Downloading and Running the Buy and Sell Combinations Program

The Buy and Sell Combinations computer program computes for a selected price series the: number of buy and sell combinations, number of profitable buy and sell combinations (winners), percent winners, number of unprofitable buy and sell combinations (losers) , percent losers, average return of all buy and sell combinations, standard deviation of the average return and the coefficient of variation of the average return.

The price series can be for any interval but usually you would run the program for daily, weekly or monthly closes. The maximum number of prices allowed by the program is 18,000.

Download the Program

To download the executable image (.exe) of the program:

1. With the right mouse button, click here.

2. Click Save Link As and save the .exe file on your computer using the default name (priceserieswinnersloserssep06.exe) or with another name of your choice.

The program receives date and price input from a file called bsc_input.csv.

The program outputs to a file called bsc_output.csv. The output includes: date and price for each input price, number of prices, number of profitable buy and sell combinations (winners), percent winners, number of unprofitable buy and sell combinations (losers) , percent losers, average return of all buy and sell combinations, standard deviation of the average return and the coefficient of variation of the average return.

Important note: bsc_input.csv and bsc_output.csv must be in the same folder as the .exe file.

Program Verification Procedure Using Test Dates and Prices

After you download the program, you can test it using the following set of test dates and prices. We recommend that you run the program using the test data before you use the program with date and price data that you gather.

1. Click here for test input data.

2. Save the file as bsc_input.csv. Be sure to save bsc_input.csv in the folder that contains the .exe file.

3. Run the program.

4. See bsc_output.csv for the stored results. You may want to widen the first column of the bsc_output.csv file to see the descriptive information for each result.

5. Compare the results in bsc_output.csv with the test results. Click here for the test results.

The test input data and test results are for Exxon Mobil (XOM) daily closes from January 2, 2004 through September 21, 2006. There are 686 prices for 234,955 buy and sell combinations. The price data are from www.finance.yahoo.com.

Important note: Be sure to close bsc_output.csv before you run the program again.

To gather and store dates and prices complete the following steps:

1. Access finance.yahoo.com

2. Enter a stock symbol

3. Click on Historical Prices

4. Select Start Date:

5. Select End Date:

6. Select Daily (Or weekly or monthly)

7. Click Get Prices

yahoo.finance displays the prices.

8. Click Download To Spreadsheet at bottom of the price listing.

yahoo.finance downloads the price data to Excel.

9. Delete the columns with headings: Open, High, Low, Close and Volume. You should be left with the Date and Adj. Close* columns.

10. Delete the first row that contains the words Date and Adj. Close*.

11. Save this file as bsc_input.csv. Caution: If you want to save the test input file, rename it before you save your input data as bsc_input.csv.

12. Run the program.

The output is saved as bsc_output.csv.

Important Note: Be sure to close bsc_output.csv before you run the program again.