Well, I guess this forum is kind of inactive.
After I wrote my question here, I found (through Quasi) the S.C.A.N. forum, and most answers are right there, and I got my answer here:

http://scan.stockcharts.com/questions/3778/how-to-scan-for-tallest-candlestick

I would suggest the reader to go take a look at the scan stockchart forum. It's aimed precisely for those who need answers to their scan.

Scanning for longest candlestick.
I'm trying to scan for this:
1) Today's candle (open-close) is the longest since 10 days ago.
2) And today's close is highest since 10 days ago.

I know how to scan for the second one, I'm still searching for 1.

Any ideas? And thanks for your help.

If it works, here is what I am looking for (last candlestick.)

http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=22f6213

Are you all still digesting your Thanksgiving Turkey?
Anyone has an idea about the PSAR (my previous question)?
Thanks!

Parabolic SAR Scan

Great Questions & Answers about scanning! Keep it up!
Here's another one:

Stockcharts can only scan daily or weekly (to my knowledge), but I want to be able to do a Monthly scan with the PSAR.

How can I adjust the settings in the weekly scan so it can search for monthly PSAR?

For ex., the regular daily Parabolic SAR uses: 0.02,0.2

How can I convert these numbers into a monthly scan?
And why not, into a 60-minute scan?

Thanks for any insights.

Peter

Much thanks again Quasi for your insight.

I'll check your suggestions in a few days, I'm leaving soon for a week vacation.

Cheers!

How to Find a B/O of Upper Bollinger Band embedded within a MACD?

I've been trying to find a way to create a scan like that for days. And no matter what I try, nothing works. (BTW, I learn this technique from a video on YouTube.)

The starting hypothesis for the scan is the following:

[type = stock] and [PPO Line (12,26,1) X Upper BB (20,0.5)]

But it doesn't work the way I want. Look at the following chart, that's what I'm trying to achieve. A B/O (cross-over) of the MACD Line crossing above the Upper Bollinger Band. (Note that the BB is behind the MACD Line, not behind the chart itself.)

Any ideas?

Roland: Sorry, can't tell, it's a military secret!

OK, more seriously, it's not a very complicated scan, but you have to tweak it according to your own preferences (the hardest part.)

Quasi (always generous in sharing his knowledge) provided part of the answer in his reply to one of my questions on post 6656. Then, I just added a little twist to his suggestion by adding a MaxHigh N to the formula. "N" being any number of days you want to back test. Here's an example, though I still have to work on it... it's not bullet-proof!

[type = stock]
and [max (10, EMA(50, close) ) <= EMA(50, close) * 1.02]
and [min (10, EMA(50, close) ) >= EMA(50, close) * 0.98]
and [daily high > yesterday's daily max(20,daily high)]

Play with the EMA and number of days to your liking. But to my taste, this scan finds too many stocks.

Hope this helps! If you find some other tweakings, please share them here for our benefits! Thanks!

I found something close to what I was looking for.
Thanks for reading!

How to Find a B/O from a trading range?

Let's say I want to find a Break-out of a trading range since 2 months (like the example below).

How can I scan for stocks that reside inside a range of e.g. between 3.50 and 3.80, and then break-out of it?

I thought about a certain percentage of the highs and lows, but the close is always different. So I can't write ± 8%, it will work for a close like in the ex., but won't work for close in the range of GOOG or AAPL.
I also have to track the time. How about a B/O for the last 3-4 months, or 15 days?

Any ideas?
Much thanks again for any insights.

Finally, got it also! Here's what they are saying on their support page:

http://stockcharts.com/support/techsupport.html

Oct. 13 @ 10:45am - Several shaw.ca members have reported problems connecting to our website. We think the problem is with Shaw's DNS servers and we are trying to contact them about the issue. Shaw.ca users might want to change their DNS server setting to OpenDNS.com's server instead. Its address is 208.67.222.222

Have a nice day!

--Peter

Can you open their status page?

http://stockcharts.typepad.com/status/

or contact them through support:

http://support.stockcharts.com/home

I can't...

Hi Baj,

I am also on Vancouver Island, and check with "speedtest" with Oregon, and it's working normally.

Are you able to contact Stockcharts support?

--Peter

I still have problems.
I tried with Chrome, Firefox, Maxthon, IE8... zilch, nada,nothing!

If I refresh the page many times, I can see about 50% of the charts in a candlechart page. Most are with red X. Or the page doesn't load at all.

I tried to get in touch with support, and can't even open the page!

I also checked your link, and all seem to be functionning normally.... on their side!

I didn't do anything particular, except maybe install a new software "SyncToys" from Microsoft. I'll try to uninstall it to see if it does something.

Thanks for your help.

Stockcharts is down on my side this morning (Oct. 13)

I can't even check out what the're doing on their status site:
http://stockcharts.typepad.com/status/

Any news?

That's a neat little trick!
I'll try it out.
And I'm sure it will also help many others who never write on forum like this one.

Thanks again Quasi for your continuous support in this group.

Peter

Naturally, I know about SAR

But I'm looking for a visual trailing stop, some sort of line under the price that follows the close at a certain percentage, like 3% or 4%.

More like a Donchian lower band channel but closely related to the close.

Indicator for trailing stops?

Thanks for your clear answer Quasi.

Now, I'm trying to figure out a way to show trailing stops on a chart.
For ex., I want to insert a visual 4% trailing stop below the actual close.

Is there a way to show that on a chart?

I've tried with ATR and MA underneath, but it's not what I'm looking for. Unless I chart it on Excel, it seems I can't do that with Stockcharts (and probably most other charting softwares).

Any ideas?

Thanks Quasi for your help!

I am also trying to figure out a way to identify B/O (break-out) using a combination of moving average and close for today.

For ex., EMA 50 is flat for the past 10 days, plus or minus 2%, AND today's close crosses yesterday's high.

I can figure out the later part, but I'm unable to figure a way to identify a plus/minus 2% on the EMA 50.

Any ideas?

How to Scan a MA inside a RSI?

For ex., on a RSI 5, I added a MA 20 behind, and I want to scan for stocks that crosses above 50 while using the MA 20.

The purpose is to filter out many false signals since RSI 5 gives tons of whipsaws if used alone.

Thanks for any tips!

-Peter

Thanks guys for our little chat!

It's always interesting to learn what others are doing.
Maybe I gave the impression that I was a newbie, but I'm not, in fact I "retired" at the tender age of 52... Liberty 52 for me, not 55

Most of my core portfolio is managed by a large financial company, and I've decided to manage myself a very small portion of it, just for the fun of keeping me busy during my spare time (don't have much!) That's why I said that trading is a game... or a "War" against myself... depends whom you're talking to

I still play according to some indicators, and have found some very good ones. I try to keep everything simple. I still didn't find the Holy Grail, yet long-term, I've found one or two that come close to it!

Years ago, I also had to deal with emotions. Lost a bundle, but kept my head out of the water (that was the good ol'time of Nortel!) I tried everything: day-trade, swing trade, Buy & Hold, penny stocks, but stick with swing trading which fits my character. My core portfolio is managed along the Buy & Check principle while holding as long as I can (leaving emotions out.) And I "swing" my small portfolio with some indicators. I read the news, but rarely play according to it. I would say that my approach is 90% technical and 10% fundamental.

My motto: Enjoy life, it's a God-given present, and help others according to your talents! Or if you like: Eat dessert first, life is too short

Have a nice day!

Peter

Thanks Richard,

Well, if I would trade penny stocks, I would also get out with 2-3% If I recall from your Public charts, you are watching mostly stocks under $5, and for my style of trading that's a bit too volatile. I prefer mid to large caps, with good fundamentals, and try to swing trade them.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Yeah! Maybe I am looking for the Holy Grail, nobody's found it, and I don't think I'm superior to anyone else. I'm just trying to understand the game... and a "game" it is, most of the time.

You know what, I think most of the problem for a TA guy is that there is way too much indicators. At the most, one should master 4 or 5, and leave the rest to beginners (which I was).

It's like a painter, there is always one more brush stroke to add, but he has to stop somehow and finish it. He just have to master the basic colors, and play with it.

But you have to admit that it's a lot of fun fidgeting with all those indicators ... especially Stockcharts

Thanks Quasi... It looks like it can do the trick. I checked a few stocks with that system, and it doesn't seem to be a good technique

By the way, is there a way to find out which are the best trading systems (the one with above 60-70% probability of success)?

I'm a mid-term trader (a few weeks to a few months), I don't daytrade, and I would like to design such a system.

Where should I start? (I've already read tons of books )

I am not looking for "scans" per se, but I want to look at my own charts with those elements on it. Let's say that I have bought a stock and I want to "follow it" with a Stop-Loss system.

I sell if it breaks down the lowest point of the pas 20 days.

Or let's say I'm following 5 stocks, and I'm looking to buy when they will break-out above the High of the last 50 days.

I'm trying to visually see it with some sort of trendlines.

I don't know if that is feasible with Stockcharts because we can't design our own indicators.

I hope it's clearer!

And thanks for your quick reply!

Trend Following Trading System

I'm trying to find a way to show on a chart the following trading system as described in Turtle Trading:

Enter on a 55-day breakout and exit on a 20-day breakout in the opposite direction from your entry.

I would like to see those 2 lines charted on top of any chart.

I've tried to use the SMA 20 and SMA 50, but it's not working as I think it should.

Any ideas? Thanks!

>How did you make out with your scan development...<

Well, I try to improve it by scaling it down to make it a 60-minute scan. Not an easy task, mind you, because Stockcharts Scan can only use dayly and weekly data.

If I find something interesting, I'll share it here.

Thanks!

Peter

Hi Quasi,

I use Maxthon as my main browser (which uses IE as its engine in the background). I dont' have a problem on my side with either the 2-month or 2-day duration period.

The only "strange" thing that happens is when I am on the 2-day candlecharts, if I click GO, I can briefly see the 2-month appearing in the "Duration period" box, but it reverts back to the 2-day duration.

So, I wouldn't say I have a problem with Maxthon (IE).

However, as you said, there seems to be a glitch with Firefox.
If I start with a 2-day duration, and then change it for a 2-month duration, I can't go back to 2-day. It doesn't switch. It seems to get stuck to the 2-day period. I can't go back to the 2-month duration period. But only with FF.

Hope this help you somehow.

Peter

PS: However, if you change your list, and come back to your previous one, you can go back to a 2-month duration... using FF.

How do you spot a Break-Out after a Trading Range?

I tried the High > MaxHigh (N days).
("N" is any number according to your scan.)

This will find any High if it breaks above N days, but it will not find a "real" break-out after a Trading range. That's what I try to figure out for a scan.

Any help will receive my deepest appreciation...

Peter

Thanks for your explanation.
One thing bothers me with that system: Leveraging Down.

As a long-time technical investor myself, I learned to never average down, it can cost you your entire portfolio if you're not careful.

The system you talk about can be good if you simply "follow the trend". One can use a daily (or weekly) moving average (MA), or a combination of 2 or 3 MA. Here's a simple well-known MA system:

Daily MA 7 - 27 - 50.
As long as the stock is above the 50, you surf with the trend. If 7 crosses down 27, it's a yellow light. If both 7-27 crosses down 50, it's a red light = Sell.

The opposite is true for Long:
Close > MA 50
Green light if MA 7 crosses above MA 27, and stays above MA 50.

For a long term investor, weekly MA could also be used.

Don't you think it's a more "secure" way of investing?

Peter

@ TooFuzzy.
In one of your post, you said:
"Generally I am a long term investor in sector index ETFs. I sell a small percentage as a security goes up and buy as a security goes down. Once I have a trade a move of 5% in the same direction gives me a trade. To have a trade in the opposite direction (buy to sell or sell to buy) requires a 30% move. I never realize a loss. "

Could you tell me more about this technique?
I didn't quite understand what you meant?

You also point to a site (www.aim-users.com), but I didn't find the info similar to what you are posting.

Could you clarify please?

Thanks!
Peter

Hi TA4U,

Thanks for the input.
However, using the Upper Bollinger Band, the move is "extended", and most of the times, stocks are too far in their move. Many times the trading range is way far in the past, so I think that using a Upper BB, the "train was out of the station" many days ago, and we risk missing the first B/O.

Yet, adding the BB indicator can indeed indicate some good potential candidates, one has just to be patient to find them

Peter

Thank Quasi for your help. As usual, your input is really appreciated!

Now, I "only" have to find stocks that didn't go up to far, so I will play with the percentage number to see what brings the best results. Also, I want to find the "beginning" of the B/O, not too well advanced in time... that's the hardest part. Maybe I should enter some breakout volume also. E.g. Volume for today is >20% from yesterday's volume, or something similar.

Thanks!

How to find Break-outs (B/O)?

OK, could we come back to trading

How can I use the scan (Full and Real-time) to find break outs when they are occuring during the day?

I am looking for some sort of "narrow" trading range (few days/weeks), then a B/O. I have tried the MaxHigh over X days, but I find too many of stocks already far off.

I was thinking of using ATR, but I don't know how to include it to find narrow ranges, and then B/O.

Any ideas?

Much thanks for any insight!

Peter

Stockcharts was back on line most of today, but now it's almost 4 pm PST, and it went down minutes ago.
It's still down as I write this... Am I alone?

Peter

PS: ...think I'll just call it a night!

The new kid on the blockcharts... err... stockcharts!

They added a new indicator in "Full View" called VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price). Does anyone know how "really" useful this indicator might be? And how to use it?

Much thanks!

Thank you very much Quasi for your input (I always appreciate your "freely" given advices!)

Indeed, this was CLL.to, I could have told it, but I was more interested in the pattern than the stock itself. I tried your suggestion, and it works... up to a point! As you said, I have way too much hits, so I played with volumes, and I get some hits, however most are too far advanced. I'll continue to play around that concept, and let you know my findings... if any!

Peter
PS: Check GNA for the pattern I'm looking for on 2 occasions: April 2nd and April 13th. (Sorry, don't have time to show the chart.)

How do I find Break-out stocks like this one:
Ingredients: Larger than usual volumes + Break-out resistance.
I don't want the "too late moves", like I've shown, but the first or second moves.
On the 2nd image, I want to avoid that kind of move, with gaps down, rebound, and continuation of downward slope.
Any ideas? Thanks for any help!


Gap Move

I have read somewhere that "When looking at any stock first determine who is in control of the stock. If there are rising bottoms on the chart, the buyers are in control. If there are falling tops on the chart, the sellers are in control."

My "scan" question would the be:

"How do we find stocks with rising bottoms or falling tops"?

Is there a way to scan for those?

I have the advanced version... the full gamut!
So, what else could be done with the advanced version concerning my request?

Thanks Quasi for your viewpoint. (Your comments are ALWAYS appreciated!)

It's funny you talked about the PPO because that was the one I was intending to use, and not the MACD. Your explanation confirms my thought about using it. Now, let's push a little bit my idea.

Let's say I am looking to find stocks that are just about to crossover the zero line on the PPO. They are not there yet, but they are close to do it. Which implies that the stocks were negative, but are starting to show some positive trend (bull), and they're just about to "jump the fence". We can even later add a higher high (MaxHigh), a stochastic bullish trend, or any other tools. But for now, let us concentrate on the PPO.

So, how can I use the tip you shared to find that kind of stocks? Hope I am clear with my reasoning.