Welcome to the world of OmniTrader! The staff at Nirvana would like to thank you for your purchase of the software and let you know that we are here to assist you with any questions you may have concerning your OmniTrader.
We will be sending you a weekly email to help you learn the software for the next couple of months. The lessons and tips that we email you should assist you in grasping the program as soon as possible, and are meant to be used in conjunction with your OmniTrader Guidebook.
By now we hope you have received and installed the program. The next step to beginning your use of OmniTrader is setting up your data provider. This process is discussed in detail at the beginning of Chapter 3 of your OmniTrader Guidebook. Most OmniTrader users are using Easy Data, and this email is meant to help clarify any questions on using Easy Data and give you a few tips as well.
What is Easy Data?
Easy Data simply means that OmniTrader downloads your data from your data vendor.
There are currently five data vendors that can be used as Easy Data in OmniTrader: Hyperfeed,
Telescan, eSignal, Interquote and Quote.com. If you are using
a data vendor other than one of these, please refer to Chapter 3 of your OmniTrader
Guidebook for specific instructions on setting up your data vendor.
Let's make sure that your Easy Data vendor is set up properly.
Easy Data Step 1: Setting Up Your Data Vendor
When you intially start OmniTrader, you will see the Symbol and Data Settings
dialogue box.
You can also access this by clicking on 'Edit' and selecting 'Data Settings'.
Select your data vendor from the drop down menu, and then enter your User ID and Password
for your data account. Once you have entered this information, click 'OK' and you
are ready to download data for OmniTrader.
Easy Data Step 2: Run the To Do List (End
of Day Profiles Only)
Now you're ready to download data. This is
done in each OmniTrader Profile by running the To Do List. Just click
on the To Do List Icon 
and then click on the box
labeled 'Perform Selected Tasks'.
Note: Make sure you are connected to the internet before attempting to download data.
OmniTrader already knows what functions need to be performed for each symbol in your Profile, so any symbol that needs data will be updated at this time.
If you are a Real Time user, OmniTrader will begin to collect data once you open a Real Time Profile (any profile in OmniTrader that begins with RT, such as RTStocks, is a RealTime Profile).
Q: Can OmniTrader download data for one symbol at a time?
A: Yes! This can be done by selecting
the 'On-Demand Downloading' option from the Symbol and Data Settings box mentioned
earlier. By clicking on this box, OmniTrader will retrieve the latest data for a
security each time you chart it.
Q: I received bad data on a symbol. How can I
delete it or manually change the data values?
A: You can delete or change data values in OmniTrader by highlighting a symbol and then right clicking on it. You will see a menu appear and you will want to select the option titled Edit Data. This will bring up the Data Editor for that symbol. You can edit any of the data for that symbol or delete data so you can recollect it.
Q: If I am using multiple profiles, can OmniTrader
download the data for all the symbols in these profiles at the same time?
A: Yes! this can be done by running
OmniTrader's Auto Mode. Please refer to section 3.8 in your OmniTrader
Guidebook for specific information on how to use Auto Mode. This is one of the great
time-saving features in OmniTrader!
Q: One of my symbols isn't updating. What could be the problem?
A: More than likely, this symbol is set to an incorrect data path. You can easily reset to use Easy Data by highlighting and right-clicking on the symbol and then selecting Reset User Status from the menu. If you try this and still are unable to get updated data, be sure and check to make sure that the symbol is still valid.
We hope that this first lesson has helped you with your
understanding of Easy Data and the features available in OmniTrader to assist with
it. If you feel that your program is not operating properly or you are having
difficulty with your data collection, please contact our support department at support@nirvsys.com and they will be happy to assist
you.
If you have any questions on the information presented here, or if you would like to make any suggestions, please let me know by writing me at jdrake@nirvsys.com .
Best of luck in the markets, and look for Lesson 2 next week!
Regards,
Jeff Drake
Director of Education
Nirvana Systems