in most cases possible to use Quote Editor. However please note that you will be able to edit only 1-minute data or higher interval, and you will be able only to edit symbols that are backfilled completely (there is no running backfill for the particular symbol) and you will NOT be able to edit last three bars. This is so because last three bars are cached in the plugin. So you will be able to edit them only when new bars arrive making them 'older' than last three.
The users of eSignal, myTrack and IQFeed real-time plugins may now check "wait for backfill" box in the Automatic analysis window and all scans, explorations and backfills will wait for completion of backfill process for given symbol. This flag has no effect on databases that do not use plugins (external data sources) or use end-of-day plugins (like FastTrack, QP2, TC2000/TCNet, etc). This flag has also no effect when using QT plugin due to the fact that QuoteTracker manages backfills by itself and does not provide any control of backfill process to 3rd party applications.
BACKFILLING ALL SYMBOLS AT ONCE
To backfill all symbols at once in the data source that supports "Wait for backfill" feature (IQFeed, eSignal), one can use Analysis window. The procedure is as follows:
1. Open Formula Editor and type a simple single-line rule like below and choose Tools->Send to Analysis
Buy = 1;
2. In the Analysis window select Apply to: *All symbols and Range: 1 recent bar
and turn on Wait for backfill option.
3. Press Scan button
The Analysis window will iterate through all symbols, requesting backfill for each symbol and waiting until the data arrive, so at the end of the scan all symbols will be backfilled.
