21-Dec-2008 - EOD summary table

While Pluto tracks all the index linked scrips for intra day values with a 30 second resolution, Pluto also tracks more than 1250 stocks for their end of day values. Pluto maintains a historical database of more than 10 years of historical end of day data. Unlike intra day data, the end of day values are not dynamic through the day and because of their sheer number, they pose chalanges in visulation. Pluto, mitigates the problem by providing the End Of Day panel as shown in the screen shots below. As you can see (left image), the EOD panel is much like the intra day panel, except that it provides some extra visualization tools. Primary of them being the last 10 day percentage change summary in a color coded grid (region 2). This small visualization tool suddenly transforms a row into a two dimentional conduit, relaying information about the behavior of the stock over the last 10 day. Of course, you can do all the common operations available for the intra day stocks, like double clicking a row and opening a chart, selecting multiple stocks and opening a comparative chart. This table also supports rollover tooltips which show the full name of the company, which the exchange symbol represents. You can also find the associated ICICI Direct code in the same row. This panel supports searching in pretty much the same way as it is supported in the intra day table with the additional advantage that a description can match against either the NSE scrip name, ICICI Direct scrip name or the actual company name. Most of these scrips are not index linked, but you can still select one or more stocks and fetch their intra day summary (needs connectivity).

10-Dec-2008 - 10 years worth of data

Now it is possible to analyze 10 years worth of data for both indexes and scrips in Pluto. All you have to do is to press the 10y button in the graph control toolbar. See the screen shot below. As before, the graph supports cross hairs to pin-point a date and value point on the graph. The 10 year graph shows the last years closing as a bright pink line (I need to change the color..too bright ) and major X grid lines at year starts and months as minor grid lines. It is amazing how the meltdown of 2008 shows up relative to other years - three years bull run has been wiped out by a single bear stroke. BTW, if you are wondering about the sharp fall somewhere around mid august in 2007, don't panic - Pluto is not yet capable of normalizing the stock splits :) - will work on that at a later point.

28-Nov-2008 - Self refreshing news reader

Happenings around the world which translate themselves into news have a significant impact on the maket dynamics. The faster the information reaches the investor, the better he or she is prepared to anticipate changes in the market. Most of us spend time pouring over newspaper over morning tea or catching up near the office pantry. Wouldn't it be nice if news could be delivered right on your screen. Nothing new about it, news feeds have been there for a long time. It was time, Pluto supported configurable news feeds riveted with it's background service mechanism. Pluto now supports a configurable number of news feeds, polling for fresh news at a configured interval and delivering them right amidst the charts and figures. Pluto's news feed and display also supports opening up of feed details in a system browser. Pluto also supports news notification via the system task bar icon, which pops up a message when any new news items arrive.

24-Nov-2008 - Market spectrum for index linked scrips

See that thin band to the left of the little green arrow in the image to the left? I call it the spectrum band. Don't bother, you can't trace it to any standard technical indicator :D, it's more of a graphical indicator showing how many of the index linked scrips are on the positive scale and how many are on the negative. The color gradation shows the mangnitude of their gain or loss. The neutral position is marked with a blue band and the little gray line shows the middle of the spectrum. This is a quick display to show which way the market is tilting. For example, by end of today the little blue band was on the right side, implying that more than half of the scrips were trading below their last closing price. Also, the pale shade of green on the right of the neutral marker indicates that the scrips on the positive footing were just skimming on the positive side without any substantial boost.