Hi Steve, I wish I could tell you "Yes it is the right answer" but it really depends on what you are looking for in your exploration and also the time fram you trade. To give you an example, let's say I only look at the last 3 months of data and my exploration looks for a cross of 2 moving averages that uses periods less than 10. Then I would only load 3 months worth of data. I don't really need more .... if on the other hand I am more of a long term type of trader and I use much longer averages then I would load the appropriate amount of data... Etc ... now to go back to loading 500 periods ... Why is it recommended by most people and support reps etc ... Simply because a lot of exploration in Metastock and Plug ins on the Market require at least that amount to work properly. So to avoid having users changing their loading periods and run into some problems it is custom to say "you need 500 periods of data loaded". Hope this clears things up for you.

I would never use "load minimum records", it might give you different results on exponential indicators. If you are using anything exponential you need a certain amount of data to smooth these indicators and therefore my suggestion is to leave the loaded option at 500 and do not worry much more about it ... Patrick