Hi All,
I am new to Metastock and trading and have a question about the usage of Parabolic SAR to identify entry points.

I have a programming background, so I am comfortable with the formula. I have read the thread http://forum.equis.com/forums/thread/23419.aspx

For long positons
-------
Cross(C,SAR(0.02,0.2))



but can't seem to get my system tester to show any entry points when I can clearly see on the graph, the P SAR cross the High/Lows.

I am working with e.g. gb;tsco(TESCO) on a 1min feed with 2 days worth of data. My limit is 3/4 points from my entry, whether Long/Short.

I am missing something very blindingly obvious :-(

Please help me out. Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Suleman

Hi Justin,
Thanks for answering. I am still confused. I changed

These are settings I am using, all the rest are default.

Buy Order
-----------
Cross(L,SAR(0.02,0.2))

Sell Short Order
-----------------
Cross(H,SAR(0.02,0.2))



What I want to achieve is that, on the buy side, once the price crosses Cross(L,SAR(0.02,0.2)) I want to place a buy order with a limit of 3 points. On the sell side, once the price crosses Cross(H,SAR(0.02,0.2)), I want to place a sell order with a limit of 3 points. This time I am using the US&DJI as an example, with 1 min chart for the period 01st Jan 2009 to 2nd Mar 2009. I must be missing some setting like you mentioned. Please can you help me?

Thanks,

Suleman

Note that the trades are considered but then canceled. This means this is not a formula problem but a system testing option problem.

If you do not have enough initial equity to buy the number of units defined on the system testing options page, the trade will cancel.

On the System Testing Options page, try increasing your initial equity from 10000. Also try changing the Default Size from "Number of Units" to "% of Available Equity" and set the value to something under 100, i.e. 50 or 95 (I recommend 50 if you are doing both long and short trades).

Hi Justin,
I am making good progress now. I am still testing using the Enhanced Sytem Tester and once perfected will move to the Advisor.

Now, my question is very specific, Once the EST has run and I am viewing then results on the Order tab, I can see the following...

Orders Orders Bar Date Number Event Type Size Terms Price Price Field Position Source 34 02/03/2009 18:20 1 Considered Sell Short 1 Market Signal 34 02/03/2009 18:20 1 Placed Sell Short 1 Market Signal 35 02/03/2009 18:25 1 Opened Sell Short 1 Market Signal 35 02/03/2009 18:25 1 Executed Sell Short 1 Market 6818.0098 Pts Open 1 Signal 36 02/03/2009 18:30 2 Considered Buy 1 Market Signal 36 02/03/2009 18:30 2 Placed Buy 1 Market Signal 37 02/03/2009 18:35 2 Opened Buy 1 Market Signal 37 02/03/2009 18:35 2 Executed Buy 1 Market 6839.2002 Pts Open 2 Signal 37 02/03/2009 18:35 3 Considered Sell 1 Limit 6848.2002 Pts 2 Stop 37 02/03/2009 18:35 3 Placed Sell 1 Limit 2 Stop 37 02/03/2009 18:35 3 Opened Sell 1 Limit 2 Stop 37 02/03/2009 18:35 3 Executed Sell 1 Limit 6848.2002 Pts Limit 2 Stop
My question is, There is a delay in placed and opened position, which equal to the interval of the chart i.e 5 mins in this case.

Can I make the EST do the placed/opened/executed in the same time period/bar?

If you do change this value you'd likely also want to set all the price fields to Close instead of Open.