Decimal Point Placement wrong!

[ralan]

Hello all,

I noticed today that some eSignal data has the decimal point displaced from its correct position. For instance, the Heating Oil futures contract is quoted in the financial papers and a competing data service I use as a backup as 88.48 cents per gallon (the correct scale)

eSignal on the other hand returns it as .8848. If I were to import this data into my existing data series like this it would appear as if there was a hundred-fold drop in value over night.

This isn't the only futures market with the issue.

Is there some way for me to post-process the data to return the
decimal point to the right position progammatically?

Has anyone else needed to address this?

Thanks!!

ralan

[ACM]

ralan
With regards to decimals in futures you may want to see this FAQ.
To confirm what indicated by the FAQ check this message where you can see a snapshot of my Globex terminal which shows how the exchange itself actually posts the data.
As to this being an issue when exporting/downloading data for use with other applications the downloaders I use will all convert the data to decimal
Alex

[ralan]

The good old days

Back 10 years or more, when eSignal first came on the market I signed up as a developer. Back then, part of the data record
returned on a price query had a scaling factor included. It was, if I remember correctly, an alphanumeric character that provided
a mapping to differenct scales. So by knowing the scaling factor, you could convert the data or not before stuffing the data in your files.

I guess my question is, why did they do away with the scaling factor as part of the price record? With it's inclusion people can store their data either way, raw or processed to look like what's in the paper.

The current mode of operation kinda stinks. None of my files, going back 25+ years have raw data. They all 'look' like the financial papers.

eSignal appears to be the only provider I've found that leaves the data raw. And this is dangerous for the rookies out there since the tic sizes published by the exchanges aren't in 'raw scale'. Imagine trying to calculate profits if the scale is all wrong
and you're not aware of it.

I just think this is a problem and eSignal should be addressing it.
How'd you equity traders like it if all of a sudden MSFT was quoted as .7328 or 7328 instead of the correct 73.28? This is what us futures traders have to deal with using this data.
And it feels very unprofessional to me. I don't care how the exchanges send it out, it should be 'reported' to end-users in the right scale!

ralan

[Tomcat8]

I tried a few times to call attention to this problem.

NO CHANCE!!!!!

It would be much easier to have the right decimals for us futures traders.

Do something!!!

Tomcat

[ralan]

I hear ya!

Tomcat,

Thanks for speaking up.

As I mentioned earlier, eSignal at least used to return a scaling factor with the price quote which enabled progammers like me to 'convert' the data to the right scale. But now, it appears they 've even done away with that.

Somehow I don't think any eSignal employees are futures traders!

ralan

[ScottJ]

I'd like to be sure we're not mixing up issues here and losing sight of a potential problem.

First off, by choice, we are quoting futures in whole numbers and not inserting a decimal point. The FAQ that Alex pointed to explains why. We certainly get requests to show decimals on the desktop but haven't changed as of yet for the reasons explained in the FAQ. We hopefully will find a way to let users control this setting on the desktop in a future release. We consider this a feature request and not a bug or broken code. Just wanted to be clear on this one. Feedback is always welcome but I think it's important that we differentiate between problems/bugs and basic functionality/design.

In terms of returning a value with the wrong base code, that sounds like a different problem and we need a bit more information. When I enter HO M4 into a quote sheet, I get a last of 8775 When you say "returns a value of .8848" please clarify where you are seeing that value and whether your eSignal quote window is displaying it as 8775 or .8775?

There still is a field called "base code" that will let the user know how to convert the whole # displayed. Not sure on the developer end but I'd assume that information should be available as well.

Thanks.

[ralan]

Base Code?

ScottJ,

Thank you for joining in on this. I am glad to hear that the base code should be available. I'm not sure how I missed it in the manual.

If anyone has any .NET (VB or C#) code that shows how to obtain and use this base code, please post it here. That would be great.

As for the other issue, whether or not the Signal users get to see a correctly placed decimal point, it shouldn't even be an issue. As a 25+ year GUI designer I would say that without a doubt it ought to be a user settable preference.

Thanks for the tip on the base code. I'll go dig for it!

ralan

[ScottJ]

Feature to convert the display of most futures to either decimals or whole #s is now available!

Download 7.8 today!

Thanks.

[mikem144]

Please explain where this feature is in 7.8. TIA

[dloomis]

Scott's link says...


Price Formatting - There's a new setting under File, Preferences for Compact Price Display. This is on by default and allows you to view all Future's prices as always with no decimal. When unchecked, you will get pricing with decimals for most Futures and get pricing for Treasuries and Grains in 32nds and 8ths with a separation between the whole number and the fraction of an apostrophe such as 109'14

[ScottJ]

To change the setting within eSignal version 7.8, simply click File, then Preferences, the click the General tab. You'll see a setting entitled Compact Price Display. A checkmark will display whole #'s; while unchecking will insert a decimal place where appropriate. This is a global setting so the user will decide how they want to see ALL issues displayed, not just individual symbols.

Please keep in mind that this is a desktop setting. We continue to send whole values in the raw feed so if you are using a 3p product or are developing software for use with eSignal, there will need to be coding changes done on the desktop to display decimals.

Thanks.

[mikem144]

Thanks for your help!!!