custom set of stocks

Research
1

Hi P123 power users.

Is there a way I can backtest on only a limited list of stocks?

Please advise

2

Yes - you can create a custom list of stocks and call it up with the rule InList(“…”)

3

Thanks, inpsector. Could you please elaborate? When I set new universe, it ask me for a default universe. how do i make default universe NIL?

4

See below for an example custom Universe. Prior to setting up the universe you have to create a custom list, in this case the custom list is called DURA. (the list of stocks currently held by the ETF DURA.)

DURA.gif
DURA.gif877×256 35.7 KB

5

thank you so much!!

6

You can also use the Ticker formula in a rule:

Ticker("MSFT,IBM")

I generally advise that it’s easier to use custom lists after your list goes above about 10 tickers.

Oh, and don’t forget that you can negate using these functions. If you set them equal to false then it will exclude the contents of the Ticker function or the list.

7

Doing it this way:

Universe: Broad
Buy Rule: InList

affects the ranking system as I understand it. If you have a 10-stock port with sell rule that sells with ranks below 80, there may not be 10 stocks on the list with rankings above 80 in the broad universe.

To correct that:

Custom Universe with Buy Rule using InList
Port uses Custom Universe

Now, you are only ranking the stocks on the List which allows better control of sell rules using rank and rankpos.

8

Miro - you are correct in that it is better to create a custom universe than to use a buy rule. That being said, you can use Ticker(…) as a rule in the universe for small numbers of stocks as described by Paul.

9

BTW,

We periodically and fairly frequently get questions about why people cannot make screens and sims give the same results.

“Force Positions into Universe” can cause a discrepancy if it is set to yes in the sim. Force positions into universe may add about 3%, annualized, to some of my sims. So this is a great feature.

I use the screener for some stock purchases and I use Ticker(“XYZ ABC…”) = TRUE or rule1 and rule2….ruleN in the screener’s universe, editing the tickers each time I use the screener.

Glad to have something that works in the screener. Anything better?

-Jim