Downloading and Running the Price Direction Indicator (PDI) Program

The Price Direction Indicator (PDI) computer program computes: price direction indicator, cumulative percent winners and cumulative returns for each day of a selected prices series.

Download the Program

To download the executable image (.exe) of the Price Direction Indicator 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 (pdiwithmovingaverges.exe) or with a name that you choose.

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

The program outputs values (PDI, PDI 20-day simple moving average, price, price 20-day simple moving average, cumulative percent winners, CPW 20-day simple moving average, cumulative returns and CR 20-day simple moving average) to a file called pdi_results.csv.

pdi_input.csv and pdi_results.csv must be in the same folder as the .exe file.

Program Verification Procedure Using Test Dates and Prices

After you download the Price Direction Indicator 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 pdi_input.csv. Be sure to save pdi_input.csv in the folder that contains the .exe file.

3. Run the PDI program.

4. See pdi_results.csv for the results.

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

The test input data and test results are for the upside to downside analysis presented in Price Direction Indicator (PDI) Detects Changes in Price Direction, the introductory article about PDI.

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

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

1. Access finance.yahoo.

2. Enter a stock symbol.

3. Click on Historical Prices.

4. Select Start Date:

5. Select End Date:

Note: The maximum number of prices accepted by the PDI program is 2000.

6. Select Daily.

7. Click Get Prices.

yahoo.finance displays the prices.

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

yahoo.finance downloads the price data to Excel. Note: Make sure the dates in the first column have the dd-mmm-yy format.

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

12. Run the program.

The output is saved as pdi_results.csv, which includes the date, PDI, price, cumulative percent winners, cumulative returns and their 20-day simple moving averages. You may chart these data using Excel.

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