Hello Fellow ChartWatchers!
And that includes a special "Hello!" to all DecisionPoint.com members that have just joined us. Yes, in case you haven't heard, StockCharts.com has acquired DecisionPoint.com and we are now working hard to incorporate all of great features that DecisionPoint has into our system.
My article this week is kind of divided into two halves. The first half is for everyone, especially existing StockCharts subscribers who are not familiar with DecisionPoint. The second half is specifically for DecisionPoint.com members who are not familar with StockCharts.
What DecisionPoint Brings to StockCharts.com
The simple answer is a bunch of new charting features, a huge collection of new market indicators (over 1300!), a terrific new blogger, and some new advanced technical indicators. (And no, we aren't raising prices as part of this either.)
If you haven't heard the story yet, Carl Swenlin and his daughter Erin started DecisionPoint back in 1992 and it quickly grew into an amazing website known for its precision charting, great market timing signals, and a wide range of unique market indicators. Now they are bringing all of that great content to StockCharts.
At this point, we have implemented and rolled out about 60% of these new features. For example, you'll now find the following new features in the SharpCharts workbench:
- The "Zoom" Thumbnail - Did you ever wish you could see a close-up of the right side of your chart without having to change the rest of the chart? Now you can. Just check the new "Zoom Thumbnail" checkbox located in the "Chart Attributes" area below the chart. Here's an example:
(Click on the chart for a live version.)
The "Zoom Thumbnail" is the new area on the right of the chart. Extremely useful don't you think? - The "Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO)" - Did you ever want to have a momentum indicator that's like the MACD but doesn't have as many whipsaws? Carl's PMO oscillator is an advanced momentum oscillator that provides more reliable signals. Here's an example:
(Click on the chart for a live version.)
Note how the MACD crosses its signal line several times in November? Now notice that the PMO doesn't(!). Click here for more details on the PMO. - Over 1300 New Market Indicators - Did you ever want to see the Advanced-Decline line for just the Nasdaq 100 stocks? How about the PE ratio for the S&P 500? Carl's known for his thoroughness and that extends to all of the new market indicators that DecisionPoint has. They are all now available for use on StockCharts.com. Their ticker symbols all start with "!" so to see a list of them, just search for "!" - or just click here.
- New Color Schemes and Legend choices - Did you notice the new color schemes on the charts above? What about the more descriptive text in the legends? There are several other small but useful tweaks to SharpCharts that we'll roll out soon as a result of this merger.
- The New "DecisionPoint" Blog - We've also added a new blog to our free Blogs area. It is called "DecisionPoint" (surprise!) and it will contain articles writen by Erin and Carl explaining more about how to use these new features to help you make better investing decisions. Click here to read Erin's first article.
And we still have lots to do before this merger is complete! In the coming weeks, you can expect to see us roll out:
- Lots of new ChartSchool Articles documenting the new indicators, indexes and features.
- DecisionPoint support in our Scan Engine so you can scan for these new signals.
- The DecisionPoint Chart Gallery - a page containing the most popular charts from the DecisionPoint.com website along with Erin's commentary on what it all means.
- New ChartPacks containing all of the original charts from the DecisionPoint.com website - over 2000 charts in all.
- And much, much more!
Keep an eye on the "What's New" area on our homepage for more announcements as those new features are made available. And enjoy all these new capabilities! We can't wait to see what you do with them.
A Message for Existing DecisionPoint Members
For all of the DecisionPoint members out there that are new to StockCharts, I want to take a moment and emphasize a couple of points about this merger.
- The merger is happening slowly over the next three months to give everyone time to become more familiar with using StockCharts. When that process is complete, everyone will have access to all of the charts from the DecisionPoint.com website, just in a different location.
- In addition, optionally, you will also have the ability to add annotations to those charts, to modify the settings on those charts, to save different variations of those charts, and much more. The full power of the StockCharts charting platform (which we call "SharpCharts") is available to you.
- Not all pieces of the merger are in place on StockCharts.com yet. We have rolled out about 60% of the DP features so far. Earlier in this article, I listed the things that we are still working on. That includes the "DP Chart Gallery" and "DP ChartPacks" which will contain pre-created versions of all the charts currently on DecisionPoint.com. If you are not a "tinkerer" and just want to see specific charts, please wait until those features are available.
- If you are a "tinkerer" or you just want to learn more about using StockCharts.com, please start by reviewing the videos in our "Educational Videos" area. They can get you up and running quickly.
- Remember, Erin is also here to be your guide! She will be writing many articles in the new "DecisionPoint" blog which will help explain and demonstrate how to use the DecisionPoint features on StockCharts. Remember to click on the "Blogs" tab at the top of our pages often to see if she has posted anything new.
- When the transition period is over - in about 3 months - we will send out instructions to all new DecisionPoint members with their options for renewing their accounts. We have 4 different service plans with prices ranging from $14.95 to $49.95 per month. All of those plans will have access to all of the DecisionPoint charts and features. For details on those plans, click here.
- If you have any questions or concerns about your new StockCharts account and how to use it, please send them to us using the "Support" tab at the top of any of our pages.
- Finally, because this process will take time, we have arrainged for the existing DecisionPoint.com website to remain up and available to all DecisionPoint.com members throughout the transition period.
So again, this is a very exciting time as everyone gets their hands on a huge collection of new capabilities. Hopefully you are just now beginning to see the possibilities.
Welcome aboard!
- Chip
P.S. Don't forget to keep checking the "DecisionPoint" blog for more details.
