Upload Custom Time Series Data To TrendSpider

4 mins read

When it comes to trading and investing, knowledge is king. Anyone can easily see what’s on the charts or in the financial statements, but there is a whole world of data living in plain sight that few utilize.

Certainly, you’ve heard the stories of traders getting rich by using the number of cars in Wal-Mart parking lots to forecast holiday sales numbers or Google search traffic on specific keywords to gauge interest in an idea or event, but perhaps this kind of analysis has seemed out of reach to you. Well, now a whole world of custom time series data is available to use directly in TrendSpider via Custom Symbols.

This is the header image for the custom symbols blog post.

Whether you have proprietary data from your own analyses, trusted fundamental metrics, or unique datasets, TrendSpider empowers you to leverage that data to supercharge your edge. Here’s how it works and why it’s a game-changer for traders and investors.

Creating Your Own Custom Symbols

To create a custom symbol, you must upload the data that defines it. Uploading custom data takes just a few simple steps, beginning with the profile icon in the upper right-hand corner of your platform view. Click on that icon and choose the ‘Upload Custom Data’ option in the dropdown menu.

You’ll then be directed to the screen visualized below, which explains a bit about how you can utilize your custom symbols. You can upload your custom data via API or a CSV file. This blog is going to focus on uploading data via CSV, but if you’d like to learn how to do so via API, please visit our Developer Documentation.

This is an image of the text box you'll see when you go to upload a custom data set.

Uploading Via CSV

Uploading your data via a CSV file is the most common and efficient way to bring it into TrendSpider. First, you’ll need to create your spreadsheet. CSV files must contain at least two columns; one for ‘date/time’ and one for ‘value’. An additional ‘symbol’ column is optional, but not required. Do note that the order of your columns matters. The first column should be ‘symbol’, followed by ‘date/time’, and finally ‘values’.

Pictured in the below image is an example of a spreadsheet with ‘symbol’, ‘date’, and ‘value’ columns. The data represented here is Tesla’s delivery numbers per quarter. Once you’ve assured that your columns are formatted correctly, download the spreadsheet as a CSV file.

This is an image of a sample spreadsheet that can be used to create a CSV file.

Before uploading your CSV file, note the ‘Market Session’ dropdown menu. ‘US Equity’ is selected by default, but if your data contains specific dates or times that are outside of US market hours, you’ll want to select one of the alternative options before uploading your data. Alternative ‘session’ choices include ‘Forex’, ‘US Futures approximate’, and ’24/7′.

This is an image of the time frame selection options for your custom symbol.

Next, click on the ‘Upload CSV file’ button and choose the CSV file you just saved. Once the file is loaded, the below screen will appear and you will see the title of your new custom symbol. It can now be used across the platform. To load the chart, simply click on the highlighted button or type it’s name into the symbol search bar in the upper left-hand corner of your platform view.

This is an image of what you'll see once your custom data set has been uploaded and turned into a custom symbol.

Unlocking The Insights From Your Custom Symbols

Now that you’ve uploaded your new custom symbol into TrendSpider, this data is seamlessly integrated into the platform and you can utilize it in various ways:

Via On-Chart Analysis

Your custom symbol can be plotted directly onto charts, either as a standalone symbol or as overlay data using the ‘Price Compare’ indicator. This functionality allows you to visualize correlations, trends, and patterns like never before. In the below example, we see the Tesla weekly price chart with its delivery numbers plotted within the ‘Price Compare’ indicator.

This is an image of the Tesla chart with deliveries number painted in the lower 'price compare' indicator.

As Composite Symbols

You can blend your custom symbol with existing symbols to create composite symbols. In the below example, we’ve utilized the formula (=TSLA / #TSLADEL) to visualize whether or not stock performance is outpacing deliveries.

This is an image of the Tesla composite symbol described above.

Supplement Your Strategies

Since TrendSpider supports strategies involving multiple symbols, you can define conditions of your custom symbol as additional parameters within your favorite strategies. In the below example, we’re entering a TSLA long on an 8/21 EMA cross-up, but only if deliveries have increased within the past 10 candles.

This is an image that shows how to utilize custom symbols in your strategies.

See What Others Can’t

With the ability to now visualize and employ custom symbols in TrendSpider, you are empowered to find trends that would otherwise have been difficult to see. Here are some interesting examples to get your creative juices flowing!

Iran Google Search & the $VIX

This is an image of the VIX chart with google search traffic for the term 'iran' painted in the lower 'price compare' indicator.

As fears of escalating tensions in the Middle East have recently picked up, we find a clear correlation between Google search traffic for the word ‘Iran’ and the volatility index. As search traffic increases, so, too, does the $VIX.

Old Ceilings and New Floors for Inflation

This is an image of historical CPI data, month over month.

While the past few years have seen a dramatic ramp in inflation, by visualizing a longer-term chart of monthly CPI prints, it’s clear that we are now coming back into more historically normal levels while the chart consolidates just above the 2018 highs. Will the old ‘ceiling’ for inflation now act as the new floor?

Meme Coins Have A Tell

This is an image of google search traffic for the term 'memecoin' overlaid on top of the DOGE price chart.

For those of you who have missed the meme coin craze up to this point, it seems they have a tell. Notable increases in Google search traffic have foreshadowed both mega-moves over the past year on $DOGE. Perhaps instead of watching the price action traders should consider focusing on search trends!

Current Limitations of Custom Symbols

While this new functionality is quite robust, there are a few items you should be aware of as you grow more comfortable creating and utilizing your own custom symbols.

The market session’s end moment (e.g., 16:00 for the US Stock market) isn’t included in calculations.
Uploading data for a 24/7 session ([00:00, 23:59) UTC) means data from 23:59 to 00:00 UTC is considered part of the next session.
Custom symbols won’t display values in watch lists; they’ll be crossed out.
Using custom data in trading bots may stop them if new data generates signals that are already in the past.
Each Custom Symbols API Key lasts for 1 year and can’t be regenerated sooner.
Scanning on Custom Symbols isn’t currently supported.

As with all updates to the platform, we hope you find this new functionality helpful! We encourage you to be creative with it. Explore as many ideas as you can come up with and if you find something interesting don’t hesitate to share it!

If you have any questions, feel free to consult the Developer Documentation or reach out to our support team via the ‘Contact Us’ button in the bottom right-hand corner of your platform view.