Downloading Data from Primate

If you have an account with Primate.com you may also download data in bulk rather than one dataset at a time (as with Yahoo! Finance).  Data downloads thus become very speedy operations, and the data is automatically put into FDC format.  Furthermore the entire process of updating data can easily be set up to be accomplished with the click of a button.  In this “skit” we will instruct you how to perform that task. 

First, getting your “stuff” together:

Create a list of the datasets you wish to acquire.  You do this in the List Wizard.   Give your list a name that is appropriate.  We suggest that the lists be separated by type, which may be related to either how you trade or the location in which you will keep the various datasets.  That is, if you trade Exchange-Traded Funds differently than stocks, it would be advisable to keep the ETF datasets in a separate subfolder of the data folder, which requires them to be in their own list for updating.  You may also wish to have separate lists for stocks, futures, indices, etc.  If this makes sense to you, then set up the subfolders first.  You may even keep your datasets in a remote location, such as on a server.  We have created tours (on the CD) as to creating lists; and we have also documented the process of saving and storing data at a remote location (See the How To Do It section of the FDCUsers website). 

Symbols:

Primate uses the standard symbols for stocks, funds and futures data.  In a very few cases FDC will rename a stock symbol because the symbol conflicts with an FDC function.  In such case, FDC will add a “ zz ” suffix to the standard symbol.  For example, FDC uses “cl” as a synonym for “close”, and cannot permit you to use “cl” as a symbol for Colgate Palmolive.  Thus FDC will rename Colgate as “clzz”.  Likewise with General Electric, Lowes Stores and Goodyear Tire. 

You may rename any dataset you wish.  For example, you may wish to call IBM “bigblue”, Microsoft “gates”, and Goodyear “blimp”.  Simply follow the download symbol by a space and your new name on the same line.  The same goes for datasets renamed by FDC.  Normally a list for updating contains one dataset name per line, but the lines referring to those renamed stocks in your list will be as follows:

ibm  bigblue

msft  gates

gt  blimp

cl  clzz

ge  gezz

That is, the first name in a line is the standard download symbol, and the second name in the line is the name under which you wish to save the dataset.

First-time data retrieval or the acquisition of new data in a list:

Having decided which datasets you are going to download, where they are going to be stored, and what their names will be, you are ready to download:

Go to the Data Wizard  , and select Primate Data.  You will be presented with the following palate:

The Primate data palate is divided into two parts.  Our immediate concern is the lower part of the palate, the part dealing with downloading a list of datasets.  The upper part deals with retrieval of individual datasets, and is exactly as we have described in our text explaining the Data Wizard.  For your convenience we explain it again at the bottom of this file.

Enter the name of the list to be downloaded, and the date range in YYYYMMDD format.  If no dates are specified, the most recent one-year of data will be retrieved.  Then enter the path to the location where every item in that list will be kept.  Instead of entering it by hand, we suggest that you copy the path from the Windows file address,

and paste it directly in the edit box.  That way there can be no mistakes.  Here’s what we pasted:

C:\Program Files\MID\fdc\data\stocks

If no path is provided, the data will be saved directly to the “data” folder.  Then all that’s left to do is to click on .

Daily updating of data:

Once you have your datasets in place, you will need to update them.  The same procedure applies, with a few variations.

Go to the Data Wizard and select the Primate Data palate. Enter the name of the list and the path.  However for dates, enter “(today back 5)” in the Startdate box, and “(today)” in the Enddate box.

You will be telling FDC to update your datasets from the last 5 dates to the most recent date.  This operation will overwrite any previously saved data, thereby including any corrections made by the data provider.  The 5 days is only a suggestion; you may enter any date range.  Next click on .    Two things then happen: 

1.      your list is updated.

2.      the text for requesting updates is printed in a command line. 

This latter feature is of tremendous value, for you can now save the command set and run the command set under autoplay anytime you wish to update your datasets.  Here’s how we set up our own command set for updating our various datasets:

If you then , and give it a name such as “daily_primate_updates”, you can recall it daily and simply click the autoplay button to have all of these datasets updated. 

Should you wish to confirm that all of the datasets have been updated per your instructions, simply reenter the Primate download palate and click on .

One-at-a-time dataset retrieval:

This is the standard method, and similar in all regards to downloading from Yahoo! Finance.  In the top part of the Primate data palate, enter the symbol, startdate and enddate, and click .  You will note that this operation also enters text in a command line, should you wish to save the text for a later download operation. 

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reset

'C:\Program Files\MathInvest\fdc\data\Futures' updtprimate 'futures_h' (today back 5) today

'C:\Program Files\MathInvest\fdc\data\ETFs' updtprimate 'ETF_s' (today back 5) today

'C:\Program Files\MathInvest\fdc\data\stocks' updtprimate 'stocks' (today back 5) today

:stop