NO INSTALLATION PROCEDURE NEEDED

The roadmap.exe file is a complete Visual Basic program. No installation procedu

re or compression-extraction is needed to use the program. If you're running Win
98 or higher you already have all the .dll's needed to run the program. If you g
et an error message telling you that a dll is missing let us know.
The roadmap.exe file should be placed in the most frequently used data directory
. This is not a requirement because you can change drives and directories to scr
oll to the data files, but it is the most convenient location.
DATA FILE FORMAT ISSUES
We've used this program hundreds of times and it has performed flawlessly. If it
crashes it is almost certainly because of data format issues. You will get an e
rror message if the data format is not correct. The program will read only ASCII
files. It doesn't care if they are delimited with commas, tabs or spaces, or wi
th the single exception of ".prn", which is reserved, what the file extension is
(.asc .csv .txt) but it is imperative that your data files have the following f
ields in this exact order:
DATE TIME OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE
Date and Time must be formatted exactly, as follows:
Date Format: MM/DD/YYYY
Time Format: HHMM
This is the USA Date/Time format. Check your system settings for your long date
format.
A volume field is not used by the program but if one is present the data will st
ill load correctly. Any additional fields, like open interest, will crash the pr
ogram. Please note that data files should not have headers. The very first line
in the file must be like every line and contain only data.
*** IF THE UTILITY CRASHES CHECK YOUR DATA FORMAT ***
On start-up the program graphs 140 data bars. Your data file should contain a mi
nimum 200 or more days, hours, weeks, etc. of data. You can use the "+" key on t
he numeric keypad to see more data but there is a practical limit to the numer o
f data points that will graph neatly within the roadmap grid. The actual price o
f the ticker, the x 10 Multiplier, and the Degree Factor all influence the maxim
um number of bars that will fit within the grid so we cannot be more specific th
an that. The utility was created to help identify the probable termination point
of the current swing only and not to do long range or historical forecasting. T
he practical limit to data files is about 3,000 entries. If you attempt to load
a 50 year data file with 15,000 data points do not be surprised if it crashes th
e program.
YAHOO DATA
The utilily will read historical stock data downloaded from Yahoo Finance. This
is the proper procedure:
1. Download data from Yahoo using the "Download to Spreadsheet" link at the bott
om of the Yahoo historical data page.
2. If given the choice to Open or Save As - select "Save As"
3. Your spreadsheet will open with the Yahoo data. Do not sort the data. Do not
add or delete any columns.
4. Within the spreadsheet do a File-->Save As. The file will be named table-xx.c
sv. Change the name if you want and save the file anywhere on your hard disk.
5. The first save (#4 above) will save the data to your hard disk in the proper
csv format.
6. When you try to quit the spreadsheet you will get an error message that the d
ata in the spreadsheet is not in a spreadsheet format. This message is a pain in
the neck and it does not apply to the data that you already saved in #4. You ca
n answer "No" and quit the spreadsheet or go ahead and save the data again as an
.xls (spreadsheet) file. This will not affect what you have already saved as a
.csv file.
7. Open the roadmap.exe file. Click "YES" for "Use Yahoo CSV" on the opening scr
een. The "YES" option only works for Yahoo downloaded data files. If you try to
open a data file that you did not download from Yahoo with the YES option button
active you will get an error message and the other file will not load.

INTRADAY TICKER DATA LESS THAN 60 MINUTES MAY BE A PROBLEM

The utility will operate with intraday data less than 60 minutes but the results
may not be useable. The square root of the price difference between bars in 5 m
inute files, for example, may be too small to graph effectively without reworkin
g the graphing algorithims. Experiment with the Multiplier and Degrees inputs.

OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM

Operation is pretty straightforward. If you've read the book then you know what
to do with the Degree Factors and x10 Multipliers settings. You can scroll throu
gh and select from the most commonly used settings, or you can type in a value.
The program was created to be used with the e-mini. The Degree Factor was hard c
oded at .25 for Hourly and .50 for Daily, and the x10 Multiplier was hard coded
at 1. With a little experimentation we've had good results with every other tick
er we've tried but some price levels are more difficult to work with than others
.
Price multipliers do not change the chart scale. For example, Eurodollars x1000
still produces a chart showing Euros with a scale of $1.00 something. The multip
lier calclulations are internal and used only to construct the grid.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEFT CLICK AND A RIGHT CLICK
Both left clicks and right clicks will print a price, date and time at the locat
ion of the crosshair mouse cursor. A LEFT click will print the high and set the
Bear Grid starting date and time. A RIGHT click will print the low and set the B
ull Grid starting date and time. The Bull Grid and the Bear Grid settings refle
ct the data from the position on the chart of the last click.
MENU
QUIT - quits the program.
TICKERS - opens up the dialogue to find and load a data file. Double click on th
e file name to load the file and chart it.
CLEAR - erases the grid and any prints from left or right mouse clicks.
GRID - draws a grid or a ghost line starting at the date and time selected by th
e last left or right mouse clicks. The last Left click will be the starting poin
t of a Bear Grid. The last Right CLick will be the starting point of a Bull Grid
.
ROTATIONS - shows the 90 degree or 60 degree rotations from an angle that you in
put. This is handy if your angle of interest is 173 degrees and you want to know
all the 45 degree rotations, i.e. 218, 263, etc.
LOOK AHEAD - shows future prices, ranges, or times that will square with the pri
ce, range or time that you input.
CHUNKS - appears on the lower left corner of the chart window. Click on the left
hand symbol to view the immediately preceding 140 data points in the chart wind
ow. Click on the right hand symbol to view the immediately following 140 data po
ints in the chart window. The next chart view is relative to the current chart v
iew.
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Hope the program is useful and accelerates your learning of the Square of Nine.
If you have any problems please email us at tradingfives@adelphia.net describing
the problem. Include a few lines of the datafile you were using when the proble
m occurred.
Peter Amaral
TRADINGFIVES