Hello!

I´m writing here since I know there are many tech gurus on this forum :)

I´ve decided to build a small stock market blog and I would like to include some stock market charts on it. Just like these sites:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/default.asp?siteid=&avatar=seen&dist=ctbc (DJIA and NASDAQ charts on the index page)
http://money.cnn.com/data/us_markets/ (index charts on the right)
http://www.gotfrank.com/stockpicks/ (index charts in the right column)

It looks like that all charts are provided by BigCharts.com, but I can´t find a customization option anywhere. How did these people customize their charts? Can this be done for free or is this a payable feature?

Your help is much apprechiated, since I´m out of ideas. Thanks!

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Active Investor's Blog

Pirx,

It is very easy to poach someone's charts for display on your website, but you are much better off asking the originator's pemission to use their images and they will give you all the information you need.

e.g.





wabbit

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MS: 6.52 EOD, 7.x EOD, 8.0 PRO, 9.2 PRO w/QC, 10 PRO w/QC & MDK
For custom MetaStock programming : http://www.wabbit.com.au
My SkyPE status :
My SkyPE account : wabbit.com.au

Hello, Wabbit :)

I totally agree with you and I have asked the guy from Technicator.net, how he customized his charts, but I did not get an answer from him. I have also written to BigCharts.com, but I doubt I´ll get an answer from them, since they point out, that they have a high volume of emails and can´t reply to everyone.

From properties of the image I see you got this chart from CNN Money. But do you know if they paid for customization or it can it be done by anyone? Thanks and have a nice day :)

Henrik

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Active Investor's Blog

The chart above doesn't come from cnnmoney, it comes from BigCharts...

the source of the image is infact:
http://chart.bigcharts.com/custom/cnnmoney-com/markets/big.chart?ClientID=44711&symb=djia&sid=1000001643&time=1dy&freq=5mi&type=256&mocktick=1&symbtype=0&country=US&rtsid=1000001643&style=2000&size=1&uf=8192&rand=6092

I would take a guess and say the cnn-money-com and ClientID=44711 are all part of some agreement that CNN has with BigCharts to display this information.

The rest of the attributes can be rationalised as:
symb=djia {is obvious the ticker symbol}
sid=1000001643 {mmmm dunno, but maybe something to with client ref numbers}
time=1dy {the tim eperiod of the chart shows one day's worth of data|
freq=5mi {at 5 minute periodicity}
type=256 {some formatting or layout setting}
mocktick=1 {some more formatting or layout setting}
symbtype=0 {maybe indicating an index? vs stock? vs futures?}
country=US {self explanatory}
rtsid=1000001643 {dunno}
style=2000 {formatting?}
size=1 {obviously size 1 is a small chart, what are the other settings?  hazarda guess at 2 and maybe 3?}
uf=8192 {dunno}
rand=6092 {dunno}



wabbit

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MS: 6.52 EOD, 7.x EOD, 8.0 PRO, 9.2 PRO w/QC, 10 PRO w/QC & MDK
For custom MetaStock programming : http://www.wabbit.com.au
My SkyPE status :
My SkyPE account : wabbit.com.au

I thought this too, that websites with customised charts must have some kind of agreement with BigCharts.

Well, I hope I´ll get an explanationary answer from them.

Thanks for taking your time to dissect the url.

Henrik

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Active Investor's Blog

hey henrik.... for the average user the best way to customize  big charts is to use their page to set the options.... then simply right click on the chart and copy the url address.... all info to recreate the chart is contained in the url address.....  

you can write java scripts to create those url addresses there by creating the charts, but trust me, big charts are the most difficult ..... the only time it would be worthwhile would be someone wanting to rip off realtime charts..... the standard charts are 20 minute delayed.....

big charts does not really use ticker symbols,  ie, changing the 'djia' in wabbitt's url to 'csco' will not create a 'csco' chart.... and the indicators are even more difficult.....

as an example some of the code needed is below.........  it's far better to just use their site to create the chart then right click on the chart and copy the url address.......h

<SELECT style="font:12" name="time">
<option value="1">1 day
<option value="2">2 days
<option value="3">5 days
<option value="18">10 days
<option value="4">1 Month
<option value="5">2 Months
<option value="6" selected>3 Months
<option value="7">6 Months
<option value="19">YTD
<option value="8">1 Year
<option value="9">2 Years
<option value="10">3 Years
<option value="11">4 Years
<option value="12">5 Years
<option value="13">1 Decade
<option value="20">All Data
</SELECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<SELECT style="font:12" name="freq">
<option value="9">1-Minute
<option value="6">5-Minute
<option value="7">15-Minute
<option value="8">Hourly
<option value="1" selected>Daily
<option value="2">Weekly
<option value="3">Monthly
<option value="4">Quarterly
<option value="5">Yearly
</SELECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<SELECT style="font:12" name="type">
<option value="0">Hide Price
<option value="1">HLC
<option value="2">OHLC
<option value="4">Candlestick
<option value="8">Mountain
<option value="16">Bar Charts
<option value="32">Dot
<option value="64" selected>Line
<option value="128">Logarithmic
</SELECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<SELECT style="font:12" name="style">
<option value="320">Default
<option value="330" selected>Black Grids
<option value="340">Blue & White
<option value="350">Black
<option value="360">Globe
<option value="370">Graph Paper
<option value="380">Blue
</SELECT>
</TD>
<td>
<SELECT style="font:12" name="size">
<option value="1">Small
<option value="2" selected>Medium
<option value="3">Large
<option value="4">Huge
</SELECT>

<table border="0" align="center" bgcolor="lightgrey">
<tr style="font:14">
<th>First Pane:</th>
<th>Second Pane:</th>
<th>Third Pane:</th>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>
<select style="font:12" name="lf">
<option value="1">Volume
<option value="268435456" selected>Volume+
<option value="2">RSI
<option value="4">MACD
<option value="8">OBV
<option value="16">Fast Stochastic
<option value="32">Slow Stochastic
<option value="128">ROC
<option value="256">Williams %R
<option value="512">Money Flow
<option value="1024">DMI
<option value="4096">Vol Accumulation
<option value="8192">Volatility Fast
<option value="16384">Volatility Slow
<option value="65536">Momentum
<option value="131072">Ult Oscillator
<option value="1073741824">% Short Interest
<option value="67108864">Rolling EPS
<option value="16777216">P/E Ratio
<option value="8388608">P/E Ranges
<option value="134217728">Rolling Dividend
<option value="33554432">Yield
<option value="262144">Up/Down Ratio
<option value="524288">Arms Index (TRIN)
<option value="1048576">A/D Line (Breadth)
<option value="2097152">A/D Line (Daily)
<option value="4194304">% Compare
</SELECT>
</td>

Thanks for answering, hayseed. I have also learned, that MarketWatch charges for customisation of index charts - http://mwls.marketwatch.com/products-all.asp

I also got the permission from Technicator.net to use his index charts.

Anyway, it´s good to know where or how to get them :) Thanks for your help, guys.

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Active Investor's Blog