Overview
UA lets you create and store portfolios that list all the contracts, stocks, options, cash series, COT data sets, etc. you will be viewing regularly. Your portfolios should include everything you'll want to see in chart form through UA and through third-party analysis software in various formats. By identifying the contracts or stocks of interest to you in portfolios, you can save a considerable amount of time and effort in your daily analysis because your markets of interest will be immediately available.
UA lets you control all important parameters used to configure the contracts or stocks in your portfolios and allows you to review or change these entries at any time. This feature is particularly useful when designing your own custom trading system with computed continuous series. Market analysis based on such contracts should never involve a data series built with unknown parameters. Unfair Advantage makes you an active and informed participant in your market study.
Multiple portfolios are used for sorting markets or to maintain separate lists of export format files for use with third-party analysis programs. Although the portfolio system lets you store your desired markets for easy access, it does not limit access of non-portfolio data. You can chart and/or write files on anything in the UA database*, whether or not it is listed in your portfolio(s).
You probably selected one of Unfair Advantage's sample or pre-set portfolios when you installed the software.
Charting directly from a portfolio is generally preferred to creating new charts from scratch, especially when commodities are involved. The portfolio allows you to do the work of defining the series once, and then stores the information for all future charting sessions. If you chart a commodity that is not in a portfolio, we recommend that after viewing the chart, you click the [Add to Portfolio] button at the bottom of your chart so that the settings will be saved for next time. You are not required to do so, however.
The portfolio manager is accessible through a panel on the left side of the screen, as well as through the Portfolio menu.
Automatic Portfolios For Compatible Software
Many companies that produce and sell analysis software have pre-arranged with CSI to have appropriate portfolios automatically created and maintained for their customers' use. If you use one of these software programs, such as VantagePoint, Delta Society Int'l software and others, then you may never need to visit UA's portfolio feature.
The MarketScanner Alternative
A handy alternative to portfolio selection is UA's MarketScanner, which can automatically list stocks and commodities for charting or other analysis. This module allows you to sort and filter tradeables according to your choice of price or volume fluctuation, or on study results. See the MarketScanner chapter for details. Users of MarketScanner can bypass the standard portfolio feature, or use MarketScanner to select markets for inclusion in your portfolios.
Special note for MultiMarket Analyzer users:
The MultiMarket Analyzer is a UA analysis module that analyzes many markets simultaneously in search of multiple over- or underpriced market opportunities or intermarket spread opportunities. It reads the compressed UA database directly and is not impacted by the markets introduced into your portfolio(s).
*The markets available for viewing and the software available for analysis may be restricted based upon your subscription category with CSI. See your Account Status for details on what is available to you. For full use of The MultiMarket Analyzer, The Trading System Performance Evaluator and Position Manager, users are required to pay the full UA license fee.