This help section explains how to generate Relative Strength values. If you have questions about how to maintain the Relative Strength database or if you have questions about the Relative Strength indicator, refer to those particular help sections.
We strongly recommend generating Relative Strength values on just the last day of the trading week or on a particular trading year. For a discussion on this, see the Relative Strength database overview section.
To generate Relative Strength values select Relative Strength from the Special menu and Generate RS Values from the Relative Strength submenu. The Generate RS values dialog box appears.
You need to first select which date or time period you want to generate the values for. There are four options. The first option is the last trading day. The date is shown. You check this option if you are at the end of the trading week and you want to generate the current Relative Strength values. Make sure you have downloaded the quotes for this date.
The second option allows you to specify a particular date in the past, while the third option allows you to specify a particular year. The final option allows you to generate values over your entire database.
Once you’ve selected the date or time period, you need to specify the number of days that you want for Relative Strength generation. Typical values are 25 and 250.
If you are testing futures, make sure the Use Futures Table Lookup checkbox is checked. This guarantees accurate Relative Strength values, since Investigator will generate these values based of the price percent change of the future, not the actual percent change.
Important: If you are not testing futures, do not check the Use Futures Table Lookup checkbox. Many stock symbols are the same as futures symbols, so if this option is checked, Investigator will assume the stock symbol is a future and will use the futures lookup table to calculate a Relative Strength value, giving you potentially false values. Similarly, it is dangerous to combine futures and stocks in a Relative Strength generation, since the futures lookup table will be used on all of your stocks.
Finally, you need to make sure the correct Relative Strength directory is chosen. If it is not, you can change the current relative strength directory.
When you click OK, what happens next depends on the date or time period option you chose. If you chose the last trading day option, the Relative Strength testing dialog box appears (See below).
If you chose the specific date option, the Generate RS Values for a Specific Date dialog box appears. Choose the year, month, and day that you want to use for testing, click OK, and the Relative Strength testing dialog box appears (See below). Note that if you check the Check For U.S. Holidays checkbox, only the dates on which U.S. financial instruments trade will be shown,
so if you trade non-U.S. financial instruments, make sure this checkbox is not checked
If you chose the specific year option, a dialog box will appear asking you which year you wish to generate values for. Select the year, click OK, and the Relative Strength testing dialog box appears (See below).
If you chose the all values option, a message box appears asking you to confirm this option. If you click Yes, the Relative Strength testing dialog box appears.
Relative Strength generation requires two passes. The first pass shows the Relative Strength testing dialog box which informs you the current date and the current file that the Relative Strength values are being generated for, as well as the elapsed time. After this pass, you will briefly see a dialog box telling you to wait one moment, and then you will you will see the Checking / Updating dialog box.
This dialog box will tell you the current date that Relative Strength values are being generated for, as well as the current file that is being updated and the number of files left to be updated.
When you generate Relative Strength values, Investigator starts a separate thread for the test. You can think of this as running a separate program. You have the option of changing the priority for the thread. For example, you can make it the most or least important thread (or process) running on your computer by selecting the appropriate process level.
You also have the ability to pause Relative Strength generation if you want to temporarily use your computer for another use.
When Investigator is finished generating Relative Strength values, if you selected the last trading day or specific date option, the View Relative Strength Values dialog box will appear with the values for this date. If you selected the specific year or the all values option, a message box will appear telling you the Investigator is finished generating these values.
Note: If you have changed the status of a particular directory so it is not included in the (delta) relative strength run, the files in that directory will not have (delta) relative strength values generated. See the Changing Data Type and Directory Information help section.