Guide to using Formulae in

Launchpad Monitors
T

1) Intro &Getting
There
2
2) Column Formula VS. Cell
Formula..3
3) The
basics
...4
4) IF/OR/AND/Nested IF.
..5
5) Mathematics & Other common formulae
Average/Min/Max
7
6) Date and
Times
...8
7) Subtracting
Dates
..9

1) Intro & Getting

8) Manipulating Update
Times11
There
This is a guide on using the =f(x) formula mode in Launchpad
Monitors, going from the basics to more in-depth usage for those
looking to get the most out of their Launchpad experience.

9) NEW!
fields/Return/Historic
Wherever
you seeInterval
a
icon, it means you can click on it
to load a sample monitor in the Bloomberg Terminal.
....14

Once its loaded, you can save a copy, and then go to monitor
10) Creating
a Matrix
import
to insert your own
custom list of securities. Lets get started!

values
1

....15

Firstly, click on the =f(x) button

in the top right hand corner of
your Launchpad monitor.

This switches the monitor into a formula mode allowing you to create
formulae just like you would in Excel.

2) Column Formula VS. Cell

Formula
Once you click this, any sorting will be temporarily removed, and you will be
able to see row numbers and column letters allowing for easy cell
referencing when writing your expressions.

Next, if you havent already, right click on an existing

column heading and choose Insert Column, instead of
typing a field name, hit enter, or <GO> straight away to
make this a blank column which we can now edit.

Column
formula

If you are looking to do a general

formula for the WHOLE COLUMN eg:
Multiply everything in column B by 2,
then right click on the blank column
heading and choose Set Column
Formula.

If each formula in the column is going to

be different, then you can simply double
click in a cell to bring up the formula
editor.

Now that you have the Formula Editor

up, you can start to type out your
expression.

For a CELL FORMULA, you will need to

write out the corresponding row number,
for example B1*2.

Cell
formula

Once you have your Formula Editor

box up and ready, it acts just like
Excel.
You can use regular cell referencing
(B1) if you are doing individual cell
formulae, or use a column letter to
3
indicate that you would like the
formula to apply to a whole column
(B).

3) The basics
Space for you to write your
expression.

Search box to find what you

are looking to do. EG: Type
MAX into here to find out how
to calculate the maximum
number of a column.

Categorised list of functions to

choose from.

4) IF/OR/AND/Nested IF

IF

Basic logical statements such as IF/OR/AND work exactly the same in Excel as in the
Launchpad Monitor. Below are some examples of what you can do, with a description of
you
have typed
out with
your
what the statement is saying. These can be inserted into Once
a blank
column
and used
expression
in
the
orange
box,
column formulae, as described in part 2).
hit update and watch your
If
the
figure in column
B is
cells
automatically
pull in
greater
than 100, then IF
data.
If/Or/And/Nested
populate myMonitor
blank4column
with BUY. If this is not the
case, populate the cell with
SELL.

AND
If the figure in column B is
greater than 100, AND the
figure in column C is greater
than 100, then populate my
corresponding cell with BUY. If
this is not the case, populate
the cell with SELL.

OR
If the figure in column B is
greater than 100, OR the
figure in column C is greater
than 100, then populate my
corresponding cell with BUY. If
this is not the case, populate
the cell with SELL.

NESTED IF

If the figure in column B is

greater than 100, then
populate my corresponding
cell with BUY. If this is not the
case, then check to see if B is
less than 50 and populate my
cell with SELL if that is true. If
neither of these happen,
populate my cell with HOLD.

5) Mathematics & Other

common formulae
Average/Min/Max
The following are commonly used and relatively simple methods of manipulating basic prices
and text.
They will almost always be handled and laid out in the same way they would be in Excel.
Examples are shown for all here which you can copy and paste into a Launchpad monitor

INT(value)
- returns the integer part of the value
Eg: INT(5.69) returns 5
MID(text,start number, number of characters)
- returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the
position you specify, based on the number of characters you specify
Eg: =MID("bloomberg",3,2) returns oo
LEN(cell)
-returns the number of characters in that cell
Eg: =LEN("bloomberg") returns 9
RIGHT(text,number of characters)
LEFT (text,number of characters)
-returns the first/(last) character or characters in a text string, and then x many
other characters to the right/(left)
Eg: =RIGHT("bloomberg",4) returns berg
Eg: =LEFT("bloomberg",5) returns bloom
MIN(range)
- displays the smallest value in array
Eg: =MIN(B2:B10)
MAX(range)
- displays the larger value in array
Eg: =MAX(B2:B10)
SUM(range)
Eg: = SUM(B2:B10)
AVERAGE(range)
Eg: = AVERAGE(B2:B10)

6) Dates and Times

Subtracting dates from each other can be tricky, but
the key is to understand how the monitor is reading
the date. I.E. Is it formatted as mm/yy/dddd or as a
number? Ultimately, this will be a result of how that
date was brought into the monitor.
Dates can be brought into your monitor in 3 ways:
1) Typing in the date manually with a formula eg:
"01/01/2011"
2) Using a premade formula eg: =TODAY()
3) Using a date field from FLDS<GO> eg: DV036
Next estimated Ex-Dividend Date
Now that we understand the different ways dates can be brought into a monitor, we can
use special formulae to make sure we are comparing apples with apples.
Or in this case, compare a date typed in manually 01/01/2011 (read as text) with one
automatically brought in with =TODAY() (read as a date).

7) Subtracting Dates

Counting Between
Days Example
Monitor

Once we have our text inputs

being read as a date, we can
use the =DAY() function to
subtract dates from each
other and calculate the
number of days between two
set dates.
need to transform anything that is read as text into date format.
Very usefulUltimately,
for anyonewe
looking
This of
can
be long
done with the =DATEVALUE() expression. Take a look at the monitor
to get an idea
how
above,
this
shows
until corporate actions are column B with a list of manually input dates, and in column C
=DATEVALUE(B)
has been entered as a column formula. It looks exactly the
occurring on
stocks.
same, but this now enables the monitor to understand that it is a date
Fields from FLDS<GO> are
also read as text, so we will
need to use =DATEVALUE() to
transform those as well.

=If you are using =TODAY() or

have used DATEVALUE() to
make your monitor read text
as a date, you can edit how
this is displayed.
Using =DATEFORMAT() around
the date will change how this
is shown.
Simply use the following
syntax:

DISPLAYING TODAYS DATE

Displaying Todays
Date Monitor

=dateformat(TODAY(),
=dateformat(TODAY(),
=dateformat(TODAY(),
=dateformat(TODAY(),

"d1")
"d2")
"d3")
"d4")

And so on up until d20 to

change the display

8) Manipulating Update
Times
A common request is being able to show which tickers
have been updated in a monitor within the last few
minutes.
Or more likely, which tickers havent updated for
some time.

10

The key is to separate out

the hours and the minutes
into numbers.

If you have the column RQ024 Time of Last Update

then you can use this in conjunction with some special
formulae shown below to work out what hasnt been
updating

Once you have done this then

you can sum the two together
with the appropriate
multiplication factors.

Again, once we understand the format of how the

numbers are treated, then we can change everything
into integers and show in number terms what hasnt
been moving.

For example, if the time of

update is 09:30 then this
should be split into:
9 hours (using =LEFT())
30 minutes (using =RIGHT())
Now turn this into a number
using =VALUE()
Then to give the minutes an
appropriate value you can
divide by 60. (60 minutes in
an hour)
Finally now that we have two integers
to compare, we can decide what sort
9+(30/60)
of time interval we want look over
=9.5
for an update.
Now we have an integer value
Lets take 5 minutes in this case.
for the last update, we can
bring in the current hour
The last thing we need to do is give 5
and minute with:
minutes its appropriate numerical
value so we would do:
=HOUR(NOW())
=MINUTE(NOW())
5/60
=0.08
And repeat the multiplication
The final step is to use an IF
statement and see if the Time of last
update + the interval 5 minutes is
equal to or greater than the current
time.
If it is, then it has been updated in the
last 5 minutes, if not then this is a
stale price.

Above we are separating out

the Time of last update
(column C in this case) and
applying the factor 60 to the
minutes.
The value is there so that the
monitor knows we are now
going to be manipulating the
result as an integer rather
than a time.

11

Here we do exactly the same,

except rather than
transforming the time of last
update into an integer; we are
changing the current time into
an integer

Here is an image of the final

monitor!

Update Within
Timeframe

12

Field: Time of Last Update

9) NEW! Interval fields/

Return/Historic values

Interval Monitor

It is now possible to use Interval fields and Custom Total

Return in a Launchpad monitor. This allows users to
calculate a single data point based on an extended period of
time, for example percent change over 2 years historically.

To add your interval field use the following steps from your
monitor: click view --> manage columns --> search for the
interval field you would like to use --> (interval percent
change/interval high/interval max/min) add selected. You can
then edit the date range and currency overrides via --> edit
overrides.
You can also do this directly by double clicking on the column
headings until it turns amber. There you can enter the field
mnemonic or keywords for the interval field and hit <GO> to
add. Finally, right click on the column and choose Edit
column overrides.

13

Click here to enter text.

10) CREATING A MATRIX

This column formula will look

at each cell in column F and
then works out where it ranks
in the whole F column from
cell 2Here
to the
bottom.
is a
useful application of using the
cell formula where the formula in every
If it iscell
theishighest
figure
in F,
going to
be different
a matrix
then it will return the number
1.
Notice here the use of # - this
tells the monitor to use a
range going from F2 down to
the bottom cell in the F
column, so you dont have to
worry about entering the
number of the bottom row

The tickers that have been entered in the monitor

below are just government 10 year bond tickers.
EG: GDBR10 Index for Germany
Then you can right click on the ticker - Security
Options Rename securities to give them the names
of the countries they represent
14

Now
that tricky
you have
The only
thingthese
here is
formulae
in
all
the
top
cells
of
making sure you lock the
cells
each
column,
you can
right
correctly
by using
the $
key.
click on each one and choose
filldown
Once youformula
go into the =f(x)
mode, double click in the first
Finally, you can right click on
cell of each column and put in
each of the column headings
the formulae shown above.
and rename them to the
country list on the left hand
side

Note: In this monitor there

are two hidden columns.

11) RANKING TICKERS

Column B: Current Price
Column C: Change on day

All the other columns are

blank columns for you to put
formulae into
Ranking Tickers

Rather than sorting a column, you may want to RANK the

numbers in a column and see where tickers lie in a range
without having to change the order they are entered in.

15

Here is a column formula that

does just that.
By using =RANK() we can
specify that we are ranking
the figure we see in each C
cell as we go down within the
range C2 to C#.

C# is a useful command
that tells the monitor that the
range ends at the last row
where there is data, so you
dont have to specify this
yourself.
Perfect if you are adding or

Here is the finished monitor

You can see the column
Rank showing where a stock
is ranked among others in
terms of its % change on day

12) RESOURCES

Go to your Launchpad
toolbar and type
Sample Monitors in
Enter Keywords.
This will load up the
sample monitors
component showing a
list of commonly used
monitors broken down
by asset class.
Those with 3 stars
indicate that they are
commonly requested
by users. Simply
search for a keyword,
16
check out the
preview, and if you
like it, choose Launch

New enhancements are made

visible through the light bulb
in the top right of the monitor.
Click here to see some of the
latest developments

SAMPLE MONITOR LINKS

Sample Monitors

And finally, you can always

All of these monitors have Column Formulae this means
that
you can
choose
HELP
on the
go to Monitor Import Securities at the top left of the
monitor to
run to access a
Launchpad
toolbar
the same monitor on your custom list of securities! general Launchpad guide

17

Real-time Portfolio Monitor

This sample monitor allows you

to link your portfolio or multiple
portfolios pulling PRT Fields such
as P&L, Market Value, Weight,
and more.

Real-time Portfolio
Monitor

Global Monitor

Global Market Monitor covering a

broad range of products

Global Monitor

Market Buzz

Catch Unusual and Significant

Activity or Market Buzz in stocks
before they fly! DOCS 2061962

Market Buzz

Equity Visual Trading Monitor

Gain visual insight on intra-day

movements on a list of
securities. Supporting document:
DOCS 2063567

Equity Visual Trading

Monitor

Technical Strategy

Technical Strategy allows users

to identify price support and
resistance levels determining an
indication for bullish or bearish
trend.

Technical Strategy

18

13) COLOURING
WITH
A
ENJOY
FORMULA
Now that you have got your monitor bringing
in all the data you need, we need to make it
visual!

This time we dont have to go into the =f(X)

formula mode, but can right click on a
column heading when we are in the standard
monitor view.
After right clicking, choose the option

With the Column Formatting window open, you can

choose from the tabs at the bottom depending on how
you want to color in your data.
Colors enables you to color in the values in the
monitor via simple logical rules.
If you are looking to go a little more complex and make
use of IF/AND/OR statements for example, choose
Advanced Colors and follow the examples on the left
hand side

THE
POSSIBILI
TIES ARE
ENDLESS

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