Hello, First post here. Been looking at Markos Katsanos' Flag and Pennant exploration, but Metastock 11 says it cannot find a certain paramater calle "TARGET" because it is unrecognised. Yet there it is in the MS exploration written in the Stocks and Commodities article, V23:5, "Detecting Breakouts From Flags & Pennants". Below is the exploration; Column A Name: Price Formula: C Column B Name: Pole Top Formula: zz:=Zig(C,17,%); X:=BarsSince(ZZ<ref(ZZ,-1)AND Ref(ZZ,-1)>Ref(ZZ,-2)); X1:=LastValue(X)+1; c2:=Ref(HHV(C,(2+X1)),-1);C2 Column C Name: Pole Bot Formula: zz:=Zig(C,17,%); X:=BarsSince(ZZ<ref(ZZ,-1)AND Ref(ZZ,-1)>Ref(ZZ,-2)); X1:=LastValue(X)+1; C3:=Ref(LLV(C,26),-X1);C3 Column D Name: Pole % Formula: zz:=Zig(C,17,%); X:=BarsSince(ZZ<ref(ZZ,-1)AND Ref(ZZ,-1)>Ref(ZZ,-2)); X1:=LastValue(X)+1; c2:=Ref(HHV(C,(2+X1)),-1); c3:=Ref(LLV(C,26),-X1); POLE:=(C2-C3)/C3*100;POLE Column E Name: Target % Formula: zz:=Zig(C,17,%); X:=BarsSince(ZZ<ref(ZZ,-1)AND Ref(ZZ,-1)>Ref(ZZ,-2)); X1:=LastValue(X)+1; c2:=Ref(HHV(C,(2+X1)),-1); c3:=Ref(LLV(C,26),-X1); POLE:=(C2-C3)/C3*100;POLE TARGET:=1.94* Power(pole ,.724);TARGET Column F Name: Target Price Formula: zz:=Zig(C,17,%); X:=BarsSince(ZZ<ref(ZZ,-1)AND Ref(ZZ,-1)>Ref(ZZ,-2)); X1:=LastValue(X)+1; c2:=Ref(HHV(C,(2+X1)),-1); c3:=Ref(LLV(C,26),-X1); POLE:=(C2-C3)/C3*100;POLE TARGET:=1.94* Power(pole ,.724); (1+TARGET/100)*C The article mentions that Columns E and F aren't necessary for finding useful candidates, but they help in determining profit targets, which would be neat. Warm Regards, Tony

Hey, thanks Wabbit, worked a treat. I have the genesis of a mechanical breakout system based on a fakeout move that I was wondering you could help me with? Here is the initial code for the expert ( I use highlights to identify the setup) and exploration; Long If(Ref(H,-1)<ref(H,-2) AND Ref(L,-1)>Ref(L,-2) AND H <ref(H,-1) AND L<ref(L,-1),1,0) Short If(Ref(H,-1)<ref(H,-2) AND Ref(L,-1)>Ref(L,-2) AND H >Ref(H,-1) AND L>Ref(L,-1),-1,0) The idea is that the breakout is triggered by a follow though and taking out of the inside bar (trigger bar) within three days of the appearance of the setup bar, long or short, which has reversed direction. Otherwise known as the Hikkake pattern made famous by Dan Chesler, but with some modifications regarding entry and exit rules. In other words after the appearance of the inside bar (trigger) the subsequent (setup) bar goes one way before abruptly changing direction to take out the high or low of the inside bar and trigger a trade. Momentum should do the rest, as they say... Risk is defined by placing a stop either one point above or below the mother bar (bar to the left of the inside bar), for aggressive entries, or a point above or below the high or low of the entire pattern (swing high or low). The latter is a more conservative entry. Profit is taken a 3 times the difference between the high of the inside bar and the low of the mother bar, for aggressive entries (reverse for short trades). Or 2 times the difference between the high of the inside bar and the low of the entire pattern 9swing low), for conservative entries. Reverse for short trades. Trades are executed automatically on stop. I have been trading this approach for a few months with pleasing results and the pattern can work either as a reversal, or a continuation method. However, without back-testing the whole thing I can't be sure if I've just been lucky and flying blind with this approach. Warm Regards, Tony