Within many of the features, there is an option to view information on a selected instrument.
This function is accessed through the command on the Actions for "Symbol" submenu of the Action menu on the Function Bar of many features.
When selected, the Detailed Symbol Information dialog box will display. It contains three tabbed sheets:
This is the security's symbol or market code. It is generally assigned by the exchange on which it is traded. Securities with an expiration date, for example futures and options, have base symbol code and additional characters indicating the expiration date. For more information, refer to the Symbol Formats help topic.
This identifies what type of instrument the security is.
The full name of the security. This is generally the name used to listed the company on the exchange. Derivatives, such as options or futures, are subject to other naming conventions and will also indicate when it expires, or if it is a spot contract.
This is the exchange where the security is traded.
Some symbols refer to different securities in different exchanges, or the same company traded on more than one exchange.
Your SOFTWARE allows you to pick a default exchange, this can be changed later. When Your SOFTWARE detects this type of conflict it will prompt you to select the correct exchange from a drop-down list.
When details of that symbol are next accessed, the exchange that was selected will be displayed until you manually select an alternative exchange, at which point that exchange will become the default exchange until the default is changed again.
This is applicable to securities with expiration dates, such as futures and options.
Your SOFTWARE primarily uses the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) to populate this data field.
ICB is a global classification system created by Dow Jones Indexes and FTSE. It offers a detailed and comprehensive structure allowing three levels of classification: 10 Industries, 18 Supersectors and 39 Sectors.
The ICB system is applied to all stock markets available within Your SOFTWARE.
For the Australian market, an alternative classification system is available: GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard).
GICS is similar to ICB in that it provides for classification of securities based on sector and industry definitions. Users can select between the two systems for ASX stocks using the drop down menu in the Data Providers dialog. The Data Providers dialog box can be accessed from the Edit menu bar.
If GICS is selected for the Australian market, the Classification text box for all Australian securities will be populated with the GICS classification description rather than the ICB classification.
The price of options can be affected by the dividends paid on the underlying stock, for this reason dividend details can be entered and viewed from this dialog box.
The data in this section is manually added, and can later be edited, by the user using the Dividend Entry dialog box:
Click Add to open the dialog box to add new dividend details.
Select a current dividend and then click Edit to alter existing dividend details.
This is the date that the security "goes ex-dividend". This means that after this date the next dividend will be paid to whoever owns the security at the Ex Date. Usually the Ex Date is 4-6 weeks before the dividend's payment date. Often immediately after the Ex Date the security's price will fall slightly because anyone buying after that date will not get the next dividend.
The dividend Amount is entered by the user on a per stock basis.
The dividend amount is usually announced shortly before the security goes ex-dividend.
The Daily Data tab shows how much historical data is currently held on the local machine for the selected security, and when the last data was retrieved.
The Data Start Date and Data Finish Date and last data date for the selected security,
The dates that data was last retrieved are displayed in the Retrieve date box.
The retrieve date boxes have drop-down calendars from which to select the correct date. You can click Clear and manually enter the date, or you can click Today to insert the current date.
Click the Update button to retrieve current price data for the security.
The Remote Action Window will display the request for data. The instrument code and the exchange are displayed as well as the time the data was requested and the time it was returned. The Retrieve window will be updated with today's date.
For more information, go to the Remote Action Window help topic.