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New Fill Markers, QnA Knowledgebase, DYO/Study Alert Prop Window Changes, Butterfly/Gartley drawtool, Adaptive MAs, Consensus Flags marker |
May 25, 2005
@Ensign_HA: Welcome to today's training class.... I have lots to cover which will take most of our time. At the end of class I can spend a few minutes answering some questions of doing a DYO example.
New Markers
16:33 @Ensign_HA: To begin with, the May 25th version can be downloaded now and the material talked about and demonstrated with examples requires that version and refers to that version.
16:33 @Ensign_HA: There was a May 24th version with an initial attempt to change the graphics of some of the fill and histogram marker types, and that implementation or change to those markers seemed to have 3 issues: 1) they drew slower, and on a chart with lots of them, the repaint speed was noticeable. 2) The markers were now filling behind other objects instead of on top of them, and while this was potentially beneficial for some uses, it was affecting the paint layering order needed in some templates to get the visual back to the original way. 3) the filled area was not cleanly removing itself and repainting itself at the current bar with live data.
16:36 @Ensign_HA: THEREFORE, and in consideration of these 3 issues, the existing markers have been restored to the way they were prior to the May 24th version. I apologize to those who may have already done some changes to the paint sequence of their templates, because you will need to undo those changes. Put your templates back to the original way they were prior to May 24th version, and they will perform as expected using the May 25th version.
16:39 @Ensign_HA: Now one of the reasons for the whole marker change was an attempt of have a cleaner fill marker, one that would perfectly color the area between two study lines. The current markers were drawing rectangle shapes, and that would leave jagged edges at a study curve boundary. In the May 25th version, rather than tamper with the existing markers and impact some template designs, I have instead added 4 new fill markers. These can be found on the bottom of the marker drop down list.
18:06 @Ensign_HA: the sequence of the 4 is this: fill from Top to study, middle of screen outward to study, from bottom of screen to study or bottom is between two study lines...so the bowtie is the fill between two study lines. The new markers will fill to the study line with smooth edges so the fill looks cleaner
16:41 @Ensign_HA: also, I added a 3 pixel curve since plotting lines with the DYO has become very common / popular....there are 3 curve markers, 1 pixel, 2 pixels, and now 3 pixels for thicker curve lines.
16:42 @Ensign_HA: the bottom 4 markers are the new fill markers that will fill cleanly to the study curve. Use these to fill to the study curve smoothly in place of the other fill markers that use the rectangle shapes for the fill. However, the rectangle shapes do have value for fill such as in this example from Buffy
16:44 @Ensign_HA: in this example the top area is doing a 10 minute bar range, and in this case the thick white edge boundaries are sharp vertical lines. So the fill interior using a rectangle does the job perfectly in the gray color.
16:45 @Ensign_HA: while I am on this template buffy which is your 2m pyra 10m bar template, let me use one of your DYO's as an example of an efficiency improvement.... which you will want to make to your template so it calculates faster. Every bit of CPU savings is worthy of doing so you have increased performance.
16:46 @Ensign_HA: This is the DYO you have as the 1st object on the study list. You had 4 lines which were 2 sets doing the same thing. A and B were used by you to plot the white boundary lines. C and D were used by you to fill the area with the gray color.
6:47 @Ensign_HA: see how this example with a couple changes is more efficient in two ways. First of all we use 3 lines instead of 4. Line A and B are the same for finding the Current 10 Min bar high and low. I used Line A to do the fill color and I stored the High answer in a GV. Line B could do the lower edge line in white and then used Line C to do the upper edge line in white by plotting the GV instead of calculating the High value a 2nd time. The store and read of the GV is hugely faster then recalculating the value a 2nd time so you would have the value to plot the line
16:50 @Buffy2: thank you very much
16:50 dblue2: ;))
16:51 @Ensign_HA: This example is the old B-Swing template using the fill markers.
16:51 @Ensign_HA: 1 moment, let me change the presentation
16:53 @Ensign_HA: what I am showing with this example is the rough edges of the fill. Most choose colors so the raggedness is not too noticeable, but I used the above colors to illustrate the ragged edges. Now let me show the change in visual by using the new fill marker, bottom item on the marker list.
16:54 @Ensign_HA: this example looks so much cleaner and sharper. Now many of you will want to use the new fill markers, and you are encouraged to do so.
16:55 @Ensign_HA: They will plot at the same fast speed as the old markers, and their layering logic is the same as the old markers. So in this example the outer keltner band is filling in the gray - then the inner keltner band is filling in the white areas. This is the same as before and I am no longer trying to do the transparency thing which affected the order of what studies painted. So it will no longer be confusing.
6:57 @Ensign_HA: any questions about the new fill markers or the changes of yesterday and today?
16:57 virt: Howard, that k-band coloring uses the bottom four markers, correct?
16:58 @Ensign_HA: let me show the property form for the keltner
16:58 @Ensign_HA: let me discuss the template a bit - the spread marker could have been on any of the 4 lines, so why did I put it on the Lower Band line? Let me explain.
6:59 @Ensign_HA: with today's version there is a subtle change is plot sequence wherein before I plotted the study line and then the marker for the study line. For these new fill markers, the fill was plotting on top of the study line, thus hiding it.
17:00 @Ensign_HA: so the change was made in the sequence to plot the marker (fill) then plot the study line and you get the effect I showed, where the keltner has the fill area in gray and then boundary lines of Black plotted
17:01 @Ensign_HA: now one other subtle issue about plotting is the sequence of lines within the study and we have always considered the 1st line more important to have on top than the spread or the average of the 1st line. So the lines within a study plot in bottom to top sequence of how they show on the study form. In the keltner example we plot the spread, then the lower channel, then the upper channel line.
7:03 @Ensign_HA: so the sequence for what is showing on the property form is to plot the Lower Band Marker, (fill area), plot the Lower Band line on top of the filled area, then plot the upper band line on the filled area. if you put the fill marker on the Upper Band line, its effect is to hide the lower band line which plotted ahead of processing the upper band line. Just a subtle reason to plot the marker for fill area on the lower band so it plots before the lines and thus does not hide any of them.
17:05 TerryT: The new fills are great. the transparency ideas were also a great idea. esp the fill boundary lines plotting on top of multiple fills. Is there any chance that a more efficient transparency rendering might appear sometime?
17:05 @Ensign_HA: possibly terry, but give this implementation a try first and the issue might not be needed after all.
17:06 TerryT: sure
17:07 @Ensign_HA: this effect was accomplished by a small change on the Keltner property form, which I will post next.
17:08 @Ensign_HA: here the sequence was to begin with the Lower Band, fill the spread area in brown, plot the upper band line in black - then fill the area above the upper band in blue, and plot the upper band in blue...so the one property form did two different fills.
17:09 @Ensign_HA: now I do not recommend it because it is twice the CPU burden for plotting, but I show this to illustrate the layering of marker effects in the same study property form.
17:09 dblue2: cool
17:10 amg: could you pls show the objects list
17:10 amg: so you did that to the top Kelt? the one at the top of the list
17:11 @Ensign_HA: yes amg, top item
17:11 @Ensign_HA: I am playing around with the B-Swing template, which I will reupload later today with the new marker selections.
17:11 amg: ok - thx, that's what was confusing me - got it now
17:11 @Ensign_HA: top item painted brown and blue, 2nd item painted white area
17:12 virt: Howard, how does one k channel window find the other, if the "band" is between the upper/upper and lower/lower - ie...the 3,9 and 2,9 objects - aha....thanks
7:13 @Ensign_HA: virt, to do that band between upper and upper, you would use a DYO to read the study values from each study, and plot spread on the DYO
17:13 @Ensign_HA: in this example we got the same visual of upper/upper by painting full area of upper/lower in brown and then repainting middle area of 2nd keltner upper/lower in white so it layered white on top of some brown
17:14 virt: thank you, Howard
17:14 @Ensign_HA: welcome, it was a point worth making and explaining.
QnA Knowledgebase
17:14 @Ensign_HA: now, on to another topic
17:15 @Ensign_HA: you will find a new menu Help | Q&A Knowledgebase
17:15 @Ensign_HA: this is going to be a super resource to check, possibly daily, or whenever you have a question. This Knowledgebase is a database of questions asked by users via e-mail, and my answer to the question...thus the answers should be authoritative and correct and the examples chosen to be included in the database can be groomed for efficiency and dressed with a picture as appropriate
17:17 @Ensign_HA: let me show you how to use the feature
http://www.ensignsupport.com/cgi-bin/ensign/bb.cgi
7:17 @Ensign_HA: though I posted the link in the room for illustration, when you click menu Q&A Knowledgebase your Internet web browser form will open and show a page like you see above in this chat form. A table will show the 15 most recent posts in time sequence with recent being on the top. On the bottom of the page are links to see earlier pages and we have 98 entries made this past week since the knowledgebase was implemented. On a typical day there might be 10-15 new posts made to the database. One excellent feature is the ability to search the titles for keyword strings.
7:20 @Ensign_HA: The format I am going to use is to have a category, then a colon, then a description of the subject as the title. You could search on the category words, such as Studies.
7:21 @Ensign_HA: and the list will then show all selections that contained Studies in the title line - click on the titleline to read the material - some items are text only - and some will have pictures in addition to the text
17:22 @Ensign_HA: the format will be Question: followed by Answer;
17:22 @Ensign_HA: Let me post an example in the viewer.
www.ensignsupport.com/email/190.mhtml
17:23 @Ensign_HA: here is one of many DYO examples.
17:23 @Ensign_HA: so use the Find box to search for DYO and you will see a list of entries. This DYO example was to show the user how to mark when Stochastic study was above 60
17:24 @Ensign_HA: after you make a selection to view an entry, click the Back button on your browser to show the directory again.
17:25 @Ensign_HA: please use the Knowledgebase - it should help many get the answer themselves instead of e-mailing me, or trying to ask my staff - as time goes by, most questions users ask will work their way into the database and it will become increasing likely that the question you have has been asked and answered before.
17:26 @Ensign_HA: lets do an example
7:26 @Ensign_HA: say a new subscriber wants to know about IB as a data feed - so lets enter IB in the FInd box and I get back 12 items for that topic
17:28 @Ensign_HA: perhaps the topic listed as IB: Ensign with IB datafeed and e-mini cost looks like it might answer the question and the user can click on that link and read the question and answer.
17:28 @Ensign_HA: any questions about this new resource?
17:29 TerryT: great feature. I've already uses it a bit. it could save everyone time.
17:29 @Ensign_HA: you will note that each entry has a unique number on the left, and that can be part of the information you give to another user to help them know exactly which item to read.
7:30 @Ensign_HA: thx terryt, saving time is the goal as well as educating users on new material
Changes to DYO and Study Alert Property Window
17:31 @Ensign_HA: ok, on to another topic, and the is a couple minor changes to the Study Alert and the DYO.
7:32 @Ensign_HA: in the past the DYO on the study list would apply itself when selected to the chart - then the user had to go find it on the chart object list to edit the DYO property form. Now the selection will automatically show the DYO property form, like the Study Alert does. This will be faster and more obvious of what to do next than it was before. Also, Study Alert is actually a study, and not a draw tool, so it has been added to the Study List, where it should have been all along.
17:34 @Ensign_HA: The Study Alert button is still around for backward compatibility and we made one small change and that was to skip the step of having to click on the chart to get the property form to show. Now you click on the Study Alert button, and the object is created and its property form shows immediately. That saves having to move the mouse to the chart and clicking on the chart.
CPU Usage
7:36 @Ensign_HA: while a property form is showing, you may also notice that the CPU does not go to 100% like it did for versions posted in the month of May.
7:37 @Ensign_HA: when we added the Help buttons a month ago, we also changed the form style for all property forms and in so doing added a loop which processed messages waiting for the form to be closed, so we could then process the way it was closed, whether you clicked OK button, the Cancel button, or one of the Delete buttons.
17:38 @Ensign_HA: a better way of handling this was to have the form send a windows message to the application when it closed with information about which button was clicked to close the form. Thus I was able to eliminate the loop which processed messages waiting for the form to close. It was the loop that was causing CPU to show 100% even though it was processing messages. So that small improvement might be noticed by some, especially if you use the Task Manager to show a CPU burden meter.
Butterfly / Gartley drawtool
17:42 @Ensign_HA: ok, the next subject to discuss today is the addition of the Gartley / Butterfly tool which is a new button on the toolbar.
17:42 @Ensign_HA: You can elect to show or hide this draw tool button on the Setup | Toolbars form.
7:45 @Ensign_HA: to use the tool, click on the new Gartley button, then click on the chart at a point 'a' and drag to a point 'b' - release the mouse and move to point 'e' and click
17:45 @Ensign_HA: the tool will automatically look for the primary swing between points b and e as in this example - so the user marks 3 points, a, b, and e, and the tool auto finds c and d
7:46 @Ensign_HA: the tool can shade the butterfly wings as shown in the example, and label the interconnecting triangle edges with their percent of retracement, similar to the Pesavento Patterns tool.
17:49 @Ensign_HA: the tool also can be used to show just the triangle marked by your 3 selection points without the gartley or butterfly wave between point 2 and point 3
17:50 @Ensign_HA: to do this variation, check the Triangle option found on the tool property form.
17:50 @Ensign_HA: here is a link on my web site about Gartley formations.
www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/tradingtips30.htm#Gartley
17:51 @Ensign_HA: when at the TradersWorkshop in Phoenix with Larry Pesavento a week ago, I watched him frequently use the draw line tool to highlight a gartley or butterfly formation and the idea dawned on my how a built in tool to do it would save him lots of time and also give the additional pleasing effect of coloring the wings
17:52 @Ensign_HA: use the property form to enable or disable various lines from showing, to color the wings or not color them, etc.
17:53 Wing: but what good is it to find historical patterns ? we need the future :)
17:53 @Ensign_HA: and the last 3 lines of the tool can be used to show extension or retracements on the tool form your last point. Wing, if the tool does not speak to you, ignore it, but in the hands of a master like Pesavento, there is going to be loud applause heard from Tucson.
17:54 Wing: Okay
17:54 @Ensign_HA: you can mark on existing chart wave 1 to 2, and then the third point can be in the future and show where a level would be that is 1.272 lower than the point 2 that exists. Thus the tool can have predictive value for the future for the wave not yet completed but it helps you see where the butterfly or the gartley formation matures. Patterns repeat over and over again and the Gartley is one of the best ones to trade. Those in the b-line room often use another name for this retest of a high by calling it a 2b formation
17:56 @Ensign_HA: you are all talking the same pattern, just using a different name for it.
17:57 @Ensign_HA: please read the gartley pattern article I posted the link for which is on our web site and I will get more written on the tool and posted to the knowledgebase and to our web site as time permits.
Data Library
17:58 @Ensign_HA: the final item to mention is that the Data Library on the Internet Services form, which has long term continuation files for futures available for download was updated on Monday along with the 30 minute files. Since many of you are IB users trading currencies, we posted the currency files under both the esignal name and the IB name, example JY #F and JPY #F
17:59 @Ensign_HA: OK, that is all I had for today.
Painting MA based on another study
8:07 GR: 17.49 @Ensign_HA, Could you show how to paint a moving average based on another study like High-Low Stop? Thank you.
18:08 @Ensign_HA: hi GR, yes, let me do your example, 1 moment
8:13 @Ensign_HA: ok, Line A is reading the hi/lo stop study flag for whether position is long or short.
18:13 GR: 18.07 @Ensign_HA, Thank you very much.
18:13 @Ensign_HA: flag is true when position is long and false when short
18:13 @Ensign_HA: Line B will conditionally do Line C and line C is an average plotting in orange. line C did its own calc, or it could have read some other study like a MA on your chart - LIne D conditionally does line E when flag is false - and Line E plots same thing but in a different color.
18:14 GR: Thank you again and I am going to give it more thought.
18:34 GR: 18.32 @Ensign_HA, Sorry Howard, I have used a MA study as study value instead of chart value but the MA is not colored based on the High-Low stop
18:35 @Ensign_HA: 1 moment.
18:38 @Ensign_HA: see my post
18:38 GR: Thank you
Adaptive Average
18:13 Sportsrep2: Howard...............could you please give a brief explanation of how the "adaptive average" is supposed to work vs. a regular MA?.........I could not find an explanation on the site
18:14 @Ensign_HA: sportsrep, the principle behind an adaptive average is to have a variable for the bar parameter.
18:16 @Ensign_HA: when the study begins to move vertically, a smaller parameter is to be used so the average tracks the run more closely or promptly and when the data set is going sideways, a bigger average parameter is to be used so the average is more likely to be away from the choppy action.
18:17 @Ensign_HA: so there can be many ideas to measure whether the data set is going sideways or directional - I think one we may have illustrated was to use momentum as the indication and have it be the basis for a smaller or a larger average parameter...anyway that is the idea behind any adaptive average study and the primary differences of implementation will be the mechanism for deciding if the market is sideways or trending.
18:18 Sportsrep2: ok......thx
18:18 @Ensign_HA: welcome.
18:19 @Ensign_HA: ok mykro, your turn
18:19 Mykro: Howard .. Could you show me how to use a DYO to evaluate 4 study flags so when they are true to have a message go on to section 3
18:19 @Ensign_HA: yes, 1 moment mykro
www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/tradingtips59.htm#Consensus
8:20 @Ensign_HA: see this article where 4-5 flags were forming a study consensus for posting a message to the chart - now we can so something similar with a DYO and while you look at that material, I will invent a DYO example for you, 1 moment
18:21 Mykro: I'm familar with your study consensus.. Works quite well..
18:25 @Ensign_HA: in this example I have the Hi/lo stop, and a MA on the chart.
18:26 @Ensign_HA: Line A, B, C and D are 4 different conditions I want for consensus
18:27 @Ensign_HA: ok, the four condition flags are being parked in GV [1], [2], [3], and [4] - then Line E is doing the AND operation on a quantity of 4 globals, starting with position [1]
18:28 @Ensign_HA: when line E is true, the four flags are all true and this condition is marked on the chart with the blue zone and the Section 3 will show the message Consensus with a GREEN background, and when it is not true the background will be RED
18:29 Mykro: Thanks Howard.. I will study this.. Thanks for your Help..
18:29 @Ensign_HA: The line of logic controlling the section coloring will be Line E
18:29 @Ensign_HA: rest of form is empty - example should be pretty straight forward
8:30 @Ensign_HA: A-B are the condition flags - E is the vote of all 4 and plot a marker (which helps to verify the logic) - and the section message selection, logic, text and color are in the first panel
:46 @Ensign_HA: lets call it a day - have lots yet to do
18:47 Rice: Is there an easy way to have the curve marker display the 'rising-falling' characteristic or would you have to use a 'do if true' test or some such within the DYO?
18:47 StockMaster: bye all - Buffy2: ok Howard thank you, learned a lot - TerryT: thx
18:47 @Ensign_HA: you all have a good evening. bye
18:47 Rice: can do later Howard. great class, go rest
8:47 scooter: thx Howard
18:47 @Ensign_HA: rice use your own testing like in the examples today
18:47 @Ensign_HA: or rice, here is a quicky solution - put on a Moving Average study which does the rising falling mode and have as its Data Point a reference to the GV
18:48 @Ensign_HA: the MA can plot the GV - so the DYO can calculate it and the MA can plot it in the rising falling coloring
18:48 Rice: right, that's easy. thx
18:49 @Ensign_HA: bye