Background & General Questions
Q: What do I receive as a member of tickerspy.com? What are the benefits of joining this free service?
A: As a member of tickerspy.com, you will receive the following user benefits:
- Easily track multiple stock portfolios: Use tickerspy to track your portfolios – create as many as you like, easily compare them to the S&P 500 and similar member and Pro portfolios, view performance graphs, and more. Click here for more information.
- Follow your stocks, Pros, Indexes and other members all in one location: A new way of following stocks and market trends, the tickerspy Tracking Hub lets you conveniently watch everything you are tracking on tickerspy in one place. More about the tickerspy Tracking Hub.
- See graphs of your portfolios’ performance, as well as graphs tracking the performance of thousands of hedge funds and institutional investors
- Compare your portfolio(s) to Warren Buffett and other Pros, as well as other tickerspy users
- Get real-time Alerts on the stocks, tickerspy members and Pros you are tracking: tickerspy Alerts make it easy for you to follow specific stocks and to track other tickerspy members and Pros. Learn about the different types of alerts here.
- Browse tickerspy’s unique Indexes section to find out which industries and stock groups are outperforming: Use tickerspy’s database of over 250 proprietary Indexes to see how different groups of stocks are performing. Indexes range in topic from nanotech to agriculture to precious metals. Find out more.
- Discuss and share financial news and original research with other tickerspy users: There are several ways you can communicate and share your thoughts with others about stocks and financial news on tickerspy. Click here for more information.
- Receive the daily tickerspy email delivered directly to your email inbox: The tickerspy email, which you’ll receive every weekday evening, includes the day’s most popular stock news, timely tickers, snapshots of your portfolios, news pertaining to your stocks, and much more. Learn more about the tickerspy email.
Q: How much does tickerspy cost?
A: There are no fees or costs at all to use tickerspy. It is a completely free service.
Q: When and why was tickerspy created? Who owns tickerspy?
A: Launched into public beta testing in August 2007, tickerspy was created by investment publishing company Indie Research with the goal of becoming a place where members can tap into the market intelligence of both investment Pros and individual investors. tickerspy rounds out Indie Research’s family of investment products, which also includes BullMarket.com and NextInning.com.
Q: Who writes the articles I read on tickerspy?
A: The tickerspy staff does not write the articles that you read on the website or in the daily email. Instead, tickerspy partners with a variety of financial publishers who supply the daily flow of investment news. These partners include the following:
The tickerspy Newswire (http://www.tickerspy.com/newswire/), however, is written by tickerspy staffers. Check it often for interesting updates and announcements.
How to Get Your Blog or Site on tickerspy
Q: How can I get my blog or site on tickerspy?
A: A blog submission form can be found on the tickerspy News Feed's 'about' page: (www.tickerspy.com/news_about.php)
Please note the technical requirements and quality standards below.
Q: What are the qualifications for inclusion in the tickerspy News Feed?
A: There are both quality standards and technical requirements for inclusion in the tickerspy News Feed. Strict adherence to both are required, and they are as follows:
- Technical Requirements
The tickerspy News Feed works by pulling ticker-tagged articles straight from a blog's RSS feed. To tag an article, simply list the uppercase ticker symbol in the 'labels' portion of any major blog engine. If the article covers Apple Inc., for example, it should be labeled 'AAPL' in order to appear on the various relevant locations on tickerspy.
Contact help@tickerspy.com with any more specific questions.
- Quality Standards
When reviewing potential News Feed candidates, the tickerspy editorial staff pays close attention to the consistent quality of a blog's content. Posts must be factual, relevant, original or well cited, and in good taste, such that they will be useful to the thousands of members of the tickerspy community.
A blog can be removed from the News Feed at anytime, so tickerspy recommends that News Feed contributers add uppercase ticker labels only to the posts that they wish to be seen in the feed. Any suspected abuse, including but not limited to pumping stocks, labeling irrelevant tickers, lack of proper citations, and posting purely promotional content will result in suspension from the feed, and a possible ban.
How to Discuss & Share Stock News on tickerspy
Q: How can I discuss and share financial news on tickerspy?
A: There are several ways you can communicate and share your thoughts with others on tickerspy. Most notably, you can comment on any news article or note that you see on the tickerspy website. To do this, simply click on the “post a comment” link found next to or beneath any article (see below), enter your thoughts into the “Post your reply” box, and click “Post Reply.”
Visit the Ideas & Research section (http://www.tickerspy.com/ideas_research.php) and click on “News” to view and comment on the most popular news items for the day and for the last week, as well as to take a look at the latest discussions on tickerspy. Click on the “Post a comment” link located underneath any news items to share your thoughts, opinions and research with other tickerspy users. If you want to respond to a comment someone else has made on a news article, simply click in the “Post your reply” box found below the original comment, enter your thoughts, and hit “Post Reply” (see below).
You can also easily post your thoughts about specific stocks on tickerspy. Pull up a stock by searching for a ticker symbol using the “Get Quotes” box at the top of any page. Once the stock quote is displayed on your screen, click on the “Message Board” tab and either reply to a displayed item or start a new thread.
There are two ways you can begin a new thread on the Message Board for a particular stock:
1) Click on “Link” at the top of the Message Board page (found in the yellow box that says “To start a new thread post a Link or Note and tag it..”) (See below.) This will allow you to add an article regarding a specific stock to the tickerspy website for discussion and consideration by other users. When the “Submit a New Link” page comes up, enter the URL for the story you would like to add and hit “Continue.” You will then need to enter a title and description for your article. Choose a category (News, Analyst Action, Earnings, Insider Activity, Charts and Technical Analysis, Background) and hit “Submit.” Your article will then be displayed in several places on the website, including on the quote page for all of the stocks the article has been tagged for, as well as under any user portfolios that include those stocks.
The rules for posting a news item include ensuring that your link is relevant, of high quality (i.e., consider the source), and submitted with care (i.e., write headlines and descriptions that accurately depict the article you are submitting and indicate why you think it is important.)
2) Click on “Note” at the top of the Message Board page (found in the yellow box that says “To start a new thread post a Link or Note and tag it..”) (See below.) This will allow you to add your comments, research, and/or opinions about a specific stock to the tickerspy website for discussion and consideration by other users. Enter in a title and the comments you would like to make, as well as any ticker symbols it is in reference to, and hit “Submit.” Your note will then be displayed in several places on the website, including on the quote page for all of the stocks the article has been tagged for, as well as under any user portfolios that include those stocks.
The rules for posting a note include ensuring that your comments are relevant and thorough. tickerspy was created as a venue to follow stocks away from the pumpers and screamers; please help keep it that way by offering only considered analysis.
It is also possible to attach notes to any of the stocks listed in your tickerspy portfolios. Many users do this to remind themselves of important information about the stocks they are tracking. If left public, these notes are visible to other users and can be very informative. To add a note about a stock on your portfolio, click “Comments” in the far right column header of the “Standard View” of your portfolio. You can then click “Add Comment” in that same column (see below) for the stock you would like to post a note on. This will open up a box where you can enter in your note. Click on the “Make comment private” box if you don’t wish to make the note visible to all. Hit “Post Comment” and your note will be added. Often times these notes spark conversations between users.
You can communicate individually with other tickerspy users by leaving a message on their profile. To do this, click on the person’s “Profile” tab, enter your note into the box on the page, and click “Leave a Message.” Your note will then be displayed on that user’s profile page, visible to anyone who visits it.
To reply back to a message left on your profile, simply click “Reply” at the bottom of the note. This will bring you to the person’s profile, where you can enter your note and click “Leave a Message” to respond. Alternatively, you can click on the “Conversation” link at the bottom of the note. This will open up a page that shows the messages that have been exchanged between you and the other user. Here you can enter your response and hit “Reply” to post it on their profile.
You can also leave messages for yourself. On your own profile page, enter your note into the box and click “Leave a Message.” This will put the note on your own profile page where you can reference it in the future.
Defining “Pros” & Locating Them on tickerspy
Q: What exactly are “Pros” anyway?
A: The "Pros" on tickerspy include hedge funds, mutual funds, investment advisors, endowments, and more. With few exceptions, any entity that manages over $100 million in equities must report its holdings to the SEC every quarter by filing 13F Forms. Using the information provided by those 13F filings, tickerspy displays and tracks the top 15 quarterly holdings for over 3,000 Pros.
Please note that tickerspy is not affiliated with any of the Pro investors profiled on the website.
Q: What are “Pro Portfolios”?
A: For each Pro that tickerspy tracks, there is a corresponding Pro Portfolio that includes that institution’s top 15 quarterly holdings. You can find a particular Pro Portfolio by using the Pros search box (see below) on the Ideas & Research page: http://www.tickerspy.com/ideas_research.php?v=pros. Simply enter in the Pro's name (for example: Buffett) or the name of the fund (for example: Berkshire Hathaway) and click “Go” to locate the portfolio of interest to you.
Once you have clicked on the fund’s name and opened up its page, you’ll be able to see the portfolio's percentage change for the day, month and all-time. You’ll also be able to view its percentage change compared to the S&P 500 and compared to your own tickerspy portfolios, as well as a graph of its performance (1w, 1m, 3m, 6m). In a box on the right is a list of similar portfolios.
Scrolling down the page, you’ll see the top 15 quarterly holdings listed by ticker symbol alongside various data, including the stock’s last trade, today’s change, volume, percentage of daily volume, market cap, percentage off 52 week low, percentage from 52 wk high, and more. Additionally, notes in the far right column indicate whether the Pro has increased or decreased any holdings during the last quarter, and, if so, by how many shares. Also indicated are any new holdings.
Clicking on the “Performance View” link at the top of the portfolio will provide more information, including performance for the last quarter, the last week, the last month, the last 3 months and the last 6 months.
Further down the page you will see a list of any news articles or research notes that have been posted to tickerspy about any of the stocks listed in that particular Pro Portfolio.
Q: Do “Pro Portfolios” include all of the Pro’s holdings, and how is “all-time” Pro portfolio performance calculated?
A: Pro portfolio performance is based on an institution’s top 15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15, nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.
To calculate “all-time” Pro performance, tickerspy combines all of the quarterly holdings reports for that Pro investor. The initial date used is the start date of the first quarterly holdings report in the tickerspy database. Consequently, start dates vary for each Pro based on the first quarterly holdings report available to tickerspy.
The only exception to tickerspy’s “top 15 holdings” rule is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway: http://www.tickerspy.com/member.php?mid=-1067983&pid=-1. This is the one Pro Portfolio on tickerspy for which all of the holdings are listed (not just the top 15).
Please note that tickerspy is not affiliated with any of the Pro investors profiled on the website.
How to Track Members, Pros & Stocks
Q: How do I track other tickerspy members?
A: It is easy to begin tracking another tickerspy user. Any time you notice someone of interest, click on their username to view their profile. Once on their profile, click the “track member” link found in the blue box above their Tracking Hub.
Once you begin tracking someone, you will receive real-time Alerts on your My Alerts page any time they add or remove a stock from their portfolio(s), post a news article or research, leave you a message on your profile, or start tracking another user. You can also begin tracking other tickerspy members by clicking "Track Member" on their portfolio pages or in the Members area of the Ideas & Research section. There are also “track” links found next to most mentions of individual members on the tickerspy website; click on any of these to start tracking a particular member.
To view all of the tickerspy members that you are tracking, visit your profile (http://www.tickerspy.com/userpage.php) or your Tracking Hub on the homepage.
Q: How do I stop tracking someone?
A: You can stop tracking another tickerspy user by visiting your Tracking Hub on the tickerspy home page and clicking on the "x" button next to the name you'd like to stop tracking.
Q: How do I track “Pros” such as Warren Buffett?
A: Any time you visit a Pro Portfolio page, you will see a green “Track This Pro” button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Click on the button to begin tracking that Pro. (See below.)
You can also use the search area at the bottom of your Tracking Hub on the tickerspy home page to find Pros to track. Once you begin tracking a Pro, you will be notified on your My Alerts page whenever that Pro’s new quarterly holdings have been added to tickerspy.
To view all of the Pros that you are tracking, visit your profile (http://www.tickerspy.com/userpage.php) or your Tracking Hub on the homepage.
Q: How do I track a particular stock?
A: You can easily track stocks by adding them to your tickerspy portfolio(s). There are a few ways you can do this:
1) Enter a ticker symbol into the “Get Quotes” box at the top of any tickerspy page. When the stock’s quote page comes up, simply click on the “+ Add [Ticker] to Portfolio” link in the upper right-hand corner of the page. This will add the stock to your tickerspy portfolio.
2) Click on the “Portfolios” tab at the top of any tickerspy page to pull up your tickerspy portfolio page. Click on the “Edit” link to the right of your portfolio’s name in your Portfolio List. (You can change which portfolio you are editing by clicking the “Switch” button.) Enter a ticker (or multiple tickers) into the box on the edit page and then click on “Update Portfolio” to save your changes.
The tickerspy Tracking Hub
Q: Why should I use the tickerspy Tracking Hub?
A: The tickerspy Tracking Hub is a new way of following stocks and market trends. Like a Wall Street trader, you can use your personalized Tracking Hub to follow the moves of your stocks, Wall Street's top Pros, and tickerspy's unique array of Indexes tracking over 250 sector-focused stock groupings. Watch the market like a pro from your own PC.
Q: What is the tickerspy Tracking Hub?
A: Your personalized Tracking Hub is located at www.tickerspy.com and is viewable whenever you are logged in. The Tracking Hub allows you to conveniently watch everything you are tracking on tickerspy in one location – including your portfolios, Indexes, Pros, and other tickerspy members, as well as benchmarks like the Tickerspy Top 20, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq 100.
Q: How do I use the Tracking Hub?
A: At a quick glance, you can see the “1-Day Change,” “1-Month Change,” “Best Stock,” “Worst Stock” and “Alerts” for everything you are tracking.
Drill down for more information about any tracked portfolio by clicking “expand.” (See below.)
All of the performance statistics on the Hub are sortable. You can sort each sector individually, or you can sort without any groupings. Click the “Sort Performance by Group” link at the top of the Hub to sort each group individually. Click “Sort All by Performance” to sort everything without groupings.
Q: How do I add things to my Tracking Hub?
A: You can easily add Pros and Indexes to your Tracking Hub by using the search area below the Hub. Just enter a Pro or Index name or a relevant keyword and click "Search." Then click "Track" next to the Pro or Index name to add it immediately to your Tracking Hub. You can also view a selection of other popular Indexes and Pros in the area below the search results.
You can add other tickerspy members to your Tracking Hub by clicking the "Track" links on their userpages or portfolio pages. When you track a tickerspy member, his primary portfolio (if he has one) will be added to your Hub.
Any portfolio that you create will be automatically added to your Hub.
Q: How do I remove things from my Tracking Hub?
A: For Indexes, Pros, and other tickerspy members, click on the "x" button in the appropriate row of your Hub and then click ok in the window that appears. You can always add an item back to your Tracking Hub that you've removed previously.
You can add and remove benchmarks by clicking "edit benchmarks" in the benchmark rows of your Hub or by clicking "edit" in the key at the bottom of the page.
Your own portfolios will be removed from the Hub only if they are deleted. You can delete portfolios by going to the portfolio page and clicking edit and then delete. Once a portfolio is deleted, it's gone for good.
Q: Can I view the Tracking Hubs of other tickerspy members?
A: Yes! Click on any member name to go to his userpage where you'll see that member's tracking hub.
Q: Is it possible to keep other members from viewing my Tracking Hub?
A: No. However, you can make any of your portfolios private, which will remove them from the view of other members everywhere on tickerspy.
Q: Can I edit my portfolios from within my Tracking Hub?
A: Yes! Click on the "edit" button (next to "expand") in the appropriate row and add and remove tickers. You can also add portfolio notes as a part of this process.
Indexes
Q: What are Indexes and how do I use them?
A: A tickerspy Index is a portfolio-like grouping of stocks around a theme. The 250+ proprietary Indexes on tickerspy cover a multitude of different industries and groups of stocks, including Dry Bulk Shipping Stocks, Chinese Solar Stocks, Canadian Energy Trusts, Oil and Gas Pipeline Stocks, Leveraged ETFs, Hotel REITs, and many, many more.
Simply click on the “Indexes” tab at the top of any tickerspy page (http://www.tickerspy.com/ts_index.php) to view Indexes ranked and categorized as “1-Day Gainers,” “1-Day Losers,” “1-Month Gainers,” “1-Month Losers,” “Top Yielding,” and “Lowest P/E.”
On this page you can also see tickerspy’s Super Indexes, which group together similar indexes for easy comparison. Some examples of Super Indexes include Banks, Telecom, REITs, Retailers, and Healthcare.
Q: How do I find a specific Index or group of Indexes?
A: Each Index has a ticker symbol attached to it (as assigned by tickerspy.com); for example, the ticker for Oil Sands Stocks is *SANDS. As a result, you can easily search for any index by entering its ticker symbol (don’t forget to include the asterisk “*”!) into the “Get Quotes” box at the top of any tickerspy page. Doing so will pull up more information about that particular Index, including its overall performance, average market cap, average P/E ratio and average dividend yield, among other statistics, as well as the performance for each company included in the Index. Click the “Discuss” tab to communicate with other tickerspy users about the Index and click the “Tracked By” tab to see which tickerspy members are tracking that index.
You can also visit the Ideas & Research section (http://www.tickerspy.com/ideas_research.php) and click on “Indexes” in the blue box to search for a single Index or a group of Indexes. Here you can enter in an Index ticker symbol or a broader keyword (such as “energy”) to find information on a particular Index or group of Indexes. For example, using the search term “energy” pulls up several different Indexes, including “Energy Storage and Battery Technology Stocks,” “Canadian Energy Trusts,” and “Wind Energy Stocks.”
Q: Can I track an Index and, if so, how do I do that?
A: You can track an Index by clicking the green “Track This Index” button in the upper right-hand corner of any individual Index page (for example: see the green button on http://www.tickerspy.com/ts_index.php?id=239) to add it to your Tracking Hub on the tickerspy Home Page. There are also “track” links found next to most mentions of individual Indexes on the tickerspy website; click on any of these to start tracking a particular Index. Finally, you can also use the search area at the bottom of your Tracking Hub on the tickerspy home page to find Indexes to track.
Ideas & Research
Q: What can I find in the Ideas & Research section of the tickerspy website? How do I use this part of the website?
A: Click on the “Ideas & Research” tab at the top of any tickerspy page to view the Ideas & Research section of the website (http://www.tickerspy.com/ideas_research.php). This area allows you to dig deeper into all of the available data found on tickerspy. The Ideas & Research section is broken down into five categories:
1) Members: Click on the Members title in the blue box to pull up the Members search box. Enter a tickerspy member’s username into the search box to view their information, including their profile and primary portfolio. At a glance you’ll be able to see their best and worst performing stocks. Click the “track” link in the right-hand column by their information to begin tracking their moves. Click the “compare” link to leave them a message, to see the stocks you share in common with them, and to compare your portfolio performances.
Within the Members search section you can also see which tickerspy members are the top “1-Day Gainers,” “1-Month Gainers,” and “All-Time Gainers.” You can also view “1-Day Losers,” “1-Month Losers,” and “All-Time Losers,” as well as the “Most Tracked” tickerspy members.
2) Pros: Click on the Pros title in the blue box to pull up the Pros search box. Enter a Pro’s name or the name of a fund into the search box. For example, to locate information on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway fund you can type in any of the following search terms: “Warren Buffett,” “Buffett,” “Berkshire Hathaway.” Doing so will bring up the fund’s information at the bottom of the screen, displaying its 1-Day, 1-Month and All-Time performance, its best and worst stocks, the number of tickerspy users tracking it, and links that you can click to track the fund or compare it to your own portfolio(s). Clicking on the name of the fund will bring up its Pro Portfolio page with further information.
Within the Pros search section you can also see which Pros are the top “1-Day Gainers,” “1-Month Gainers,” and “All-Time Gainers.” You can also view “1-Day Losers,” “1-Month Losers,” and “All-Time Losers,” as well as the “Most Tracked” Pros.
3) Stocks: This section offers a number of tools to gauge member and Pro activity in each stock. Click on the Stocks title in the blue box to pull up the Stocks search box. Here you can enter in a ticker symbol to find information on a particular stock, or you can enter in multiple ticker symbols separated by spaces or commas to compare the information of several stocks. You can also conduct a more general search by entering in a market cap range, which will pull up all of the stocks that fall within your specified range.
Each stock that displays will include the following information next to it: its last trade, its percentage change, its market cap, a rank that indicates how many tickerspy members own the stock versus other stocks, a number that indicates either a greater or less than normal number of adds of the stock to tickerspy portfolios over the last week, a rank that indicates how many tickerspy members are shorting the stock versus other stocks, a number that indicates either greater or less than normal shorting activity of the stock by tickerspy users over the last week, and a rank that indicates how many Pros own the stock versus other stocks, as well as the number of adds and removes of the stock by Pros to their portfolios during the last quarter. Click on any of the column headers to sort the table correspondingly. Additionally, you’ll be able to see which tickerspy member has the best period of performance holding the stock in question. Finally, click on any stock to visit its Quote page for further information.
Within the Stocks search section you can also see which stocks are the “Top Member holdings,” the “Top Pro holdings,” the “Most Added” to tickerspy portfolios during the last week, and the day’s “Top Gainers.” You can also view the “Top Member shorts,” the “Most Shorted” during the last week, and the day’s “Top Losers.”
4) Indexes: For more information about what an Index is, please click here. Click on the Indexes title in the blue box to pull up the Indexes search box. Here you can enter in an Index ticker symbol or a broader keyword (such as “energy”) to find information on a particular Index or group of Indexes. Remember, each Index has a ticker symbol attached to it (as assigned by tickerspy.com); for example, the ticker for Oil Sands Stocks is *SANDS.
Each Index that appears will include the following information: its 1-Day, 1-Week, 1-Month and All-Time performance, its average dividend yield, its average P/E, and the number of tickerspy members who are tracking it. Click on the “track Index” link to begin following that particular Index.
Within the Indexes search section you can also see which Indexes are the “1-Day Gainers,” the “1-Month Gainers,” and the “All-Time Gainers,” as well as which are the “1-Day Losers,” the “1-Month Losers,” and the “All-Time Losers.” Additionally, you can view the “Most Tracked,” the “Top Yielding,” and the “Lowest P/E” Indexes. Finally, you can also check out tickerspy’s Super Indexes (find out what Super Indexes are here).
5) News: Click on the News title in the blue box to view tickerspy’s most popular news stories that day and for the last week and to view tickerspy’s latest stock discussions.
Hedge Funds
Q: What can I find in the Hedge Funds section of the tickerspy website? How do I use this part of the website?
A: Click on the "Hedge Funds" tab at the top of any tickerspy page to visit the Hedge Funds page (http://www.tickerspy.com/hedge_funds.php) where you can view top holdings and related metrics from nearly 3,000 hedge funds and other money managers. This page allows you to quickly and easily see the hedge funds most tracked by tickerspy members; the most popular tickers in Pro Portfolios; 1-day hedge fund gainers and losers; and 1-month hedge fund gainers and losers. Additionally, use the "Pro Search" box at the top of the page to locate Pros of interest to you. (Enter a Pro’s name or the name of a fund into the search box. For example, to locate information on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway fund you can type in any of the following search terms: “Warren Buffett,” “Buffett,” “Berkshire Hathaway.” Doing so will bring up the fund’s information at the bottom of the screen, displaying its 1-Day, 1-Month and All-Time performance, its best and worst stocks, the number of tickerspy users tracking it, and links that you can click to track the fund or compare it to your own portfolio(s). Clicking on the name of the fund will bring up its Pro Portfolio page with further information.)
Portfolios
Q: How do I track my portfolio(s) using tickerspy?
A: Click on the “Portfolios” tab at the top of any tickerspy page to get started tracking your portfolio(s). Click the blue “Create New Portfolio” button in the upper right hand corner to open up a page where you can enter in your stock information (http://www.tickerspy.com/create_portfolio.php). Choose a name for your portfolio, click either “Public” or “Private” (public portfolios will be visible to other tickerspy users), and then enter the ticker symbols for your stocks into the “Symbols” box. Make sure that the tickers are separated by either spaces or commas, or you can hit “enter” after each ticker and place each on a separate line. To include a short position in your portfolio, put a minus sign (“-“) in front of the ticker symbol. (For example: -GOOG) Click the “Create Portfolio” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes and start tracking your portfolio.
Q: Why am I unable to include certain ticker symbols in my portfolio(s)?
A: There are certain ticker symbols that the tickerspy system does not recognize, including mutual funds, stocks that trade on foreign exchanges, and some penny stocks. If you have questions about why you can’t add a specific stock to your portfolio, please contact us at help@tickerspy.com. Sometimes we just need to add the stock to the tickerspy database.
Q: How do I add or remove stocks from a portfolio?
A: Click on the “Portfolios” tab at the top of any tickerspy page to view your primary portfolio. (To view another one of your portfolios, simply hit the “Switch” button to the right of the current portfolio name in the Portfolio List box and select your desired portfolio.) To the right of the portfolio name in the Portfolio List box you’ll see an “Edit” link. Click on “Edit” to open a page where you can add or remove stocks from that portfolio. Simply add or delete ticker symbols from the box and click “Update Portfolio.” Make sure that the tickers are separated by either spaces or commas, or you can hit “enter” after each ticker and place each on a separate line. To include a short position in your portfolio, put a minus sign (“-“) in front of the ticker symbol. (For example: -GOOG)
Q: How does tickerspy calculate the performance of my portfolio(s)? What is the “delay” between adding or removing a stock and having that move be reflected in the portfolio calculation?
A: The performance of your tickerspy portfolio is calculated every market day using equal weighting for each stock. At the end of every market day, all of the "adds" and "removes" of stocks from your tickerspy portfolio are recorded at the day's closing price. An "add" or "remove" made before 3:40pm ET on a business day will be included in your portfolio return the next business day. An "add" or "remove" made after 3:40pm ET on a business day will be recorded at the close of the following business day and included in your portfolio return two business days in the future.
Q: My portfolio has been outperforming lately, so why isn’t it showing up on the website as a top gainer?
A: Please note that a portfolio will only be included in the tickerspy top gainer lists if it contains a minimum of five stocks with a share price over $1 each. In addition only your "primary" portfolio is eligible for these lists (and to make a portfolio "primary," it must contain a minimum of five stocks with a share price over $1 each.)
Q: How do I add purchase dates, purchase prices and/or number of shares to my tickerspy portfolio(s)?
A: The stocks that you add to your tickerspy portfolio(s) are tracked from the day you add them and include the date and price when you added the ticker symbol to your portfolio. Please also note that the stocks in your tickerspy portfolio(s) are equally weighted.
At this time tickerspy users are unable to add purchase dates, purchase prices or number of shares to their portfolio(s). If tickerspy adds this capability in the future, we will be sure to notify you.
My tickerspy
Q: How do I access my tickerspy profile? What is visible to others on my profile page?
A: When you click on the “My tickerspy” tab at the top of any tickerspy page you will be able to view your profile: http://www.tickerspy.com/userpage.php. This page is where others can view information about you, including your avatar, how long you’ve been a tickerspy user, your investment philosophy, who is tracking and/or ignoring you, and whether any of the stocks in your portfolio(s) are outperforming everyone else. To edit these details, please visit the “Edit My Profile” page: http://www.tickerspy.com/account.php
Your Tracking Hub is also found on your profile, where you can see all of the portfolios, Pros, Indexes and other members you are tracking. Additionally, you can see conversations you’ve had with other users, as well as your alerts and recent notes, research and comments you’ve posted to the website.
On this page you can also see messages that other tickerspy members have left for you. (Remember that you can communicate individually with other tickerspy users by leaving them a message on their profile. To do this, click on someone’s “Profile” tab, enter your note into the box on the page, and click “Leave a Message.” Your note will then be displayed on that user’s profile page, visible to anyone who visits it.)
To reply back to a message left on your profile, simply click “Reply” at the bottom of the note. This will bring you to the other person’s profile, where you can enter your note and click “Leave a Message” to respond. Alternatively, you can click on the “Conversation” link at the bottom of the note. This will open up a page that shows the messages that have been exchanged between you and the other user. Here you can enter your response and hit “Reply” to post it on their profile.
You can also leave messages for yourself on your profile page. Enter your note into the box that is titled “Leave a Message for Yourself” and click the “Leave a Message” button. This will put the note on your own profile page where you can reference it in the future.
Q: How do I update my tickerspy profile?
A: To update or change the details found on your profile (http://www.tickerspy.com/userpage.php), please visit the “Edit My Profile” page: http://www.tickerspy.com/account.php.
Here you can change your avatar, update your investment philosophy, change your investor type (i.e. income, value, growth, speculative, all), and make your email address either public (so it is visible on your profile to others) or private (so it is not visible to others). You can also update your email preferences (i.e. change your email address and disable/enable tickerspy emails) and change your password. Finally, you can also select which resources you’d like to see on the tickerspy stock quote and portfolio pages.
Q: What are tickerspy Alerts and how do they benefit me? What different types of Alerts are there?
A: To view your tickerspy alerts, please visit the “My Alerts” page. You can reach this page by clicking on the “My tickerspy” tab at the top of any tickerspy page, and then clicking on the “My Alerts” tab. Using tickerspy alerts, you will be able to easily track your stocks, other members of the tickerspy community, and Pros such as Warren Buffett. Please refer to the above section (“How to Track Members, Pros & Stocks”) to learn how to track a specific stock, tickerspy member or Pro.
Once you’ve started tracking a stock, member or Pro, you’ll be able to view real-time Alerts pertaining to them on the My Alerts page (just click on the “My Alerts” tab on your "My tickerspy" page, or click here: http://www.tickerspy.com/alerts.php). On the My Alerts page you will see several different types of alerts, which include:
1) Ticker Alerts: Every time a news article or note is posted on the website about any of the stocks in your tickerspy portfolio(s), a Ticker Alert will appear on your My Alerts page. You will also see a Ticker Alert any time any of your stocks are added or removed from a portfolio by a tickerspy member or Pro.
2) Member Alerts: Any time another tickerspy member starts tracking you, comments on something you have posted, replies back to a comment you have made in a thread, or leaves a message on your profile, a Member Alert will appear on your My Alerts page. You will also see a Member Alert whenever one of your portfolios has a new matching portfolio.
3) Tracked Member Alerts: Every time one of your tracked members or Pros adds or removes stocks to a portfolio, puts a new stock note on their portfolio, begins tracking a new member, or posts a news article or note on tickerspy, you will see a Tracked Member Alert on your My Alerts page.
4) Data Alerts: You will also see Data Alerts on your My Alerts page, which will help you follow your stocks. Data Alerts include the following:
a) Unusual Volume Alerts – Every 15 minutes, this alert will notify you of any stocks within your portfolio(s) that have volume substantially above average for various market cap segments.
b) Top Gainer/Loser Alerts – Every 15 minutes, this alert will notify you of the top gainers and losers among the stocks in your portfolio(s) for various market cap segments.
c) Top Gainer/Loser on Unusual Volume Alerts – Every 15 minutes, this alert will notify you of the top gainers and losers on unusual volume among the stocks in your portfolio(s) for various market cap segments.
d) 52-Week High/Low Alerts – Every day after the market closes, this alert will notify you of the stocks within your portfolio(s) that have hit new 52-week highs and lows.
e) Weekly/Monthly Gainer/Loser Alerts – Every day after the market closes, this alert will notify you of the stocks within your portfolio(s) that are among the market’s weekly and monthly gainers and losers.
Q: Can I view all of the notes, research, and news articles I have posted to the website?
A: Yes. To view all of the notes, research, and news articles that you have posted to tickerspy, please visit the “Notes & Links” page. You can reach this page by clicking on the “My tickerspy” tab at the top of any tickerspy page, and then clicking on “Notes & Links.” Here you can see all that you’ve posted, as well as any responses to your posts by other tickerspy members. You can click the “Post a comment” link at the bottom of any of your posts to add a follow-up note, and you can easily post new research and articles through this page as well.
Q: Can I view all of the tickerspy members that I am currently tracking? How do I stop tracking someone?
A: To view all of the tickerspy members that you are tracking, visit your Tracking Hub on the tickerspy home page.
To stop tracking someone, click on the "x" button in the appropriate row of your Hub and then click "ok" in the window that appears.
Q: Can I see who is tracking me?
A: To view all of the tickerspy members who are tracking you, click on the “My tickerspy” tab at the top of any tickerspy page and then click on “Tracked By”: http://www.tickerspy.com/tracked_by.php.
On this page you’ll see a list of the members who are tracking you, along with their primary portfolio stats, including 1-Day Change, 1-Month Change, All-Time Change, the date they started their portfolio, and their portfolio’s best and worst stocks.
If you aren’t already tracking the person, you can click on the “track” link in the far-right column corresponding to their username in order to start following their moves. You can also click on the “compare” link to view a page that displays the stocks that you both have in common, as well as a comparison of your portfolio returns. Additionally, on this page you can see any conversations that you have had with this user.
The tickerspy Newswire
Q: What is the tickerspy Newswire? How often are new posts published?
A: Click on the “Newswire” tab at the top of any tickerspy page to visit the tickerspy Newswire: http://www.tickerspy.com/newswire/.
Updated nearly every market day, the tickerspy Newswire highlights stock market news, including stocks and indexes that are seeing unusual activity, Pros that are worth watching, analysis of stocks and sectors, and much more. You’ll also find out about new tickerspy features and can easily offer your feedback and thoughts by responding to the posts.
To add the tickerspy Newswire to your RSS reader, click on the “RSS Feed” link found in the right-hand column of the Newswire page. If you have any questions about this, please send an email to help@tickerspy.com.
In the right-hand column of the Newswire page you’ll also see a list of other financial news sources, as well as the tickerspy archives and the tickerspy posts broken down by category (Stock Sector News, Hedge Fund and Institutional News, Dividend News, ETF News, Commodity Stocks News, Green Investing News, International Stock and ADR News, Stocks Analysis, and tickerspy News)
The tickerspy Top 20
Q: What is the tickerspy Top 20? Can I track it?
A: The "tickerspy Top 20" is a compilation of the 20 most tracked stocks by members on tickerspy. The tickerspy Top 20 is considered a benchmark and can be tracked via your Tracking Hub.
When you are logged into the website, you can view the tickerspy Top 20 here: http://www.tickerspy.com/member.php?pid=20&mid=20
To track the tickerspy Top 20, click on the green “Track This Member” button in the upper right hand corner of the page. (See here for more information about tracking.) This will allow you to receive alerts (What are alerts?) about the tickerspy Top 20 on http://www.tickerspy.com/alerts.php, as well as be able to easily view the tickerspy Top 20 on your Tracked Members page: http://www.tickerspy.com/fav_mem.php.
The Daily tickerspy Email
Q: What is the daily tickerspy email and how will it benefit me?
A: As a member of tickerspy, you will receive the tickerspy email every weekday evening (Mon-Fri). (Are you having trouble receiving our emails? If so, please click here for help.)
The daily email will provide you with many useful features and information, including:
1) An overall view of the performance of your tickerspy portfolios for that day alongside a broader look at the market.
2) A list of the top financial headlines for the day.
3) A snapshot of each of your tickerspy portfolios. Each stock in your portfolio(s) is shown with the day’s closing price, change, volume and percentage of average daily volume. In the “Alerts” column, you can see any unusual volume, top losers, top gainers, and adds/removes (how many other tickerspy users added and/or removed a stock from their portfolios) for that day. “Spy” and “Post” links also allow you to easily gather more information about a particular stock or communicate with others about it.
4) A list of the articles listed on tickerspy that day that pertain to any of the stocks in your portfolio(s).
5) A chart containing “Timely Tickers,” five of the most popular stocks on tickerspy that day.
6) A list of the top performing Pro and Member portfolios for that day, which could include your own tickerspy portfolio if it performs well enough!
Email Delivery Trouble
Q: Why am I not receiving the daily tickerspy email? How can I fix this problem?
A: Sometimes people have trouble receiving tickerspy emails. In most cases, this is the result of spam filtering. To fix the issue, please follow these suggestions:
1) First, try checking your “spam” or “junk” folder. Sometimes tickerspy emails are automatically filtered into these folders.
2) Second, and most importantly, add our email address (daily@tickerspy.com) to your Address Book or Contact List. Doing this will help ensure that tickerspy emails get delivered directly to your inbox.
3) Finally, if the above two suggestions don’t help, try contacting your email provider. Ask them to stop blocking messages that are sent from the following email address: daily@tickerspy.com.
If you have another email address, please contact us so we can put it on your account.
ATTN YAHOO USERS: To ensure that you receive tickerspy emails, please add our email address, daily@tickerspy.com, to your Yahoo address book. If you have another non-Yahoo email address that we can add to your account, please contact us at help@tickerspy.com.
Q: I am unable to view tickerspy emails. It says “To view this email please use an HTML capable email client.” What does that mean and how can I see your emails?
A: The daily tickerspy email is currently only available in HTML format. It’s likely that your email software supports HTML emails, but you may need to adjust the settings in your email program to see them. If you need help doing this, we would suggest consulting any “help” materials that your email provider makes available or contacting your email provider’s customer service.
Discontinuing the Daily Email
Q: I want to stop receiving the daily tickerspy email. How do I turn it off?
A: You can easily change your account settings so you no longer receive the daily tickerspy email. To do this, please visit http://www.tickerspy.com/account.php and refer to the “Email Preferences” box. To stop receiving the daily email, simply click the “Disable Daily Email” box. To stop receiving all tickerspy emails (including the occasional reminder emails about updated Pro holdings and new features), click the “Disable All Emails” box. Make sure to hit the “Update” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
You will also find a link at the bottom of all tickerspy emails that allows you to unsubscribe your email address from the tickerspy email list. Simply click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any tickerspy email to be immediately removed.
You may also contact us at help@tickerspy.com with any questions or concerns.
Updating My Email Address
Q: I want to change the email address where I receive the daily tickerspy email. How do I do this?
A: To receive the daily tickerspy email at a different email address, visit your “Edit My Profile” page (http://www.tickerspy.com/account.php), delete the existing email address listed in the “Email Preferences” section, enter in the new email address where you would like to receive tickerspy emails, and click the “Update” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes. Alternatively, you can send an email to help@tickerspy.com requesting the email change. Just be sure to include both your old and new email address in your note so we can locate your account.
ATTN YAHOO USERS: To ensure that you receive tickerspy emails, please add our email address, daily@tickerspy.com, to your Yahoo address book. If you have another non-Yahoo email address that we can add to your account, please contact us at help@tickerspy.com.
Changing My Password
Q: How do I change my password?
A: You can change your password by visiting the “Edit My Profile” page: http://www.tickerspy.com/account.php. Simply enter your old and new passwords into the “Change Password” section. Click the “Update” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
Please note that your password cannot contain any spaces, must be at least four characters in length, and is case-sensitive. Your password may include letters, numbers and the following characters: periods (“.”), hyphens (“-“), and underscores (“_”).
Q: Can I change my username?
A: In an effort to keep the tickerspy community free of abuse, we ask that members maintain a single username on tickerspy. This policy should help keep the level of discourse on the site useful for all tickerspy members. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please send an email to help@tickerspy.com.
Having Trouble Signing Up
Q: I am having trouble signing up for a free membership to tickerspy. Can you help?
A: If you’re having trouble signing up, please first doublecheck that you don’t already have a membership with tickerspy. You can easily do this by visiting http://www.tickerspy.com/password.php, entering in your email address, and clicking “Submit.” If you have previously signed up successfully for a membership (and have forgotten you did so), your login information will be sent to you. (Please note that the tickerspy system will not allow you to sign up a second time if your information is already in its database.) If you enter your email address on that page and get back the following error: “We could not find any information for that email address” then please consider the following suggestions when you try to sign up again on http://www.tickerspy.com/register.php:
1) Make sure the username you have chosen does not have any spaces in it.
2) Be sure to type the text you see in the image towards the bottom of the page into its corresponding text box. If you don’t verify this code, you will not be able to sign up.
3) Make sure you check the box next to “I agree to the tickerspy Terms of Service and I’m over the age of 13.”
If you’re still unable to sign up, please make note of any error message you see and send us an email at help@tickerspy.com. We’ll be sure to try our best to help you resolve the issue!
Having Trouble Logging In
Q: I am having trouble logging into the tickerspy website. Can you help?
A: If you’re having trouble logging into the tickerspy website, please first doublecheck that you are typing in the correct username and password. You can do this by visiting http://www.tickerspy.com/password.php and entering in your email address. We will email you your login information so you can check to make sure you are spelling it correctly, etc.
Please note that the tickerspy login is case-sensitive so if your username and password are in all lower-case letters, be sure that your Caps Lock is off when you enter in your login information.
To try and log in again please visit the following page: http://www.tickerspy.com/login.php
If you still can’t log in, it most likely means that the “cookies” on your internet browser aren’t turned on. Your cookies need to be enabled for the login to tickerspy to work properly. Here is how to set your cookies:
1. From the top of your Internet Explorer web browser, click on Tools.
2. From the Tools dropdown, click on Internet Options.
3. From the Internet Options box, click on the Privacy tab.
4. Move the privacy slider to Low.
5. Click on OK to save/confirm this change.
If you use a different internet browser than Internet Explorer and need help checking your cookie settings, please send an email to help@tickerspy.com for more information.
If you continue to have trouble accessing the site, please check that the date is set correctly on your computer. Simply put your mouse over the clock in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. The date should then pop up. If it is set incorrectly, doubleclick on the clock in order to fix the date. Save your changes and try to login again: http://www.tickerspy.com/login.php
Occasionally certain spyware, firewall settings, and/or anti-virus program settings can affect the login process as well. If you’ve tried the above suggestions to no avail, as a last resort you might try logging in using a different computer and see if it works for you. This will indicate whether or not there is a program or setting on your first computer that might be affecting the tickerspy login.
Finally, you can always email us at help@tickerspy.com for further help. If possible, please include the internet browser and version that you are using so we can better investigate the problem (visit the “Help” menu and click “About” for this information).
Reporting a Problem or Missing Ticker
Q: How do I contact tickerspy about a bug or glitch I’ve discovered on the website?
A: If you have discovered something that is broken and not working properly on the tickerspy website, please send an email to help@tickerspy.com. Be sure to clearly explain the problem and give as many details as possible, including when and where you experienced the problem and if you noticed any error messages. If possible, please also include the internet browser and version that you are using (visit the “Help” menu and click on “About” to find this information). We take all of these reports very seriously and will definitely investigate and look to resolve the issue.
Q: I’m unable to add a ticker symbol to my portfolio. Why is this? If I notify tickerspy, will they fix this?
A: Please note that there are certain ticker symbols that the tickerspy system does not recognize, including mutual funds, stocks that trade on foreign exchanges, and some penny stocks. If the ticker symbol you are trying to add to your portfolio fits into any of these categories, you will most likely not be able to track it using tickerspy. For other tickers, or if you want to find out if we can add a particular penny stock, please send an email to help@tickerspy.com. If possible, we will add the ticker symbol to the tickerspy database so you can begin tracking it.
Contacting tickerspy
Q: How do I suggest a new feature or provide feedback about the website?
A: Feel free to send an email to help@tickerspy.com with any suggestions or feedback you have for the site. We read all emails and appreciate any and all feedback.
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Frequently Asked Questions
