Using Quick Data icons (Quote, Chart and Time Series) you can enter a custom expression or common futures spread by clicking on the "ƒx" button in the symbol search of the insert dialogue.
Once you click the ƒx button the symbol search will update and you can begin typing in your own expression or spread.
As you enter in a ticker, a list of suggested symbols will appear. You can click on any of these suggestions and the symbol will automatically be placed in the expression.
The same expression logic that is used on Barchart.com is supported in Barchart Excel:
symbols - must be enclosed in "curly brackets". Examples: {ZC*1} {ESU17} {IBM} {^EURUSD}
constants: any floating point number like 2.35; note that we don't support "scientific" notation (for example 1.72E5)
Operators:
unary operator - (negation) so you may enter -2 + 1 and are not forced to type 1 - 2
binary operators:
+ (addition)
(subtraction)
(multiplication)
/ (division)
^(power)
The above binary operators are listed in order from lowest to highest precedence (multiplication and division will always happen before addition and subtraction, unless grouped by parentheses). To make sure precedence is correct, parentheses ( and ) can be used.
The Expressions dialog allows you to choose from a number of popular commodity spreads. When you select a popular spread from the drop-down list, the expression is built automatically for you.
Note for Futures Contracts: Barchart's applications commonly uses the * symbol on futures contracts as a shortcut to specify the month. For example, ZC*1 will return the front month, ZC*2 returns the second month out, ZC*3 returns the third month out, etc. Using shortcut symbols when building an expression is allowable.
Once you have your spread(s) created or selected from the Popular Spreads menu, click insert and the data will display in your spreadsheet.