Minimum number of records to load for explorations

The minimum number of records loaded depends on what you are looking for in your exploration and also the time frame you trade. It’s true that a lot of explorations and plug-ins require at least 500 periods to work properly. But that’s not always true…

To give you an example, let's say I only look at the last 3 months of data and my exploration looks for a cross of 2 moving averages that uses periods less than 10. Then I would only load 3 months worth of data. I don't really need more. If on the other hand I am more of a long term type of trader and I use much longer averages then I would load the appropriate amount of data, etc.

NEVER use "load minimum records", it might give you different results on exponential indicators. If you are using anything exponential you need a certain amount of data to smooth these indicators.