Click here for a Status report for the data feeds and Ensign.
New Features Documentation
Please read the New Features Documentation before electing to upgrade from the old Ensign to the new Ensign series. Doing so will reduce the number of customer support questions you might have.
July 2008 (New Ensign):
July 25th
- Manual data entry of daily data for custom symbols should not be affected by the presence of a quote page entry.
July 23rd
- Fixed menu File | Upgrade Ensign Windows which became disfunctional since the July 17th version. Download upgrades directly from the Ensign web site's Download page if necessary.
July 21st
- Added to the DYO Study Value selections for Point and Figure study ability to read high and low prices for the prior column of Xs and Os.
- Fixed new installations getting Index Out of Bounds error because example quote pages that were installing were very old.
July 17th
- Improved Internet Services for faster directory listing and download reliability. Same improvements made to EChat.
- This is an important upgrade that fixes custom symbols and some foreign symbols not building Database Files. Charts with this problem have to be refreshed to be current. All should upgrade.
July 10th
- Regression Channel will handle large Bar parameter above 1024.
July 7th
- Increased the number of rows on a quote page to show 25 more rows so the FXCM quote page will show its 78 symbols without needing a scroll bar. This requires a monitor with sufficient vertical space to show the entire quote page.
- Fixed access violation caused by a Study Alert referencing another
study, but the user left the Field selection blank by mistake.
June 2008 (New Ensign):
June 27th
- Fixed ESPL SetVariable(eDaySession,True); statement so the DSO property is set or cleared.
June 26th
- Fixed loading a daily file that has reached Maximum Bars and needs to be resized failing to also recalculate.
- Changed the sub-window label multi-line character from being a comma to a vertical line, '|'. Example: 1st line|2nd line
June 25th
- Fixed Access Violation when trying to draw the Pesavento Patterns study on chart opening. Error address near 75D944.
- For the Pesavento Patterns study, exposed 8 prior swing prices and indexes instead of 4 for use in a DYO or Study Alert.
- The chat feature in Ensign now has 100 rooms. Speed improvements will permit handling more chat clients.
- Updated chat room button's reference to the dacharts site chart directory. Added chat room button for a directory of charts on the Ensign web site.
- The ESPL global variable AutoRefresh will read or set the Auto Refresh On Chart Open check box found on the Setup | Charts form.
- Implemented 7 folders for CTRL+F12 image uploads, one for each day of the week. Each folder auto deletes 1 week later.
- Added a new Bar Style named Mountain.
- The Fuzzy line style can be used with both the Mountain bar style and any of the Line bar styles.
- Major additions to the Price Histogram:
- VAH, VAL and POC are calculated and plotted bar by bar and available for reference in other studies, such as DYOs.
- POC lines drawn through the right edge margin continue to show when the chart updates.
- Implemented speed improvements so the PH draws faster.
- Implemented 2-day and 3-day histograms.
- Old style Price Histogram has been removed from the program. The Price Histogram study selection is the new format.
- Repaint the chart to reflect studies deleted via the chart objects panel.
- Added ESPL global stringlists to expose the alert logs for studies, lines and sounds. Use sStudyLog, sLineLog and sSoundLog.
- Improved the reporting of the average formula information on the Chart Objects Report.
- Fixed 'Divide by Zero' error in Attenuation average formula when the average parameter is set to a 4.
Sept 2007 - May 2008 (New Ensign):
- Fixed an inbound refresh being stored under wrong symbol caused by a workspace being switched before the refresh response finished.
- For Futures, the last bar of the 1st session will not stay open for an extra 14 minutes when this extra time overlaps the start of the 2nd session. The purpose of the extra 14 minutes is to catch a settlement tick sent after the 1st session close.
- Added selection to the Options form to display a Tick Time field.
- Save to ASCII writes 6 decimal digits for symbols which trade in half 32nds.
- Remove from the queue any pending refresh requests when the data feed selection is changed.
- Ensign Map repaints on a tick update more efficiently. Has a lighter CPU burden.
- Quicker close of the Setup | Manager form. Benefits those with lengthy symbol lists.
- Show Saving Database = x% on main caption line when doing a lengthy write to the hard drive.
- Redesigned the tick queue to distribute the task of updating database files over a continuum of time. This eliminates pauses that might have lasted several seconds, depending on the number of symbols followed.
- Internet Services will download Ensign Windows installation file to setupens.exe to avoid confusion with other applications that use setup.exe.
- For IQFeed options page: Increased the number of strikes shown for ES, ER, and SP. Added strikes on the half 32nds for TY and FV.
- The Std Dev Channel and % Channel on Draw Lines and Linear Regression Lines will use the same color and line style for the 1st set of band lines, and the line style and color from the 2nd row for the 2nd set of band lines.
- Speed improvements for TransAct feed and final implementation of a forthcoming Tick refresh from TransAct. Formal release of the Tick refresh is waiting for TransAct to move the implementation from a development server to a production release server. TransAct is a great feed and having refresh of intra-day and ticks will be fantastic, and ONLY available through TransAct's parnership with Ensign Software.
- Added 4 new Bar Styles: Ensign Pipes, Ensign Z-Pipes, Ensign C-Pipes, and Ensign X-Pipes.
- Leave the Box Size property on the Price Histogram set to zero and then the study can be applied to any chart.
- Redesigned the Price Histogram to add new features. More improvements forthcoming, particularly an effort to speed it up and have lower CPU burden. Example Discussion
- Implemented ESPL statement: Application.BringToFront;
- Increased the clipboard size so larger Trade Reports can be copied to the clipboard.
- Updated default market hours table for ZB, ZN, ZF, ZT, ZG, ZI, ZC, ZS, and ZW.
- Added watch list for TransAct feed to support the 04-02 EDS release. Upgrade EDS to the current version too.
- Added DYO Chart Value | Current # Min Bar Close to the bottom of the Selection list.
- Doubled the number of strikes shown on the IQFeed Options page. Particularly needed for C, W, KW, S options.
- 2nd Internet source can be used to update daily stock files when 1st Internet source has a problem. 2nd Internet source usually does not have the bar for today available until well after the close of the trading session.
- ESC key can be used to abort ESPL timer scripts. Need to hold the ESC down until the script runs and aborts.
- Refresh for intra-day bars from DTN Market Access for index symbols has total volume but not bar volume. Bar volume will be computed from the change in total volume.
- Show more option strikes for all Options quote pages for the IQFeed.
- Added DYO Chart Value selections for Current # Count Bar High, Low, Open, Close for chunking bars into a group of # bars.
- Added in Ensign Windows the menu Help | What's New to display this web site page.
- Added the chart time frame following the symbol to the caption of the Trade Detail report.
- Added menu Help | Ensign Remote Support to download and run a client side program for advanced customer support. More Information
- Minor changes to the Pesavento Patterns tool so the swings drawn in real-time more closely match the swings calculated when the chart is reloaded. The challenge arises from the reload not knowing the detail of how the bar developed, and the real-time does not know how the bar will end up.
- Custom Symbols will not trigger a refresh request.
- Some old operating systems do not have a 2008 Day Light Savings calendar, in which case, Ensign Windows will force the US Day Light Savings dates for 2008.
- Added check boxes on the Setup | Computer form to Disable Recent Changes in the program made on specific dates.
- Improved on Auto Refresh detection for refreshing a chart when it is opened. Auto Refresh to start its detection 1 day further back.
- Open Interest collected in real-time will be preserved through refresh updates from data vendors that do not refresh Open Interest.
- Force DTN Market Access refresh symbol for OJ, KC, SB, CT and CC to have a '@' prefix to request electronic symbol. The softs stopped pit trading at the end of February. They are electronic now.
- In the IQFeed options table for OJ, KC, SB, CT and CC, futures symbols now have '@' prefix. Options symbols do not.
- Added DTN Market Access as a refresh option for IQFeed subscribers. For some symbols, refresh from DTN Market Access is more complete and cleaner. Now IQFeed users have a choice to refresh from either source.
- Updated the Symbol Properties table to use half 32nds format for US and quarter 32nds for TY. New half 32nds price format for Bonds
- New EDS version to support TransAct price format for =ZF now quoted in quarter 32nds. Make change in Ensign on the chart's property form, symbol tab, to select quarter 32nds as the Price Format. Example
- Updated Day Light Savings dates for both US and Europe for 2008 in New Ensign version.
- Some interesting candle body fills can be obtained by changing Candle Frame line style to the dotted line selections. The 3D Candlestick Body shading option needs to be checked on the Setup | Charts form.
- Added Marker to the selection list of Auto Repeat Buttons on the Setup | Toolbars form.
- For Keltner Channel, Uniform Channel, and Bollinger Bands added property option to expand chart scale to keep these studies showing on the chart as new data is added to the chart in real-time.
- Increased the number of buttons on the Times Panel from 30 to 42.
- Workspaces open faster. Progress information is shown on the Ensign caption line.
- The default port for new installations will be the New Server for the FXCM feed. Those using the FXCM feed will default to have the New Server box checked. Need to migrate all FXCM feed users to the new server so the old server can be discontinued or be used solely as a back-up.
- If you experience Out of Memory, see if you use the FXCM feed and have the New Server box checked. Unchecking the New Server box resolved this error for a few users.
- Implemented a server with a compressed FXCM feed with 8 times the bandwidth for handling more content and more customers. Go to the Setup | Connection form and check the FXCM box for New Server to use the new higher capacity feed. After a couple months of transition, the old uncompressed FXCM feed will be discontinued.
- Changed the default exchange for the IB feed for DX, OJ, KC, SB, CC, and CT futures to be NYBOT (ICE).
- Updated the Holiday Schedule for 2008. Users can manually do the same or upgrade to get 2008 holiday schedule.
- The bullet for Prior Ensign Version on the Setup | Connection form will download an earlier version of the New Ensign series, and not the Old Ensign series. Use the link for Old Ensign Version on the Download web page to obtain the current edition of the old Ensign that does not have the new features.
- The strike price for CC options on the IQFeed now have additional zero. Example
- Several improvements in printing charts on paper, including: new Bar Styles, Price Histogram, Ask/Bid histogram, Volume histogram.
- Added riskfeed.jar to the parameter string for executing the TWS application.
- Time and Sales form will show the playback's time stamp for the DEMO charts.
- Added IB index symbols from the ISE exchange internally so that $BPX can be used instead of $BPX-ISE.
- Old playback files can be converted into the tick database.
- eSignal refresh for a new daily chart not showing a Last value when done after day session close.
- Significant improvement in the speed and reliability of the IB refresh. Added gauges on the Setup | Connection form to show the status for the Pacing Violation limitation imposed by IB. More Info
- Faster creation of DYO objects will help large workspaces open faster, in fewer CPU cycles.
- Improved estimating how many days back to in the Tick Database to go to start loading data for building Maximum Bars.
- Improved the DYO Sqrt function to test for a negative argument, and return a zero instead of an error.
- Added a test of the horizontal bar spacing being a zero value so that computations do not generate a division by zero error when setting or loading the chart properties.
- Added 2.618 and 4.236 levels to the Auto Fibonacci feature of the Pesavento Patterns draw tool.
- Changed the Standard Deviation Channel on the Linear Regression and Draw Line tools to use the residual deviation method, which is a measure of the distance of each point from the line instead of from the average of all points. The residual deviation method is used by other charting programs.
- Updated the EDS program to handle changes made to the Transact feed for formatting the =ZB and =ZN quotes.
- The ESPL Download statement can download intra-day data from the DTN Market Access source.
- The Daily Price Line labels for Today for both sessions will be H, L and O. Day Session Only labels will become DH, DL, and DO.
- Added DYO Trade Flags for Position >=, >, =, <, <= #.
- Increased the Auto Refresh for Daily charts to overlap the last couple of days on the chart. Helps maintain the chart file better.
- Added DYO Value | Stochastic Line A[#] where Number is the look back period for finding Minimum and Maximum. Result = 100*(Value-Minimum)/(Maximum-Minimum)
- File | File Manager | Import ASCII Data can be used to build Range and Volume bars from ticks.
- The last bar of the Day Session will not be kept open to collect a settlement past the opening of the 2nd session.
- OpenTick feed users may use OpenTick format for futures symbols instead of eSignal format. Example: /ESH8-EM instead of ES H8.
- Ensign has a new web site URL of http://www.ensignsoftware.net/. The ensign2 e-mail address is being abandoned. Get new e-mail addresses from the Contact Us web page.
- Implement on the Internet Services form a selection to download from www.ensignsoftware.com or from www.ensignsoftware.net Ensign will support two sites to back up each other.
- Bar Data panel will show content for the last bar on the chart when chart is opened without user needing to move cursor onto the chart.
- Pausing the chart while draw tools are being placed has not been liked. So, now the chart will continue to update while the tools are being placed on the chart. This is back to way it is in the older Ensign.
- The Open Tick symbols use a suffix for the AMEX. Example: SPY-A
- Improved Overlays using a leftward offset to show more data when host chart is right shifted.
- DTN IQFeed options for CT now have 3 digits in strike price instead of 2. Example: CTH8C670
Upgrade Ensign so the options page for CT will populate with the new strike prices.
- Implemented File | Rollover Symbols for the TransAct feed futures symbols.
- Playback Start times that are after the 2nd session open time will start in the evening of the prior day.
- Fixed the pop-up menu Delete | All Draw Tools so sub-window Grid objects would not change their parameters back to defaults. Effect also triggered by ESPL Remove(eLine) statement.
- Changed the Max Value and Min Value limits on the DYO and Study Alert Bar Offset spinner boxes to be -32767 to 32767.
- Implemented IQFeed refresh for TICK.Z, TRIN.Z and Stock Options for intra-day and daily.
- Added ESPL GetStudy(handle,29) to return Scale High for studies CCI, SMI, MON, BAL, ACC, CHI, MFI and PVI.
- Added ESPL GetStudy(handle,30) to return Scale Low for studies CCI, SMI, MON, BAL, ACC, CHI, MFI and PVI.
- Separated the Rainbow Histogram from the Price Histogram in preparation for more work on PH study.
- The DYO Chart Value | # Minutes after 1st Open will correctly handle timestamps with seconds after the open.
- Added Setup | Charts options for Auto Refresh on Chart Open for Tick, Minute, and Daily type charts. Example
This option's primary use would be to turn off the Auto Refresh feature for some or all charts.
- Added DYO Chart Value statements for # Min High/Low after 2nd Open.
- Connected up the menu Help | Symbol Guide for the Open Tick feed users.
- Implemented chart pop-up menu Rebuild Visual Bars to get more than 2 months of data when Max Bars is a large value.
- Added DYO Bar Flag | Close in Yesterday's Range.
- Added DYO Global Flag | # between Value and Next.
- Improved the option to show a bar's open time stamp for large minute bars ahead of the day session close.
- Clicking the 'Reset current Play Back' button on the Playback form clears the Sync Time entry.
- Added the Auto Add Symbols option on the Setup | Manager form for the Open Tick, TransAct and DTN satellite feeds.
- A new intra-day chart will refresh 4 months. A new tick chart will refresh 1 day. A new daily chart will refresh 10 years.
- Added checkbox to VWAP property form to optionally restart calculation at Day Session Open.
- Added ESPL constants for the 3 new studies added: eHull, ePDA, and eVWAP.
- Blocked the two ticks received on Open Tick after market close that makes a tall bar on all charts.
- Implemented the Price Adjustment selection on the Database Manager form so it adjusts the DTN Refresh accordingly.
- The time stamp shown by the cursor in the Future will show the bar's open time when the option is checked to show bar's open time. The option for which time to display is set on the Setup | Charts form.
- Significant improvement in chart grid style for the Dots selection. Now it is like it was in old Ensign. Example
- Added Playback Files as a source on the Database Manager form to convert old playback files to tick database files. Example
- Internet Services form has a library of tick database files for AB #F. These will download to the ER2 #F folder for IB users. AB is the eSignal symbol and ER2 is the IB symbol.
- Added a prompt 'Are you sure?' when clicking the Folder button on the Database Manager form to delete a folder.
- Added the Form T quote page column for eSignal feed. Example
- Fixed index custom symbols posting on the Future market group quote page instead of the Index page.
- Fixed Custom Symbols so they build tick and minute database files. The custom symbol needs to be on the Setup | Manager list as well, and this requirement is often overlooked by those switching to the new Ensign.
- Added ESPL GetStudy and SetStudy select parameter value of 96 to read/write the state of the Plot Behind Bars study property.
- Delay the Auto Refresh on program run to start a minute after program run to give opportunity to uncheck the Auto Run option if this feature is troublesome.
- Added 2nd Band check box option to the following studies: Donchian Channel, Keltner Channel, Uniform Channel, Regression Channel, Bollinger Bands, and VWAP Bands. Example
- Added DYO Study Flags for Pesavento Patterns for Trend Change and Swing Point. Example
- Added VWAP Bands study, which is Volume Weighted Average Price with Standard Deviation bands. Example
- Major overhaul of the cursor, especially for the Big Cross cursor shown on all charts. No flickering now.
- IQFeed released version 4.3.0.3 on Nov 1st. IQFeed users should upgrade.
- Added chart pop-up menu: Show | Cursor on All Charts. Fast way to set the Setup | Charts Cursor properties.
- Updated the Day Light Savings dates for Australia.
- Implemented the Open Tick data feed. Continuation futures symbols for Open Tick feed using eSignal symbol format. Example: ES #F
- Restored options on Setup | Charts to start new Tick, Range, and Volume bar at either session open.
- Updated the Bradley.D file to have data for 2007, 2008, and 2009. Example
- Implemented the TransAct data feed. New data feed selection check box for TransAct on Setup | Connection.
TransAct feed processes in parallel with other vendor feeds such eSignal, IQFeed or IB. Symbol will have a prefix character of the = sign. Example: =ESZ7 so it is unique from a vendor's ESZ7.
- 8 new chart styles. Examples
- CTRL+F12 does a faster upload of a chart image to Ensign's servers. Folder auto deletes each day. Example: http://206.71.64.13:12001/ Support for this feature is in the current eChat version. So upgrade eChat.
- Internet Services Download form has ability to download tick and minute database files. Example
- @ character toggles Day Session Only property, redraws chart. Faster than checking DSO box on property form.
- Added r-Squared option to the Regression Channel study, and to the DYO's Chart Value category. Example
- Blank cells on the Variables quote page indicate which GVs are not used anywhere.
- Replaced the tick pool with Tick and Minute databases for reduced need to refresh and faster chart bar building.
Advantages.
- Time and Sales is a great tool to view any of the tick database file contents.
- Force FXCM quotes to have prices that are true to the number of decimals that show. User can show 4 or 5 decimals using the scale format set on the Setup | Symbol Properties form.
- Major rewrite focusing on speed improvement. Increased capacity for high volume markets.
- Charts paint faster and this fluidity is seen when resizing the chart or study sub-windows.
- Cleaner chart graphics with no token or line artifacts when using colored backgrounds or zones.
- Added 2 Studies: Hull Moving Average and Predictive Moving Average.
- Redesigned study property window. New average formula, scale and grid list boxes.
- All studies with averages support 10 formula choices for the averages.
- Added 4 new average formulas: Adaptive, Attenuation, Gaussian, and Butterworth
- Studies have 12 Scale selections. Can set custom scale range for the study.
- Studies have 16 Grid selections. Can highly customize the study panel's grid lines.
- Study name shown on the Grid sub-window can be multi-lined by using | character in string.
- The study and draw tool property forms' tabs can be renamed.
- Option to plot behind or on top of the chart bars is a private study and draw tool property.
- Draw tools automatically extend. Removed Setup | Charts option box for this behavior.
- Removed the Free Memory selection on the Setup | Computer form.
- Rewrote price histogram to be based on price buckets instead of on screen pixels buckets.
- DYO Global Action | Section Font Size can operate on |x| section reference in line's label.
- For IB feed, changed default exchange for CC, CT, KC and SB futures to be NYBOT.
- Removed the CyberTrader data feed because it will cease to exist on December 9th.
- Increased ESPL code size capacities another 20%. Should handle 15,000 line ESPL scripts.
Jan 2007 - Mar 17th, 2008 version (Old Ensign):
- Fixed the EOD download of daily data from 1st Internet Source for US and London Stocks. It was not getting a daily bar for today.
- Updated Day Light Savings dates for both US and Europe for 2008.
- Some old operating systems do not have a 2008 Day Light Savings calendar, in which case, Ensign Windows will force the US Day Light Savings dates for 2008.
- Implemented CTRL+F12 to upload chart images to the new Ensign server. Image display is much faster.
- Bars build continuously from the resync time. The odd period bar if necessary is the last bar before the resync time. You may have to delete chart bars leftward and refresh to rebuild.
- Increased DTN Futures Options table capacity from 65,500 to 90,000 symbols.
- Improved the FXCM refresh to overcome a hung HTTP component state.
- The new eSignal symbol DC will have its own Symbol Property record instead of using Corn's
- Support ASX exchange. Example symbol for Setup | Manager: CBA-ASX
- Increased number of IQFeed option strikes on options quote page for ER and ES options
- Added Auto Delete Draw Tools check box on Setup | Charts to purge when anchor bar deletes.
- Implemented IB's K200 options. Option: K200 U7C207.5 Future: K200 U7-KSE
- Added ability to specify DYO Section location in the Line's label as |x| where x is number 1..7. Example
- Added DYO Study Flags for Woodie CCI Trend Up, Down, Pre-Trend and Trigger bars.
- Use IB symbol $VOL-NYSE(T) to give a total of Up, Down and Unchanged volume.
- Implemented AutoRefresh global variable in ESPL.
- Added DYO Flags for Line x Value Rising/Falling.
- Added DYO Study Value | Index: Body inside/covers prior # bars selection set.
- Trade Detail column changes will be remembered and used for next report.
- Increased Trade Detail ledger capacity from 500 rows to 1000 rows.
- Changed the private Global Variable range to be 200..255 instead of 240..255.
- Added ability for Study Alert trade system to use Price in GV[200] and Quantity in GV[201].
- Added Study Flag selections for the study line Turns Up, Turns Down, and Changes Direction.
- Added DYO Global Flag to test Close near a price or line. Example
- Plot both Bid and Ask simultaneously for IB Forex symbols. Example
- Fixed Ensign Internet refresh getting today's bar from 1st Internet source when Regional date settings are using European selections.
- Improved on the Chart | Trade Detail report. Example
- FXCM connects directly to Ensign server without need for EDS interface program.
- Added ESPL statement for FindStudyName( study: integer[, name: string]): integer; Example
- Added USD/DKK+ and DKK/USD+ to FXCM forex feed.
- Improved reliability of getting a lengthy symbol list to be watched with IQFeed.
- Support DTN satellite forthcoming split of the Index databases into 15 separate databases.
- Added Zero Line Reject Levels feature to the Commodity Channel Index study.
Example: property form Note: Threshold = 100 parameter Example: chart
- Added [$Q] lookup of the Tick field value from a chart property form for use in a DYO.
- Added option on Setup | Toolbars to show or hide the Download Data button for EOD users.
- Added option to set computer system clock from FXCM feed for IB users.
- Increased DTN satellite Futures Option table capacity from 42,000 to 65,500 symbols.
- Added a simulated volume for the FXCM feed by counting bid changes. Example
- The Setup | Charts option for New Volume Bar at Either Session Open will reset volume bars at midnight Eastern zone when the box is unchecked.
- Added option to Fib. Retracement for show 1x4 and 4x1 lines.
- Added menu Help | DYO Library so this excellent resource is more quickly located.
- Added delay in the IB refresh requests to help avoid Pacing Violation errors that abort the refresh. Read this Q&A article.
- Added powerful DYO functions to the Heikin-Ashi Study Value & Flag groups. Example
- Ensign can run TWS from a drive other than C: by having Ensign and TWS on the same drive. Example
- Added ASCII export in Excel format where the time stamp includes colons, ie. hh:mm:ss
- Ensign Internet's DTN Market Access and IQFeed refresh of intra-day charts (minute based) has been increased to 8 months of back data when using the Refresh | Maximum menu.
- Added ESPL constants eAskVol, eBidVol, eAskRatio, eBidRatio for use with Bar(...
Example: writeln(Bar(eAskVol,BarEnd));
- Added ability to build Range bars and Volume bars from tick history using Import ASCII Files.
- Added new Sound list to the Alerts log to list the alerts that are making a sound. Example
- A workspace can open files from the C:\Ensign\ASCII folder and convert them. Example
- Added DYO Study Flags for Heikin-Ashi study for covered or visible HA candle body.
- Added a Modified Schiff option on the Andrew's Pitchfork draw tool. Example
- Added (OHLCC)/5 as another Pivot Point formula selection in the Support & Resistance tool.
- Released FXCM feed. Includes ability to build playback files for FXCM symbols. Read Jan 3rd, 2007 Class
Last modified 7/25/08 3:33 PM
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