Change to StairStep Marker on Grid,#1633 Ergodic Study,  #1629-ErgodicSystem, Jay West template HowardsStoch,Additional DYO Choices, Pesavento Map Name Change to Ensign Map, Mark Middle of Chart Range, Time Series forecasts, Event Transfer

May 30 , 2007

16:30 Ensign Howard: HI.... Welcome to today's training class

16:31 Ensign Howard: Since May 10th, any program changes have been made to the version called Beta which can be downloaded using the Internet Services form. You would select the Beta bullet and get the upgrade.

16:32 Ensign Howard: As explained a week ago, I have worked on replacing all the Internet components for http, ftp, tcp and udp to be a consistent set. With the evolution of the program, we had components from three different vendors, which made it more difficult to maintain the program. So I have replaced two of the sources with the component set I like to work with the best. Since this resulted in changes in many places in the program, I thought it best to be a Beta status release. You are invited to upgrade to Beta version if you want any of the features or changes made since May 10th.

Change to Stair Step Marker

16:34 Ensign Howard: One of the changes was in how the stair step marker is drawn when the draw location is on one of the grid lines. An example of this marker in use on a grid line is the Woodie template. The change was to draw the line as a dashed line as in this example.

16:36 Ensign Howard: The grid lines being referred to are the thick dashed lines on the CCI 200, 100, -100 and -200 grid levels.

16:36 Ensign Howard: These lines are drawn using the stair step marker, which previously would draw as a solid line. The reason for the change was to support woodie patrons who wanted an easier way to count the number of dashes of a color.

16:39 Ensign Howard: If you were using the stair step marker to make the grid line and want it to be solid like it was before, the solution is the change to the curve marker instead. The grid line will still be horizontal on the grid % selected, but it will draw solid instead of dashed.

16:40 Ensign Howard: You do not need to change the woodie template you current use, all you need to do is upgrade to the Beta to have the dashed grid lines as shown.

Updated Study Alerts Help Page Includes Trading System Actions

http://www.ensignsoftware.com/help/alertsstudies.htm

16:41 Ensign Howard: This web page on Study Alerts has been updated with a new section at the bottom that documents the Trading System Actions. Trading Systems have had increased interest since I published an example in last month's Trading Tips newsletter, and we have had a couple classes on trading system design recently. Some may want to do more complex things, and we have a programming language called ESPL.

DYO #1633 Ergodic Study

16:47 Ensign Howard: Lets take #1633 as an example, which is a DYO implementation of the Ergodic study.

http://www.ensignsupport.com/email/1633.mhtml

16:48 Ensign Howard: The Ergodic is a ratio of a double average of the net divided by the double average of the absolute net. In this example we have Line A getting the bar closes, and Line B is a 1 period momentum, which is the Net from close to close. Now Line A could have read the Net directly from the bar instead of using 2 lines as in the example.

16:49 Ensign Howard: The user wanted to test different ways of getting a net by skipping bars to make an equivalent higher time frame bar. So the ability to skip bars can be done with the Momentum Line B number parameter.

16:50 Ensign Howard: If the number is a 2 then the net is from this close to the close 2 bars back instead of 1 bar back. Once we have a net, Line C is an average of this net.

16:50 Ensign Howard: Line D is an average of the average. Different average parameters can be used for each average.

16:51 Ensign Howard: Line E is the absolute of the net from Line B, with the number being passed in a GV.

16:51 Ensign Howard: Then Line F and G accomplish the double average of this absolute net.

16:52 Ensign Howard: Finally, Line H is the ratio of the numerator and denominator.

16:53 Ensign Howard: As a check that our DYO is set up correctly, I included a picture of the Ergodic study with the same 7,21 average parameter, in the bottom sub-window plotted in cyan color. And the DYO is in the sub-window above it plotted in blue, and both curves are identical in shape. That is good.

16:54 Ensign Howard: Now, I do not recommend you plot Ergodic using a DYO because the built in Ergodic study is much faster to calculate and plot. The DYO example is just that, an example, and for the particular customer, it will permit him to experiment with different nets obtained by skipping 1 or 2 bars by changing Line B number on the Momentum function.

16:57 Ensign Howard: Ergodic seems to have more popularity than I can account for. If you study it all out, Ergodic is just a massage of the net and you get basically the same answer by plotting a line through the bar closes. But most users do not research that to arrive at the same conclusion. I think I had a Trading Tips article showing that characteristic some time in the past, and you can find it by doing the google search of my site for the topic of Ergodic.

#1629 ErgodicSystem

http://www.ensignsupport.com/email/1629.mhtml

16:59 Ensign Howard: One of the e-mail I answered recently was a trading system based on the Ergodic on the ER2 100 Range chart, and the results were favorable so I posted the implementation as a Q&A article and as a template you can download if you are interested.

17:00 Ensign Howard: The system was basically a Stop and Reverse system, where the user was in the market all day long, either long or short. The system does have an exit at the end of the day, and a block to any trading during the overnight period. In the chart example, the system does not take trades where the chart background color is pink because this is during the overnight session.

17:02 Ensign Howard: IF the Ergodic line is falling the system is Short, and when rising the system is Long. This period of rising or falling is shown by the green/red bars at the top of the chart, which is also shown by the dual colored Ergodic study line being pink or blue.

17:03 Ensign Howard: Any questions about this example which was implemented with the Ergodic study and 4 study alerts?

Jay West Template - HowardsStoch

17:06 Ensign Howard: Jay West who is a chat room mentor in chat room #14 submitted a very nice template that combines some of the Woodie template and the trading system template from the last newsletter. This template from Jay West can be downloaded from the Ensign web site and is named Howard's Stoch. It produces this kind of a chart with labels on the bottom.

17:08 Ensign Howard: I am impressed with the template, so you might want to download it, study it, learn what it is doing, and follow it. And we thank Jay West for sharing the template with everyone.

Additions to DYO Language Set

Added DYO Flags for Line x Value Rising/Falling.
Added DYO Study Value | Index: Body inside/covers prior # bars selection set.

17:10 Ensign Howard: As shown on the What's New page, there have been additions made to the DYO language set, such as DYO Flags for easy determination if a DYO Line's values are rising or falling. This is easier than using multiple lines to read a value and a prior value and compare the two to see if the current value is higher or lower than the prior value.

17:13 Ensign Howard: The new selections in Study Value | Index: Body Inside prior # bars and Index: Body Covers prior # bars need a bit of explanation.

17:13 Ensign Howard: What this Study value will do is return an index or the number zero. Zero is returned if the condition is not met. The bar index is returned for the bar in the prior # of bars that meet the criteria of the test. For the Body Inside test we scan back through the prior # of bars to see if any of them have a body that covers the body of the current bar. So the current bar body is inside one or more of the prior bar bodies.

17:14 Ensign Howard: Likewise, the Covers test scans back to see if the current bar body Covers the body of one of the prior bars. If a prior bar is covered its index is returned. So a non-zero value means the relationship exists.

17:15 Ensign Howard: There were similar statements added to do the search using Bar Range instead of Bar body. These are specialized tests, however, they are quickly done by the new selection choices instead of using multiple DYO lines to implement the same kind of a test.

Pesavento Map Name Changed to Ensign Map

17:17 Ensign Howard: Another item on the What's New page is the statement that the Pesavento Map has been renamed to be Ensign Map. We are doing this because of increased confusion with whether our Map is the same as Larry's Neural Net. The answer is they are NOT the same thing, though they might be used in a similar manner.

17:19 Ensign Howard: Larry Pesavento's Neural Net calculations are CPU intensive and proprietary to Larry, and require processing external to our charting application by running data through a Neural Net application. The resulting forecast from the Neural Net can be plotted.

17:20 Ensign Howard: The Ensign Map is a totally different calculation. It is not based on a Neural Net and is a study in Ensign windows.

17:21 Ensign Howard: So do not be confused that your Pesavento Map study is missing if you upgrade. It is still there on the study list. It is just renamed Ensign Map, and hopefully, we can stop the confusion where some think they are getting Larry's NN study by getting Ensign and plotting the Pesavento Map (now called Ensign Map).

17:22 Ensign Howard: Users often attend seminars where Larry is the speaker and he shows them Neural Net examples, and it is not clear to the users how they can do what they see Larry doing.

17:22 Randy: Which one's more accurate? :-)

17:23 Ensign Howard: Accuracy is relative to the eye of the beholder. That is like saying which painting is better. Each artist would have reasons for liking or disliking two paintings being compared.

17:24 Ensign Howard: Some days the Ensign Map produces a forecast that is more 'useable', and on other days it is a toss up, and on other days the Neural Net forecast would have been more useable.

17:24 Ensign Howard: Neither is intended to be a stand alone trading system. So neither made nor lost money. They are timing tools to be used in conjunction with other tools and money management principles. Take the opportunity to attend one of Larry's seminars where he shows how he evaluates the charts. The NN is just one of the things that is considered..... it is not a solo system of signals unto itself. There is a human factor involved, and like I said, there is beauty in the eye of the beholder and skill in the mental processing of the trader.

Mark Middle of Chart

17:31 Adam: HI..... Is there a way to find and mark ,say, the middle of the chart no matter what the scale/size of the chart window and give it a global value...?

17:32 Ensign Howard: Adam you can use the Daily Price Lines tool with the selection for Scale 50%, and to assign this value to a GV select the GV spinner box on the same row of the DPL. Let me post example.

17:34 Ensign Howard: This example shows 3 lines at scale divisions of 80%, 50% and 20%, using different line styles and colors. The values for these lines have been directly assigned to GVs [1], [2], and [3] using the Global spinners on the form on each row.

17:35 Ensign Howard: Does this answer your question?

17:37 Adam: I see now...ty

One Bar MA on Close

17:40 Hadlee: Hi Howard, how do I show a 1 bar moving average of the close on a 9000 volume chart. I am only storing this number. It is not showing on my chart- thx

17:41 Ensign Howard: Easiest way is to put on a moving average study and set the parameter for bars to a 1. If doing this in a DYO, see this example.

17:42 Ensign Howard: In the DYO you can pick a GV for the Write GV and you can uncheck the Show box. You can store without plotting. A 1 bar average is the same as the original number

17:43 Ensign Howard: So the selection of Bar Value | Close gives you that number or you can use the look-up reference of [$C] in any of the Number fields as part of an expression such as Value + #

17:43 hadlee: Ok and then it can be used in other studies later right?

17:44 Ensign Howard: yes, the value in the GV can be used later on in other studies

Time Series Forecasts

17:45 Saroj: Hi... is there a "time series forecaster" indicator available?

17:46 Ensign Howard: saroj, we have a couple time series tools in Ensign such as the Cycles tool. Let me post example of that.

17:48 Ensign Howard: There is also a FIbonacci Ruler tool where you can measure fib relationships on the Time axis for swing points, which I will illustrate next.

17:49 Ensign Howard: and there is a FIbonacci Cycle with shows a count of the bars, such as 55 bars from an anchor point.

17:50 Ensign Howard: All these Time based tools can be used to measure time and show where a period of time relative to an anchor point would be completed in the future. Saroj, the Pyrapoint tool is another powerful time based tool, and so is the Ensign Map

17:51 Ensign Howard: let me post links for both of these

http://www.ensignsoftware.com/help/pyrapoint.htm

http://www.ensignsoftware.com/help/ensignmap.htm

17:53 Saroj: thank you very much

17:53 Ensign Howard: welcome

Auto Trading

17:58 Adam: HI...TY.....when will u talk about auto trading signals and implementation....in general.

17:59 Ensign Howard: Adam, trading system design was a topic in the last trading tips newsletter issue and for the classes on the 2nd and 9th of May

http://www.dacharts.org/archives/Ensign_Wed_class_transcripts

17:59 Ensign Howard: You are invited to read those 2 class transcripts from this web page directory

18:00 Ensign Howard: If you have a specific question about something you are doing, then I can advise you on your challenge or problem. We also had reference to a Q&A example earlier in this class for a system based on the rising / falling signal of an Ergodic study line.

Transfer of Event

18:26 Adam: HI....I want to get signal from $RUT to ER2 using global...how do I ??? In reference to time.... say...in $RUT it hits price... so I want to sent a marker to ER2 as to when that happened..

18:28 Ensign Howard: ok, that could be either a DYO flag or a study alert flag. On either property form you can save the flag event of this price hit in a GV. You will have to use a global variable in the range of 0..199. Then add a study alert or a DYO on the ER2 chart that is watching this flag in the GV and when it is True then put on a marker or sound an alert.

18:29 Adam: Can I use time as a global value...? I guess Time stamp an occurrence..and transfer that info to all related charts

18:29 Ensign Howard: Storing time does not help -- just use a boolean flag

18:30 Adam: that's all....simple enough...ok...ty

18:30 Ensign Howard: You need to understand this will work in real-time but not historically. You will not be able to mark historically on the ER2 chart the events when they happened on the $RUT chart. That is because the charts will calculate independently. Historically the $RUT spins through all bars when it displays and might have change the GV content 50 times in the calculation

18:32 Ensign Howard: Then it is ER2 turn to calculate and as it spins through all bars doing calculations it only sees the final value stored in the GV from the $RUT chart. The two will not draw and calculate historically together. However in real time they each will calculate as each receives a tick update. The line of the DYO is an array, a GV is a single value but you cannot reference the DYO on the other chart

18:32 Adam: ok.....that saves me time backtesting... No way to GV into an array...for the day?

18:34 Ensign Howard: Correct, no way though it would be useful for backtesting, it should not be an issue for live trading because you cannot go back and take historical trades, You can only make trades in real-time, and the passing of a flag in real-time in a GV will work for that

18:35 Adam: Right...ty

18:40 Ensign Howard: ok, thanks for attending class.... have a good week. Bye

18:40 @Buffy2: bye and thanks

18:41 Ensign Howard: welcome