Within the Seasonal Charts Wizard, you also have a settings to specify Month Ranges and to pick period prior to expiration.
Pick Period Prior to Expiration
In this example, we want to see seasonal data for the January Crude Contracts.
Crude contracts expires in the month prior to the delivery month. For example the 2011 January Crude Contract Expires December 20th 2010 (Which is the year prior to its Delivery Year).
So, to view a seasonal chart for the 2012, 2011, and 2010 January Contracts use the “Pick period prior to expiration” setting, because the Jan 2011 Crude contract expired in Dec 2010. Hence this Jan 2011 Crude contract only has chart history from Dec 2010 and prior.
Month Range
You can to view the seasonal data of the Sept Contract for RBOB Gasoline during April thru August.
When selecting a month range, the year selected in the Years box corresponds to the Start/From Month of the Month Range.
In this example, Apr - Aug is within a single calendar year and does not cross Jan 1st.
Black Plot: April 2007 thru August 2007
Blue Plot: April 2006 thru August 2006
Red Plot: April 2005 thur August 2005
Month Range that spans New Year
In this example, you want to view seasonal data of the March Crude Contract from August to February.
In this example the Month Range spans thru the New Year.
When selecting a month range, the year selected corresponds to the Starting Month.
So if the Starting month is August and the Ending month is February, I select 2005-2007 and select “1 year prior to expiration”, it will plot:
- August 2005 thru February 2006 for the March 06 Contract
- August 2006 thru February 2007 for the March 07 Contract
- August 2007 thru February 2008 for the March 08 Contract
Advanced Seasonal Chart Syntax
You can also manually enter a Seasonal Symbol into a chart as opposed to using the wizard, or after using the wizard you wish to add an additional seasonal plot. Manually entry is also very useful if you wish to have a Seasonal Spread that is more than 2 Legs.
Syntax for entering manually: =(Expression or Symbols)[Year/Month/Day Range]
Example with Month Range: =(‘CL U2006’-‘BRN 2006U-ICE’)[2005/6-9]
1. (‘CL U2006’-‘BRN 2006U-ICE’) – Symbol or Expression
2. 2005 – Calendar year to grab data from.
3. 6-9 – Calendar months to only display
Example with Date Range: ='CL H2006'[2005/8/15-2/4]
1. 'CL H2006' - Symbol
2. 2005 - Calendar year to grab data from
3. 8/15-2/4 - Date range to display data from. Aug 15th 2005 thru Feb 4th 2006
You may also chart an individual aspect of the chart. An example would be if you just wanted to see the High. For this you would need to manually create the plot as opposed to using the wizard.
Example: =(‘CL U2007’.HIGH)[2007/6-9]
Tip: When manually creating multiple similar plots in Seasonal Charts, after entering the 1st plot, select the plot in the chart and the Seasonal expression will appear in the input box. Manually change it, typically changing the contract year of the symbol and historical data year in the square brackets. Then select down arrow of the Add button and select "Add to Existing Layer".
In the example above we are viewing the High’s for the Sept Crude contract in June thru September over the years 2005-2007.
Another benefit of creating a Seasonal Chart outside of the Wizard is the charting of Technical Analysis.
Example: =MA(‘CL U2006’)[2006] or =DMI('CL U2006)[2006].ADX (if multi-Plot Study)
In the example above we are viewing the Moving Averages for the Sept Crude contract in June thru September over the years 2005-2007.
In the example above we are viewing the ADX Line from the Directional Movement Index study for the Sept Crude contract in June thru September for the years 2005-2007.
Another benefit of creating a Seasonal Chart outside of the Wizard is the charting of field spreads. An example would be to view the Range of High-Low.
Example: =(‘CL U2006’.HIGH - ‘CL U2006’.LOW)[2006]
In the example above we are viewing the High/Low Range for the Sept Crude Contract from May thru Aug for the years 2006-2007
Another benefit of creating a Seasonal Chart outside of the Wizard is that you can customize historical data displayed for contracts without using "Pick Period Prior to Expiration".
Example: =‘CL Z2008’[2007] & ‘CL U2007’[2006]
In the example above we are viewing CL Z2008 chart history from 2007 and CL Z2007 chart history from 2006.
Seasonal Data can also be viewed from the Data Table Window. This is done from the Right click menu of a Seasonal Chart.