I am considering Metastock Pro but am confused about how realtime data packages work with this program. My understanding is that with the Pro version I can perform realtime and EOD/Offline tasks. What I don't understand is how metastock handles the realtime data for offline work. My short term intent would be to get eSignal basic (needed for another program) and collect the complete N.A. symbol universe (daily periodicity) and save it for local offline use. I also may want to occasionally perform an intra day update of this full portfolio. My questions are: 1) If I have 25000 symbols in my portfolio, can I perform an intraday update that will create a daily bar with the Hi, Low, Open, Close up until that point in the day? 2) If I do another update 2 hours later at noon, will it adjust the daily Hi, Low, and close considering the new data? 3) I know there are separate programs (like Qcollector) that appear to do just that, but isn't this feature/function built in? 4) How is the initial symbol file created? eSignal only provides what is requested and they don't have symbol files. How are symbol files created and maintained (adjustments for new and old issues)? I assume a history CD comes with the program but is probably a year old or more and likely does not have new issues. These may be obvious questions but I have only dealt with EOD providers and it appears eSignal only intends their real time data to be used in On Demand mode. Thanks, Carl

Thanks for the comments hayseed. 25k is a large number, it should of been 2500 (~roughly the optionable stocks). Data on demend does not really help me since I need to scan my portfolio to find a stock for a potential trade. When I talked to an eSignal rep about wanting to update my database with EOD he said to use Rueter's since they don't support Metastock with EOD!!! I talked with another rep from another company associated with eSignal and he said real time data is for read only data on demand use and not to be read to a local database. After further questioning he offered to contact an eSignal technical rep who confirmed data could be collected, but the support would come from Metastock (which I assumed). After this ordeal with eSignal I wanted to talk to users of Metastock about what they can or can not actually do with the program. Since I will need a live feed for another program I wanted to know if I can use that same feed with Metastock and collect daily bars. This would eliminate the need to have a Rueters EOD feed and a live eSignal feed. Thanks again for your comments. I would appreciate anyone else commenting on how they use their data feed. Carl

thanks again hayseed. It sounds like this program will work great for my needs. Happy trading! Carl