Making the Most of AutoShare

This topic lists some tips for making the most of AutoShare.

1. Make frequent (preferably daily) back-ups of the AutoShare data files, which are located in the Data subdirectory of the main AutoShare directory. Each mkt file contains share price information pertaining to a particular index having the same name as the filename. The dat files contain your portfolios. Every data file has a corresponding bak file which is its backup.
2. Check the Risers & Fallers tab to find out which shares are most in demand. As price rises or falls gather momentum, shares can become ‘overbought’ or ‘oversold’ respectively. Oversold shares of a fundamentally sound company are good value, so keep your eye on shares that have fallen dramatically recently. It is a common mistake to sell shares after they have fallen, and buy shares after they have risen. Your aim must be to anticipate the falls and rises.
3. Set up one or two moving averages on the Averages tab. If you are interested in trading quite frequently, then experiment with fairly short periods of averages.
4. Before buying shares, wait for the share price to stop falling and to start rising: “don’t try to catch a falling knife”.
5. Take time to develop a system with which you are happy, which includes details of not only the averages you specify, but also what signals you use to decide when to buy or sell.
6. You may want to use a stop-loss system to minimise any losses should a share you have bought fall in value. Many traders decide to sell a share if its price has fallen by a particular percentage compared to their purchase price (for example, 10% or 20%). However, you could use moving averages to trigger such decisions: if you have bought a share when its shorter average has risen through its higher average, then you may decide to sell when its shorter average has fallen through its higher average. Safer still may be to use two moving averages (such as 28 days and 90 days), and buy when the 28-day average rises through the 90-day average, but sell when the actual share price falls through the 28-day average. This technique may reduce your potential gains, but also your potential losses. Only you can decide the risks you are willing to take.
7. If the list of shares in the Above list box on the Averages tab is too long, reduce it by:
   • ticking the Crossing in last check box, and entering a fairly small number in the accompanying box. This eliminates shares whose averages crossed more than the specified number of days ago.
   • ticking the Both Averages Rising check box. This eliminates all shares except those with the strongest buy signal of two averages rising after having crossed.
8. Use the Backtest tab to test how specific settings have fared historically. You will need to experiment in order to find a satisfactory profit with a reasonable number of trades.