Recently, we have heard from several members who mentioned a need for historical stock quotes. Although quotes can be obtained on Yahoo! Finance, the website does not provide an easy way to sort the quotes if you were looking for, as an example, yearly highs and lows. DownloaderXL solves this problem by allowing users to download historical quotes directly into Microsoft Excel. To take it one step further, AnalyzerXL allows users to perform technical analysis on the figures, as well.

DownloaderXL and AnalyzerXL are installed using two separate downloads, both of which are available in AAII’s Download Library. After installing the product, the additional functions will automatically appear in the “Add-Ins” section of Microsoft Excel. To use the data download feature, simply select DownloaderXL, and a separate window will pop up. Input your start and end dates, ticker, fields (date, open, high, low, close, volume, and adjusted closed), and beginning cell. If you would like the data to be plotted, there is a box you can check. DownloaderXL will download the historical quotes from Yahoo! Finance and populate Excel with the data.

After the cells are populated, you may manipulate the data in any way you want. This provides the ability to sort the data cells and write Excel formulas.

AnalyzerXL adds another dimension to the program’s abilities. This add-in is designed to offer technical analysis capabilities to Microsoft Excel. To use the function, click on AnalyzerXL, and a separate window will pop up, much like with DownloaderXL. In the pop-up window, choose the indicator to be run and hit “Next.” The next screen is where the input and output range are selected. If you would like a chart to be created, there is a box you can check.

A very useful area of the program is the demos that are linked in the AnalyzerXL pull-down tab. The links provide video tutorials highlighting technical indicators, including Bollinger Bands, commodity channel index, Fibonacci indicators, moving average, pivot points, and support and resistance lines. These tutorials will help you create and understand the indicators. Furthermore, these features are all added functions for Excel, so there is no need to learn a completely new program.

DownloaderXL and AnalyzerXL

Click here for DownloaderXL.

Click here for AnalyzerXL

System Requirements: Windows 98 or newer, Microsoft Excel 97 or newer (32-bit)

Price: 10-day free trial; $49.95 for DownloaderXL Package; $99.95 for AnalyzerXL Package; 30-day money-back guarantee