Getting Started

Tutorial

Gannalyst.com
Gannalyst Professional 5.0
Gannalyst Standard 5.0
Gannalyst Lite 5.0

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Table of Contents
Introduction _____________________________________________________________ 3
How to use this document ________________________________________________ 3
Getting Started___________________________________________________________ 3
Setting Preferences _____________________________________________________
Preferences Page 1 ____________________________________________________________
Preferences Page 2 ____________________________________________________________
Preferences Page 3 ____________________________________________________________

3
4
5
6

Introducing the Application Interface _______________________________________

Interface Description __________________________________________________________
The Chart Page Toolbar ________________________________________________________
The First Section ______________________________________________________________
The Third Section _____________________________________________________________
The Second Section ___________________________________________________________

7
7
8
8
8
9

Introducing Highlights __________________________________________________

What are Highlights __________________________________________________________
Why use Highlights ___________________________________________________________
Highlights by Example ________________________________________________________
Multiple Highlights ___________________________________________________________

10
10
10
10
12

Introducing the Data Access Panel _________________________________________

What is the Data Access Panel __________________________________________________
Locating Data File Folders______________________________________________________
Copying to the Security Panel___________________________________________________
Finding and Selecting Securities _________________________________________________

13
13
14
15
16

Creating a New Portfolio_________________________________________________

Exploring the Data Access Panel_________________________________________________
Using the Data Access Panel____________________________________________________
Finding and Opening Security Files_______________________________________________

17
17
18
18

Opening and Navigating a Portfolio. ________________________________________

Moving between Securities _____________________________________________________
Maintaining State ____________________________________________________________
Adding More Securities ________________________________________________________

19
19
19
20

Adding a Basic Drawing to the Chart (2 Step) ________________________________ 20

Adjusting and Editing the Trend Line _____________________________________________ 21
Adding a Drawing with Highlight (3 Step) ___________________________________ 22
Drawing the Triangle _________________________________________________________ 22
Editing the Triangle___________________________________________________________ 23
Applying an Indicator/Oscillator __________________________________________ 24
Drawing Indicators ___________________________________________________________ 24
Editing Indicators ____________________________________________________________ 25
Working with Templates _________________________________________________ 25
Creating a Template __________________________________________________________ 25
Applying a Template __________________________________________________________ 26
Adding an Advanced Drawing with Highlight (2 Step) __________________________
Drawing the Price Retracement _________________________________________________
Editing the Price Retracement __________________________________________________
Editor Page 1 Basic Features __________________________________________________
Editor Page 2 Retracement Levels ______________________________________________
Editor Page 3 Highlights. _____________________________________________________

26
27
27
28
28
29

Applying a Stop Loss Tool (1 Step) _________________________________________ 30

Drawing the ATR Long Stop Loss ________________________________________________ 30
Editing the ATR Stop Tool ______________________________________________________ 30
Applying a User Trade Block ______________________________________________ 31
Drawing the User Trade Block __________________________________________________ 31
Setting Trade Properties _______________________________________________________ 32
Summary ____________________________________________________________ 33

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Introduction
This document has been prepared to provide the new user with the ability to
familiarise themselves with the Gannalyst Software and to start being
productive as soon as possible. As with most things new, its sometimes a bit
of a trial having to learn how to do something unfamiliar so this document is
concerned with the taking the reader step by step through the most important
facets of the software. It should be noted that this document is primarily
concerned with the Professional version of the software and as so may
discuss features that may not be available in the Lite or Standard versions.
As humans, we are obsessed with patterns, and the ability to recognise them.
Following with this concept, the Gannalyst software has always been
designed with the one catches all concept in mind. This means that once you
know how to do one thing, that is perform a pattern, you pretty much know
how to do all of them. Once you know how to use one drawing tool, then you
know how to use all of them. Once you know how to edit one feature of the
software, you will know how to edit all of it.
If you are stumped at any point, simply remember this maxim:
Using the mouse ...Right Click on it
If you can do anything with whatever is under the mouse, you WILL see a
popup menu to guide you further. If no popup menu appears, you cant do
anything with it anyway so move on.

How to use this document

This document has been structured to take the reader from beginning to end,
starting with setting the program preferences to applying tools to creating
charts and manipulating your selected Portfolios. As a PC user you may have
more experience that others and can elect to skip a section. All new users
should however read the section Introducing the Data Access Panel as it
contains important information on accessing your data.

Getting Started
Before we begin loading charts, creating Portfolios and analysing securities, it
is appropriate to adjust some of the setting to the software to suit your
individual tastes and needs. There are a number of global settings that you
can alter, some of the most important being the location of your data files.
Setting these preferences should only take a few minutes and will save you
considerable time later on.
Firstly, Start the Software by selecting the Icon on your Desktop.

Setting Preferences
To open the Preferences window, selection the Toolbar Button as indicated above
(highlighted by the red box). As shown, the following window should now display.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Preferences Page 1

Snap to Price
Snap to Price is a feature whereby the ends of a drawing tool such as a
trendline will automatically attach themselves, or Snap to the high or the low
of the price bar currently under the mouse pointer. If Snap to Price is not
enabled, you can place the ends to such a drawing tool anywhere on the chart
surface.
Provided is a list of the Drawing tools that are available to the Gannalyst
version that you are using. From this list you can selectively switch on or off
this Snap to Price functionality.
Default Display
When a new security is loaded it will load in Daily data format by
default. You can change this default behaviour to load in Weekly
format.
The Chart can display your selected securities in either Trading day
format, weekends and holidays removed, or in Calendar day format
where the weekends and holidays are included. With Calendar day
format, weekends and holidays are display a blank where a price bar
should be.
The Chart display can also be altered to display the chart in Semi Log
format, whereby the Price axis is altered to a Log basis.
Highlights
Highlights are a transparent, coloured area enclosed by a set boundary and
are explained in greater detail later in this document. Due to technical
limitations of some PC Operating Systems, Highlights are switched off by
default. If you are using Win2K or Win XP as your operating system, you can
switch this feature on.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Preferences Page 2

Grid Settings
Using the checkboxes you can set the default Grid appearance. The default
setting is off.
Decimal Places
Different securities display differing levels of precision. Indices generally are
whole numbers whereas currencies can go to 4 decimal places. The defulat
setting is 2.
Chart End Spacing
When a chart loads, there is an amount of whitespace at the right hand side of
the chart. This is also known as the Hard Right Edge. Here you can set the
width of this whitespace. The default setting is 10.
MSFL
The Gannalyst software provides two mechanisms for accessing Metastock
format files. There is the default method which is limited to 255 data files per
folder, or you can switch to using the MSFL651.DLL which allows for
accessing up to 2000 securities per folder. Use of this feature is dependent
upon your Data Vendor being able to provide you data in 2000 files per folder
format.
Default Font Setting
Some of the Drawing tools will display some form of text on the Chart surface.
You can globally set the font and the font size for all drawing tools that use
this feature.
Drag Handles
For those like myself, who are slowly becoming visually challenged, I have
provided a facility for adjusting the size of the Drag Handles (little red boxes at
the ends of the lines) for the draw tools. The default setting is 3.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Preferences Page 3

Default Metastock Folder

This is the folder where the software will initially look for your Metastock data
files. As an example, if you were using a quality Data Vendor such as Just
Data then you would set this to this folder to C:\My Databases\MetaStock.
Default CSV Data Folder
If you are using CSV or Text data files instead of Metastock formatted data
files, this is where you tell the software where to locate these files. Again, as
an example, if you are using a quality data vendor such as Just Data then you
would set this to this folder to C:\My Databases\AsciiCsv. It should be noted
here that CSV data files come in a variety formats and you will be required to
describe the layout of these files. This process is defined in a separate
document Configuring Text Data Files which can be accessed under the
Help menu on the main menu
Default Portfolio Folder.
All charts are saved into a Portfolio file. This is where you tell the Gannalyst
Software where to look for them when requested. The default setting is the
Portfolios folder which is beneath the application install folder eg
C:\Program Files\Gannalyst\Gannalyst Professional 50\Portfolios
Default Templates Folder
Indicators and oscillators applied to a chart can be saved as a template. This
is where you tell the Gannalyst software where to save them and where to
look for them when required. The default setting is the Templates folder
which is beneath application install folder eg
C:\Program Files\Gannalyst\Gannalyst Professional 50\Templates

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Introducing the Application Interface

Once you have started the Gannalyst Software and have either opened an
existing Portfolio or have elected to create a new portfolio, you will be
presented with the following interface.

Interface Description
Starting at the top of the screen and depending on which version of the
software you are using, you will have a number of tabbed toolbars on the right
side of the screen and a set of 2 main toolbars on left side of the screen. If
you are unsure what each button will do, place the mouse over the toolbar
button (but dont click) and you will see a little yellow window appear giving
you a hint as to its functionality. This is standard windows behavior and will
work for all toolbar buttons that appear throughout the software.
Below the main toolbar region we have the Portfolio Chart interface. This can
be broken into three sections:
1. Toolbar Each Chart window has its own toolbar for selecting various
features that are applicable to the chart surface as well as introducing
some more esoteric functionality. This will be dealt with in more detail
in the following section.
2. Chart Interface This is primary display for the security data. You have
a number of options for how this data is displayed, as well as altering to
colors of the bars, the duration (daily weekly etc) and many more.
These will be covered under the Chart Page toolbar.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

3. Security Selector When a Portfolio is open, all the securities

contained within the portfolio are listed in these Blue Tabs at the
bottom of the page. The currently selected security is colored Orange.

The Chart Page Toolbar

The following is a image of the Chart Page toolbar. As can been seen from its
structure, it can be divided into 3 distinct sections and we will discuss these in
order of 1st and 3rd sections leaving the largest section, (2), till last.

The First Section

As can be seen from the associated image
there are four buttons on this section of the
Tool Bar.
1. Data This is the button that will Open and/or Close the Data Access
Panel. This panel is described in greater detail in the previous section
and again in the following section. When you want to access your data
files this is the button you will press and the Data Access Panel will
slide into view from the left hand side.
2. Duration Pressing this button will cause a popup menu to appear
listing the possible selections for altering the duration of the bars. The
Options available are daily, weekly and monthly.
3. Precision Pressing this button will cause a popup menu to appear
allowing you to select to what precision you want your data to display.
The standard is 2 decimal places for securities and 4 decimal places
for currencies. There are no rules here; you can select whatever you
like to see.
4. Hide - Pressing this button will cause a popup menu to appear listing
all the drawing tools that are currently on the chart. If they are visible
they will have a Tick mark next them. If they are currently hidden, they
will not have the tick mark. You can use this list to toggle the visibility of
all the tools appearing on the chart surface.

The Third Section

As can be seen from the associated image there
are three buttons on this section of the Tool Bar.
1. Overlay - Pressing this button will cause a popup menu to appear
listing the 3 possible types of Gann Swing Overlay charts that you can
apply to the underlying chart surface. Only 1 Gann Swing Overlay can
appear at any one time. You also have the option to Edit or Delete the
Swing overlays
2. Symbol - Pressing this button will cause a popup menu to appear
listing 36 different symbols that can be attached to the chart.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

3. Text - Pressing this button will allow you to create a text label that will
appear on the chart.

The Second Section

As can be seen from the
associated image there are
20 buttons on this section of the Tool Bar. Listing from left to right
1. Compress Data - Increase the number of Bars that appear on the
Chart. Maximum is dependent on screen resolution.
2. Expand Data - Decrease the number of Bars that appear on the Chart.
This process is virtually unlimited. Minimum number of Bars is 1.
3. Increase Chart Height - Expand the Left Axis limit on the Chart height
4. Decrease Chart Height - Decrease the Left Avis limit on the Chart
height
5. Increase Chart Base - Expand the Left Axis limit on the Chart base
6. Decrease Chart Base - Decrease the Left Avis limit on the Chart base
7. Horizontal Grid Toggle the appearance of the Horizontal Grid
8. Vertical Grid Toggle the appearance of the Vertical grid
9. Go to Start Immediately go to the beginning of the Chart data
10. Go to end Immediately go to the end of the Chart data
11. Zoom Start the Zoom process. Once pressed, you can then draw a
rectangle around a section of the Chart display and the chart will zoom
into this section
12. UnZoom The Chart will immediately revert to its previously unzoomed settings.
13. Delete All This will delete all drawing tools from the Chart surface.
This deletion will occur without warning.
14. Candle Bar This will immediately alter the Chart display to Candle
Bars
15. Bar Chart- This will immediately alter the Chart display to Bar Chart
16. Line Chart This will immediately alter the Chart display to a line
Chart. The line is based upon the closing price.
17. Data Window This will toggle the appearance of a Bar Information
data window.
18. Cross hair This will toggle the appearance of Cross Hairs on the
mouse pointer. This will draw a horizontal and vertical line across the
Chart at the mouse point.
19. Training Mode This will toggle the initiation of Training mode. There
is a separate document covering training Mode and it can be found
under the Help menu.
20. Calendar/Trading This button will toggle the display from trading day
display to Calendar day display. When toggled, all drawing tools that
have a horizontal component will be automatically adjusted to the new
scale.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Introducing Highlights
What are Highlights
One of the new features in Version 5 is Highlights. This feature is Operating
System dependent and will only work correctly with Win2k or Win XP.
Previous versions of Windows will produce spurious results, if at all.
What are Highlights? To put it simply its a mechanism whereby an enclosed
region on the chart can be given a transparent colored background. The
transparency part is an important feature as you want to be able to see the
chart bars underneath.
Obviously not all the tools have this feature but a majority of them do have it
in one form or another. For example a rectangle can have a transparent fill
color as can the divisions of a Price Retracement as well as the regions
mapped out by a Gann fan. In each case the tool itself has defined a region
on the chart be it price or time and you can instruct the software to fill these
regions with a colored transparent blend.

Why use Highlights

The idea behind the highlight regions is quite simple. I was looking for a way
of presenting a region on the chart as opposed to a hard line. For example
when you place a Price Retracement tool on the chart you see lines drawn
horizontally as the percentages that you have defined. Mostly you will have
one of these at say the 50% retracement level.
This is great, however when we draw a line on a chart we also implant a
psychological expectation against that line. We start seeing the underlying
market in absolutes when in actual fact we should be looking at the market
performance as a whole, i.e. looking at the market approaching a region or
trading with one.
At the same time we also want to be able to draw those absolute lines on the
chart as well. To cater for both sides, I have designed the highlight function to
be independent, just as the division percentages are so you can elect to have
both or either displaying.

Highlights by Example
The best way to understand highlights is by use of a simple example. I have
created a couple of snapshots which graphically display the effects that
Highlights can have when used on a price chart.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Below is a chart displaying the Standard Price Retracement tool with the
divisions set to 25, 50 and 75%. As we can see the market trades down to the
50% level and then proceeds to trade slightly through it for the next 2 days.

In this next picture we have the exact same Price Retracement tool but this
time the Retracement levels have been deselected and the Highlights (2545%, 45-55%, and 55-75%) have been switched on. As we can see it is very
similar to a standard Price Retracement tool, however instead of absolute
lines we have regions. We can see the market traded for 3 days within the
bounce zone before trading out of. Generally we get a different picture of the
market and as such, see it from a slightly different perspective. The other
advantage of this process surfaces when we have a number of these tools on
the chart. Matters can begin to look very complicated with lines running
everywhere. If we set the Highlight regions correctly, we can forego the lines
and just leave the regions.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Multiple Highlights
The Highlight concept also carries over to using a number of tools on concert.
For example when we are using a Price Retracement tool in concert with a
Price Extension tool and looking for clustering price zones.
We can use the standard form and look for lines clustering, and we can also
use the Highlight Regions method and look for where colored regions overlap.
The effect is quite striking and very easy for the eye to recognize immediately.
This also applies to the time tools that divide the chart space horizontally.

The above image was constructed using overlapping Gann Fans. The 60s
psychedelic look is simply for effect in this document. Hard to miss isnt it!
Whilst it will always remain arguable as to the usefulness of using tools to
define regions instead of using the traditional lines, I believe that the
traditional method has had a run for over one hundred years and although still
extremely useful, it has gone as far as it can go. Perhaps its time to start
looking at price charts from a perspective thats a little different.
As mentioned earlier, all the tools provide for both approaches, so if this is not
for you, simply switch it off!

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Introducing the Data Access Panel

Before we start looking at portfolios and charts there is one more item that
you will need to familiarize yourself with, and that is the Data Access Panel.
This is concerned with building Portfolios which is covered in the next section
however its important to at least get familiar with this interface, because you
will be using it quite often.

What is the Data Access Panel

For us to load a chart we first need to be able to locate the data file we are
looking for. This is probably the issue that creates the most pain for new users
as it requires an element of PC prowess and not everyone is a PC
heavyweight. The Gannalyst 5 implementation has been designed to be as
flexible as possible whilst still making it easy for the novice to become
accomplished. If you know how to double click a mouse you should be ok.
Below is an image of the Data Access Panel which each of its components
defined. Just like your car dashboard, everything is in a place for a reason.

What we are trying to achieve with the Data Access Panel is to locate folders
in the Folder List Box that contain Metastock data files and copy them to the
Security Panel. Next we will look at how we locate these folders.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Locating Data File Folders

Previously I said that if you know how to double click your mouse then youd
be ok. Well this is where the double clicking comes in. If you have used
windows explorer or have ever had the need to move through folders on your
hard drive then this part will be obvious.
What we want to do is find your data Files. If you are using a Data Vendor for
your data supply, then they will always be located in a specific folder on your
hard drive. In the case of Just Data, they always place their data in the C:\My
Databases folder.
So how do we move around the folder list? Simple, we Double Click on the
folders in the list to open and close them.
In the image on the previous page, the folder was set to:
C:\Program Files\Gannalyst Professional 50

Below is a picture of the Folder List Box showing the folders selected to the
Just Data folder:
C:\My Databases\MetaStock\ASX

So how did we get here? Simply by double clicking on the folders as follows:
1) Firstly we went back to the root of
C drive by double clicking on the
C:\ icon. This now gives us list of
all the folders on the hard drive.
2) Secondly, we then scrolled down
this list until we found the one
named My Databases and we
double clicked on that to open it.
This gave us a list of folders
underneath, one of which is
MetaStock
3) Thirdly, once we have located
Metastock, we double click on it
which then presents us with a list
of folders underneath that one
(sort of like a tree branching out
isnt it).
4) Finally we locate the ASX folder
and double click on it to display
the list of folders where the
securities
are
divided
into
alphabetically sorted folders.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Copying to the Security Panel

We have now located the folders where our securities are located. So now we
want to move them to the Security Panel so we can start search and selecting
the securities we want to view.
To add a folder to the Security Panel it MUST contain Metastock data files. If
it does not, then nothing will happen.
The image below shows 2 folders have been added to the Security Panel: A0
and B0. In this case these are all the securities on the Australian Stock
exchange that start with the letters A and B. To get them there is a very
simple process we double clicked on them
Following on from the previous page, we had a list of all the folders beneath
the ASX folder.
1) Firstly to select A0 we simply
scrolled down a little and Double
Clicked on it. Immediately this was
added to the Security Panel
2) Secondly we went back to the
Folder List Box, and Double
Clicked on ASX again to re-open it
and provide us with the listing.
3) Thirdly we located the B0 folder
by scrolling down a little and then
we double clicked on the B0 folder
and it too was immediately copied
to the Security Panel.
Weve now copied 2 Data Folders into
the Security Panel, so whats in there?
Have look by simply clicking on the little
cross box next to folder, just as in the
image to the right, and it will open the
folder displaying all the securities that
are contained within that folder.

Next you can alter the display of Ticker Symbols or Security Names by
alternately pressing the blue Security or Symbol buttons.
If this is the permanent location of your Data Files you might also like to press
the Set as Default button so that the Software will open there next time its
starts. Next we will look at selecting and searching for securities.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Finding and Selecting Securities

So far we have done everything we have set out to do. We have located the
folders that contain our Data Files and we have copied them into the Security
Panel. At this point you may be asking yourself why such an apparently
convoluted process just to get to a data file. The reason for this is that its
unlikely that you will only want to open one security. You will probably want to
open 5, 10 or even 50 of them, so you will want a fast, efficient way to do this.
By adding the folders to the security you will have all your Data files in the one
place that is optimised for searchingas we shall see.
Following on from the previous page we
have all the securities whose names start
with A and B. In this case its very simple
to find, but imagine we had all the folders
from A to Z. The solution is simple:
1) Firstly we type in the ticker symbol
we are looking for in the place
provided at the bottom of the
Security Panel. Then we can
either hit the Find button, or even
better, we can simply hit the
Enter on the keyboard. If the
security is in one of the selected
folders, the software will open that
Folder and will scroll its selection
into view.
2) Secondly to open that selected
security, simply hit the Enter Key
again.
3) Now, type in the Ticker symbol of
your next selection and repeat the
process.
4)
Now do it again. and again and again. You get the idea.
See how fast you can build you portfolios.
Before we move along to Creating Portfolios in the next section its
worthwhile noting a prime constraint of the Data Access Panel. The selected
Security Folders will remain whilst the Portfolio window is open, however once
its closed, this information will be lost and you will have to repeat this process
when you open a new Portfolio window. The reason for this is simply software
performance.
Bearing this in mind, it may be worthwhile to decide in advance what
securities you want to add to a Portfolio, so that you can minimise as much as
possible this coursing through your Data set.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Creating a New Portfolio

To create a new portfolio simply select the New Portfolio Button from the Main
toolbar as indicated below (highlighted by the red box). For this example we
will be using Metastock Data Files.

Once selected, a blank chart window will open and the Data Access Panel
will scroll into view from the Left Hand side. Although this was fully covered in
the previous section, I will be going through it again, just to make the point.
The Data Access Panel is the primary interface to access your Data Files.
After a period of time without activity, this panel will automatically close, that
is, it will slide to the left out of view. If this occurs, you can re-open the panel
by pressing the Data button on the Chart Page toolbar. Pressing this button
will toggle the Opening and Closing of the data Access Panel.

Exploring the Data Access Panel

If you set the default folder for your Metastock Data Files in the Preference
Setting, this should be the Starting folder when the display opens.
Starting at the very top, you can select
the Drive to be accessed. Below this is
a Folder List Box displaying all the
folders that are available on the
selected drive. The display is similar to
windows explorer and behaves in an
identical way, that is, double clicking or
Navigating on a folder will toggle
opening and closing of the folder. On
the lower pane, the Security Panel you
can see two tabs: MetaStock Data and
CSV data. This is an important note:
If the Metastock tab is selected,
then navigating the Folder List
box will ONLY look for Metastock
data Files.
If the CSV Data tab is selected
then navigating the Folder list
box will ONLY search for CSV
data files.
The Lower Pane will store/display any Folders that are found when navigating
the Folder List Box. You have two options at the top of this pane: Symbol and
Security.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

When Symbol is selected the Pane will display all the available securities
Ticker Symbols. If the Security button is selected the Security name will
display instead of the Ticker symbol. At the bottom of the panel is the find
Security feature. This will be explained in the next section.

Using the Data Access Panel

Now we know how the Data Access Panel works we can now start using it.
Again in this example we are using Metastock data files.
In the following example I have selected the A0 folder, the B0 folder and the
C0 folder. When this is done, the entire Folder is copied to the Securities
panel below. Once copied there you can easily search for your selected
security by Ticker Symbol.
Adding to the Security Panel

When navigating the Folder List Box,

you can select an appropriate Data
Folder by simply Double Clicking on it
with the mouse. When you do this, and
the selected folder contains Metastock
Data Files, it will copy the folder into the
Security Panel below. Each valid folder
selected will be selected, and duplicate
folders will also be copied. Once you
have copied a couple of folders into this
panel, using the mouse you can open
each folder in the Security Panel simply
by clicking on the little box with the
cross in it. This will open the folder and
display all the securities contained
within it. Clicking again will close the
folder. This method is used so that you
can add as many folders as you like as
quickly as possible. If your data vendor
is supplying data in 2000 files per folder
format, then you may only have to
select one folder to cover your needs.

Finding and Opening Security Files

1. Using the mouse, place the cursor in the Find Box and type in the 3-4
letter Ticker symbol for the security you are looking for.
2. Either press the Find button with the mouse or better still press the
Enter key. If a security is located, it will open the folder in the Security
Panel and scroll it into view. Now for the fun part
3. If this is the security you were looking for you can :
a. Double Click on the selected Security to open it or
b. Press the enter key again and the security will open in the Chart
Interface using the default setting.
4. Now enter the next Security you are looking for and repeat the process.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Using the above procedure, it can be seen just how quickly you can quickly
create a portfolio of securities from scratch. Once you have your selected
Securities you can now save this set as
a Portfolio simply by pressing the Save
Portfolio button on the Main Toolbar.
You have now created and saved your first Portfolio!

Opening and Navigating a Portfolio.

Following on from the previous section we now want to re-open this Portfolio
and peruse some of the primary activities that you will be doing. Note, you can
open as many Portfolios as you like. Each time you open a Portfolio, the Title
is added to the Window List you will find under the Window Menu. Using this
you can navigate between open Portfolios.
To open an existing portfolio simply select the Open Portfolio Button from the
Main toolbar as indicated below (highlighted by the red box).

The Chart Window will open and the Securities selected in the Portfolio will
populate the security tabs at the bottom of the page. You most likely noticed
this when building your portfolio in the previous section. Notice that the Data
Access Panel does NOT scroll into view. The Security that opens first is the
security that was selected prior to saving the portfolio. This will be the case
every time you save the Portfolio, it will always open on the security that was
selected last.

Moving between Securities

As you can see on the bottom of the screen
you will have a series of tabs representing the
Ticker symbols of the securities contained within this portfolio. To switch
between securities, simply click on the selected tab with the mouse, and the
selected security data will now load into the Chart Interface. Pressing on the
Red Cross box will present you with an option to delete the selected security
from the Portfolio.

Maintaining State
This is all about saving where you are on the chart when you switch between
securities. If you are working on one security and suddenly need to switch to
another for a quick look and then come back to the first security, you want it
just the way you left it. The variable options available are too numerous to list
here, but you can play with some of the options such as the Data Scroller, the
Chart Styles etc and define each security with different setting and switch
between them. Notice how your settings are restored every time. It should be

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

noted that if you do not save your Portfolio prior to closing the Window, these
setting will NOT be saved, however if you elect to Save your portfolio prior to
closing, all these setting are stored, and when you Open the Portfolio next
time, it will open exactly as you left it. This is Maintaining State.

Adding More Securities

Once you have a portfolio, it is not fixed, and you can add or delete securities
at will. If you want to add more securities, simply press on the Data button on
the Chart page Toolbar to bring the Data Access Panel into view. Following
the process as described in the previous Data Access Panel section, select
your desired security, and simply add it to your Portfolio.
There is no theoretical limit to the number of securities that can be applied to
a Portfolio, however common sense would say that it is best to divide your
portfolio into manageable sections. This is of course a matter of individual
taste, and personally I find more that 30 securities too unwieldy when scrolling
and navigating the Security tabs.

Adding a Basic Drawing to the Chart (2 Step)

To start drawing on the Chart, we will need a Portfolio Open. If you still have
the Portfolio open from the previous section then we will use that, otherwise,
simply open the Portfolio, using the process described in the previous section.
Depending on the version of the Gannalyst software you are using, you will
have a number of drawing tools at your disposal. Each tool has its own
characteristics, but can be broken down into one of three main categories:
1. Single Step Process
2. Two Step Process
3. Three Step Process
The number of steps describes the process you use with the mouse to place
the drawing tool on the Chart surface. For this example we are going to draw
a trend line on the Chart. This will be a 2 Step process.
Drawing the Trend line

Firstly Locate the Trend line tool. This can be found on the Basic Tools tab.
The following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for. Click this
button once with the mouse. You should see the mouse pointer change shape
as you move it over the Chart
Surface.
Step 1)
Move the mouse over the Chart to the starting point for the Trend line. This
may be either a high or a low price on the Chart. Press the mouse downand
keep it pressed down.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Step 2)
With the mouse still depressed, move the mouse in the direct you want to
draw the line. As you move it you can see the line being drawn

Once on the Chart, you will see 2 red boxes at each the end of the Trend line.
These are what is know as drag handles and can be used to resize the
drawing, or to adjust the start or end of the line.

Adjusting and Editing the Trend Line

Once the trend line is placed on the Chart, it is not a permanent fixture. You
can move it anywhere you wish around the chart, you can alter its properties
such as line color and width and you can simply delete it!
Moving the Trend line
Using the mouse, place it over the Trend line until the mouse pointer changes
to a Hand
1. Press the Left Mouse button to select the Trend line. This will make the
red boxes or Drag Handles reappear, this is a visual signal to you that
you have successfully selected the drawing tool.
2. Press down the Left mouse button over the Trend Line and, keeping it
depressed, move the mouse around the screen. The Trend line will
now get dragged around the chart maintaining its original gradient.
Resizing and Adjusting the Trend line
Place the mouse over one of the ends of the Trend line until the mouse
changes to Pinched Fingers This is a visual signal that you can resize the
tool. Press down the Left Mouse button and keeping pressed, you can now
drag the mouse around the screen by the drag handles and the end of the
trend line will move with it.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Editing the Trend line

Using the mouse, place it over the Trend line until
the mouse pointer changes to a Hand
Now press the Right mouse button and you should
see the Drawing tool menu popup next to the mouse.
On it you will see a number of options including all of
which are pretty much self explanatory. Select the
Option that says Trend Line Properties.

The Trend line Property

window will now appear. As
basic drawing tool there arent
too many properties that you
can change however you can
alter everything that you can
see. As you change each of
these settings you will see the
selected trend line drawn on
the chart change to the setting
selected. If you like what you
see, press OK, and if you
always want trend lines to look
this way, select the Set as Default option prior to pressing the Ok button.
You have now mastered drawing tools on the chart. If you can do this one
then you can do all of them since they all behave in the same basic way. Each
tool just has differing properties.

Adding a Drawing with Highlight (3 Step)

Since we have just added a basic drawing tool onto the chart we can now go
and add a basic drawing tool that also includes a highlight feature so that we
can explore the basics of using highlights. To add a little more to the mix, we
shall use the Triangle as it is also a 3 step drawing tool

Drawing the Triangle

Firstly Locate the Triangle tool. This can be found on the Basic Tools tab. The
following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for. Click this
button once with the mouse. You
should see the mouse pointer
change shape as you move it over the Chart Surface.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

1) Move the mouse over the Chart to the starting point for the Triangle.
This may be either a high or a low price on the Chart. Press the mouse
downand keep it pressed down.
2) With the mouse still depressed, move the mouse in the direction you
want to draw the line. As you move it you can see the line being drawn
3) Release the mouse button, move the mouse in the direction you want
to draw the 3rd point of the Triangle. As you move it you can see the 2
connecting lines being drawn.

You should now see something similar to the image below:

We have already covered the concept of adjusting and moving the tool around
the chart space and the process is identical for all the drawing tools. Instead
we will go straight to Editing the Triangle so we can explore the extra feature
of Highlights.

Editing the Triangle

Using the mouse, place it over the Trend line until the mouse pointer changes
to a Hand
Now press the Right mouse button and you should see
the Triangle tool menu popup next to the mouse. On it
you will see a number of options including all of which
are again, pretty much self explanatory. Select the
Option that says Triangle Properties.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

The first properties are similar to the Trend line Properties however there is an
added section for this tool: Highlight Blend
1. Press
the
Visible
checkbox and you will
immediately see the
Triangle color fill with
the selected color.
2. Changing
the
color
using the Color Picker
will immediately alter
the
color
of
the
Highlight.
3. Slide the Trackbar to
alter the transparency of
the
highlight,
from
barely there at 100 and
completely solid at 0.
The default is 90 which
appears to be an
effective value.
If you like what you see, press OK, and if you always want Triangles to look
this way, select the Set as Default option prior to pressing the Ok button.
You have now mastered a 3 step drawing tool with added highlight properties!

Applying an Indicator/Oscillator
One of the basic functions that all charting packages offer is a bewildering
supply of indicators and oscillators. Whilst Im not a big fan of these tools, they
are however present in the Gannalyst Software.
Switch to the Indicators Tab on the main toolbar and select from the Drop
Down list of available indicators. For this exercise we will be using the
Exponential Moving Average (EMA) 1, the RSI and the ATR

Drawing Indicators
1. Select Exponential Moving Average 1 from the Indicator List and then
press the Apply button. The EMA will appear immediately on the
screen. The Period used will be the default setting and the color and
width of the line will also be the default setting.
2. Next, select the Relative Strength Index (RSI) from the Indicator listing.
Again, press the apply button and the RSI will immediately appear on
the bottom of the chart page using the default settings.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

3. Finally Select Average True Range from the indicator list and again,
press the apply button. The ATR will appear immediately above the
RSI band. It should be noted that this stacking feature is only available
in Gannalyst Standard and Professional versions.

Editing Indicators
Using the mouse, place it over one of the
indicator lines line until the mouse pointer
changes to a Hand
Now press the Right mouse button and you
should see the Indicator tool menu popup
next to the mouse. On it you will see a
number of options including all of which are again, pretty much self
explanatory. Select the Option that says Relative Strength Index Properties.

These properties are similar to the

Trend line Properties however there is
an extra option for altering the Period of
the indicator. Differing indicators have
differing properties however by now
you should be able to alter these to
whatever you want them to be.
If you like what you see, press OK, and
if you always want Triangles to look this
way, select the Set as Default option
prior to pressing the Ok button.

You have now mastered adding Indicators to your chart.

Next we will look at how we can add groups of indicators in one step!

Working with Templates

A template is a mechanism whereby a set of indicators and oscillators can be
applied to a chart as a group. Before we can apply a template, firstly we have
to create one.

Creating a Template
You should still have you chart open from the previous exercise, and there
should be at least 3 indicators applied to the chart. If you do not have any
indicators applied to the chart then do so now and apply the 3 indicators as
listed in the previous exercise.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

What we want to do now is to save these indicators as a template.

Accomplishing this is extremely simple!
Anywhere on the chart surface, simply right
click the mouse until you see the Chart Popup
menu appear as follows. As you can see there
are a number of option available to you, but the
one we are interested in at this point is the
Option that says Save as Template
Select this Option and the standard Windows
Save Dialog box will open requesting that you
enter a name for the template. The folder
should be the one that you entered when
setting the Preferences in the Preference section. For this exercise enter
Test1 as the template name and then press the save button. You have now
created and saved your first template.

Applying a Template
If you though that saving a template was easy, then applying one is just as
simple but first we must have a clear chart space so switch to another chart in
your open portfolio that does not have any indicators on it.
Again, anywhere on the chart surface, simply
right click the mouse until you see the Chart
Popup menu appear as follows. As you can see
there are a number of option available to you,
but the one we are interested in at this point is
the Option that says Apply Template.
Select this Option and the standard Windows
Open Dialog box will open requesting that you
select a template from the list provided.. The
folder should be the one that you entered when
setting the Preferences in the Preference section. Select the Test1 template
and then press the Open button. All three indicators will now be applied to
your chart. Its that simple.
You have now mastered Templates!

Adding an Advanced Drawing with Highlight (2 Step)

So far with the drawing tools, we have only been using the basic ones, so it is
now worthwhile to look at one of the more advanced tools and investigate
some of the more important Property editing features. For this exercise will be
using the Price Retracement tool as this is one that most users will be familiar
with.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Drawing the Price Retracement

Firstly Locate the Price Retracement tool. This can be found on the Price
Tools tab. The following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for.

Click this button once with the mouse. You should see the mouse pointer
change shape as you move it over the Chart Surface.
Step 1) Move the mouse over the Chart to the starting point for the
Retracement. This may be either a high or a low price on the Chart. Press the
mouse downand keep it pressed down.
Step 2) With the mouse still depressed, move the mouse in the direction you
want to draw the Retracements. As you move it you can see the default
retracements expanding as you move the mouse.
We should be quite proficient by now on moving the drawing tools around the
chart surface, so we will dispense with describing this again. Instead we will
go straight to editing the properties of this tool and explore the considerable
functionality that has been provided for you.

Editing the Price Retracement

Using the mouse, place it over any one of the two primary lines until the
mouse pointer changes to a Hand
Now press the Right mouse button and you
should see the Price Retracement tool menu
popup next to the mouse. On it you will see a
number of options including all of which are
again, pretty much self explanatory. Select the
Option
that
says
Price
Retracement
Properties.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Editor Page 1 Basic Features

As we can see, the property
editor is made up of three
pages.
This
first
page
labeled
Properties maintains the basic
properties, of which we have
seen in previous exercises with
other more basic tools. We can
alter the line width and color as
well as alter the font that is used
to display the Retracement
values. We also have the ability
to
switch
the
highlight
functionality off or on completely
for the tool itself. This will
become more apparent in the
next section.

Editor Page 2 Retracement Levels

On page 2 of the property editor
labeled Retracements, we have
a
listing
of
the
current
retracement levels that are set.
This listing shows the Level as a
percentage, the color of the line
that will be drawn, and a switch
to whether the line is drawn or
not.
On the right hand side we have
3 buttons, Add, Edit and Delete.
Using these buttons you have
the capability to add new levels,
edit existing levels and delete
existing levels.
The adding and editing functionality is limited to entering the Line Percentage
level and the Color that the line should display in.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Editor Page 3 Highlights.

On page 3 of the property
editor
labeled
Highlight
Zones, we have a listing of
the current Highlight Zones
or regions that are set.
This listing shows the two
Levels that are selected and
the color of the transparent
Highlighted region that will be
drawn between these two
levels.
There is also a switch to
determine whether the line is
drawn or not. If Highlights are
switched off on Page one
then this will have no impact.

When comparing the features on Page 2 and Page 3 they do appear to be

almost identical and that impression has been part of the design so that there
is little new to be learnt when using Highlights. It should be noted that
Highlights behave independently.
In this case the Highlight Regions are in no way connected to the values
entered in the Retracement levels. This independence is important and you
the user should be the one that defines what these Highlight regions should
be.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Applying a Stop Loss Tool (1 Step)

We have looked at the basic drawing tools well as one of the more advanced
drawing tools, so now its time to look at the Stop Loss tools. These are a set
of markers that you can apply to your chart to provide levels of what is known
as Trailing Stops

Drawing the ATR Long Stop Loss

Firstly Locate the ATR Long Stop tool. This can be found on the Stop Loss
tools tab. The following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for.

Click this button once with the mouse. You should see the mouse pointer
change shape as you move it over the Chart Surface.
Step 1) Move the mouse over the Chart to the starting point for the Stop. As
this is a Long Stop tool, it is preferable that you select a low on the chart.
Press the mouse downand release it. This is a 1 Step tool! You should now
see a Trailing line beneath the data Bars on the chart.

Editing the ATR Stop Tool

Using the mouse, place it over the Green Triangle marker until the mouse
pointer changes to a Hand
Now press the Right mouse button and you should
see the ATR Long tool menu popup next to the
mouse. On it you will see a number of options
including all of which are again, pretty much self
explanatory. Select the Option that says ATR Long
Properties.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Aside from the basic properties

we can alter a few new ones.
Firstly the multiplier which is
the number of ATR values
below the days close. For
more on this see how ATR
values are calculated.
Break on Stop will stop the
ATR calculating once the line
has been breeched, that is, a
stop has been triggered.
Display Stairs, will toggle
either a continuous line or a
series of small marks on the chart.
Thats all there is to it.
You have now mastered applying Stop Loss tools!

Applying a User Trade Block

We have now covered all the basic functionality that can be achieved when
using the Gannalyst software as an analysis tool. Finally we will look at what
to do when you have entered a trade want to mark up your chart and display
the trade parameters. For this we need the Trade Block tool and in this case
we will be using the Trade Block (Long) tool as an example.

Drawing the User Trade Block

Firstly Locate the User Trade Long tool. This can be found on the Stop Loss
tools tab. The following displays the toolbar button you should be looking for.

Click this button once with the mouse. You should see the mouse pointer
change shape as you move it over the Chart Surface.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Step 1) Move the mouse over

the Chart to the starting point for
the Trade Block. This may be
either a high or a low price on
the Chart. Press the mouse
down. Once pressed you will be
prompted to enter your Trade
parameters:

Setting Trade Properties

Apart from the obvious standard
properties, you can see where
you can enter the standard
information for your trade. As
you enter the values, the Trade
Tool will begin drawing these
values as Highlight Regions on
the chart surface. As you can
see you have the option to set
various levels including:
The Stop Loss Level which
indicates where the Trade
should be liquidated should the
price drop below this level.
The Limit Entry level which is the level that must be traded prior to a trade
being taken.
The Partial Exit Point which is the price level that must be traded for a partial
amount of your traded position should be liquidated.
The Pyramid point which is the price level at which you would add to the
position.
The final exit target point.
You have now seen and mastered the User Trade Block. This is the last of the
instructional information.

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005

Summary
We have now reached the end of this tutorial. You may have noticed that
there is a considerable amount of repetition when describing how to do things.
This repetitiveness is intentional on my behalf as I know that if the software is
designed with just a few patterns in mind, then it is much easier for the new
user to become proficient.

At first glance the vast array of buttons and options may be a little intimidating
but as we have seen, each of these options is just a slight variation on the
other and becoming proficient in applying these tools should be a very short
term process.
There is much more to this software, far too much to be covered in this format
however you are now armed with the most important parts. You can now be
comfortable with this knowledge and start moving forward, playing with the
software on your own.

Good Luck

Bill Voeten
www.gannalyst.com

Author Bill Voeten Copyright Gannalyst.com 2000-2005 30/08/2005