John, I decided to email you seperately after the forum crashed. This is in response to your code you provided for my strategy. I included a copy at the bottom. Also, I guess I can't include the pictures of my charts. I could email you them separate. You’ve made my life so much easier with your code! I really can’t thank you enough for your help. You saved me many many hours of frustration. You are a Metastock master. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to pay you back when your code earns mucho dinero!! For the most part, the system works great. However, I did find a few times where it missed a sell signal. In the expert advisor, I plugged in a buy signal( the up arrow) when FmlVar("Fiber-One","SIGNAL")=1, and a sell signal ( down arrow) when FmlVar("Fiber-One","SIGNAL")=-1. I’ve been trying to understand your wonderful code. It helps if I break down the different coding into separate indicators, and then put them on my chart so I can see what is going on. I included a few pics I found of when a sell should be triggered. Perhaps I’m telling metastock the wrong function of when to sell. From what I can tell, you accurately coded my desired stops. I’ll try to describe the situation with the included charts. I made “entrylow1“ an indicator to help me visually understand the code. This looks like my desired stop of having the low after the day of my buy be a stop. However, on my chart it looks like the signal was missed. I should have been out of the trade on the 3rd day when the low was broken. Not sure why it wasn’t triggered. I would have received a separate buy signal that same day, as volume and price were higher than the previous day. Perhaps the system has trouble with having a sell signal and then a buy on the same day? I included another time this occured. Again, my sell signal occurred on the same day a buy was triggered. I think the system might have trouble with separate buy and sell signals on the same day. Heres a time where the low of the buy day is broken. I should be out of the trade. The more I look over the trades, it seems like this is the problem. It doesn’t just occur with the 2nd day low stop, it seems to ignore all 3 stop conditions on days where a buy signal and sell signal occur. I ran it through the EST, and the same thing happens. Not sure if you saw my response on the forum before everything got deleted. But, I can’t figure out the function to put in for my stop orders to fill as soon as price breaks one of my 3 stops. I can see how I can choose to get out of the trade at the open,high,low,close. Just can’t get the function right. I hope I’m not being too much of a pain in the ass. Again, you went well beyond my expectations of any help I thought I’d receive. I’m excited to test my strategy with Metastock. You have gotten me closer to testing than I’d ever get. -Andrew {_Test - Holds value of highest closing price when trade is active} Buy:=C>Ref(C,-1) AND V>Ref(V,-1); EntryLow0:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,L); x:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,Cum(1))+1; EntryLow1:=ValueWhen(1,Cum(1)=x,L); EntryClose:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,C); Pct:=(EntryClose-EntryLow0)/EntryClose; Sell:=Lor Lor L Tr:=If(PREV=0,If(Buy,C,0),If(Sell OR L {Filter repeat signal, 1=Buy -1=Sell, No signal on 1st bar!} init:=Cum(IsDefined(Buy+Sell))=1; Season:=ValueWhen(1,Buy-Sell0 OR init,Buy)*2-1; Signal:=If(SeasonRef(Season,-1),Season,0); {Plot} Tr; {**} To use with a System Test, use the following: BUY: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=1; SELL: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=-1; Here are my images. Its from my created expert advisor. All I did was put under trends tab: Bullish: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=1; Bearish: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=-1; Then, I made a symbol for each respective function. Bullish being the up arrow, bearish the down arrow. I pulled up a Viacom chart. I drew a circle around the bar that violated the stop but had no exit signal. The indicator is the "EntyLow1" condition from your code. I made a seperate indicator for it. -Broke low of 2nd day but stayed in trade.(Chart Below) -Broke low of entry day, should have triggered exit. -Here, system works as should!! -Low of 2nd day broken, but no exit signal. I also ran an EST. This is the same trade as the 2nd linked chart. The more I look over all the trades, it does seem that its an issue of the system not wanting to take a buy and sell signal the same day.

Whoops! Please change the "Sell:=" line to:

Sell:=Buy=0 AND
(L<EntryLow0
OR L<EntryLow1
OR L<PREV*(1-Pct));

Andrew -- The short answers are: "Signal" shows up when "Season" changes, and that "Stops" are already inside the Indicator.

"Signal" is one bar, either +1 or -1, when the Buy or Sell conditions have been met; all other times it is "0". Duplicates are ignored ("filtered" out); ie: After a Buy, the trade is active, but there may be another Buy before a Sell; the code "filters" those extra signals.

"Season" shows when the trade is in effect. After the first trade starts, it will ALWAYS be either +1 or -1.

FWIW, that 3-line section of code is generic and re-usable.

In an Expert, use "Season" for TREND and/or HIGHLIGHTS (to show the trade is open/closed, Long/Short, etc.), while "Signal" is used for a Buy or Sell signal in Expert SYMBOLS or a System Test.


>>Could I use a Cross indicator for the stop function in EST?

You're "overthinking"...Maybe you need to re-read the previous message? The indicator both signals trades AND has the stops built-in! (You did not specify an "exit", just initial and trailing stops.)

Use these for the System Test ORDER tabs:

BUY Order: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=1;
SELL Order: FmlVar("_Test","Signal")=-1;

Before you play any more with the System Tester, check that the indicator signals are correct and that you (mostly) understand what is going on inside the indicator.

That is a SEPARATE issue from using it with the System Tester -- the indicator must first be right.

The System Tester has some settings and issues you MUST be aware of, such as Margin Use and Execution Delay, otherwise you can unintentionally "cheat" -- trade with hindsight/foreknowledge, like buy at the Open AFTER the Close. Tends to give impossible results, but the System Tester will NOT tell you that! You'll just see fastantic results never achievable in real-world trading.

I'll follow-up in a separate message.

Can you confirm a BUY on 12 Apr 06? It looks like there should have been a SELL on 13 Jun 06, or certainly on 21 Apr 06.

I know some of the posts from earlier went missing in the forum "hiccup" so there might have been a discussion already, but I am a little concerned about the entry condition; it looks like the system is entering on the close of the signal bar? Can ASF enter a trade after the market closes, or should the trade be taken at the open of the next bar? In which case, you need to do more code to eliminate the trade on 13th where the open price (the price at which the trade "should" have entered) is below the SL.


$0.02


wabbit [:D]

Hi Wabbit! Back from your travels, I presume?

Am trying to get the signal correct, as described -- will add "Strategic Delay" in System Tester.

Something's off on the Trailing Stop, and am trying to figure it out...the symbol is VIAB (Norgate) or VIA.B (Equis), the BUY date is 9 Jun 06 and on 13 Jun 06 the STOP is 37.12, which should trigger a SELL with a 36.73 LOW price on the that date.

But it's not...

CODE
{_Test} {Latch holds value of highest close during trade}
{Trade entry}
Buy:=C>Ref(C,-1) AND V>Ref(V,-1) AND PREV=0;

{Remember entry conditions for initial stop}
EntryClose:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,C);
EntryLow0:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,L);
BuyBar:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,Cum(1));
x:=BuyBar+1;
EntryLow1:=if(Cum(1)>BuyBar,ValueWhen(1,Cum(1)=x,L),0);

{Calc trailing-stop percentage}
Pct:=(EntryClose-EntryLow0)/EntryClose;

{Trade exit -- Initial & trailing Stops, no actual system exit}
Sell:=Buy=0 AND
(
L<EntryLow0 OR
L<EntryLow1 OR
L<PREV*(1-Pct)
);

{Filter repeat signal, 1=Buy -1=Sell, No signal on 1st bar!}
init:=Cum(IsDefined(Buy+Sell))=1;
Season:=ValueWhen(1,Buy-Sell<>0 OR init,Buy)*2-1;
Signal:=If(Season<>Ref(Season,-1),Season,0);

{Set Latch to highest Close from filtered signal, 0=No Trade}
Tr:=If(PREV=0,If(Signal=1,C,0),If(Signal=-1,0,Max(C,PREV)));

{Plot - Display & sets indicator value for PREV logic}
Tr;
{**}


{_Test Stop}
{Only trailing stop}
Fml("_Test")*(1-FmlVar("_Test","Pct"));
{**}


{_Test Signal}
FmlVar("_Test","Signal");


{_Test BUY}
FmlVar("_Test","Buy");


{_Test SELL}
If(FmlVar("_Test","Sell"),-1,0);

Unfortunately, yes. We had an awesome year in Europe, so it is a little sad that it is over (until our next adventure!)


wabbit [:D]

The original message was lost, but it was an Initial Stop of the LOW for the first two days of the trade, with a Trailing Stop set from a percent of the entry-day close over the entry-day low.

Here's a re-write which might be a little more clear. It appears that the TrailingStop is set to zero, but I can't figure out why.


{_Test} {Latch holds value of highest close during trade}
{Trade entry}
Buy:=C>Ref(C,-1) AND V>Ref(V,-1) AND PREV=0;

{Remember entry conditions for initial stop}
EntryClose:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,C);
EntryLow0:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,L);
BuyBar:=ValueWhen(1,Buy,Cum(1));
EntryLow1:=If(Cum(1)>BuyBar,ValueWhen(1,Cum(1)=BuyBar+1,L),EntryLow0);

{Calc trailing-stop percentage}
Pct:=(EntryClose-EntryLow0)/EntryClose;

InitialStop:=Max(EntryLow0,EntryLow1);
TrailingStop:=PREV*(1-Pct);
ComboStop:=Max(InitialStop,TrailingStop);

{Trade exit -- Initial & trailing Stops, no actual system exit}
Sell:=Buy=0 AND L<ComboStop;

{Filter repeat signal, 1=Buy -1=Sell, No signal on 1st bar!}
init:=Cum(IsDefined(Buy+Sell))=1;
Season:=ValueWhen(1,Buy-Sell<>0 OR init,Buy)*2-1;
Signal:=If(Season<>Ref(Season,-1),Season,0);

{Set Latch to highest Close from filtered signal, 0=No Trade}
Tr:=If(PREV=0,If(Signal=1,C,0),If(Signal=-1,0,Max(C,PREV)));

{Plot - Display & sets indicator value for PREV logic}
Tr;

In this code from a few posts ago :



the Sell function is a Boolean value, of which you are taking the PREV then multiplying it by a pct??

I think something like this might suit better:



or am I missing something?



wabbit [:D]

OK, I've simplified things, to try and narrow down the problem:

{_Test}
{Buy on higher close and higher volume.
Use 5% trailing stop, calculated off highest close during trade.
Latch holds value of highest close during trade.}
Buy:=C>Ref(C,-1) AND V>Ref(V,-1);
TrailingStop:=PREV*(0.95);
Sell:=L<TrailingStop;
Tr:=If(PREV=0,
If(Buy,C,0),
If(Sell,0,Max(C,PREV)));
Tr;


The SELL never triggered, so I looked at TrailingStop:

{_Test TrailingStop}
FmlVar("_Test","TrailingStop");

...which is never changes from "0".

Why?