Q: What stock screener do you use to make the all-time high lists?
A: A computer program that I wrote in MATLAB. It uses adjusted stock prices from Yahoo Finance (usually) or Google Finance (occasionally). I am happy to share my MATLAB functions - just send me an e-mail.
Q: Do you use a minimum price for the stock screens?
A: Yes. For the NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, and TSX the minimum price is $2. For the TSX Venture the minimum is $1.00.
Q: What criteria are used for the Priority List?
A: It is quantitatively filtered out of the ATH list based on: 1) Share Turnover, 2) Calmar Ratio, 3) Dollar Value Traded, 4) Sorted by the stock's age (most recent IPOs first). It is a work in progress and I welcome your suggestions.
Q: Some of the stocks in the all-time high list do not look like they are trading at all-time highs. Why?
A: It has to do with the difference between adjusted and unadjusted stock prices (nominal vs. total return). My stock screen is based on total return, so the stock prices are adjusted for dividends and splits. However, the stock charts from Bigcharts.com are not adjusted for dividends, so some dividend stocks do not look like they are trading at all-time highs.
Charts
Q: Could you make the charts larger for the weekly stock screens?
A: If I make the charts larger then I cannot put daily and weekly charts side-by-side. I suggest using your browser to zoom-in on the charts. In my browser this can be accomplished several ways: 1) pressing ctrl key and '+' key at the same time (ctrl and '-' to zoom-out again), 2) holding ctrl key and scrolling on the mouse, or 3) go to browser tools then adjust the zoom.
Q: What software do you use for charting Darvas Boxes etc.?
A: I use MATLAB to make my Darvas Box Plotter, Guppy Multiple Moving Average Plotter, etc.
Q: What does 7-ATR mean?
A: A type of trailing stop I use that is 7 Average-True-Ranges below the stock's highest closing price. This stop is designed to lock in gains because it can only move up -- never down.
