The NeuroShell Trader reads ASCII files, MetaStock files, CSI files and AIQ files.

For NeuroShell trader to properly recognize and read an ASCII file the following must be true:

• The extension must be: .CSV, .TXT, .PRN, or .ASC
• One of the first 10 rows must be a label row.
• In order for NeuroShell Trader to recognize the open, high, low, and close they must be labeled O or Open, H or High, L or Low, and C and Close.
• One of the data columns must contain dates.
• The data column that contains dates must have the word “Date” as the column label in the files label row.
• The data columns must be separated by commas, tabs, or spaces (or semi-colon if the windows regional settings are set such that a semi-colon is the standard windows list separator).
• If the file is space delimited, double quotes(“) should be placed around any labels consisting of multiple words (i.e., “daily price”) so that NeuroShell Trader will not think that the words are labels for different columns (i.e., the column label “daily” and the column label “price”).
• The data must have dates in sequential order either starting at the earliest date and progressing to the most recent date in the last data row OR starting with the last date and progressing to the earliest date in the last data row. Note that this doesn’t mean that every date must be included (i.e. Weekends, Holidays, etc.).
• The file must contain valid dates in the date column. Valid date formats that NeuroShell Trader recognizes include all valid Windows date formats for the current regional settings. For example:

English (United States) – m/d/yy, m/d/yyyy, mm/dd/yy, yy/mm/dd, etc.

German (Standard) – dd.mm.yy, dd/mm/yy, d.m.yy, d.m.yyyy, etc.

Additional valid date formats are limited to those which Windows can understand by adding “/” between the second and third characters, as well as between the forth and fifth characters. NeuroShell Trader will attempt this only if the date field is exactly six characters long and is not recognizable as a valid windows date for the current regional settings. For example:

English (United States) – yymmdd and mmddyy

German (Standard) – ddmmyy

The only other valid date formats are yyyymmdd, mmddyyyy, and mmyy (for monthly data).

• (DayTrader Only) Intraday data files must have either a time included in the date column or a separate time column which contains a valid time. For example:

Times included in Date Column ‘ mm/dd/yy hh:mm am

Times in separate Time Column ‘ hh:mm am

Valid time formats that NeuroShell Trader recognizes include all valid Windows time formats for the current regional settings. For example:

 English (United States) ‘ hh:mm am, hh:mm:ss pm, HH:mm:ss, etc.

 German (Standard) ‘ HH:mm, HH:mm:ss, etc.

Additional valid time formats are limited to those which Windows can understand by adding “:” between the second and third characters, as well as between the forth and fifth characters (assuming 6 characters). NeuroShell Trader will attempt this only if the time is not recognizable as a valid windows time for the current regional settings. Valid formats include:

All Regional Settings ‘ hhmmss, hhmm, hmmss, or hmm

• The file cannot contain any extraneous data (i.e., total or summary information at the bottom of the columns).
• If your file contains missing data, you must put a non numeric character or string in place of the missing data (i.e., “*“). Note that Comma separated text files will also recognize two commas (i.e., ,, or , , ) as denoting missing data.
• A file by the name of XYZ.CSV will be read into NeuroShell Trader as an instrument with the name XYZ.CSV and the ticker symbol XYZ. If you wish to more accurately specify the name and ticker symbol, NeuroShell Trader will recognize an ASCII file that lists the ticker symbol on the first line of the file, the name on the second line of the file, and the label row on the third line of the file.
• See the help topic What are valid text or ASCII files for more details about ASCII files in NeuorShell Trader.

Accessing CSI :

• The NeuroShell Trader reads native data files produced by Commodity Systems, Inc. If you are downloading text files from CSI, they won’t work, because they have no label row.
• You will need to export the data from the CSI database in CSI or MetaStock format (MetaStock preferred)
• The CSI files which the Trader reads must have a qmaster file. That’s the name, “qmaster” with no extension. The qmaster file is the CSI header file which contains a list of all the CSI data files. The CSI binary data files are all binary files with a .DTA extension. The qmaster file might not be in the same directory as the CSI binary data files, so you might have to search for the location of the qmaster file. Map the directory you find it in.

Notes:

• When setting up NeuroShell Trader to access AIQ data, map the directory that contains the master.ndx and master.adf files. If you are having difficulty mapping or using your AIQ data you may consider using the “Rebuild Master List” functionality in your AIQ product. Please note that NeuroShell Trader is unable to read data from AIQ’s data CD.