AmiQuote 4.00 Read Me ( May 23, 2019 )

INTRODUCTION

AmiQuote is a companion program to AmiBroker stock charting/analysis software.

The main purpose of AmiQuote is to simplify and automate downloading financial data from the following free, public web sites::

• Historical EOD quotation data from Yahoo! Finance sites
• Fundamental data from Yahoo Finance
• EOD and current day data from Tiingo.com
• EOD data from Quandl.com
• EOD data from Stooq.pl
• historical EOD and Intraday FOREX quotes from FinAm
• ANY web-based data source if it provides REST-like APIs and CSV (comma separated values) output (User-Definable Data sources new in version 4.0)

AmiQuote performs downloads using multiple threads allowing you to fully utilise your connection bandwidth.

DISCLAIMER

This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Any use of the program is at your own risk. The author disclaims any implied warranty of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

AmiBroker.com is NOT a data vendor. Quotes available via AmiQuote are provided by Yahoo Finance (finance.yahoo.com), Quandl.com, Stooq.pl, Finam, Tiingo and other free web pages. AmiQuote is just a web browser/downloader (just like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc) but specialized in getting quotes from mentioned vendors/sites. AmiBroker.com makes NO REPRESENTATIONS on accuracy of quotes retrieved and provides no warranty on availability of quotes.

By downloading quotes from aformentioned vendors/sites you agree to the terms and conditions of respective web sites/data vendors. Most vendors provide the data for "personal informational purposes only" - consult individual data vendor web sites for detailed terms of service.

Free data are usually 15-minute delayed.

If at any time in the future Yahoo Finance (finance.yahoo.com), Quandl.com, Stooq.pl, Finam, Tiingo or any other quote source used by AmiQuote stops to provide the data, AmiBroker.com will not be liable for the any loss caused by inability to obtain quotes via AmiQuote.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 4.00?

• New Generation of AmiQuote, now allows User-definable data sources for complete freedom of choice and quick adoption to data sources that appear on the web as well as existing sources changing their API:
  • UI: New top-level menu: Data sources: New/Edit/Delete/Import/Export
  • UI: New Data source creation/editing dialog allowing definition of user-defined sources
  • UI: Export and Import of Data source definitions allowing easy sharing of definitions between users
• Removed defunct Google Finance built-in source
• Removed BarChart.com built-in source (it can re-added as user-defined)
• added example importable data source definitions in "DataSources" folder (AlphaVantage, Tiingo Intraday IEX and more)

QUICK START GUIDE TO USER-DEFINABLE DATA SOURCES (NEW in version 4.00)

Version 4.0 is a new generation of AmiQuote that brings user-definable data sources. The idea is to allow any web site that delivers quotes in "consumable" format (currently CSV) to serve as a data source without long development process, so adoption of any new sources and/or changes would be easier and much quicker.

The easiest way to get started with User-definable sources is to Import example data source files. AmiQuote data sources are XML-based text files with .ADS extension (ADS stands for AmiQuote Data Source). Example files for AlphaVantage, Tiingo IEX intraday and more are included in the "DataSources" subfolder under AmiQuote folder.

How to import data source from file?

To import user-definable data source, select Data Source->Import menu. Then file dialog will appear, navigate to "DataSources" subfolder and look for exisitng files with .ads extension. Pick on and it will be imported. Newly imported data source will be automatically selected in "Source" combo box

How to use imported data source

You would use imported data source the very same way as you use built-in sources. Select it from Source combo box, set From/To dates, select desired Interval, add symbols and press Start download.

Some data sources may require API key (kind of private code to authorize your access to given data source). If that is the case, AmiQuote will display the message like this:

If you press OK button, the data source Setting dialog will be displayed where you can enter API key that you can retrieve from given data source web page:

Each data source has separate setting for API key (authorization token), so if you use for example Tiingo.com server in more than one user-defined data source you would need to enter the API key in each data source setting separately.

How to add your own data source

To create a new data source from scratch, use Data source->New menu, then follow instructions below to edit settings

How to delete user data source

To delete user-definable data source , use Data source->Delete. Caution: this operation cannot be undone.

How to edit data source settings

Data sources can be edited by selecting Data source->Edit menu, or pressing Edit button next to Source selection combo box on the main screen.

Data source Settings dialog has currently to pages: General and Supported Intervals.

General page looks as follows:

The fields available are as follows:

• Name - this provides short name of data source (will be used as name in "Source" combo) - required
• Description - the extra description of what data given source provides (will be displayed next to name in "Source" combo) - optional
• URL Template - the template which will be used to create actual URL to request data from - required
  
  URL is the address of where data can be downloaded from. The template is a system that allows to replace certain parts, called tokens, enclosed in curly braces like this: {token_name} with certain values at runtime. For example {symbol} can be replaced with current symbol and {from_ymd} by from date in YYYY-MM-DD format. More on available tokens in later section
  
• API key - defines {api_key} token value. May be required by some data sources
• Download type - selects downloaded data type/format. Currently only CSV format is supported - required
• Error message prefix - defines the text that will be searched for to detect any error messages generated by external web page - optional. If given text is found in the server response, the error message that follows this prefix will be displayed and this item download will be marked as failed
• Remove double quotation marks (") - optional - marking this option will remove any double quotation marks from downloaded data
• Convert ISO datetime into date and time columns - optional - marking this option will convert single CSV column ISO date/time stamps in the format of either: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS where letter 'T' separates date and time parts, or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS where space is used between date and time parts, into two separate columns, one for date YYYY-MM-DD and one for time HH:MM:SS (with regular comma as a separator between columns)
• Requests per minute - defines maximum number of requests per minute that given source allows - optional. Zero means no restriction.
  
  Some data sources put strict limits on how many requests you can send per minute and if you exceed that the downloads will fail with error. For example AlphaVantage has a limit of 5 requests per minute. If the limit is hit, AmiQuote will pause download until minute passes by and then it will continue.
  Such pause is announced to the user like this:
  
  

 

• Daily format - describes how AmiBroker's ASCII importer should interpret column values for Daily (EOD) downloads. Required. This string is copied directly into $FORMAT command of the importer and stored in automatically generated import definition file for AmiBroker
• Intraday format - describes how AmiBroker's ASCII importer should interpret column values for Intraday downloads. Required. This string is copied directly into $FORMAT command of the importer and stored in automatically generated import definition file for AmiBroker
• File extension - defines the file extension (without dot) for downloaded files and name of automatically generated format definition file for AmiBroker ASCII importer. Required. If for example File extension is set to xyz then data files will be named like MSFT.xyz and automatically generated format definition file stored inside "Formats" subfolder will have the name of xyz.format
• Separators - defines character(s) used as column separators for imported files. Required. This will be copied into $SEPARATOR command of the importer. By default comma is used, but it can be any other character. If multiple characters are typed here then each one acts as separator.

Supported intervals page looks as follows:

Here we have a list of intervals that are supported by AmiQuote: End-of-day, 1-minute, 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute, 30-minute and Hourly and two columns Max days and {inteval_extra} token value

Max days column defines how many days history is available from given data source at given interval. The value of 0 (zero) or "Not supported" means that given data source does not support given interval. If you define non-zero value for any interval it means that given interval is available and AmiQuote would allow to download upto as many days as specified. If you exceed that amount, AmiQuote will display the error message and will auto-adjust "From" date so the download range does not exceed specified number of days

{inteval_extra} token value - is optional field that defines the value of {interval_extra} token. This token can be used if given data source has different data end-points (URL parameters) for different intervals. For example Alpha Vantage uses URL parameter function=TIMES_SERIES_DAILY_ADJUSTED for Daily interval and function=TIMES_SERIES_INTRADAY for all Intraday intervals. By using the above settings you can use function={interval_extra} in the URL and {interval_extra} token will be replaced at runtime appropriately to selected interval.

Always use today as "To" date - optional - when turned on it forces "To" date to be always set to to Today. Some data sources only allow specifying "From" date and always deliver data until "now" and this option is useful in such situations.

Available URL template tokens

Here is the list of available tokens that will be replaced at runtime with respective values:

• {api_key} - will be replaced with API key defined in General tab of the Settings dialog
• {symbol} - will be replaced with current symbol
• {interval_minutes} - will be replaced with numeric value of interval expressed in minutes, for example: 5 for 5-minute interval
• {interval_seconds} - will be replaced with numeric value of interval expressed in seconds, for example: 300 for 5-minute interval
• {interval_extra} - will be replaced with value defined in Supported intervals tab of the Settings dialog respective to selected interval
• {from_ymd} - will be replaced with the "From" date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• {from_day}- will be replaced with the "From" date in DD format (two digit day only)
• {from_month}- will be replaced with the "From" date in MM format (two digit month only)
• {from_year}- will be replaced with the "From" date in YYYY format (four digit year only)
• {from_month_name} - will be replaced with short month name of "From" date (example: "Jan" for January)
• {from_month_fullname} - will be replaced with full month name of "From" date (example: "January" for January)
• {to_ymd} - will be replaced with the "To" date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• {to_day}- will be replaced with the "To" date in DD format (two digit day only)
• {to_month}- will be replaced with the "To" date in MM format (two digit month only)
• {to_year}- will be replaced with the "To" date in YYYY format (four digit year only)
• {to_month_name} - will be replaced with short month name of "To" date (example: "Jan" for January)
• {to_month_fullname} - will be replaced with full month name of "To" date (example: "January" for January)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.33?

• fixed Stooq.pl download after site change

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.31?

• Added support for BarChart.com (OnDemand Bar Chart free quotes: https://www.barchart.com/ondemand/free-market-data-api) - free US stocks, futures intraday (one month) and EOD quotes. REQUIRES free Barchart API key signup: https://www.barchart.com/ondemand/free-market-data-api to be entered in the Tools->Settings. Free account allows to download upto 150 symbols per day
• Now defunct Google Intraday option removed

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.30?

• Yahoo Fundamental Extra now downloads full name too
• Removed unused intervals (3-minute, 120-minute)
• Now defunct Yahoo Fund. Basic option removed
• Google Intraday downloads now support new intervals 10, 30 and 60 minutes with backfill length upto 1 year (for 30/60 minute interval)
• Google EOD downloads are back again. Market coverage is greater than before and supports EXCHANGE:SYMBOL notation for non-US markets (same as for Google Intraday)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.29?

• AmiQuote detects if it is run with wrong current working directory (such as C:\Windows\System32) and changes the directory to correct one

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.28?

• New Tiingo Current replaces Yahoo Current service that has been terminated November 1, 2017. It provides very fast downloads of current day snapshot quotes. Currently only open, high, low, close (last) price. Current volume is missing at the moment from Tiingo. Only US stocks. No other markets are offered by Tiingo at the moment. It also handles special ticker _ALLSYMBOLS_ that downloads all 7000+ US symbols in one shot.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.27?

• QuanDL.com downloads from sources other than EOD can now be automatically imported provided that correct aqq_src.format file is present where src is the name of QuanDL source such as CHRIS source requires aqq_chris.format for auto-import
• 64-bit version displayed "unspecified error" when trying to "auto-update" database that had just symbol without ANY quotes. Fixed.
• Yahoo "Statistics" page was changed on Oct 5 breaking "Fundamental Extra" download. Fixed.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.25?

• Fixed Google Intraday download (due to changes Google made in the URL)
• Window position and size is now stored between session
• Fixed Yahoo Fundamental Extra download after Yahoo web site change
• AmiQuote now displays summary in the status bar after download is finished.
• Better error reporting in case of broken internet connectivity

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.23?

• Tiingo.com CSV downloads implemented: work 4x faster than JSon and deliver both adjusted and unadjusted prices (unadjusted close is fed into Aux1)
• Yahoo download limit Wait&Continue dialog implemented to handle situation when user hits Yahoo limit. The dialog waits user-specified time and continues download
• AmiQuote now clears Yahoo cookies at the beginning of download
• List view is color coded depending on item status
• List view does not flicker anymore (double buffering implemented)
• Status bar now includes number of failed (wrong) symbols during download
• Auto-scroll implemented (list view scrolls automatically as download progresses to subsequent symbols)
• Mouse cursor does not flicker when importing

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.22?

• Sometimes Yahoo created incorrect cookie. Workaround implemented.
• Service status bar adjust its height for HighDPI screens
• Large toolbar icon set implemented for HighDPI screens
• Yahoo data source errors are now prominently displayed (previously they were only visible in downloaded file)
• AmiQuote now checks AmiBroker's codes returned by Import for better import error handling
• Yahoo changed column layout so aqh.format file needed an update

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.21?

• Finam source might cause crash or not work in 3.20. Fixed
• Stooq source now allows date range selection so downloads eat less bandwidth and are faster
• Other minor improvements

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.20?

• Implemented faster way to setup Yahoo finance connection (it should work on older OSes too, without reliance on installed version of IE)
• UI: Added service status info bar, so AmiQuote can quickly announce problems with certain services without users flooding support with same issues
• Fixed random crash occuring when Yahoo page was holding some Flash content
• UI: added information about bitness (32bit vs 64bit) to Help->About box
• Trial version now has 10 symbol limit on all data sources. To use more symbols license purchase is required
• New data source added: Tiingo.com - US stocks and mutual funds, properly adjusted for splits and dividends (Auth token required, Basic account limited, all symbols require $10/month subscription)
• New data source added: Stooq.pl - supports Polish stocks (Warsaw stock exchange), European Stocks, major US stocks, currencies, indices)
• Removed inoperable data sources: MSN and Yahoo Intraday
• Fixed Finam support (it was broken due to changes on the site)
• Much more currency pairs (87 pairs) supported by Finam source. Supported pairs:
  AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDDKK, AUDJPY, AUDNOK, AUDNZD, AUDSEK, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CADUSD, CHFDKK, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, CHFUSD, DKKUSD, EURAUD, EURBYR, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCNY, EURGBP, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURJPY, EURKZT, EURLVL, EURMDL, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTJS, EURUAH, EURUSD, EURUZS, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, HKDUSD, HUFUSD, JPYUSD, MXNUSD, NOKUSD, NZDCAD, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, PLNUSD, RUBEUR, RUBLVL, RUBUSD, SEKUSD, SGDJPY, SGDUSD, USDBYR, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNY, USDDEM, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDIDR, USDINR, USDJPY, USDKZT, USDLVL, USDMDL, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTJS, USDUAH, USDUZS, USDZAR, ZARUSD

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.15?

• Added checks for Internet Explorer 10 or higher installation (required by Yahoo Historical downloads)
• Added checks for "From" date earlier than 1970 (Yahoo historical does not support earlier dates now)
• Updated Quandl downloader to use EOD source for US stocks (instead of old "WIKI")
• Quandl downloader now supports use of other sources than EOD. You can use symbols with slash that refer to other Quandl databases (like SCF/SHFE_ZN2_OR) but keep in mind that other sources than EOD usually have different layout of downloaded data and you would need to import those data manually (at least until some universal method is found)
• Other minor changes/fixes

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.14?

• Yahoo changed the format of Yahoo Historical download. Incompatibility is fixed now.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.13?

• Yahoo changed the format of Key Statistics / Fundamental Extended download. Incompatibility is fixed now.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.12?

• Yahoo changed the format slightly causing problems with Yahoo Fundamental Basic download. Incompatibility is fixed now.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.10?

• Added new data source: Quandl.com (US stocks, EOD data) - please do not forget to enter your AuthToken for Quandl.com - it is required if you want to issue more than 50 download requests per day. AuthToken can be obtained from Quandl.com web site.
• Removed code and settings for Lycos/Quote.com (taken over by eSignal and shut down) - no longer available
• Code cleanup

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.03?

• added "Max days" edit to control maximum intraday backfill length. Specifying lower than maximum allowed days results in faster download and less data to transfer. Google Intraday supports 1..15 max days for 1-minute bars and 1..60 max days for 5-minute bars. Yahoo Intraday supports only 1-day of 1-minute bars and only 1 and 5 days of 5-minute bars. Specifying other combinations (such as 2, 3 or 4 max days for 5-minute bars) for Yahoo results in retrieving all 5 days.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.02?

• added support for EXCHANGE:SYMBOL syntax - this allows downloading non-US symbols from Google Intraday. For example ASX:BHP (BHP Billiton Limited traded on Australian Stock Exchange)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.01?

• New Intraday (1-minute and 5-minute bars) backfill data from Google Finance. Includes all US markets covered by Google Finance
  Limitations:
  • Only 1-minute and 5-minute intraday bar intervals are supported
  • The backfill always covers 15 most recent days back for 1-minute bars and 60 most recent days back for 5-minute bars
  • Only regular trading session is included
  • You need to be REGISTERED user of AmiQuote to use Google Intraday download

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3.00?

• New Intraday (1-minute and 5-minute bars) backfill data from Yahoo Finance. Includes all US markets and International markets covered by Yahoo Finance
  Limitations:
  • Only 1-minute and 5-minute intraday bar intervals are supported
  • The backfill always covers just one most recent day back for 1-minute bars and 5 (five) most recent days back for 5-minute bars
  • Only regular trading session is included
  • You need to be REGISTERED user of AmiQuote to use Yahoo Intraday download

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 2.13?

• thousand separators (commas) are removed from value fields in "Key Statistics" page to prevent interpretting them as field delimiters

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 2.12?

• adjusted to work with changed "Key statistics" Yahoo Finance page (April 2010)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 2.10?

• adjusted to work with changed "Key Statistics" Yahoo Finance page.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 2.00?

• Added new Google Finance EOD data source (finance.google.com), US and International stocks (finance.google.com) - very fast downloads, much faster than Yahoo
• Fixed some rare random crashes
• Fixed occassional crash on Vista
• Historical EOD downloads overwrite temporary files always to prevent consuming too much hard disk space
• Livecharts/Quote.com by default is now disabled because vendor discontinued the service. (Use Tools->Settings to re-enable if needed)
  

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.95?

• Adjusted Forex source to address Finam server change

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.94?

• OLE automation server registration checks registry access rights correctly on Windows Vista now (this prevents "Failed to update registry. Try using REGEDIT" message)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.93?

• Implemented fix for inconsistent Yahoo date format change (some Yahoo Historical servers changed the date from DD-MMM-YY to YYYY-MM-DD, but some others do not, so downloads from Yahoo use two different formats. AmiQuote now detects new format YYYY-MM-DD and converts to old format on-the-fly)
• Added an option to send cookies (to enable this, check Tools->Settings, "Allow cookies"). This is useful if you are subscribed to Yahoo Realtime and want to get non-delayed quotes

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.92?

• Solved compatibility issue with AmiBroker 4.85

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.91?

• Fixed enabling of start/end date and run every controls after addition of new data sources.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.90?

• Implemented Yahoo Fundamental - Basic data source (free basic fundamental data, 200 symbols in one request).
  Data are retrieved from the following URL: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s={Ticker} (Download data link).
  
  The following fundamental data fields are available:
  
  EPS (ttm)
  EPS Est Current Year
  EPS Est Next Year
  EPS Est Next Quarter
  PEG Ratio
  Book Value
  EBITDA
  Sales Revenue
  Dividend Pay date
  Ex Dividend date
  Dividend Per Share
  1yr Target Price
  Shares Float
  Shares Outstanding
  
  Explanation of values: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/fin/quote/quote-03.html
  
  You have to use AmiBroker 4.81 or higher to use automatic import feature of fundamental data.
  
• Implemented Yahoo Fundamental - Extra data source (extended fundamental data, 1 symbol in one request, more data - available in registered version only).
  Data are retrieved from the following URL: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s={Ticker} (Key Statistics page)
  
  The following fundamental data fields are downloaded:
  
  Forward P/E
  PEG Ratio
  Profit Margin
  Operating Margin
  Return on Assets
  Return on Equity
  Revenue (ttm)
  Qtrly Revenue Growth
  Gross Profit
  EBITDA
  (Diluted) EPS
  Qtrly Earnings Growth
  Book Value Per Share
  Operating Cash Flow
  Levered Free Cash Flow
  Beta
  Shares Outstanding
  Float
  % Held by Insiders
  % Held by Institutions
  Shares Short (prior month)
  Shares Short
  Forward Annual Dividend Rate
  Trailing Annual Dividend Rate
  Dividend Date
  Ex-Dividend Date
  Last Split Factor
  Last Split Date
  
  Explanation of values: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/fin/research/research-12.html
  
  You have to use AmiBroker 4.81 or higher to use automatic import feature of fundamental data.
  
  IMPORTANT NOTE: Unregistered version of AmiQuote allows you to download fundamental-ex data for first 20 tickers in the list. To download data for more symbols you need to register AmiQuote ($59 one time fee)
  
• Removed not working servers F and G from the auto-rotate list (completed: 2006-05-28)
  
• Removed Integratir source as it stopped working (completed: 2006-05-28)
  
• Removed Britefutures source as it stopped working (Britefutures stopped delivering free quotes) (completed: 2006-05-28)
  
• If symbol has slash (/) inside it is replaced by underscore in the file name to allow creation of the file (slash is file system reserved character) (completed: 2005-11-10)
  
• Implemented blocking message filter in AmiQuote to disallow getting messages during OLE call (completed: 2005-11-10)
  [#24535]
  
• Registration fee is now $59 (for lifetime license)
  

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.81?

• Additional checks added to late binding code that prevents from crashes when AmiBroker is not installed or AmiBroker has no symbols in its database

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.80?

• Calls to AmiBroker automation objects now use late binding instead of early binding - this should solve all past and future problems occuring when AB's OLE interface changes
  
  
• Added handling of "CON" as special case (like LPT, PRN, etc...)
  
  
• OLE: AmiQuote now reflects the TLS file name in the title bar after calling Open() method - its was showing "Amiquote - Untitled".
  
  
• OLE: Ability to assign the destination folder per session.
  
  AQ = new ActiveXObject("AmiQuote.Document");
OldPath = AQ.DestinationFolder; // preserve old path !
AQ.DestinationFolder= "C:\\Program Files\\AmiBroker\\AmiQuote\\Download";
// without trailing backslash please
...your code...
AQ.DestinationFolder= OldPath; // restore original path
  
  
• OLE: Ability to position and size window
  
  AQ = new ActiveXObject("AmiQuote.Document");
AQ.MoveWindow( 10, 10, 600, 400 );


WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.71?

• added support for a new data source for EOD Futures quotes: www.britefutures.com.
  Symbology can be found here: http://www.britefutures.com/symbols.asp , for example ES mini March 2005 contract has the symbol of : ESH05, Euro FX Currency December 2004 future: ECZ04

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.70?

• added OLE automation interface. Click here for more details. Note that OLE automation inteface is functional only in registered version of AmiQuote

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.69?

• more Yahoo historical servers to select from (from B..L) in Tools->Settings
• automatic server rotation mode (registered version only) that switches servers B to L on round-robin manner allowing to download in several threads with lowered risk of your IP being blocked by Yahoo.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.68?

• updated default Yahoo Historical URL to ichart.yahoo.com
• added ability to select particular Yahoo Historical server in Tools->Settings: Yahoo Historical Server
  Yahoo uses server load-balancing so data are delivered by many servers "appearing" under one URL. Problem is that some servers from timem to time are not updated (offer only old data) while others are up-to-date. This new setting allows to handle such cases by selecting the server that is up-to-date. Default setting is "ichart.yahoo.com" which works in usual load-balancing scheme (switched servers). But you can also select Server B, C, D, and E. As of today (June 8th) servers B and D offer up-to-date data, while server C and E offer old data (only upto 4th and 3rd of June respectively). This may however change at any time. Please note that selection of Servers C, D and E is available only in registered version of AmiQuote.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.67?

• fix: when user-selected 'from' date is earlier than last date of quote available in AmiBroker then earlier date is used.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.66?

• better detection if AmiBroker is or is not running
  
• eSigCentral option removed
  
• added new free FOREX data source providing EOD and Intraday forex quotes.
  
  FOREX data source works ONLY with the following symbols:
  EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY
  Attempt to download any other symbol with "Forex" data source will result in error message.
  Intraday downloads are available only in registered version of AmiQuote
  
• last update date for each ticker individually is retrieved only if database has less than 50 symbols. Otherwise the update date of the first ticker is taken for all.This speeds up ticker list retrieval in large databases.
  

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.65?

• new "All sessions (quote.com)" check box added. Turning this on causes that 24-hours trading is included in downloaded quotes (important for futures like ES04M). When this switch is off only regular trading hours are included in downloaded quotes.

• AmiQuote warns about "eSigCentral" being unavailable

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.64?

• when doing "auto-update AmiBroker database" AmiQuote does NOT switch back to Yahoo Historical, hence allows you to set any source and still use Tools->Auto-update in AmiBroker.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.63?

• MSN Money data source adjusted for new download URL

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.62?

• when 'automatic import' flag is not checked then import is not performed

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.61?

• quotes are imported once (eliminated extra second import at the end of downloading all tickers)
• added 3 built-in settings sets: "fail safe", "modem", "dsl/cable" (see Tools->Settings page)
• after downloading you can double click the item in the list to open downloaded file in the Notepad. This works also in case of errors in downloaded file
• cookies set by Internet Explorer are not sent to Yahoo server
• first-time user defaults changed to fail-safe level: 1 simultaneous download and 1000 ms between requests
• new command line switches accepted:
  /download - triggers automatic download on start
  /close - causes automatic close of AmiQuote after download
  
  Example command line:
  
  Quote.exe C:\mylist.tls /download /close
  
  - this will open ticker list from C:\mylst.tls, run automatid download (and import if "automatic import" box is selected) and close AmiQuote after download/import is finished
  
• (on user request) maximum number of simultaneous downloads from Quote.com increased to 4

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.60?

• new experimental source: Integratir. US stocks only. Free. EOD quotes. (note this source is rather slow and may be removed)
• $NAME directive added to the downloaded file ensures that ticker is not renamed even if AmiQuote needs to rename file for symbols using Quote.com's convention that , i.e.NASDAQ:NVDA
• minimum connection timeout increased to 10 seconds and minimum download timeout increased to 20 seconds
• slightly changed options (added keep alive and referer) in hope to improve download 'robustness'
• import occurs immediatelly after download of each file so you get updated quote faster
• prepared for new GetTickers method in AmiBroker 4.51.0 that allows to get last update date on per-symbol basis leading to better work in "auto-update" mode. Also new AmiBroker 4.51.0 will skip composites so they are not added to download list.
• maximum number of simultaneous downloads from Quote.com decreased to 2 (bigger number cause troubles with quote.com anyway)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.55?

• fixed misleading "import failed" message in 'Yahoo Current' mode
• eSignalCentral symbol translation tables are saved between sessions
• updated addresses of Quote.com servers (Server #1 works now even without Livecharts subscription)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.54?

• fixed problem with sometimes misleading "import failed", "aqe.format missing" messages
• Source: eSignal Central stays selected between sessions
• other bug fixes

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.53?

• added new EOD data source: eSignal Central featuring all US exchanges, European exchanges, Futures, Currencies / Forex.
• added data-source sensitive symbol search (Tools->Symbol Search) - automatically opens web page with symbol lookup for data source selected in the "Source" combo-box.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.52?

• added initial delay between requests (delay that is added before attempt to download each new symbol data) to the Settings page. It is defined in milliseconds (1/1000 part of the second). It should help the owners of very fast connections to slow down AmiQuote and avoid problems with Yahoo rejecting too frequent requests.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.51?

• Added support for MSN Money Central. End-of-day historical stocks, mutual funds, currencies US, Canada, Japan, Australia and major European exchanges. See http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/common/find.asp?NextPage=%2Fscripts%2Fwebquote%2Edll%3FiPage%3Dqd
  and this http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/welcome.asp
  to learn about symbols used by MSN. You have to have aqm.format file (supplied with this install) copied to AmiBroker's Formats subdirectory to make auto-import from MSN feature work)
• Added symbol translation table ( Tools->Symbol Translation Table menu ) that allows to get symbols from alternative source without need to rename tickers in AmiBroker. It can be used for example to update Yahoo database from MSN. If you define ^DJI, $INDU pair AmiQuote will issue request for $INDU to MSN server when the ticker list contains ^DJI (Yahoo-style symbol). A sample translation is included (msn.translations file - loaded automatically at startup).
• Added some checks for Quote.com mode so it displays correct error message if "feature available to subscribers" is received from Quote.com server
• Added check for operating system reserved names like PRN.AX - they are renamed to PR_.AX to allow storing such file in windows (should I say MSDOS) operating system.
• removed obsolete "country" combo box and other cleanups.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.50?

• Retrieving ticker list from AmiBroker is 10 times faster now (requires AmiBroker 4.00 or higher), so Tools->Auto-update quotes start in 2-3 seconds for 7000+ symbols

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.49?

• New URL for requesting historical data from Yahoo is used.
• Appropriate error message is displayed if downloaded file contains HTML tags (message: "Error in downloading") or has only one header line (message "No data for this symbol")

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.48?

• Definable proxy server, port, user name and password in the Settings dialog allows using AmiQuote in corporate environments
• (experimental) ability to specify Livecharts user/password for intraday Quote.com server (Setting page) - the Livecharts password needs to be entered in the encrypted form see http://www.amibroker.com/members/ for the details.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.47?

• AmiQuote now supports 3 different intraday Quote.com servers. You can select one in Tools->Settings "Intraday server"

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.46?

• bug fix: solved problem with renaming of tickers with "COM", "AUX", "LPT" substrings. Now only full ticker symbol is matched (not substring)
• bug fix: "Number of symbols per request (current mode)" does not switch back to 1 anymore when the settings page is opened

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.45?

• rewritten downloading code - more robust - closes "dead" connections and includes auto-retry feature
• settings dialog now allows to define the number of auto-retries, delay between retries, connection and receive timeouts used to detect not responding connections
• colon character ':' in the ticker name is automatically replaced by underscore '_' to avoid problems with file system not allowing colon in the file name.

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.41?

• 5-min and larger intervals work correctly now
• daily interval added for downloads from Quote.com servers (allowing you to get quotes of E-minis for example not supported by Yahoo)

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.4?

• Download delayed intra-day bar data (1-min, 5-min, 15-min, 60-min, 120-min bars) for US securities
• Simplified download historical and daily data from 50 international exchanges (one setting works for all exchanges)
• Ability to run downloads automatically in user-defined intervals
• AmiQuote is now shareware. The evaluation version is almost fully functional and has NO time limit, so you can use it as long as you wish, but if you like the program and use it often you are encouraged to purchase life-time license for only $35. Click here to buy

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.3?

• Retrieving multiple symbols data in one request (current mode only) - provides huge speed-up for download in "current" mode. Number of symbols definable in the Settings.
• User-definable number of simultaneous downloads

WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.2?

• Fully automatic updates of AmiBroker database (US & Canada markets only)
• Editing and saving ticker lists
• Integration with AmiBroker (retrieving ticker lists and last update date)
• Better error handling and greatly improved stability
• Selective downloads
• Support for updating mutual fund quotes (close price only)
• Support for appending data files
• User-defined destination folder
• Settings are preserved between sessions
• added support for Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan (version 1.21)
  

INSTALLATION

If you have installed AmiBroker already, no special installation of AmiQuote is required. Just unzip AmiQuote package to a separate directory (the default is "C:\Program Files\AmiBroker\AmiQuote"). If you haven't installed AmiBroker yet it is recommended to do so, because AmiQuote uses MFC libraries (version 6.0) that are supplied with AmiBroker.

QUICK START

Note: this procedure works only if you have AmiBroker installed:

1. Launch AmiBroker and AmiQuote
2. Choose Tools->Auto-update AmiBroker database (or corresponding toolbar button)

HOW IT WORKS

AmiQuote loads (or retrieves from AmiBroker) a ticker list file (.TLS) which is simple ASCII file with ticker symbols, then parses it and downloads data from either Yahoo Finance or Quote.com servers. Then, when you start the download process, it requests the data from Yahoo and stores downloaded data in the separate .AQD (daily) or .AQH (historical) or .AQI (intraday bar) files for each ticker. After download, if AmiBroker is running, AmiQuote will import the quotes into AmiBroker automaticaly.

USAGE

Below you will find some tips on using AmiQuote 1.2 with and without AmiBroker. More detailed instructions will be provided with the upcoming AmiBroker 3.65.

Using AmiQuote in stand-alone mode

Although AmiQuote is provided as a companion program to AmiBroker it is however possible to use it without AmiBroker. Here is a simple procedure of downloading quotes using stand-alone AmiQuote:

1. Launch AmiQuote
2. Open supplied example file DJIA.TLS in the directory DJIA
   This will load example ticker list (components of Dow Jones Industrial Average)
3. Choose between downloading current or historical or intraday interval bar quotes (intraday interval bars are available only for US exchanges)
4. Click on green arrow toolbar button (Start download)
   now for a couple of minutes you can watch the download operation progress
5. When all downloads are complete you can close the program and find appropriate .AQD (daily quotes) or .AQH (historical) or .AQI (intraday) files stored in the directory where TLS file is located.

Using AmiQuote with AmiBroker

Automatic update

The easiest method to work with AmiQuote and AmiBroker is to use the procedure given in Quick Start section of this document. Just run AmiBroker and AmiQuote and choose Tools->Auto-update AmiBroker database. This method updates historical quotes from the last date present in AmiBroker upto today. When performing automatic update, AmiQuote performs internally 4 steps a) retrieves the ticker list from AmiBroker (all stocks loaded currently in AmiBroker);
b) gets the last quotation date available in AmiBroker;
c) performs historical download from last date upto today;
d) instructs AmiBroker to import downloaded files.

AmiQuote now supports over 50 international exchanges in "historical" and "daily" modes.

Note that AmiQuote currently supports a new command line parameter: /autoupdate. This option forces AmiQuote to perform automatic update procedure without user intervention.
You may setup you custom tools menu in AmiBroker to call AmiQuote with this argument:

C:\Program Files\AmiBroker\AmiQuote\Quote.EXE /autoupdate

If you do so, you will be able to update your database with a single click.

Manual operation

Automatic mode is nice but there are cases when you have to perform some tasks manually. There is a good old document describing that mode of operation at: http://www.amibroker.com/docs/ab304.html . Everything written in this document remains valid with one exception - now importing to AmiBroker are performed automatically if you have Automatic import checkbox marked.

There are also several cases when you prefer to do things manualy, then please don't forget about some useful tools available at your fingertips:

File->Open, File->Save, File->Save As

These functions enable you to load and save your edited ticker lists for future repeated use.

Edit->Add tickers

This function allows you to add the tickers to the list. Just type space separated tickers into the field that will show up when you choose this function.

Edit->Delete tickers

This function allows you to delete tickers from the list. Just select the items you want to delete from the list view (multiple selection possible by holding SHIFT or CTRL key while clicking on items), and choose this function.

Edit->Mark all, Edit->Unmark all, Edit->Toggle, Edit->Mark selection, Edit->Unmark selection

These functions allow you to mark the tickers for download. Please note that AmiQuote puts a checkmark before ticker name in the list view. ONLY MARKED items will be downloaded. This allows you to perform selective downloads/updates.

View->Refresh

Basically AmiQuote handles refreshes by itself when needed. For example if you changed the date range, the list will be refreshed before starting download. But there are some cases when you may want to refresh the list by yourself. For example if you downloaded and imported quotes once and want to do this again you would need to choose this function. The Refresh function simply applies all date and type settings to the URLs listed, and MARKS all tickers for a new download.

Tools->Import into AmiBroker

This function is useful if you want to import just downloaded quotes into AmiBroker but you have Automatic import checkbox cleared.

Tools->Get tickers from AmiBroker

This function retrieves all stocks from currently loaded AmiBroker database and fills the AmiQuote ticker list with them.

Tools->Get last update date

This function retrieves the date of the most recent quotation of the first stock present in currently loaded AmiBroker database and sets the From date to this date.

Tools->Settings

Displays the settings window where you can define the destination directory where all downloads are stored. Note that blank destination directory means that downloads will be stored in the current working directory (in most cases this is the folder from where current .TLS file was loaded).

In this window you can also change the mode of writing the files. By default historical files are overwritten while daily files get appended. This is recommended setup. Appending daily files simply allows you to create intra-day historical files when you do the updates daily. You may change this behaviour for your particular purpose.

LIMITATIONS

Intraday interval bar data (1-min, 5-min, 15-min, 60-min and 120-min) are available for US securities only.
Historical data for international exchanges are usually much shorter than for US markets.

Because intraday bar data are downloaded from Quote.com servers the ticker symbols for indices are different than those used by Yahoo. For complete reference please check http://finance.lycos.com/home/misc/symbol_search.asp?options=i

Intraday bar data are limited to 500 bars regardless of bar interval. In other words you always get 500 bars data, whenever these are 1-min, 5-min, 15-min, 60-min or 120-min data - so by choosing bigger interval you get data from more days. This is the limitation imposed by free delayed Quote.com server.

SUPPLIED EXAMPLE FILES

AmiQuote 1.2 with the following example ticker lists:

• DJIA.tls - components of Dow Jones Industrial Average (USA)

  More example ticker lists could be downloaded from http://www.amibroker.com/starter/ .

DISTRIBUTION

AmiQuote is distributed as shareware. The evaluation version is almost fully functional and has NO time limit, so you can use it as long as you wish, but if you like the program and use it often you are encouraged to purchase life-time license for only $35. Click here to buy

LEGAL

AmiQuote 1.70. Copyright (C)2000-2004 by Tomasz Janeczko/AmiBroker.com.
All rights reserved.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

---

AMIQUOTE OLE AUTOMATION INTERFACE (Version 1.70 and above)

Introduction

Note: AmiQuote's OLE automation interface is available for REGISTERED AmiQuote users only and requires at least version 1.70 of AmiQuote. If you attempt to trigger download or import from OLE automation interface using unregistered version you will be presented with a message box telling you to register.

All AmiQuote automation is available via methods and properties of single object: AmiQuote.Document.
After the initial installation, AmiQuote 1.70 must be run at least once in stand-alone mode in order to setup registry entries for AmiQuote.Document automation object properly. From then on you can use AmiQuote OLE automation.

To instantiate AmiQuote use standard CreateObject (VBScript and alike) or new ActiveXObject (JScript) statements:

VBScript sample:

Set AB = CreateObject("AmiQuote.Document")

JScript sample:

AB = new ActiveXObject("AmiQuote.Document");

Important: Note that AmiQuote.Document object is registered as multiple instance object so each call to CreateObject will launch a new instance of AmiQuote. (this is different from AmiBroker)

Typing Conventions

• bool - lowercase italic represents the type of parameter/variable/return value
• AddSymbols - bold represents function / method / property name
• SymbolList - underline type face represents formal parameter

Methods of AmiQuote.Document object

AmiQuote.Document object exposes the following methods (functions) (in alphabetical order):

• bool AddSymbols( string SymbolList )
  
  This method adds symbols to the download list. SymbolList is comma-separated list of ticker symbols.
  
  
• bool Download()
  
  This method starts the download process. It returns immediatelly (without waiting for download to complete). You should use DownloadInProgress property to find out if download has completed or not before continuing.
  
  
• bool GetSymbolsFromAmiBroker()
  
  This method retrieves symbol list from running instance of AmiBroker. Before calling this you should ensure that AmiBroker is running and has loaded correct database.
  
  
• bool Import()
  
  This method starts the import process. Currently it waits until import is finished, but in the future versions this may change (it may return immediatelly). You should use ImportInProgress property to find out if import has completed or not before continuing.
  
  
• bool Open( string FileName )
  
  This method opens (loads) ticker list file (.TLS extension). FileName should represent full path to the file name.
  
  
• bool RemoveAllSymbols()
  
  This method removes all symbols from the download list
  
  
• bool RemoveSymbols( string SymbolList )
  
  This method removes specified symbols to the download list. SymbolList is comma-separated list of ticker symbols you want to remove. Please note that this function may be slow on large symbol lists.
  
  
• bool Save()
  
  This method saves the ticker list to the .TLS file under current name.
  
  
• bool SaveAs( string FileName )
  
  This method saves the ticker list to the .TLS file under new name. FileName should represent full path to the file name.
  

All methods return True on success and False on failure.

Properties of AmiQuote.Document object

AmiQuote.Document object exposes the following properties (in alphabetical order):

• bool AllSessions
  
  decides if quotes from Lycos (Livecharts) should include pre/after market data (if set to True) or not. Default value is false (include quotes from regular trading hours only). This property affects only downloads from Lycos (livecharts). All other sources are not affected.
  
  
• bool AutoImport
  
  if set to true - AmiQuote will automatically import downloaded quotes into running instance of AmiBroker
  
  
• bool DownloadInProgress
  
  (read-only property)
  gives true value if there is any download running, gives false value if there are no downloads running. You should check this property in a waiting loop (see below for example) right after you have started the download to make sure that you don't trigger any further action before downloads are complete.
  
  
• date From
  
  allows to get/set the start date for historical downloads. This property has OLE DATE type and when you are using JScript you have to use getVarDate() method of JScript Date object to convert from JScript type to OLE-compliant type. VB-like languages can get/set this property directly because VB internally uses the same date type as OLE.
  
  
• bool ImportInProgress
  
  (read-only property)
  gives true value if there is any import running, gives false value if there are no imports running. You should check this property in a waiting loop (see below for example) right after you have started the download or import to make sure that you don't trigger any further action before imports are complete.
  
  
• integer Interval
  
  allows to get/set the intraday bar interval for intraday sources (Livecharts/Integratir). The bar interval here is NOT expressed in minutes. There is a fixed number of intervals available (0..7) and they are encoded as follows:
  
  0 - 1 minute bars
  1 - 3 minute bars
  2 - 5 minute bars
  3 - 15 minute bars
  4 - 30 minute bars
  5 - 60 minute bars
  6 - 120 minute bars
  7 - daily bars
  
  
• integer RunEvery
  
  allows to get/set the "run every" time (in minutes). "Run every" feature allows AmiQuote to repeat downloads automatically in fixed periods of time. If it is set to zero then no repeated downloads occur. If it is set to value higher then zero then AmiQuote will re-run the download after specified number of minutes. Please note that using this feature from automation has very little merrit because you have better control using Download() method and can trigger repeated downloads from your own code. Also be warned that RunEvery feature needs running AmiQuote instance while usually scripting engines shut down all automation objects when script is finished, therefore you would need to keep the script running all the time so AmiQuote object is not closed by the script.
  
  
• integer Source
  
  allows to get/set the data source. There is a fixed number of data sources available now and they are encoded as follows:
  
  0 - Yahoo Historical
  1 - Yahoo Current
  2 - Lycos / Quote.com
  3 - MSN Historical
  4 - Forex
  5 - Integratir
  6 - Brite Futures
  
  
• date To
  
  allows to get/set the end date for historical downloads. This property has OLE DATE type and when you are using JScript you have to use getVarDate() method of JScript Date object to convert from JScript type to OLE-compliant type. VB-like languages can get/set this property directly because VB internally uses the same date type as OLE.
  
  

Examples

Example 1:
Load ticker list from the file, download historical data since June 1st, 1995 using Yahoo, import to running instance of AmiBroker:

AQ = new ActiveXObject("AmiQuote.Document");
AQ.Open("C:\\mysymbols.tls");

FromDate = new Date(1995, 5, 1, 0, 0, 0);
/* year, month-1, day, hour, min, sec (required by JScript date constructor) */

ToDate = new Date; // current time

/* getVarDate is required to convert from JScript Date to OLE-automation date */
AQ.From = FromDate.getVarDate();
AQ.To = ToDate.getVarDate();

AQ.AutoImport = true; // import automatically
AQ.Source = 0; // Yahoo Historical

AQ.Download(); // starts download

// wait until download and import is finished
while( AQ.DownloadInProgress || AQ.ImportInProgress )
{
    WScript.sleep(5000); // wait 5 seconds before querying status again
}

WScript.echo("Download and import complete");

Example 2:
Add symbols programmatically, download and import (from the code)


AQ = new ActiveXObject("AmiQuote.Document");
AQ.AddSymbols("MSFT, NVDA, INTC, AAPL"); // comma separated list of symbols

AQ.AutoImport = false; // no automatic import
AQ.Source = 0; // Yahoo Historical

AQ.Download(); // starts download

while( AQ.DownloadInProgress || AQ.ImportInProgress )
{
   WScript.sleep(5000); // wait 5 seconds while AmiQuote is downloading
}

AQ.Import(); // starts download

while( AQ.ImportInProgress )
{
   WScript.sleep(5000); // wait 5 seconds while AmiQuote is importing
}

WScript.echo("Download and import complete");