/******************************************************************************** Title: Trend Range Indicator for eSignal 10.x By: Chris D. Kryza (Divergence Software, Inc.) Email: ckryza@verizon.net, ckryza@sr-analyst.com Web: http://www.sr-analyst.com ================================================================================= Project Description: This is an extremely useful indicator for intraday trend or breakout traders in that it helps you to quickly determine the kind of price movement you can expect from the security you are interested in trading. For example, let's say you trade opening range breakouts...you establish the range between 9:30am and 10:00am and you go long on any break above the upper range and you go short on any break below the lower range. In a perfect world you would like (continuous) movement in one direction or the other at the end of the period you have established for defining the range. It would be great if you could have a gauge that would keep you out of the market on days that are likely to be flat and get you into the market on days where trending is likely to take place. That's what the Trend Range Indicator does. The indicator offers two calculations types...Standard and Trend. In Standard mode the indicator measures total intraday price movement and, as such, is similar to Average True Range. So in this mode if a stock opens at 100.00, moves up to 110.00, and then moves back down to close on the day at 100.00, the indicator would record 10 points of movement on the day. In Trend mode the indicator measures open-to-close movement (i.e., trend) which is much more useful for breakout traders. So in this mode if a stock opens at 100.00, moves to 110.00, and then moves back down to close on the day at 100.00, the indicator would record 0 points of movement on the day. Conversely, if a stock opens at 100.00 and closes at 110.00 (or closes at 90.00) the indicator would record 10 points of movement on the day, and this movement would be trending. Another very important feature is the Time Filter which is available in this indicator. The Time Filter allows you to specify a period of time during the day to be ignored for purposes of recording price movement. If you are a breakout trader then it would make sense to filter out the period of time that you use to establish your opening range. Typically you don't care how much price moves during the creation of your range...you care more about how much price is likely to move AFTER your range has been established. So, back to an example. If I trade opening range breakouts and I establish my range between 9:30am and 10:00am I would set the indicator to operate in Trend mode, and I would filter out all price action between 9:30am and 10:00am. The resulting plot would show me the tendency over the last X days for this security to move in a trending fashion from 10:00am through market close. If I typically expect to take 5 points out of the market but the plot indicates that the short-term average tendency is only 1 point then statistically my time would be better spent trading a different security, or not trading at all. Another feature worth noting is the "Desired Movement" menu option. By default this is set to 0 (zero) but if you set this value to the number of points of movement you desire, it will use that value as the baseline for the plot. So, for example, if you set the "Desired Movement" to 6 then an average point move of 7 points would be displayed as 1 (i.e., it is one point above your baseline) and an average point move of 5 points would be displayed as -1 (i.e., it is one point below your baseline). The plot itself is color-coded so you can quickly see if the value is rising or falling. Depending upon your trading style you may not want to wait until the average range is above a certain amount...instead you may want to get back in the market as soon as the average range looks like it is beginning to rise. Note that this indicator operates on intraday charts only (i.e., 1-min and up). It uses intraday data to perform its calculations so be sure that your eSignal Time Template is set up to pre-load enough data to handle the number of days you are using for averaging purposes. Indicator Parameters: ==================== Time Filter Options: Use Time Filter?: True or False. Default is true. When set to false the time filter will be turned off. Ignore Start Time: The beginning of the time range that should be ignored for purposes of the calculation. Enter a time in HH:MM. Note that the Start Time that you specify must make sense with regard to the interval you are charting. So a time of 09:07 does not make sense if you are using a 5-min chart. Ignore End Time: The end of the time range that should be ignored for purposes of the calculation. Enter a time in HH:MM. Note that the End Time that you you specify must make sense with regard to the interval you are charting. So a time of 16:03 does not make sense if you are using a 5-min chart. Configuration Options: Range Period: The number of days over which to perform the calculation to arrive at an average. The default is 5. Enter a value of 1 or greater. Averaging Type: Select from Weighted or Simple. The default is Weighted. Calculation Type: Select from Standard or Trend. The default is Trend. Desired Movement: Default is 0. Set to the desired number of points and that value will be used as the baseline for the plot. Display Type: Select from "Show in Points" or "Show in Pips/Ticks". The default is "Show in Points". If "Show in Pips/Ticks" is selected then you must be sure to set the correct Tick/Pip size for the security being charted. Tick/Pip Size: Set the Tick/Pip size for the security being charted. Only used if the Display Type option is set to "Show in Pips/Ticks". Cosmetic Options: Plot Type: Select between Histogram and Line. Default is Histogram. Rising Plot Color: Select the color to use when the plot is rising (value increasing). The default is green. Falling Plot Color: Select the color to use when the plot is falling (value decreasing). The default is red. Thickness: Select the thickness for the plot. Default is 2. Valid range is 1 to 10. Line Type: Line type to use when drawing the plot. Select from Solid, Dot, Dash, DashDot and DashDotDot. Default is Solid. Reference Band Color: Select the color to use for the reference band. Default is black. Note that the reference band is only drawn if the "Desired Movement" option is set to a value greater than 0. Thickness: Select the thickness for the reference band plot. Default is 1. Valid range is 1 to 10. Line Type: Line type to use when drawing the reference band. Select from Solid, Dot, Dash, DashDot and DashDotDot. Default is Solid. Dislaimer: For educational purposes only! Obviously, no guarantees whatsoever and use at your own risk. **********************************************************************/