Once you set up your portfolios and data site source, you can track the portfolios you set up.  The stocks from the currently selected portfolio and their details will be listed in the main portfolio table.  The data will update in the portfolio , the WatchList, if it is open and in other portfolios even if they are not opened, if you select this option on the Misc. Preferences tab.

 

Main Screen

Quotes Data

Menus

Selecting Portfolios and Sites

Status Bar

Adding Symbols (Quick method)

Navigating and Linked Windows

Manipulating Columns

Main screen panels

Multiple (open) Portfolios

 

 

Main Screen with Trade and Transaction panels open:

 

 

You can change the columns that are displayed and how they are displayed by selecting Edit Views from the View menu. or by clicking on the MENU button.  The display formats can be customized by selecting Edit Preferences. from the Options menu or by clicking on the MENU button and then changing the settings on the Fonts, and Misc. tabs.

 

 

Data refreshes based on the site you selected and your preferences  There are two methods of quote retrieval.  The first, will refresh the data by re-fetching the data for all the symbols based on the auto-refresh period  in second (entered in the text box next to the Refresh button, pictured below. (or by clicking the Refresh button to start the refresh process immediately).  The second method, is the Streaming quotes.  This method does not depend on a refresh interval, it is always automatic and active.  It monitors your list for changes and only updates when there are changes.

 

The upper right corner of the main screen controls the fetching of quotes.  It will look different depending on the methods described above.

For the first method, this area consists of 3 parts:

 

 

Clicking on the refresh button will cause the quotes to be fetched regardless of the automatic refresh settings.

 

The Refresh interval field lets you specify how long QuoteTracker should wait (in seconds) between refreshes when the refresh status is set to Automatic.  Enter it and press the ENTER or TAB key

 

 

The Status button has 3 modes:

 

Once the refresh completes, the outline of the refresh area may change colors.  That indicates the success of the last refresh:

GREEN - The refresh completed successfully.

RED - The refresh failed

GREEN and RED - Only some of the quotes were successfully fetched.

 

The text on the refresh button will switch back to Refresh, indicating the action that will occur if you click on it.

Right clicking on the Refresh box will allow you to see the details of the Last Fetched Pages that were returned from the site..

 

The Streaming (second method) control box has 2 modes - Active and Inactive:

The possible colors for a connection are:

GREEN - Connected and working.

RED - Connection failed. - Not connected.

YELLOW - Attempting to connect.

 

Note: QuoteTracker will automatically try to switch to another server (if the site has multiple servers - not all do) if it gets no response.  You can speed up this process by manually selecting another server in the File menu or by right clicking in the Site box on the main screen.  You can also right click on one of the connection boxes.  This will bring up a Restart This Stream button, which you can click.

 

Clicking the Stop button will change the control:

Whether in refresh or streaming mode, pointing your mouse at these indicator areas will show a small status of the current connection.

 

QuoteTracker is not limited to just getting quotes.  Let's examine the various features available and how to access them:

 

Menus:

The menu bar across the top of the screen lets you access all the features found in QuoteTracker:

 

 

Clicking on the button in the upper right of the main screen will allow you to select from several frequently used options:

 

 

To the right of the title bar, the button will bring up the Symbol Lookup screen.  The Lookup button can be set to show or not to show on the title bar per option in Misc. Preferences under Window Title Buttons.

 

Portfolios and Sites:

The current portfolio is shown in the Portfolio drop down list box.  You can switch to another one from the drop down list and the main screen will be replaced with the new portfolio selected.  The selected View, Site, Inline (thumbnail) Chart period, Connection status (and refresh interval, if applicable), link state (and color group)  is unique to each portfolio.   Once set, it will be remembered the next time you access the specific portfolio.

To modify your portfolio(s), click on the button.

 

The current selected site is shown in the Site box.  You can switch to another one from the drop down list or from the File Menu - Select Quote Source option.  Generally, they are listed alphabetically with delayed sites towards the bottom.  Preferred  data sources are listed towards the top.

 

Portfolios that have a yellow S indicator after their name in the list are special account portfolios that are synchronized with a trading account.

 

You can choose to limit the sites that appear on this list to your specific choices on the Sites List preferences screen.  Right clicking on the selected site name may have options such as selecting a specific server or to Force Relogin, as applicable/available for the site.

 

The list of supported sites and details about them can be found on our website at http://www.quotetracker.com/qsources.shtml

 

Status Bar:

The status bar appearing at the bottom of the main portfolio screen can be shown or hidden from the View menu by checking or un-checking the Status Bar option. It always displays the following (and may display some other status messages as warranted):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding Stock symbols to the portfolio

Select Add Symbol to list from the right click menu:

 

This dialog is divided into 2 parts.  You can either add several symbols or a single detailed symbo.  The top part allows you to add several symbols at one time.  Type in the symbols, separated by spaces or commas and click the Add button. 

 

You can add a horizontal separator to your portfolio to help organize it. The separator puts a line on the screen when you view the portfolio and can be used to separating different groups of stocks, as well as giving you subtotals for that group.  It also adds a nice feature when you sort by a column.  If you sort the portfolio by one of the columns or the Sort on this screen, QuoteTracker will sort each group of stocks separately.  To add the separator to your portfolio, use --- (3 dashes) as the symbol and move it up or down in the portfolio to properly separate the stocks.  You can have more than one separator. You can add a description after the --- if you like.

 

Note: When adding symbols that contain spaces or commas, enclose the symbol with single quotes so that the space or comma is not seen as a new symbol, such as 'ABC DE' or 'MSFT,Q'.

 

The bottom part allows you to add a single symbol in detail.  Enter the symbol and your holdings for the symbol and click the Add button. 

Note: The bottom area also lets you add TD AMERITRADE Option symbols, by clicking on the Option Chain button, which will bring up an option chain window where you can select the option you wish to add

 

The new symbols will added to the end of the portfolio.  You can then drag and drop the symbol on the portfolio to rearrange the order.  Also see Edit Portfolio screen.

 

Select a symbol by clicking on it.  To quickly get to a symbol (highlighting it as the active symbol), press on the first letter of the symbol.  Press on the letter again to get to next symbol with the same letter.  Double clicking on a symbol opens the Intraday Chart for the stock.

 

You may see special indicators after a symbol in the symbol column.  These may include an ! (Alerts), Lightbulb (News) or a letter indicating the required reporting of the Financial Status Indicator (FSI) on a symbol (company). A small D following a symbol may indicate that the quote is delayed. This can happen if your account is not properly enabled or subscribed for real-time quotes for the exchange/symbol, in which case you would have to contact your data provider to have it enabled.  Hover your mouse over these indicators for more details that will be displayed as a tooltip hint:

 

 

Each portfolio has a pushpin in the upper right of the window (title bar) and can be linked to a color group. This is a per portfolio setting, i.e. some portfolios may be unlinked while others may be linked  and they need not be all the same color group.  The link button can be set to show or not to show on the title bar per option in Misc. Preferences under Window Title Buttons.

 

 

Manipulating Columns:

Re-sizing:  All columns can be resized the way you like them by dragging the borders of the column headings. The cursor will change to a re-sizing cursor.

Rearranging:  Another way of changing the order of the columns, is by dragging the column header (description) to any other position in the headings.  The cursor will change showing you the insertion point.

Sorting: You can sort the main screen by any column by just clicking on the column name.  When the table is sorted, a blue arrow will appear in the column to show the sort direction (ascending/descending).  Clicking on the column again will reverse the sort direction.  You can turn sorting off by clicking on the column again until the sort arrow disappears or by selecting Turn OFF Sorting from the right click pop up menu.  This will revert the order back to the way it was originally.  You can permanently sort your portfolio by symbol on the Portfolios tab of the Portfolios and Alerts screen.

 

Note: You can temporarily "freeze" the columns in the current sort state, while continuing to update data, by holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard.  Release the CTRL key to resume portfolio column sorting.

 

All panels when closed, appear as horizontal tabs below the menu line:

 

Displaying more than one Portfolio on the screen:

Although you can use the Portfolio drop down list on the main screen to switch to another portfolio, this will replace the current main portfolio with the newly selected one.  To open multiple portfolio windows at the same time, select New Portfolio Window from the Portfolio menu:

 

This screen lists all your portfolios.  Click on a portfolio name to open it in a new window.  The portfolios with a check mark next to them indicate that it is already opened and  clicking on it, will bring that portfolio to the front.  The Portfolio name will appear in the title bar of the window.

 

If the option Separate Taskbar Icon for each Open Portfolio is selected in Preferences on the Misc. tab, each open portfolio will have a separate icon in the taskbar for easy access.  The Portfolio name will appear in the taskbar icon:

 

 

The main portfolio icon is the one without the red dot.  The secondary open portfolios and the Watchlist, if open will have a red dot in their icons to distinguish them from the main primary portfolio window.  The red dot will also appear in the portfolio title bar.

 

The selected View, Site, Inline (thumbnail) Chart period, Connection status (and refresh interval, if applicable) and size and position of the window is unique to each portfolio.  Once set, it will be remembered the next time you access the specific portfolio.

 

You can close an open portfolio either from the File menu (Exit) or by clicking on the window's X close button (upper right).  Closing the main portfolio window will exit the program.