|
Force Index, CyberTrader Beta. DYOs Ref Page |
August 2 , 2006
16:31 Ensign Howard: Welcome to today's training class with Howard.
16:32 Ensign Howard: We wish to thank al_gorithm for his excellent article published in the July issue of the Trading Tips newsletter. If you are not receiving the Trading Tips newsletter, you can go to the Newsletter page
www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/newsletter.htm
16:33 Ensign Howard: and enter your e-mail address in the edit box and click the Submit button. This will add you to the mailing list. The newsletter is distributed once a month by e-mail, and the readership is over 7600.
16:35 Ensign Howard: We welcome informative articles as contributions for publication. So please prepare an article with illustrations if you would like to share your ideas and research. We are in our 7th year of publishing this newsletter, and the archive of past issues has grown to be a treasure trove of information. You can click on a link for an issue on the Newsletter page to read past issues. Some of the major articles are categorized by subject at the bottom of the page.
16:37 Mahen: Thanks Howard
16:37 bg: July newsletter was great as were all the others -- learn so much thanks
16:38 Ensign Howard: You may have seen on the national news that the McAfee virus scan software itself was subject to being hacked, and they have released a major update that you should upgrade to if you use McAfee... I happen to use McAfee on one of my computers and the download was around 21 Meg, and the upgrade installation went smoothly. And as far as I can tell, the improvements to the program are nice additions. I assume the primary reason for the upgrade this week was in responce to the discovery that their own program was now being violated, hacked, or had a flaw that permitted some virus to exploit it.
16:41 Ensign Howard: I see al_gorithm is here in the training session, so if there are any questions about his article, possibly he would be kind enough to answer them. So, lets begin with any questions for al_gorithm.....
16:42 Ensign Howard: and there are no questions for al, we will take questions for me
16:43 Ensign Howard: please use CTRL+Q keys to flag a question icon by your nickname and I will call on you.
Minute/Second Charts
16:43 Ensign Howard: ok bg, ask
16:43 bg: Is there any way I can get a 2 1/2 minute chart. If not in a minute time frame what about tick? That's all I need to ask thanks
16:44 Ensign Howard: Sorry, there is not. our fixed time intervals will be by the minute, so you can have a 1, 2, 3, or 4 but not a 2.5 min chart. Constant tick, constant range, and constant volume bars will have a variable amount of time per bar. A related request we sometimes get is if we have smaller fixed time frame bars such as a 15 second bar, and the answer is also a No. And it is my opinion that having fractional minute bars is unnecessary and really just getting too close to the action that you are charting lots of 'noise' and those who do better at trading are those who stand back away from the markets to see a bigger picture of the trends, instead of the noise.
16:47 bg: 100% correct
16:47 Ensign Howard: I realize each has their own comfort zone for what level of closeness they like in watching the markets and for me a 5-min bar feels pretty fast, and I would be in a dizzy state trying to respond to patterns created with 15 second bars.
16:49 bg: yes I just came from fast tick charts to 3 and 5 min time - what a difference - slow me down some and is much better
16:49 Ensign Howard: Perhaps some of those in the room can type in quickly their preferences for the low end of speedy bar construction.
16:49 @Buffy: Usually don't go lower than a 4750V ES or a 700V AB here.
Beta Testers For CyberTrader
16:50 Ensign Howard: ok, next question
16:50 Ensign Howard: We are seeking beta testers for the CyberTrader data feed/ So if you have a CyberTrader account, we would like you to run Ensign with that feed and provide feedback. I think the feed is great, it is fast with high tick count similar to eSignal tick counts, and has a refresh, and super easy to connect to the account, and we support using either the CyberTrader futures symbol format of /ESU6 or the esignal format of ES U6 or ES #F
16:52 Ensign Howard: We also use the esignal futures format in our IB implementation. So which ever you prefer to use as the format, can be used. And the feed can be free if you meet the monthy commission minimum level and if I understand correctly, like the IB feed, there is no exchange fee for real-time quotes because it is a broker feed
16:55 Ensign Howard: CyberTrader is a division of Charles Schwab, so there is potentially tens of thousands of customers though many may be content to manage their accounts using web browser pages instead of having a live feed into the Ensign Windows application (or any application). I would think many Schwab customers have long term portfolios and may not trade in their account very often. They are the 'buy and hold' the stock types, rather than day traders or swing traders of the e-mini futures
16:57 Ensign Howard: any questions? I extend my sympathy for those in the heat wave that afflicts half the country
Force Index
16:59 Ensign Howard: ok blinford, your ?
7:00 BLinford: I am new to trading. So I have not spent a lot of time with force index. So I'm not familiar with its benefits. So this may be a very dumb question. But why was the force index considered and monitored when measuring short term OB and OS - As in the July newsletter
17:01 bg: that's a great question
www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/tradingtips79.htm
17:04 Ensign Howard: Sorry al does not seem to be watching as he would be better at explaining his purposes than I can. Since he is not available, I will take a stab at it.
17:04 Ensign Howard: The Force Index is primarily watching the net change of the bar closes. So when there is a big net move up or down, this registers as a peak on the Force Index graph. Now the Volume is an amplifier to this net change. When high volume accompanies a large net change, then that move is of greater significance.
17:07 Ensign Howard: As al showed in the example chart with 12 commentaries, one use of this oscillator is with divergence formation. Divergence is where the prices continues lower, but the study bottoms are climbing higher. This would indicate the down move is running out of steam, smaller net changes and also smaller volume.
17:08 BLinford: But isn't the divergence easier to see with the other oscillators used in the newsletter example?
17:08 Ensign Howard: He marks on the chart the divergence formation with straight black lines below the lows in a down trend and underneath the study and with black lines above the highs and above the study in an uptrend.
17:08 @Buffy: Would you please comment on using it on a volume chart tks.
17:09 Ensign Howard: Now, buffy makes good point, as have a couple others, that the example chart was a constant volume chart, which essentially factors out any volume influence because every bar has the same volume. In that case, (special case), the study is reduced to a plot of the net changes. Only a few have looked at the chart with sufficient understanding or effort to pick up on the fact it was a constant volume chart.
17:11 virt: leave it to buffy...lol
17:11 Ensign Howard: Al said he chose the chart on purpose to see how many were paying attention to the detail. So kudos to you for noticing and asking about that characteristic. But the commentary given above is still applicable to the general understanding of what Force Index is about.
17:13 BLinford: so force index is the best way to watch divergence?
17:13 Ensign Howard: Now to BLinfords other question, yes, most any oscillator wil have similar characteristics of indicating divergence when a move is running out of steam. Other indicators that could have been used are MACD oscillators, (mentioned by al in the article), and other range bound indicator such as Stochastic, and Relative Strength.
17:15 Ensign Howard: It is wisest to avoid words like 'best'...... lets just say Force Index is 'another' oscillator that also exhibits divergence characteristics, and then al goes through a dozen though processes as to why he would enter long or short, or stay out of the market by considering other factors. So he is sharing his mental game with us in a nice succinct way
17:16 Ensign Howard: and his use of the Force Index illustrates using a DYO to implement a formula not built into the Ensign program as a canned study.
17:16 BLinford: right. okay. thanks Howard.
17:16 @Buffy: tks Howard
17:17 Ensign Howard: welcome
Cybertrader
17:17 Ensign Howard: ok Kongfuzi, your ?
17:17 Kongfuzi: if we want to run the beta for CyberTrader what do we need to do?
17:18 Ensign Howard: Kongfuzi, send me an e-mail
17:18 Kongfuzi: i'll put it up on another machine but don't want to have to shutdown my IQFeed stuff - ok will do
17:18 Ensign Howard: we can be sure your computer gets authorized.
17:18 bg: nite all -- I have to run somewhere thanks a million for your time
17:18 Ensign Howard: Possibly you are going to use a different computer for the Cybertrader testing
7:19 Kongfuzi: k thx, glad to help and recommend to others about Ensign Software
17:19 Ensign Howard: k thx, glad to help and recommend to others about Ensign Software
http://www.ensignsupport.com/email/1124.mhtml
17:20 Ensign Howard: konguzi, are you seeing the steps listed, which talk of getting the Ensign Data Server program downloaded and installed
17:22 Ensign Howard: CyberTrader feed has a limited offering of futures symbols, but do have the e-minis. They have all the stocks and a huge offering of index symbols.
17:24 Ensign Howard: Any more questions
DYOs
17:26 Ensign Howard: Buffy, did you see the solution to Randy's DYO implementation of getting a time from the 15 min chart and marking same time stamp on tick chart? You asked about the challenge of doing so last week
17:26 @Buffy: yes, it is on dacharts
17:26 Ensign Howard: ok great. It is also a Q&A post
www.dacharts.com/qtips-dyos/Mark-time-ref-from-min_chart-to-RVT_chart.htm
http://www.ensignsupport.com/email/1127.mhtml
17:27 @Buffy: tks we can reference that
17:28 Ensign Howard: the SnagIt markups to the charts sure make for improved examples. Our DYO cross reference page is complete with a section added for visual effects. Let me post the link
www.ensignsoftware.com/help/dyo-cross.htm
17:29 @Buffy: :-)
17:29 Ensign Howard: This will be a great resource as you try to do something with a DYO
17:29 @Buffy: Having the information centralized has prompted many to try dyos. They don't have to spend hours digging for what they "know' is out there
17:30 Ensign Howard: There are 70 great examples, and lots of cross referencing as to which example illustrates a visual effect or contains a particular type of statement. I like to learn by seeing examples and understanding them. That molds my thinking to how things are done
17:31 @Buffy: Preferred method for many -- including myself
17:31 Ensign Howard: Often by seeing an example, I can then modify it to my purposes and have a huge head start at implementing what I want. OK, thanks for attending class
17:33 @Buffy: thank you Howard
17:33 BLinford: thanks Howard
17:33 Ensign Howard: We appreciate your being a customer and we do our best to deliver a quality product. Thanks for the feedback of praise and appreciation, that also is a motivational reward for your efforts and time.
17:34 Ensign Howard: Have a good week, ..... and be 'cool'
17:34 @Buffy: it is well deserved for you Howard
17:35 Ensign Howard: gn