Painted Volume Bars vs. Unpainted Volume Bars

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Tresor
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Painted Volume Bars vs. Unpainted Volume Bars

Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

Hello TS Support,

A boring introduction:

I am in a proccess of devicing my reversal trading strategy. As soon as I device this strategy I am going to give a specificaton of this trading strategy to a programmer who will then code it for me. The strategy will be comprised of a few indicators /divergence spotting and... the below

I have read many internet forums on strategies and all the wise folks write that volume analysis should be an important component of such a strategy / volume is the fuel for price action, etc. I want the volume analysis to be a part of my strategy.

I am a newbie and volume analysis is somewhat difficult for me because the Volume Indicator in MC displays only one color. Please see the attachment ''Unpainted Volume Bars''. Some charting software offers Volume Indicator in two colours, e.g. red volume bar if the price moved down and green if the price moved up, see attachment ''Painted Volume Bars''.

The question:

Would it be possible in MC to make Volume Indicator that would display volume bars in the same colour as the price bar? Not in two colours but in as many colours as the price bars are coloured.

As you can see from "Unpainted Volume Bars" on the right there are 5 colours. Blue tells me that the price broke up the Keltner Channel and magenta tells me that the price broke the Keltner Channel down.

Now, if I can find a repeating pattern and make a pseudocode of it like ''reverse into long when the price broke down the Keltner Channel at the 3rd Volume bar from now provided the 3rd Volume bar height is 45 - 60% of the two preceeding volume bars... etc. - that is my basic reason for having coloured Volume Indicator Bars: to help me create a strategy.

Apologies

Marina, I am so sorry for troubling you on so many occassions in this forum. Accept my apologies for any questions I may have in the future.

Regards
Attachments
Painted Volume Bars.jpg
(74.2 KiB) Downloaded 1084 times
Unpainted Volume Bars.jpg
(178.06 KiB) Downloaded 1096 times

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

Hello TS Support,
...I am a newbie and volume analysis is somewhat difficult for me because the Volume Indicator in MC displays only one color. Please see the attachment ''Unpainted Volume Bars''. Some charting software offers Volume Indicator in two colours, e.g. red volume bar if the price moved down and green if the price moved up, see attachment ''Painted Volume Bars''.
Regards
if you select the "Volume Avg" indicator, it has a color option.

you can choose any color combination you like for up and down colors.

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

Thanks TJ :mrgreen:

Volume Avg is okay. Can anyone please advise what to do if I want to have multiple volume bar colours (more than two)?

Regards,

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

Hello TS Support,
...Would it be possible in MC to make Volume Indicator that would display volume bars in the same colour as the price bar? Not in two colours but in as many colours as the price bars are coloured.
Regards
The beauty of MultiCharts is, you can make the program to do almost anything you want to do...

EasyLanguage is English-like; if you can write out the logic in English, you are already half way having it programmed.

Go give it a try... click on the indicator, then select to open the script.
The indicator script will open up in the PowerEditor.
Read through a few of these scripts, you will find the "language" is not that difficult to understand.

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

Hi TJ,

EL is not easy for me because English is not my mother language.

I made some attempts to learn EL. I bought ''Ask Mr. Easy Language'' two weeks ago + some other books. I tried some exercises and it turned out that EL in MC is different in some aspects than EL in TS, so what I got in return for these excersises were ''syntax errors'' so I gave up.

I'll wait for EL books written for MC users.

Regards

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

Hi TJ,

EL is not easy for me because English is not my mother language.

I made some attempts to learn EL. I bought ''Ask Mr. Easy Language'' two weeks ago + some other books. I tried some exercises and it turned out that EL in MC is different in some aspects than EL in TS, so what I got in return for these excersises were ''syntax errors'' so I gave up.

I'll wait for EL books written for MC users.

Regards
English is not my mother tongue either. :oops:

Go through the book... Start with the basic exercise (there are not that many).
You shouldn't get into syntax errors... whatever differences in the versions should not appear in the basic examples.

I will post a few example for you to see. I will do it after the market.

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

TJ,

Half of the stuff from Ask Mr. Easy Language says ''compiled with error(s). I can send you these files if you wish.

The biggest problem I have is the book ''Building Winning Trading Systems with TS'' I made 3 - 4 first exercises. Each of them 5 - 10 lines long. Each could not be compiled :roll:

That is why I will look for a skilled programmer when I devise my strategy. If you are a good one let me know your rates :twisted:

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

for the ones that "Compile with error(s)", feel free to post the code here so that I can debug them for you. This will be a good learning exercise for everybody.

Leave the "Building Winning Trading System" for later. You will need to get the basics down first.

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

You are my saviour :) Here you are:

[LegacyColorValue = TRUE];

{
Type : System
Name : EZL.Channel BreakOut
Notes : Example of Channel Breakout w/ Entry and Exit Orders

Inputs: le.Bars (14), se.Bars (14),
lx.Bars (14), sx.Bars (14),
le.Ticks (05), se.Ticks (05),
lx.Ticks (05), sx.Ticks (05) ;
Inputs: en.Mode (00) ;

Vars : App.Name ("EZL.Channel BreakOut") ;
Vars : le.Price (+999999), se.Price (-999999),
lx.Price (-999999), sx.Price (-999999),
le.Points (MinMove * le.Ticks Points),
se.Points (MinMove * se.Ticks Points),
lx.Points (MinMove * lx.Ticks Points),
sx.Points (MinMove * sx.Ticks Points) ;

{*
* Assign values each bar
*}
le.Price = Highest (High, le.Bars) + le.Points ;
se.Price = Lowest ( Low, se.Bars) - se.Points ;
lx.Price = Lowest ( Low, lx.Bars) - lx.Points ;
sx.Price = Highest (High, sx.Bars) + sx.Points ;
{*
* If we are not currently long
*}
if @MarketPosition <> +01 then begin
if en.Mode > -01 then
Buy ("le.ChanBrk#0") at le.Price stop ;
ExitShort ("sx.ChanBrk#0") at le.Price stop ;
end ;
{*
* If we are not currently short
*}
if @MarketPosition <> -01 then begin
if en.Mode < +01 then
Sell ("se.ChanBrk#0") at se.Price stop ;
ExitLong ("lx.ChanBrk#0") at se.Price stop ;
end ;
{*
* If we ARE currently long
*}
if @MarketPosition = +01 then begin
if Highest (High, 05) < Highest (High, le.Bars) then
Buy ("le.ChanBrk#1") at le.Price stop ;
ExitLong ("lx.ChanBrk#1") at lx.Price stop ;
end ;
{*
* If we ARE currently short
*}
if @MarketPosition = -01 then begin
if Lowest ( Low, 05) > Lowest ( Low, se.Bars) then
Sell ("se.ChanBrk#1") at se.Price stop ;
ExitShort ("sx.ChanBrk#1") at sx.Price stop ;
end ;


------ Compiled with error(s): ------
syntax error, expecting 'stop', 'limit', 'contracts', or 'shares'
errLine 46, errColumn 32, errLineEnd 46, errColumnEnd 32

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

LOL... you are jumping right into auto trading !!!

One step at a time...
Let's start with indicators first.

e.g. the paint bar question you had in the beginning.

It is important to learn the basic EasyLanguage skills first... because you will need them to paint/draw trendlines/text on your charts, so that you can visually inspect your logics, and to do the first level validation of your trading ideas.

Also, even with a paid programmer's service, you would want to tweak/optimize/modify the program afterwards. Auto-trading system is an endless adjustment. (ask any experienced auto-trader and they will confirm this fact.)

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

TJ,

What can I say, I am a trader, a discretionary one (with little experience in trading and with no experience in coding and logic).

I thought it would be much easier and profitable for me to test some of the available strategies first and then in a hard-to-define time frame maybe do some little coding by myself in the future.

First I wanted to see which strategies are good for me and work in my market. Then I could try to adjust these strategies with a help of a programmer or by myself later.

The catch is many of the EL strategies cannot be compiled in MC, ergo I cannot test them. The ones that I manged to test proved less profitable than my discretionary trading. I need to devise one by myself and leave the coding to a professional. And I just thought that volume analysis should be part of this strategy. That is the whole story for my question about painting volume bars.

BTW, if you know of any indiactors that are said to be good for a reversal strategy, it would be nice if you could tell me.

Regards

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

Trading is complicated.

Developing a trading system is 10 times more complicated than discretionary trading.

(some people might dispute this claim; I will not contest it.)
;-)>

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

TJ,
...The catch is many of the EL strategies cannot be compiled in MC, ergo I cannot test them. The ones that I manged to test proved less profitable than my discretionary trading. I need to devise one by myself and leave the coding to a professional. And I just thought that volume analysis should be part of this strategy. That is the whole story for my question about painting volume bars.
Regards
There are over 150 strategies in MultiCharts. Many of them are the exact same ones discussed in books. They are a good starting point for your learning exercise.

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Postby Tresor » 08 May 2008

TJ,

Did you try VPCI signal strategy?

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Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

TJ,
Did you try VPCI signal strategy?
N

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Re: Painted Volume Bars vs. Unpainted Volume Bars

Postby TJ » 08 May 2008

Hello TS Support,
The question:
Would it be possible in MC to make Volume Indicator that would display volume bars in the same colour as the price bar? Not in two colours but in as many colours as the price bars are coloured.
As you can see from "Unpainted Volume Bars" on the right there are 5 colours. Blue tells me that the price broke up the Keltner Channel and magenta tells me that the price broke the Keltner Channel down.
Regards
You can give the below code a try.
I have attached a screen shot sample.

Code: Select all

input:
Price( Close ),
Length( 20 ),
NumATRs( 1.5 ),
Displace( 0 ) ,
above_kelter(blue),
below_kelter(magenta),
upcol(black),
dncol(red);

var:
MidLine( 0 ),
kelter( 0 ),
LowerBand( 0 ),
UpperBand( 0 ) ;

{ Kelter Channel calculations }

MidLine = AverageFC( Price, Length ) ;
kelter = NumATRs * AvgTrueRange( Length ) ;
UpperBand = MidLine + kelter ;
LowerBand = MidLine - kelter ;

{ set plot color logics }

if High > upperband then SetPlotColor(1, above_kelter)
else
if low < lowerband then SetPlotColor(1, below_kelter)
else
if close > close[1] then SetPlotColor(1, upcol)
else
if close < close[1] then SetPlotColor(1, dncol);

{ plot the volume bars }

Plot1(ticks, "Volume");
Plot2(0);
Attachments
Volume_kelter_color.jpg
(119.1 KiB) Downloaded 1096 times

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Postby Tresor » 09 May 2008

TJ,

You're the MAN :mrgreen: Many thanks for help.

I will resume my Easy Language learning this weekend. Thank you very much for motivation.

BTW, what do you think about this strategy?
http://www.traders.com/Documentation/FE ... sTips.html

https://www.mta.org/eweb/docs/2007DowAward.pdf

Regards
:D

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Postby TJ » 09 May 2008

TJ,
You're the MAN :mrgreen: Many thanks for help.
I will resume my Easy Language learning this weekend. Thank you very much for motivation.
BTW, what do you think about this strategy?
http://www.traders.com/Documentation/FE ... sTips.html
https://www.mta.org/eweb/docs/2007DowAward.pdf
Regards :D
I have never tried them before. I will take a look when I have time.


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