Question: Can I import data from other applications into GoldenGem? What are the
data file conventions?

Question: How can I load stocks from the London Stock exchange like BAT?

>Answer:  Append the symbol .L  to the ticker, so you will list it in the list of
>related tickers as BAT.L


Question: 
If I spend several hours training a data set can I save it for next
 time, and go on to my next data set training, test?

>Answer: Unfortunately, no there is no way currently to save 
>the constants. It is only a few kb of data so it would 
>be possible to add that feature. Some neural networks 
>are pre-trained, as you may know. 
>
>However, You can save the  input data, If you have loaded 
>it from the internet, go to file: browse for new file and
> right click and rename Internet.txt (or just Internet if your computer
>hides file extensions) to a new name. If you have imported
>from a folder, go to Combined.txt and rename it.
>
>Then to recover the fit it is necessary to re-run on 
>the input data. 


Question: 
Very tiny prediction line (after the blue vertical line) any way to 
magnify that? 


> Answer: I like the idea of magnifying the prediction line. I am sort of worried 
> it might confuse people though, as it would be a different scale than 
> the rest of the graph. Therefore I have recently added a magnifier for that
> purpose.


Question: 
I am a little confused on the number of stocks to use. How bad is it 
if I just use one? Under the click on "recommended settings" its says a 
fit is more likely to be real if fewer tickers are used?




> Answer: The question about how many stocks is important. If you use too many,
> it is just too easy for the net to find a connection
> for essentially random reasons.

> With 1 stock only, you would only see if patterns relating volume and 
> price have historically affected the price. That is something, but 
> something you could do yourself by looking at the price and volume graphs. 
> Or, I imagine Trademan can do that. Someone named Luke Bairan has written 
> to me that high price and high volume means the price will go up more, 
> and low price and high volume means it will go down more. Certainly 
> a nerual network or a human being could work that out equally well. 
>
>
>  Some articles say 20 inputs (which would be 10 shares) is ideal, 
>  but others have gotten a match which wasn't real that way. It is likely five shares 
> (which is 10 inputs) is about ideal. 

Question: Can this program input indices, such as ^DJI (the Dow Jones Industrial)?

> Answer: That feature has recently been added. If you update your copy of GoldenGem from
> the local site it will be there. Currently indices that are in Yahoo with ^  or in MSN with $
> appear to be supported.

Question:  I would like to use as inputs the high and low price of a share, as a measure
of volatility. How would I do that?

>Answer:   Unless you decide to change the settings, GoldenGem looks at Close and Volume (positions 6 and 7). 
>The available columns in a data file coming from StockDownloader are Date Ticker, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume. 
>
>If you want the program to look at High and Low instead of Close and Volume  you would replace the 
>file position numbers which are currently 2,1,6,7  with  2,1,4,5.   then it will use both
>high and low, and the graph will show the 'high' price if you display it. If you use 1,2,5,4 the results will
>be the same, but the graph (and prediction) show the low price for the day instead of high.

Question:
I get an error message saying none of the tickers are in the selected file. But
when I go to File: View Loaded Data, they are there.

>Answer: Check the position in the text field is correct for the file position number (above where
>it says Tick). If you see tickers in column 2 make sure the tick number is set to 2.
>Also, check that the file position number field doesn't have 
>spurious text you may have accidentally typed in. You can view the whole ticker position
>field using the right and left arrow keys. The field is something like ten characters
>wide.


Question:  How do I get a one day prediction?

>Answer: If you set the 'days' slider to 1 you would get a single day's prediction. 


Question: Is it possible for the neural network to analyze several factors at once (i.e. 
crude oil prices, gdp, interest rates) to better forecast the movement of the DOW or S&P 500?


>Answer: Yes, it is a good idea to analyze several factors at once. It is possible to enter various 
>indicators such as ^DJI for the dow jones index etc. Also I think interest rate tickers work.
>I have tried using interest rates myself but I found that since they change so slowly, there is 
>no useful activity, I just couldn't see how the neural net could learn much due to the lack of variation.

>However, if you have data that might credibly affect the stock you want to analyze, it may come up already 
>as a ticker in StockDownloader.



Question: Is there any way to graph the volume information?


>Answer: That feature has recently been added.


Question: 
The StockDownloader says 'no connection' even when I am connected to the internet.

>Answer: Check if you are using a direct connection to the internet. GoldenGem does not know
>how to pass a password and user name to a proxy connection, and this will result in
>a 'no connection' error.  Another possibility: if you have uninstalled Internet Explorer you may have
>uninstalled some necessary system components, even if you use another browser like
>FireFox. Another possibility may be that one of the data providers has changed its conventions. 
>We try to keep up as best we can with current data providers.