LiveWire Internet Real-Time Filters

Have you tried the powerful filtering capabilities built in to LiveWire Internet? Since we've talked to many LiveWire Internet users with questions about the filters, we thought it would be appropriate to post a description and discuss some of the new filtering capabilities.

What is a filtering?
Filtering is the process of taking an equation and applying the equation to the real-time tick data, and generating a list of stock symbols that satisfy the equation conditions. A simple example of a filter is "AT52LOW" which filters out all stocks that are currently at their 52 week low. This may seem trivial, but imagine trying to compare the current tick to each symbol's previous 52 week low for 25,000+ symbols once every second!

How do I access the filters?
From the Market Window press the INSERT key and select "Authors." A list of the current authors will appear, and you can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the different authors. (Click here to see a list of the over 70 real-time filters currently available.) Once you select an author, you can scroll through the different filters created by different authors. Once you find a filter you are interested in, select it and then press ENTER. LiveWire Internet will then create a new portfolio with the filter's name. As in the above example, if you selected the AT52LOW filter, you would then have a portfolio named AT52LOW.

How often are my filters updated?
After you create a filter, every four seconds during market hours the LiveWire servers will update your list of symbols in the filter portfolio that meet the filtering requirments. Stacked filters have an additional 4 second propogation delay.

Can I stack filters?
Yes! Version 10.0L and higher allow you to select a "Universe" to which you can apply a particular filter. (If you are not using version L or higher, we encourage you to download it now). Selecting a Universe allows you to filter the results of another filter. Filtering the results of another filter allows you to "stack" filters. For example, say you want to see a list of stocks that are both at their 52 week low and showing unusually large block trading activity. First, select the AT52LOW filter. Then, select the BLOCKTRD filter. Next, from the Market Window position the select bar on the BLOCKTRD filter name and press the space bar. A window will pop up allowing you to enter the Universe on which the BLOCKTRD will filter. Enter AT52LOW for the Universe name. Now, the only symbols that will appear in the BLOCKTRD portfolio are those that both are at their 52 week low AND are experiencing unusually large block trades. If desired, you could then create another filter that filtered on the results of this filter, and so on.

What are the limitations of stacked filters?
First, there is a slight propogation delay inherent in the filtering of another filter's results. Second, because of time constraints, the stacked filter only filters the first 300 symbols in the prior filter's results. So, as in the above example, if more than 300 symbols are at their 52 week low, the BLOCKTRD filter will only filter the first 300 symbols in the AT52LOW portfolio. If you discover that a particular filter in your "stack" regularly returns more than 300 symbols, simply change the order you stacked your filters by changing the Universe for each filter.

Can I create alarms on filtered stocks?
Yes! There are several alarm settings. To set alarms, position your select bar on the filter name and press the space bar. Enter the type of alarms you want by answering the question "Alarm on Symbol (A, P, L, N):". If you select A for Auto, whenever a symbol matches the filter equation, an alarm box will pop up on your screen and automatically disappear after about two seconds. If you select P for Pop-Up and Log, an alarm window will pop-up and require that you acknowledge it before revealing any additional alarms. If you have a bunch of alarms, you can press ESC or CANCEL to acknowledge all triggered alarms. If you just want to log alarms for later viewing, select L. To view the alarm log, press ALT-F3 (hold down the ALT key and press the F3 function key).

Can I create my own custom filters?
By stacking the existing filters you are, in essence, creating a custom filter. But if you find that the existing filters are inadequate for your needs, please consider submitting a filter of your design to CableSoft. If we think your filter would appeal to other LiveWire Internet users, we will add a new filter to our system. CableSoft is committed to building out the Authors section of LiveWire Internet, and we are actively searching for filter authors. To request to become an author, send an e-mail to filterauthors@livewire-cablesoft.com, and include a description of the filter and why you think it is a valuable indicator. If we agree, we will set you up as an author and include your filter in LiveWire Internet.

How powerful are these filters?
Applying filtering equations to the entire stock market in real-time requires a lot of computing power. CableSoft has a bank of servers dedicated to filtering equations. Some of the equations are so intensive they require a dedicated server. And, the actual process of applying the filtering equations in real-time is not only rare, but a very powerful trading tool. As a matter of fact, we don't know of any other company that filters the entire stock market in real-time and updates clients every second. If you know of another company that does this, please let us know!

Does filtering really work?
Yes! We regularly talk with LiveWire Internet users who are using filters to quickly spot fast-moving trends and profit opportunities. Since there are so few traders that have this powerful trading tool, LiveWire Internet users have an edge they can use to make more money in the stock market. If you're not currently using filtering, we strongly encourage you to take the time to study the different filters and determine how to incorporate them into your trading strategy.

Keep me posted!
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