Loading CSI® data into Insider TA™

Insider TA™ Pro reads directly from CSI's Stocks, Mutual Funds, and Indices database without the need for any exporting to another format (ASCII, for instance). Directions are outlined on this page.

On the other hand, to load CSI's Futures data into Insider TA, you will utilize the Unfair Advantage® output utilities to convert the data to either ASCII or Metastock format.

Refer to UA's program help in the Contents tab where you'll see a section titled "Third-Party Software", or follow our instructions for exporting to either of these formats.

Access to the Commodity Systems, Inc. (CSI) database (http://www.csidata.com), which is the foundation for the Unfair Advantage® (UA) program, is an Insider TA™ Professional feature.

There are two ways to load CSI stock, mutual fund, or index data (futures data does not apply -- read box inset):

To load a known Stock, Mutual Fund, or Index symbol, press Ctrl- U on your keyboard (think "U" for Unfair Advantage). A window will pop-up for entering the desired symbol. Be sure no other Insider TA windows are currently active, otherwise pressing Ctrl-U will not work. You must be at Insider TA's "base window" in order for the Ctrl-U key press to function.
CSI symbols by exchange are automatically prepared by Insider TA and listed in the File Entry Panel.

CSI Symbol Index Table:

In order to display CSI symbols by various exchanges in the File Entry Panel, Insider TA maintains a CSI Symbol Index table. The table does not store stock data. It's purpose is to monitor all the symbol names and their corresponding company names, along with the exchange each one belongs to. This information is used by the File Entry Panel so that they can be listed according to the exchange they belong to (NYSE, AMEX, LSE, etc.).

Each time you update your CSI stock database through UA (either through the main program, or their EZDownloader), there will generally always be a few stock symbols that have changed (e.g., additions, renaming or delistings). These changes will need to be reflected in Insider TA's CSI Symbol Index table.

Important: Updating the CSI Symbol Index table does not update your CSI database. You will still need to update your stocks with UA.

Configuring when to update the CSI Symbol Index Table:

In Insider TA's main menu bar, pull down "File" and then select "Configure CSI Index Table update mode". You can also access this option through the File Entry Panel wizard menu.

As shown above, there are three configuration options. You could let Insider TA rebuild the symbol index table whenever it deems necessary, but the process does take additional time (perhaps up to a couple of minutes, depending on the scope of your CSI's data subscription and your computer speed). So you can also configure Insider TA to prompt you before updating (allowing you to skip the action), or disable auto-updating altogether. In this latter case, it will be up to you to manually update the CSI Symbol Index table by clicking the button titled "Update CSI Index Table now".

Unfair Advantage (UA) must run concurrently:

Access to CSI's database requires that UA be running concurrently. Insider TA will automatically start up UA, and then minimize it for you. When Insider TA is shut down, it will then automatically shut down UA.

Disabling CSI access:

If for any reason you want Insider TA to ignore the CSI database, then you can click the "Ignore CSI" checkbox in the "Data Loading" section in the Configuration Options Panel. When ignoring CSI, Insider TA will not start Unfair Advantage. So when would you ever want to set this "ignore" feature? If you're a Pro user, then never! CSI is an excellent resource for clean stock data around the world! But for Standard or Demo users, CSI data loading is disabled anyway. So the background efforts of starting up and minimizing UA is a superfluous step.

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Questions or Comments: InsiderTA@stockblocks.com