Hi Larado -- MetaStock has a lot of horsepower, and sometimes it's a bit much for a newbie. You will find it helps to be VERY clear and concise in your thinking, and in making requests here in the Forum.
What you asked for is a BINARY result, Yes or No, which is a 1 or 0 in math terms. Since MetaStock deals in formulas, that's just what you want.
It is a good idea to test a formula idea visually, on a chart, before using an Exploration, so you can SEE that it does exactly what you want.
I'm going to assume you can plot a 200-day simple moving average on a chart, using the standard built-in indicator. What you need to do is create a Custom Indicator, so use TOOLS -- INDICATOR BUILDER, and click the NEW button. Give it a name, like "My Indicator", and add this:
Code:Cross(CLOSE,mov(Close,200,Simple));
Close the dialogs. Look at the drop-down Indicator list, on the menu bar -- "My Indicator" should be there.
Click & drag it into the Chart, or all the way down to the X-Axis, if you want it in a sub-window.
There's your "visual". If it does what you want, fine; otherwise, fix it.
Now, to run an Exploration, you now have two choices to make:
1. Copy the code or "call" the indicator you just made. "Call" (using the FML function) has the advantage that any changes you make later to the original will be reflected in the Exploration. If you just copy the formula, then you will have to re-copy to the Exploration.
A "call", using the FML() function looks like this:
2. Do you want to "see" the value of the indicator in the Exploration Report? If you just want results, put the code or call in the FILTER tab. If you want to "see" the value, you must ALSO put it in one of the COLUMN tabs. You again have two choices:
Put code or FML in the first tab, "Column A". Then, you can either do the same in the FILTER tab, or use the shortcut, "ColA". You could say ColA=1, but since MetaStock views "1" as TRUE and "0" as FALSE, using the "=1" is redundant.
Hope that helps,
