A Review of VectorVest Trading Software

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A Review of VectorVest Trading Software
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Viewing Charts

Viewing charts in the program is easy. Open VectorVest, type the stock symbol(s) you wish to view in the Quick Lookup window and click either the Details, Report or Graph buttons. The Details window provides a quick snapshot of stock fundamentals such as Price/Earnings, Dividend Yield, Annual Sales and Market Cap as well as a number of VectorVest indicator values. Market technical details such as daily and average volume, opening and closing price, etc. are also displayed.

The Report window, provides an extensive overview of the company including Business, Sector and Group together with full explanations of the VectorVest indicators such as Relative Value, Relative Safety, Relative Timing and the VST, plus the VectorVest stock recommendation (Buy, Sell or Hold), Earnings per Share and a host of other fundamental ratios and numbers useful in assessing the stock’s true value.

The Graph window offers a host of options (please see right-hand side of chart in Figure 1). They include the Standard (bars) and ProTrader (candlesticks) chart options, depending on what format you prefer. Standard charts provide a more fundamental view while ProTrader charts offer a more technical chart view and include a number of useful technical indicators. Using the text box or text balloon functions, it is easy to add notes to charts to include comments on fundamental ratios, indicators and other useful information.

Currently, the program provides end-of-day data only, but there are plans for an intraday version in the works. Since this is an online version, there is no need to download and update data on your computer. It is done automatically on the site.

Figure 1 – Weekly VectorVest chart showing the VectorVest Composite Index (VVC) of all 8,034 stocks so it presents a more accurate indication of the market than the Dow Jones Industrial Average or other index with a limited number of issues. The blue line in the upper subgraph is the current value of the index and is computed from forecasted earnings per share, forecasted earnings growth, profitability, as well as rates of interest and inflation. The lower subgraph is the VectorVest Relative Timing Indicator. Note that when value drops below price, a correction generally ensues; when value rises above price, price eventually moves up. Chart provided by www.VectorVest.com.

VectorVest’s USP (unique selling proposition) is the way the user can evaluate stock fundamentals in both graphical and full text report format quickly and easily. Investors and technical traders will appreciate the way that the fundamentals such as stock value, price/earnings and other ratios etc. are displayed graphically for rapid evaluation.

VectorVest proprietary indicators such as the VST, Relative Timing, Relative Safety and the Comfort Index are effective in helping to choose winning stocks. They allow searches for stocks that are rebounding after a price retracement or those that are safer bets with lower volatility. Users can also scan for divergences between stock price and the Relative Timing indicator to warn of potential impending changes in trend at the top and bottom of moves. It is worth taking the time to become familiar with these indicators for new users.

Figure 2 – Weekly chart of the VectorVest Composite (VVC) showing composite earnings growth (GRT) and Sales Growth (Sales GRT) from 1996 to present. Besides these two, other indicators that can be included in the lower subgraph include corporate sales, volume, average volume, price/earnings ratio, market cap (MC), dividend yield (DIV), growth/price/earnings (GPE), which is similar to the Price Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio, as well as a number of proprietary VectorVest fundamental and technical indicators. Chart provided by www.VectorVest.com

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A Review of VectorVest Trading Software