Parity Technical Analysis System -------------------------------- Version 1.3 INSTALLATION INFORMATION ------------------------ In order to install Parity you will need to have both the PRTY13D1.ZIP and PRTY13D2.ZIP files. If you received Parity on a high density disk the files contained in these two ZIP files may already have been uncompressed for you. TO INSTALL PARITY FOR THE FIRST TIME ------------------------------------ If you are installing from the PRTY13D1.ZIP and PRTY13D2.ZIP files: 1) Copy PRTY13D1.ZIP and PRTY13D2.ZIP to a directory on your hard disk and unzip the files using PKUNZIP. Do not copy the files to the \PARITY directory since this is normally where you will want the program installed to. Please check the contents of the unzipped files against the PACKING.LST file to verify that you have a complete copy of the Parity files. 2) Start Windows. From the Program Manager click on File Run and type in the directory you unzipped Parity's files to, followed by INSTALL.EXE, for example type C:\TEMP\INSTALL.EXE. Answer any questions the installation program poses. If this is a first time installation you should let Parity install the sample data files and the sample configuration files. If this is not a first time install uncheck those options to avoid overwriting any files you have created. YOU MAY NOT INSTALL PARITY TO THE SAME DIRECTORY AS THE UNZIPPED FILES YOU ARE INSTALLING. Parity will create a Parity 1.3 program group. This is a bit silly so just drag the Parity 1.3 icon to any existing program group. Make sure the Parity 1.3 program group is selected and then issue a File Delete command. If you received a disk directly from ParTech Software Systems you can skip step 1 above and install Parity directly from the floppy disk. Parity does not modify your WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI files although it will create a subdirectory under the Windows directory for its runtime files. IMPORTANT -- UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION OF PARITY -------------------------------------------------------- You must be careful when you upgrade to Parity 1.3 if you have a previous version of Parity already installed. Make sure that the Sample Data Files and the Sample Configuration Files (*.DAT) check boxes are unchecked in the Installation Dialog Box. Otherwise you may overwrite the Studies, Groups, Batches and Clusters you have created or modified. If you are a registered user make sure you check the Copy REGISTER.DAT option during the installation. Otherwise you can manually copy the REGISTER.DAT file from your floppy disk and into your Parity directory in order to make the nagware screens go away. YOU MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE YOUR REGISTER.DAT FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM INSTALLING OR RUNNING PARITY -------------------------------------------------- There are only five known reasons why you might have trouble installing or running Parity. 1) You didn't read the installation directions or follow the install routine. Parity must be installed not just copied to your disk! 2) Your program files or runtime files are incomplete or corrupted. For some reason many users find the PRTY13D1.ZIP or PRTY13D2.ZIP files don't unzip correctly the first time they try to install Parity. If you are having problems installing the program we recommend that you unzip these files again and repeat the installation. Check the file sizes against the PACKING.LST file to verify that the files unzipped correctly. If the ZIP files were corrupted by downloading you will need to download a new set of files. We recommend that you use the ZMODEM protocol for downloading if it is available to you. 3) Parity requires at least 2 MB of free memory and Windows must be running in Standard or Enhanced Mode. You can check this by clicking on the Help About commands in the Windows Program Manager. 4) Some older 80287, 80387, and 80486 math coprocessors have a rare bug that can cause Parity to freeze when you try to run it. If you think this might be a problem download the FPDIAG.ZIP file from Library 4 of the CAIDEV forum on CompuServe. It can diagnose this problem. 5) The drivers for the new ATI Graphics Ultra video cards are incompatible with Parity. We are told that editing the [Mach32] section of your WIN.INI file to include DeviceBitmap=off will fix the problem. Or use the ATI drivers for their older cards or use the drivers that are supplied with Windows 3.1. To change to the Windows 3.1 drivers use the Windows Setup icon in the Program Manager. Please check that none of these five things is causing your problem before you call us for help. GETTING A HEAD START ON LEARNING PARITY --------------------------------------- Parity is a sophisticated, flexible and powerful technical analysis package which incorporates some unique concepts in its user interface and chart creation capabilities. Although we strove to make Parity intuitive and easy to use, its inventiveness and novelty will require you to learn some new concepts. We recommend that you quickly review the brief definitions below. Then follow our step by step directions for your "first session" with Parity. After that feel free to experiment with Parity's Group, Study, Batch and Cluster commands. At some point we recommend that you take the time to browse through Parity's extensive online help or print out and read the MANUAL.TXT file. Registered users of Parity receive a comprehensive illustrated manual. SOME DEFINITIONS ---------------- STUDIES ------- A Study defines a Chart. You can define any number of studies in Parity, each of which can have a 16 character name. A study can include up to 9 formulas, each of which can be 500 characters long. Normally a formula is simply one of Parity's predefined indicators or chart procedures. However a study is much more than just a list of the indicators you want to plot or the formulas you have defined. A study also includes all of the information on the colors, pane sizes and layouts, and label settings which were used to create the chart. By using the Study Editors you can control every aspect of a chart's appearance, and then save that study definition to use with price data from any stock you load. You can also accept Parity's default settings which will be fine for most of the charts you create. GROUPS ------ A Group is a list of any number of data files, in any number of directories, on any disk, in any supported format. Think of each group as defining a portfolio or area of interest. BATCHES ------- A Batch is a list of any number of studies you have created. Batches will become more obvious after you complete the "First Session" tutorial. CLUSTERS -------- A Cluster is the definition of the studies and screen configurations which are used to display multiple charts at one time on any underlying security. YOUR FIRST SESSION WITH PARITY ------------------------------ Note: Parity 1.3 now automaticly displays charts when you Load a Security, Create/Modify a Study, and Select a Group or Batch. The following text is not updated for this change. If you want to disable this feature use the Chart Preferences command on the Options menu. 1) Start Parity by double clicking on its icon in Windows 3.x. Read the nagware forms which remind you that you are only permitted to evaluate Parity for 30 days without paying for it. 2) From the Groups menu click on Load a Security. Double Click on one of the four data files that are provided with Parity or load your own data. A second Dialog Box will come up with various options you can set for displaying a stock. Type -100 in the First Record text box and click on OK. There will be a slight pause while the data for the stock is loaded and a chart is displayed using the DEFAULT study. Normally you will display a chart by clicking on one of the Display State icons which are explained latter. 3) Now lets create a group. From the Groups menu click on Create/Modify Group. Add stocks to the group by double clicking on stock names in the Available Stocks list box. When you have added several stocks to the group, type SampleGroup into the New Group text box and click on Create Group. 4) After you create a group you still need to select it as the "current" group. From the Groups menu click on Select Current Group. Double click on the SampleGroup shown in the available groups list box. A second Dialog Box will come up with various options you can set for displaying the stocks in this group. For now just click OK. There will be a slight pause while the data for the first stock is loaded. If the "Always Display Chart" option on the Chart Preferences dialog is set to yes Parity will automatically display the chart. Otherwise see below. 5) Click on the Display Group icon on the tool bar. It looks like: /\ /||\ When you click on this icon it will turn magenta and || the cursor will turn into an hourglass while the first \||/ chart is being created. This will take 1 to 5 seconds \/ depending on the speed of your computer, and display adaptor. This is the default chart, just a High, Low, Close bar chart plotted in the top pane and volume plotted in the bottom pane. If you want, use Create/Modify Current Study in the Studies Menu to peruse the definition of this study. 6) To display a more complicated chart, click on Select Current Study in the Studies menu. Double Click on AllChartTypes. Now go back and click on the Display Group icon again. There will be a longer pause as Parity creates this chart. Just so you know, the AllChartTypes study is about the slowest you can create with Parity. If you have a math coprocessor in your system Parity will create this chart fairly quickly. A 20 Mhz 80386 with a coprocessor will outperform a 33 Mhz 80386 without one. Math coprocessors are CHEAP and EASY TO INSTALL! After the chart displays, use Create/Modify Current Study in the Studies Menu to peruse the definition of this study. Click on the Chart Procedures radio button to change the list box to display the chart procedures used to create this study. 7) Now lets select a new current study using the Select Current Study command. Pick Cstck_BB_TSF_MOV by double clicking on its name. 8) Remember a Group is just a list of securities. Lets get our first experience of moving around the Group. Click on the Forward icon in the tool bar. It looks like --> a right arrow. This will cause the next stock in the SampleGroup to be displayed with the Candlestick study. Note how the Candlestick study displays Bollinger Bands, Moving Averages, the Time Series Forecast indicator and the Parabolic Stop and Reverse, and Zig Zag indicator all in the same pane with the price data. By changing the settings with the Pane Editor each of these indicators could be displayed in their own pane which could overlay the price pane or be stacked on top of or below it. Play around with the <-- and --> icons to move around the group. 7) Lets explore a Batch of Studies. Click on Select Current Batch in the Studies menu. Choose SampleBatch. Now click on the Display Matrix icon in the tool bar. It is the one that goes all the way across the width of the tool bar. The Display Matrix icon brings up a visual representation of the virtual chart space that is defined by the SampleGroup group and the SampleBatch batch. Think of the Display Matrix as a spreadsheet. The vertical axis, or rows, represent individual stocks. The horizontal axis, or columns, represent individual studies. Each cell of the display matrix represents the unique chart defined by that intersection of a stock and a study. Click on a cell and then click on the Reposition button. The chart defined by that cell will now be displayed and you are repositioned in the matrix. 8) Play with the other Display tools at the bottom of the tool bar to get a feel for how they move you through the Display Matrix. Basically, the Display Group, Display Batch, Display Group on Batch, and Display Batch on Group tools establish your "path" through the Display Matrix. They also select the current chart, i.e. bring it forward, or create it if it doesn't exist yet. The VCR type tools, i.e., forward and reverse, and fast forward and fast reverse, move you through the Display Matrix according to the path you established with the Display tools. You can change your path any time just by selecting a new Display tool. 9) Now lets see what a Cluster is. Click on Select Current Cluster in the Clusters menu. Double click on the cluster which is named after your display resolution. Before you do this make sure Parity is maximized to run full screen. Click on the Display Group icon on the tool bar. Parity will create 4 charts in a predefined screen configuration using the data from your current stock. Resize the charts which are created by dragging on the chart's frame. When you are satisfied, click on Create Cluster in the Clusters menu. Name the cluster after yourself. Now select the cluster you just created and display it again. I'm sure you see the possibilities! Well that's your introduction to Parity in a nutshell. Please read the Help. It includes lots more information, most of which will be logically presented by using the browse feature of Windows 3.x's help facility. You can also print out the MANUAL.TXT file which contains the text for the Parity Manual. The actual manual includes extensive illustrations and formatting. Good Luck with your charting! THE HOURGLASS MOUSE CURSOR -------------------------- When Parity is creating a chart it sets the mouse cursor to an hourglass shape. When the cursor is an hourglass you are unable to use the mouse or the keyboard. If Parity is unable to complete creating a chart because of an error in one of the formulas you entered the mouse cursor remains locked in the hourglass shape. To unlock the cursor, hit the up arrow key. Occasionally an error may occur when you have a form or dialog box open. Normally you can recover by pressing the up arrow key and closing the dialog box by double clicking on the control menu box in the upper left hand corner of the dialog box window. PRINTING CHARTS --------------- In order to achieve the best results when you want to print a chart we strongly advise you to use the Print Tool icon at the top of the tool bar, rather than the File Print menu command. ABOUT PARITY PLUS ----------------- In addition to the shareware version of Parity, we also offer an Enhanced Retail Version (ERV) called Parity Plus. Along with all the great features of the shareware version, the Parity Plus software includes sophisticated profit testing which lets you test the performance of the technical analysis strategies you devise. You can chart the results of a profit test against stock price to show the cumulative profit and the profit by position and display detailed trade information by security or summaries for each stock and group you are testing. Parity Plus even includes a new chart procedure, ChartProfitTest() which lets you include the results of a profit test on any chart you define. Parity Plus also lets you specify five variables that you can automatically "optimize" for by repeatedly running the profit test on each variable as it steps through the range of values you specify. If you've ever wondered whether you should use a 40 day moving average vs. a 53 day moving average Parity Plus will let you find out! Parity Plus also lets you filter a group of stocks and select just those stocks that meet the technical criteria you set and create a new group of just the ones that match. Or scan through all the stocks in a group and create a sorted table with output of your indicators. Parity Plus also includes cycle analysis that lets you set two cycle periods which are plotted right on any of your charts. Change the width and horizontal position of the cycles to find the perfect match to help you predict the dates for the next peak or trough in price. Complete data and file maintenance utilities are also built into Parity Plus. Use data maintenance to edit or manually update your data, adjust for splits and distributions, or insert and delete records. The data maintenance command will also convert 5-to-7 field files and vice versa. The file maintenance command lets you create, copy, delete or rename your data files. Finally, Parity Plus includes a very flexible data conversion utility that lets you convert data files to and from any of these formats: MetaStock, ChartPro/MegaTech, comma, tab, or space delimited ASCII files, Lotus WKS and Excel Spreadsheets. Parity Plus, Version 1.3, is just $179 and $5 shipping. Registered users of Parity can upgrade to Parity Plus at any time by paying the difference between their Parity registration and the current cost of Parity Plus. Parity Plus is available directly from ParTech Software Systems. SOME HINTS ABOUT WINDOWS ------------------------ To change the directory or drive double click on the directory or drive name in the directory list box. To move up a directory in the tree, double click on the [..] in the list box. Use the Control Panel icon in the Program manager to change your printer settings from session to session. Upgrade to Windows 3.1 if you are using 3.0. Win