How to connect Overcharts to a Metastock database #
If you have an old-format Metastock database (.dat data file) you can connect it to Overcharts and use it as historical data provider
To connect Overcharts to and old-format Metastock database, please follow these steps carefully:
1. Start Overcharts and press ADD CONNECTION button from Connections Tab of the Overcharts main window
2. Select Metastock and press OK
3. In the connection configuration window, define the following properties:
- Connection Name: enter a unique name to identify the connection in Overcharts
- Short Description: enter a unique code of a few characters to identify the connection in Overcharts
- Connect Automatically: for this connection we recommend you select Connect on Startup
- Bar Timestamp: define whether bar timestamp represents the beginning or the end of bar. For example, in a 5-minute bar (from 10:00:00 to 10:04:59), 10:00:00 represents the bar’s start-time (On Open) and 10:05:00 the bar’s end-time (On Close). This property is especially useful for minutes-resolution data
- Fill in any other required properties according to your preferences
4. Add to Path list all folders PHYSICALLY containing metastock files (.dat). If you add multiple folders and the same instrument (symbol) is present in more than one folder, data will be requested from the file (.dat) belonging to the highest folder in the list
5. Press OK to save the configuration
Add your Metastock instruments to Overcharts #
After configuring and starting the Metastock connection:
1. Go to Instruments Tab of the Overcharts main window and press ADD INSTRUMENT button
2. Select Metastock connection you have configured
3. Lookup and add the Metastock instruments to Overcharts.
When configuring the instruments, pay close attention to:
- select the right instrument exchange
- define the correct instrument tick-size
otherwise charts will not be displayed correctly.
For details on how adding instruments, refer to the specific article available in this help center.
