Users' Knowledge Base

American citizens can invest in the shares of hundreds of major overseas-based companies, including names such as British Petroleum, Sony, and Toyota, via American Depository Receipts (ADRs) that are traded on the US stock markets in US dollars.

For an expansive definition of ADRs refer to: WikiPedia >> American Depository Receipts

An article at the www.sec.gov site has the following advice for Americans.

The stocks of most foreign companies that trade in the U.S. markets are traded as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) issued by U.S. depositary banks. Each ADR represents one or more shares of a foreign stock or a fraction of a share. If you own an ADR you have the right to obtain the foreign stock it represents, but U.S. investors usually find it more convenient to own the ADR. The price of an ADR corresponds to the price of the foreign stock in its home market, adjusted for the ratio of ADRs to foreign company shares.

Owning ADRs has some advantages compared to owning foreign shares directly:

• When you buy and sell ADRs you are trading in the U.S. market. Your trade will clear and settle in U.S. dollars.
• The depositary bank will convert any dividends or other cash payments into U.S. dollars before sending them to you.
• The depositary bank may arrange to vote your shares for you as you instruct.

On the other hand there are some disadvantages:

• It may take a long time for you to receive information from the company because it must pass through an extra pair of hands. You may receive information about shareholder meetings only a few days before the meeting, well past the time when you could vote your shares.
• Depositary banks charge fees for their services and will deduct these fees from the dividends and other distributions on your shares.
• The depositary bank also will incur expenses, such as for converting foreign currency into U.S. dollars, and usually will pass those expenses on to you.

To download the complete PDF link to: SEC guide to foreign investing for U.S. citizens(PDF)

Note: The PDF contains a very basic, albeit somewhat dated, table to highlight the negative correlation that sometimes exists between international equity markets and the US equity market.

A list of current ADRs can be downloaded as a spreadsheet from: http://www.adr.com

On the first visit to the site it is necessary to accept the terms of access (there is no fee or login and personal, or contact details, do not have to be provided).

To download the file:

From the adr.com Homepage go to the DR Universe tab >> Download Universe to open the following link: http://www.adr.com/jpmorgan/gau/adr_gau.xls 

Note: For accessing ADR data from Yahoo – generally ADRs that are listed on the major markets use the ticker as it is listed in the adr_gau file, while those that are traded on the OTC market use an extension e.g. AGRPY.PK

Filed by brian_z at 4:11 am under Database Management Resources
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DRAFT

SPECIFICATIONS

• Browser: Internet Explorer v7.0
• Operating Software: MicroSoft XP Home

To upgrade to I.E 7 follow the link: Microsoft Download Center >> Internet Explorer 7

 Subscribing to the UKB RSS Feed via the HomePage

1) Click on the Entries RSS link in the UKB Side Bar at the right of the Homepage.

An Updated Content (UC) page will open in a new window.

Note: The UKB RSS Feed is not actually updated content. It is, in fact, a list of all posts, sorted by date as the default, so that subscribers will receive everything written into their Feed Reader. Updated posts will not automatically move to the top of the list unless their author forces the issue by resetting the posts timestamp.

2) Click on the Subscribe to this feed link in the Information Pane at the top of the UC page (a Subscribe to this Feed window will pop-up).

3a) Accept the defaults and click on Subscribe without any further to do.

OR 3b) Put the link into a custom sub-folder by clicking on the New Folder button, entering a title into the Folder Name input box and picking Create (this is recommended for those who are already subscribed to other RSS services).

That’s all there is to it!

Click on the View my feeds link to go straight to Internet Explorer with the Favorites Center open in Feeds mode.

Subscribe to the UKB RSS Feed via Internet Explorer. 

1) Surf to the UKB homepage (the Feeds icon in the IE toolbar will turn orange to indicate that the site is RSS enabled).

2) Click on the down arrow beside the Feeds icon to open a drop-down menu and select RSS 2.0 from the list that is presented (in this case RSS 2.0 or Atom 0.3).

3) The Updated Content page will open as per instruction two in the example above. From that point on the procedure is exactly the same as before except for the confirmation message at the end (it doesn’t have a link to the Feed Reader since I.E is already open).

Subscribing to other AmiBroker provided RSS feeds.

The ‘official’ Knowledge Base, the DevLog and the AmiBroker Mailing List are all RSS enabled and they can be subscribed to by using the Internet Explorer method.

Link to the official Knowledge Base: AmiBroker Knowledge Base

Link to the DevLog: AmiBroker Development Log

Link to the AmiBroker Mailing List: AmiBrokerYahooGroup

A separate feed for UKB comments can be subscribed to by clicking on the Comments RSS link at the UKB HomePage.

Note: The feeds in Internet Explorer are not integrated and each link to an AmiBroker feed stands-alone. The YahooGroup feed is not threaded. It comprises each message posted to the group in chronological order.

 BROWSER CAUTION

This tutorial was written using Internet Explorer 7 and the same outcomes won’t necessarily be achieved with other I.E. versions or alternative browsers e.g. the author received the following ‘advice’ when Entries RSS was clicked using a machine with I.E v6 installed. 

Note: Information on the I.E version in use can be obtained by clicking on the Help >> About menu on the I.E. menu-bar.

TO BE COMPLETED

COPIED FROM ‘HOW DO I READ RSS?’.

For those subscribed, the Users? Knowledge Base Feed will be listed in the Internet Explorer Favorites Center, under Feeds.

The number of posts saved, the frequency of updates, and other options, can be set from the Feed Properties window. To open the Properties window, right click on the Users? Knowledge Base link in the Feed list and select Properties from the context menu that opens, or, click on the View feed properties link in the browser window RSS page.

If the posts are in a summarised form the text will end with the word (more….) as a link. The full version can be viewed by clicking on the link, or, by clicking on the right arrow at the top of the post.

The full version of the post will open with the comments below. Scroll down to read the comments, if any.

Comments can be viewed separately, in a scrollable list, by subscribing to the Users? Knowledge Base Comments RSS.

To unsubscribe from a feed service, simply right click on the link in the Favorites Center and delete the link.

Filed by brian_z at 3:38 am under RSS Feeds
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TO BE COMPLETED AT A LATER DATE

Filed by brian_z at 1:38 am under RSS Feeds
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There are few subjects, if any, that are discussed in the AmiBroker forums as often as data. “Which data to use?” and “Why choose one provider over any other?” are fundamental questions that all traders ask at some time.

Unfortunately the discussion is often speculative and devoid of facts, perhaps because the trading literature is strangely silent on specific techniques that can be used by traders to qualify data.

One of the strengths of AmiBroker is that it offers users a diverse range of providers and ways and means to access data. There are so many possibilities that the Help Manual can not do justice to them all.

This category establishes a place for users to document their data experiences for the benefit of others, or to ‘go into bat’ for their favorite provider, but it doesn’t stop there. In line with the author’s catch-cry of “Contemporary solutions to trading problems; for traders by traders!”, the opportunity, and challenge, is there for the AmiBroker community to take the subject where no trader has gone before! 

YAHOO DATA

When it comes to data, “To Yahoo, or not to Yahoo, is the burning question”. There is no more contentious subject in this area. Under the Yahoo sub-category the author explores a variety of ways to use Yahoo data, looks at some of the data tools currently available within AmiBroker and introduces readers to some rudimentary pretenders to the ‘data quality metric’ crown .

The Yahoo section is intended to act as a training ground for some of AmiBrokers core data management features, a factual presentation of the pros and cons of Yahoo data and as a benchmark to measure other data against. It is not complete by any means and other users are invited, even expected, to explore the topic further and extend the discussion to other providers.

AUTHOR

The author has no particular expertise in computing, AmiBroker or data management. The only skills he brings to the tasks are an enquiring mind and a persistent and methodical approach.

SPECIFICATIONS

The opening articles, in the Yahoo sub-category, were written for AmiBroker Standard edition (v4.90) with AmiQuote (v1.94 – registered). Features that are introduced in the major releases from v4.90 on, that impact on Yahoo data acquisition and management, will be included in any future articles that are written by the author.

The initial bias, of the Yahoo  posts, is to EOD equity data but hopefully that will be rectified at a later date.

Once again, people with expertise in RT data, alternatives to Yahoo or who use data for instruments other than equities are implored to make a contribution or forever hold your peace.

Filed by brian_z at 12:07 pm under Data
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Filed by brian_z at 1:39 am under AFL - The Basics
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It is a cliche that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, but that is a conservative estimate. Certainly for the AmiBroker community, the ease with which images can be included in Users’ Knowledge Base (UKB) posts turns the ‘elephants graveyard’ of archival code, at the AFL library, into a garden of Eden. To take advantage of that opportunity, however, requires that authors have a basic knowledge of graphics software.

Note: The author assumes that UKB authors don’t want to learn anymore about the subject than they absolutely have to so the content of this section has been kept to a bare minimum. The bias of this article is to include the detail in the links where it becomes an optional extra.

Graphics software is software that directly manipulates images. Basic level graphics programs allow users to crop, markup and change the format of images as a minimum. Obviously advanced programs are capable of a lot more but for the UKB site professional level publishing is not a requirement.

One of the main difference between programs is the method of screen capture that is used. Basic level graphics programs generally rely on the screen capture ‘ tools’ that are inbuilt to operating systems, while advanced programs expand the screen capture capabilities.

For additional information on screen capture refer to: Wikipedia >> Screen Capture or About >> Screenshots, Tips, Software Reviews and Links to Software

The main features, of interest to authors, that are available in more advanced programs but not available at the basic level are:

• 1) Copying a region of the screen.
• 2) Copying a freeform section of the screen.
• 3) Copying selected menu bars or objects.
• 4) Including the cursor in screen-shots.
• 5) Adding custom borders to captured images.
• 6) User selected outputs (clipboard, editor, file, Word document, email etc).
• 7) Image resizing (especially advanced resizing that maintains image quality).

Graphics is a career in itself but for the novice UKB author there are only three essential questions to be answered:

What software should I use?

It is a question of personal choice. The author has used MicroSoft Paint, in combination with Windows Live Writer, and produced reasonable images. By comparison to commercial software that duo can do everything required for UKB posting with the exception of adding custom borders.

A tutorial on using MicroSoft Paint has been included in this section as a starting point and to introduce graphic novices to the scope of issues they will encounter on their first attempts to ‘post with pictures’.

Refer to the Resources Links on this page for additional leads to software, software reviews and background information.

Which image format is the best?

Unfortunately, even the experts don’t seem to be able to agree entirely and discussion on the topic soon heads into the ‘tech-talk stratosphere’ . The author takes the easy way out by deferring to the experts via the links in the reference section below.

As a rule of thumb GIF, PNG and JPEG are internet compliant and the pick of the current crop. JPEG files are smaller but they are subject to degradation with repeated saves. PNG is the recommended format for a master image that is likely to be subjected to this type of treatment.

Size is an issue, albeit a minor one with regard to the UKB (keep in mind that upload time for authors and download time for readers will increase with file size).

A full-screen image (1280 X 1024 pixels) of the authors desktop, saved locally, had the following file sizes:

.BMP – 3.8 MB

.TIF – 1.5 MB

.PNG – 0.9 MB

.GIF – 0.3 MB

.JPG – 0.1 MB

The  .PNG version was reduced from 0.9 MB to 0.7 MB when it was ‘shrunk’ to 896 x 716 pixels. 

Why are some of the images in my posts grainy?

There are two common reasons why images inserted into UKB posts lose quality.

Depending on the format used, images tend to degrade as they are continually saved. As a rule of thumb minimize the number of times images are manhandled and use a file format that is suitable for that task.

The second and most important reason is that screen captured images are bitmaps and if they are resized they can  lose quality very quickly. The extent of image degradation depends on the skill of the editor and the software used. With basic software it is a certainty that significant loses will occur when images are ‘shrunk’.

This presents a challenge to authors as the UKB site has a sidebar at the top of the page which reduces the available screen width for the opening section of the post. As well as that, some RSS Feed Readers, like Internet Explorer, have a permanent sidebar, so full size images used in posts will be cut off by the sidebar no matter where they appear in the post. The only way to avoid this is too reduce the size of images and that brings a ‘catch 22’ situation into play for authors. Also keep in mind that images will display in a different way on different machines and that a full-screen image on one computer might have to be scrolled to be viewed on another machine so generally speaking ‘smaller is better’.

In the UKB article Capturing Images Using Microsoft Paint some ‘rough and ready’ ways of producing quality scaled down images are demonstrated, however they all require compromising the integrity of the full-screen shot. Sometimes, due to the detail involved, it is necessary to use a large image anyway. In those cases it is better to use the image further down the page to avoid conflict with the opening sidebar.

The only ‘professional’ way to downsize images is to use a ‘good’ editing program with advanced resizing algorithms but that is a specialist topic (a few relevant links have been included in the reference section for those readers who possess an unquenchable curiosity).

Another less common contributor to image degradation can be the failure to lock the image ratio before resizing. Always lock the width to height ratio to the original before changing the size.

Compressing images can also affect their quality. Avoid compression wherever possible and use a format that has loss-less compression (PNG or GIF).

RESOURCE LINKS

Reference:

1) Link to a tutorial on Vista’s Snipping Tool: About >> Snipping Tool

2) Link to an introductory article comparing Bitmap to Vector graphics: About >> Two Types Of Graphics Software

3) Link to an article on Bitmap resizing and image quality:  About >> Bitmap Image Editing and Software

4) Link to an article comparing image formats and discussing loss of quality when saving images: GIF, JPEG or PNG For Web Images?

5) Link to a commercial site with a demo of bicubic resampling: Photoshop Support >> Bicubic Sharper

6) Link to an article on re-sampling techniques (interpolation): Image interpolation

Software:

1) Link to a commercial screen capture program: Techsmith Corporation >> SnagIt

2) Link to a free image editing program by French developer Antonio Da Cruz : Photofiltre

3) Link to a free image editing program by Bosnian developer Irfan Skiljan: IrfanView

4) Free virtual pixel ruler: Pixel Ruler

5) Link to a suite of freeware/low cost image management programs: FastStone >> PhotoResizer, Capture, ImageViewer

Filed by brian_z at 1:22 am under Contributors
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Hello All,

I was one of the originators of this AmiBroker community site. I hope you find it useful. I apologise that I am too busy to stick around to answer comments or maintain my posts.

Good trading

Brian.

Filed by brian_z at 1:17 am under ~~ Author Profiles
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