Quote nad Exchange Rates Updater vs Quote Loader
Michael R. Collier
I am assuming you can have both Quote and Exchange Rates Updater AND Quote loader installed on you computer. How would you
easily move from using one or the other as one breaks down?
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1 Posted by derekkent23 on Nov 18, 2024 @ 05:45 PM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Michael
Quote and Exchange Rates Updater have not worked for a long time.
If Quote and Exchange Rates Updater were to work again you simple start the extension you want to use, that’s all.
For information on the features of Quote Loader and how to use see post 112 https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/investments/7595-quo...
Download the PDF’s attached to post 112 and have a read.
To get an overview take a look at the YouTube videos by using the links on page 1 and 2 of the PDF.
The Quick Start Video is intended to give a quick overview so the user can see if Quite loader looks like it could work for them. The Short Video expands the user’s knowledge giving more detail. The Full Video goes even further but may be too wordy for some.
The PDF reinforces what’s leaned in the videos, provides step by step instructions, a must read and provide answers on how to handle less obvious issues some users may come across.
Let us know how you get on or if you need help just post. If any securities return an error then post your base currency, the Ticker, full Security Name and last price you have and its traded currency or just post a screen shot of the Quote Loader windows after you click GET PRICES.
Hope this helps.
2 Posted by Michael Collier on Dec 18, 2024 @ 07:24 AM
Doe the look back feature of 1 month get the correct volume a day late?
3 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 18, 2024 @ 08:39 AM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Michael
When a HD (Historical Data) source is used e.g. FT HD or Yahoo HD the data is the same as the historical data provided on the FT or Yahoo web sites. Take a look at the PDF I directed you to page 10 and use the Link to their web site and on that page use the link to Historical Prices (data).
Hope this helps
4 Posted by Timppa on Mar 11, 2025 @ 04:13 AM
It works just fine if you're mindful of the Alphavantage API limits. 25/day for the free API key. If you have 25 or less securities, it's easy, set and forget. More than that and you need to get creative (staggered updates) or fork over some cash for a premium API key.
$49.99/mo is a minor cost of doing business if you're playing the day trading/short term game. If you're playing the long term game, the 25/day throttle might be annoying, but it ain't a show-stopper.
I realize I'm squarely in the minority here but Q&ER is less quirky and more reliable for me than QL. QL is okay once you figure out all the quirks, but doing that drove me crazy over the years. Q&ER worked for me out of the box. QL's instructions were very overwhelming at first and many of the quirks aren't documented therein.
To answer OP's real question:
That's easy. QL only runs manually. Just install/configure/test and then ignore it unless/until you need it.
For Q&ER, get an Alphavantage API key, then, set the update frequency to "yearly" (to avoid it running automatically) and/or uncheck all securities. Run it manually (enter the page, check those securities you care about, update now, uncheck, exit) as needed, being mindful of the aforementioned limits.
My workflow is to run Q&ER and/or QL each weekend. After the security prices are updated, I download/enter transactions into the investment accounts. If you're a day trader or other micromanager of your investments, this won't work, but if you're in it for the medium to long haul a weekly review/update is sufficient, perhaps even overkill (buddy of mine only does it monthly)
5 Posted by dtd on Mar 11, 2025 @ 05:16 AM
One quirk.... QL can run automatically if you set it up to do so.
6 Posted by Mike Bray (Quot... on Mar 11, 2025 @ 06:49 AM
Hi Timppa, thanks for your views of QL. QL was written for users who wish
to update their investment portfolio using ‘Close of day’ prices. It can do
this automatically and the users can choose when it can be run. If you
don’t run it each day you can choose to collect historical prices. As you
can see it is not really designed for users who want prices during the day,
in fact using QL for this has led the data suppliers (Yahoo and FT) to
adjust their web sites to deter such users. This leads to Q&ER and QL to
stop working. Though I have kept on changing QL to overcome this, Q&ER has
not been updated for Yahoo.
As you say, you might be in the minority and the documentation can seem
unwieldy, it is written to help more casual users. One point, though QL can
run automatically it can only done once a day.
Regards
Mike
On Tue, 11 Mar 2025 at 05:16, dtd <[email blocked]> wrote:
7 Posted by Timppa on Mar 11, 2025 @ 01:38 PM
TIL on running automatically...
FWIW, I only care about 'close of day' prices. I suspect that's the case for most MD users. The quirks about QL that most annoy me:
1) It doesn't handle splits properly, without mindful micromanagement you get bad data in your price history (I realize this is Yahoo more than QL, but still, Q&ER w/Alphavantage handles them w/o issue)
2) Again, I know it's Yahoo, but a lot of my securities (some ETFs and mutual funds) run a day behind in QL. They do not w/Q&ER and Alphavantage.
3) If I enter a transaction BEFORE QL runs, it won't get historical prices before the transaction, e.g.:
Last Price Update was Monday. I enter a transaction for Thursday, then run QL on Friday. It will update Fridays price. Tuesday and Wednesday are left blank.
This led to my workflow of only messing with my investment accounts on the weekend and remembering to run QL (or Q&ER) before doing so.
Also, FWIW, I appreciate your work. I don't dislike QL. It's actually my primary, with Q&ER in my back pocket when the aforementioned quirks get in the way.
It just triggers me how people dump on Q&ER, when that's the "official" extension. If it's abandonware, it should be withdrawn, since it hasn't been I assume Sean (or whomever) means for it to still be used....
8 Posted by Mike Bray (Quot... on Mar 12, 2025 @ 09:54 AM
Hi
I am interested in your comments about splits. What part of a split does QL not handle? All QL does is create a security price entry for the day. Obviously when a split occurs the price will change. When you enter any transaction for that security MD will create security price entries for the price in the transaction. Once the split reaches Yahoo/FT then QL will load that price.
On your item 3, that is correct. QL finds the last price date and loads prices from that date up to the current date. When you enter a transaction a price entry is made thus creating an entry for the date of the transaction. QL will use this date. Therefore, any missing prices for dates prior to the transaction date will not be loaded. This was a design decision to prevent QL processing a large number of history records which it had already loaded. Maybe I could keep track of run dates for QL and only load prices after that date.
Item 2 is of course a Yahoo problem, which I can not do much about.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
________________________________
9 Posted by Timppa on Mar 12, 2025 @ 01:35 PM
It doesn’t handle the price history correctly. Imagine a starting price of $50 on Monday, already in the database. It splits 2:1 on Thursday and you run QL on Saturday. The database ends up looking like this:
Monday $50
Tuesday $25
Wednesday $25
Thursday $25
Friday $25
Tuesday and Wednesday’s prices are wrong. Q&ER does not do this. It (or, probably more accurately, Alphavantage) is intelligent enough to keep the price history accurate in the split scenario. It would have Tuesday and Wednesday at $50.
Neither one will automatically enter the split into the database (does the API offer a call to do this?) which is a mild bummer but a way easier thing to do manually than fix many days (potentially weeks) of inaccurate price history.
You could avoid this by running QL daily, assuming you’re in your MD file after the markets close, every day. I doubt that’s the case for many people. Personally, I’m in there every 2-3 days.
10 Posted by Mike Bray (Quot... on Mar 12, 2025 @ 01:44 PM
Thanks, yes this is wrong, however the data comes from Yahoo so it will be
interesting what yahoo shows in its historical data. If yahoo is correct
then QL has a bug. Do you have a concrete example?
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 at 13:35, Timppa <[email blocked]>
wrote:
11 Posted by Timppa on Mar 12, 2025 @ 02:09 PM
I suspect the problem is with Yahoo, not your code.
Concrete example, go look at the Charles Schwab ETFs that split in 2024. Those were the securities that took me down this rabbit hole. I ought to have shared it with you in the moment, my apologies for not, I had a lot on my plate at that time.
https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/resource/schwab-asset-managem...
12 Posted by Mike Bray (Quot... on Mar 12, 2025 @ 02:32 PM
Ok, nice to get to the bottom of it