I have an expert system that sometimes gives out Short Entry signals eventhough my Long position has not been cleared off, ie still active. Is there any way I could get rid of these unwanted signals? For example, my expert system gives out the signals in the following order - BUY ENTRY, SELL ENTRY, SELL EXIT, BUY EXIT. Since my first Long position is still active, I do not want the Expert system to show the arrow for SELL ENTRY and SELL EXIT. How do I remove the SELL ENTRY and SELL EXIT arrows from the Expert System in the above instance? I have checked the FAQ and this section if similar problem has been addressed, but I could not find any query similar to this one. Hope someone could assist me. TQ

wabbit, No luck so far in locating such a latch function. Perhaps, you could direct me to such file if you are aware of its location. Anybody could help me here?

Patrick, I have tried the Beta version of forumdll.latch and could not get the signals to match those of Enhanced System Tester. I am trying to replicate those signals shown by System Tester in the Expert System. Basically, I followed the examples given in forumdll.manual but still could not get the signals to match perfectly. Forumdll.latch works perfectly for a LE/LX system OR SE/SX system. But forumdll.latch does not work for a complete system comprising LE,LX,SE and SX (or the way I would like it to behave). Even when I am still having a Long position (LX yet to be triggered), the latch entered me into a short position (SE triggered). I only trade 1 futures market, and I remember when and where all the signals should be triggered. Besides, my signals are quite rudimentary consisting of Linearreg(C,12), qstick(10), ref(LLV(l,3),-1) and ref(HHV(h,3),-1). My knowledge of metastock programming does not allow me to pursue this matter further. It seems to be that forumdll.latch works exactly like "LE and barssince(ref(LE,-1)) > barssince(ref(LX,-1)), LX and barssince(ref(LE,-1)) < barssince(ref(LX,-1)), SE and barssince(ref(SE,-1)) > barssince(ref(SX,-1)), SX and barssince(ref(SE,-1)) < barssince(ref(SX,-1)). Thanks for all your (Patrick) help. The same goes to Jose and wabbit for taking the time to answer some of my queries.

Patrick, TQ for your quick reply and willingness to take a shot at this problem. Anyway, I have tried your new coding for LE and SE, but still failed in one (1) specific area. That is when LE is active (LX yet to be triggered) and SE signal was also trigger, the new coding removes both signals from the Expert system. I include the chart for easy reference and some remarks on the chart. LONG ENTRY (LE) LE:=C>LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)>0; LX:=C<Ref(LLV(L,3),-1); SE:=C<LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)<0; SX:=C>Ref(HHV(H,3),-1); B:= ExtFml("ForumDll.Latch",LE,LX,SE,SX); B = 1 AND Ref(B,-1) =0 LONGEXIT (LX) LE:=C>LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)>0; LX:=C<Ref(LLV(L,3),-1); SE:=C<LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)<0; SX:=C>Ref(HHV(H,3),-1); B:= ExtFml("ForumDll.Latch",LE,LX,SE,SX); B = 0 AND Ref(B,-1) = 1 SHORTENTRY (SE) LE:=C>LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)>0; LX:=C<Ref(LLV(L,3),-1); SE:=C<LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)<0; SX:=C>Ref(HHV(H,3),-1); B:= ExtFml("ForumDll.Latch",LE,LX,SE,SX); B = -1 AND Ref(B,-1) =0 SHORTEXIT(SX) LE:=C>LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)>0; LX:=C<Ref(LLV(L,3),-1); SE:=C<LinearReg(C,12) AND Qstick(10)<0; SX:=C>Ref(HHV(H,3),-1); B:= ExtFml("ForumDll.Latch",LE,LX,SE,SX); B = 0 AND Ref(B,-1) = 1 This code works fine in all areas other than when the Short/Long Entry (1st position) is still active, and the opposite signal (Long/Short Entry - 2nd position) was triggered without the exit taking place to square off the 1st position. With the new coding, 1st position and 2nd position signals were not triggered at all in the Expert System.

Sorry, Patrick. I made a typo in the SE conditions. It was actually "B=0 and ref(B,-1)=-1" similar to what you have above. The signals were unchanged - similar to the last chart. The SX and LE where the conditions overlapped are not shown in the Expert system. Any other possible errors that you can think of? Regards