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Hey John. I've found that the news that drives the futures is a better barometer than the numbers... and that's somewhat heresy for me cause I'm big into numbers. Like if the futures is down because of foreign markets, well that sentiment is not as likely to last all day as some domestic news might be. I guess what I'm saying is that to me, it's more about the feel of the market here lately.
But when I do want something more concrete, I watch the VIX and S&P charts. A chart is a chart, and though the market is subject to be moved by all sorts of influences, you can still use the charts of the indices to get a general feel of at least magnitude, and more times than not, direction as well. That may not be any news to you.
For those that don't know, in SD, to get a chart of an index, with intra-data data, you usually have to preceed the ticker with a $ and end it with a .x
.... like $SPX.X and $VIX.X are the two that I reference above.
Thank you for your reply... that was very thorough.
Can I PM you about a couple of things?
Thanks for your reply Syko. Any particular fundamentals that you like better than others?
Oh, gotcha. I have saved orders for the stocks I trade the most, but obviously I still have to click on it to execute it.
Two thoughts here...
You could have a set of code for a set of symbols that are "high" volatility and another for medium, etc. if you have like a suite of stocks that you trade exclusively. I mean we know by definition that 3x leveraged ETFs are volatile and would probably fit into the "high" list depending on what your threshholds are.
Another thought is, have you considered using beta or ATR as your volatility measure?
Tony, looks like it is a bug, cause even the Entry___ fields show up blank in my positions window. I think the fields are there but SD doesn't populate the data.
I know how to do it, but I've never done it. Gimme a little while and I'll post it.
...lol
I still haven't tried that code yet. Have you considered Paladin's comment about trying to find the stock before the "pole" vs. playing the pennant on top of the pole?
That's kinda where I got stuck but I'll revisit the topic.
Question of the Week...
What's your due diligence process? Do you do any fundamental analysis? If so, what does it consist of? Do you only do DD on the stocks you plan to swing or hold longer? Do you use any SD functions/formulas to help you with your analysis, or do you only use outside sources? etc... Please add any other pertinent info regarding the DD process.
note: QoW is a feature that I've considered adding weekly or at least periodically, just so we can be more informed about where everybody is coming from. It's also a good way to share best practices.
Full disclosure here... I am completely clueless on this topic.
I can understand determining risk/reward ratio or stop levels based on volatility, but not position size. What's you're reasoning there?
If you are using a live automated strategy, maaaybe, but it sounds like you're a ways away from that.
OK, that makes sense. And actually I think I knew that already. Tony had pointed out the pitfalls of using a sub-1 sort of setup on the day because the data is sooo stale by the time you get a trigger. I am a day-trader by birth.. LOL... so maybe I'll give backtesting on some of those shorter timeframes a gander.
I appreciate your concern about someone going off half-cocked and implementing a live strategy that they shouldn't. Not to worry in my case. But I'll post a disclaimer message just to remind everyone and put a blurb in the iBox as well.
Thanks for your input, John.
You're doing this, right?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37908480
John, just now got a minute to try to digest what you're saying here. Are you saying that, for example, if my formula references the day bar only, I should set my Interval to Day (override option deselected), test with detect intrabar = 1. And that if I slide all the phrases in the statement back a day and implement it live I'll get the same results as the backtest?
Well here's what I'm into... I'm looking at the Demark-9 on the week as an indicator of long-term trend strength, then scouting for fresh entries on the day. It gets to some of our prior discussion about playing into existing trends and knowing when they are exhausted. Demark was designed to be an exhaustion meter.
I'm putting together some logic to test that tonight... if the other chaos in my life stays at bay that is.
Sometimes it takes a little while for things to register.
One more really important note regarding formulas in SD, is that they adhere to the algebraic order of operations. So, for example...
Bar[Close,D] * (Bar[Close,D,1] + Bar[Volume,D])
does not mean the same thing as
Bar[Close,D] * Bar[Close,D,1] + Bar[Volume,D]
Attention to detail is absolutely required to get it to work the way you want it to.
BTW, those are both nonsense formulas... just examples of the syntax.
Sometimes it's good to just step away and take some time to hone your skill set. I find that my performance improves dramatically when I trade for a little bit, analyze my results, make some tweaks, and repeat. I mean if you can increase your efficiency and accuracy by adding new tools on those non-trading days, then over time you just get better. It's the sig-sigma process engineer in me... LOL.
I didn't read the manual either... just enough to get an idea of how powerful the tool is. The ~very best~ way to learn StrategyDesk, or any other tool for that matter, is to play with every item on the menu, menu bars, and sub-menus until you understand them, or understand that you don't need them.
When I can't figure out the error in my logic, I copy it into Word and do a find all for the left parenthesis, then the right parenthesis. You should have the same number. If you have one more right paren than you do left ones, then you know what you're missing. Then you'd have to do the same thing for the left and right brackets.
I'll start your corrections, and you can take it from here. Most "phrases" in a formula end with a bracket... I put the first two missing ones in for you...
1000/ (MovingAverage[MA,High,5,0,30] - MovingAverage[MA,Low,5,0,30] / 2 + (Bar[High,15] – Bar[Close,30,1]) + (Bar[High,15,1] –Bar[Close,30,2 ) + (Bar[Close,15,2] –Bar[Low,30,1 ) + (Bar[High,15,2] –Bar[Close,30,3 ) + (Bar[Close,15,3] –Bar[Low,30,2 ) + (Bar[High,15,3] –Bar[Close,30,4) + (Bar[Close,15,3] –Bar[Low,30,2 ) + (Bar[High,15,3] –Bar[Close,30,4) + (Bar[Close,15,4] –Bar[Low,30,3 ) + (Bar[High,15,4] –Bar[Close,30,5) + (Bar[Close,15,5] –Bar[Low,30,4 )
Q, you might benefit from adding this if you're looking for volume spikes...
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37507121
How do you code your volume pops?
Groovy... glad you like it.
The way to get live triggers is to implement an automated strategy.
You can have the strategy do anything you want it to... alert you, trade for you, or like from Tony's earlier post, you can save the trades and review them later, but I don't think the live strategies are going to show you the B and S indicators on a chart. I'm pretty sure that's only for backtesting.
TIP of the week - Watching multiple positions
You can customize your Positions window layout to include your key exit indicators. Think of it as a dashboard that gives you more detail about the health of all of your positions at a glance. So for example, if you always exit when the MACDh crosses 0, you can set a column to alert you to that. Or if you stay in a trade as long as the 30 MA is going up, you can put that in a column as well. It's a way to see more detail than +/- and can give you warning signals for trades that may be getting into trouble. As always, use good money management and stops on all your positions!
Thanks for the follow-up on that John. I may have some questions on that for you later.
Put the list in an L1 and then run a screener against it. It will pull back only the ones that meet your criteria, and will continue to update until you remove or pause the screener.
Welcome, Mark M!
Start at this thread and follow it thru. You're proably stuck in the same place I was. Tony's the resident guru on this topic.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37424061
Thanks IBN. I'll take a look at that. That's a really good tip.
I'm stuck on this concept of playing a fresh ripple (e.g. fresh day) within an existing uptrend (i.e. week). I mean it's not a big huge honkin deal, but it's just a concept that I haven't settled my head on yet.
18 months ago I was using Wizetrade, believe it or not, and the main strategy they advocate is to play day charts within strong week AND month trends. They look for charts that are "low on the left, high on the right" on both the week and the day. It's too restrictive but it does works and it's low risk. I'm trying to find a happy medium.
Thanks for your input. I'll look at your PPO stuff too sometime later today.
Happy Trades!
Here's my 15/65 scan. It's my "bare minimum" criteria. In English it's looking for:
- 65 day moving average at least 600,000
- 15 day moving average at least 600,000
- 65 day average true range at least 5% of price
- 65 day average true range at least 5% of price
MovingAverage[MA,Volume,65,0,D] >= 600000 AND MovingAverage[MA,Volume,15,0,D] >= 600000 AND (AvgTrueRange[ATR,15,D] / Bar[Close,D]) >= .05 AND (AvgTrueRange[ATR,65,D] / Bar[Close,D]) >= .05
I use both 15 and 65 because I'm looking for consistency over time. If you scan the entire market, it will yield about 900 symbols. You can add more criteria to narrow the population. Or like, me, I just save the list and then use it throughout the week to run situation-specific scans.
Hope that helps.
IBN, are you truly looking for negative values only? Like you can get it to tell you if the value is increasing or decreasing, crossing 0, about to cross 0, etc. I don't use PPO so I'm kinda clueless on usage. Just some more things to think about!
Hi John. I use level 1 columns to monitor a list of stocks. So I have maybe 300 at a time in a L1, based on some bare minimum criteria, then I have columns set up for differentiators, like volume, stochastic values, etc.
Think of it as kind of like an instrumentation panel... for the purpose of telling you which charts might best meet your criteria. If you get the right data in there, it can save you from looking at charts that don't meet your criteria. It can also be a good barometer of how stocks are behaving relative to each other. Its just a good way to have the system do some of the huntin' for you.
Check out the formula that I posted for TAAV (link is in the iBox). That's an example of something I'd put in an L1, and then sort the list based on it.
Here's how to get started... open a L1, load up some symbols, then go to the Columns menu. Play around with Custom Columns and Color Columns to see what's built in already. Once you learn how to construct a L1 panel using SD canned code, you can put your own favorite indicators and data points in columns.
Hope that makes sense.
And it doesn't have to be during market hours. In fact there's some huge benefits in looking at data both during the market and while the market is closed. The TAAV example that I gave is not good while the market is closed because part of its calculation is based on a 9:30 AM start time. That probably doesn't make sense, but it's kind of an unimportant point for now.
You can put it in a scan using the code I pasted. You would just have to specify the equals part of the equation... like if you have a certain value that you look for, or a range of values, those can easily be scanned for.
Well it sure as heck isn't there. I think that's the first time I've seen that. But when I look at the chart study, it shows the formula that "% Price Oscillator (12,26)" uses...
100 * (ExpMovingAverage[EMA,Close,12,0,D] - ExpMovingAverage[EMA,Close,26,0,D]) / ExpMovingAverage[EMA,Close,26,0,D]
Are you using formula builder (the web version)?
You could always set up a strategy to just alert you when it's triggered vs. executing a trade. That way you retain complete control. That's my plan anyway.
Why can't you use PPO in scans? If it's available for a chart, you can scan for it... unless I'm missing something.
Wow, very interesting. It's somewhat related to another thread here about moving averages
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37876323&txt2find=fan
I don't know where I saw you posting, but you musta said something good cause I flagged you.
And your quote in your signature.... sooo true.
Is this what you do, IBN?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37176442
30 days would be 6 bars on the week. Where do you get concerned about exhaustion? Do you just visually inspect for it?
That's wonderful Syko.
I use sto 8,3,3. It is incredibly accurate. I use 12,26,9 but I also use MACDh 3,6,9. I have a lower study that displays both the MACDh's as lines and a zero line to watch for crosses.
I was asking about this piece...
<<I was writing the Strategy in a 12 min interval and back testing in a 1 min screen in SD. This is a big "no can do". A 12 min formula must be BT'd in a 12 min window in SD>>
LOL... let's just say he knows how to work the system, and for now report cards are unimportant details. But he has true grit. In the end, that's what counts.
LOL! Sounds like something my son would write... clever devil that he is.
Welcom I-B-N! I've actually been following your posts for a little while, so I'm glad to see you here.
I think the true technonerds, that have laid code in a professional capacity before, have a better chance of ~completely~ mastering the tool, but it's just like anything else... you get out of it what you put into it. Mastery requires a dedication to results and details. Anybody can be a technonerd if the drive is there. But the good thing about SD is that is doesn't require mastery. It works from day one and you build upon that as your curiosity drive you to.
I just know that I would have soooo benefited from this kind of board when I was learning the tool 18 months ago... and I couldn't find it... thus the reason for its existance.
Happy trades to you!