Hi all As an interim solution to my initial query I've developed a workaround by using a combination of Excel and Metastock. I've set up an Excel spreadsheet that takes my anchor point (purchase date and price), goes back 3 months and discounts the price by a selected annual percentage. That then gives me the second point to use for drawing a straight line in Metastock. In Metastock I then draw a random Trendline, open Trendline Properties and enter the Start date and value, and End date and value. I tick 'Right extension' and that gives me exactly the line I'm looking for, passing through my anchor point. It's a time consuming process to do this on every chart in my portfolio but at least it works and it will suffice until somebody out there in Metastock guru land is kind enough to tell me if/how I can create an indicator to accomplish this.

Hi MS Support I attempted to respond to David's request several days ago but clicked the wrong button when finished and wiped my post. Didn't have time to rewrite then and don't intend to do so now. I must say that drawing a straight line from a nominated starting point and price is not particularly difficult. However, I too have some concern that "per annum percentage" might need to be calculated separately for each year of data. As for plotting just one straight line the trick to getting an appropriate increment (or decrement) for each bar-to-bar progression is to subtract the starting value from the ending value and divide that difference by the number of bars apart between start and end point (give or take perhaps 1 bar, don't remember exactly). Setting a starting point with your formula is good as long as the date setting points to an actual trading day. Most of us at some time or other will set the starting point to a non-trading day, and that generates an N/A result and a certain amount of frustration in trying to get the plot back on the chart. Adding a little extra code eliminates that situation - see the "Date Filter Start" indicator below, and below that a "Date Filter" that returns a TRUE between the start and end dates. Hope this helps somebody. Roy {Date Filter Start} Sd:=Input("Date Filter, Start day" ,1,31,1); Sm:=Input("Start month",1,12,1); Sy:=Input("Start year" ,1980,2015,2012); Start:=(DayOfMonth()>=Sd AND Month()=Sm AND Year()=Sy) OR Year()>Sy OR (Year()=Sy AND Month()>Sm); Cum(Start)=1; {Date Filter} {Roy Larsen, 2003-2015, 12/5/15} Sd:=Input("Start day" ,1,31,1); Sm:=Input("Start month",1,12,1); Sy:=Input("Start year" ,1980,2015,2012); Ed:=Input("End day" ,1,31,31); Em:=Input("End month" ,1,12,12); Ey:=Input("End year" ,1980,2020,2015); Start:=(DayOfMonth()>=Sd AND Month()=Sm AND Year()=Sy) OR Year()>Sy OR (Year()=Sy AND Month()>Sm); End:=(DayOfMonth()<=Ed AND Month()=Em AND Year()=Ey) OR Year()<Ey OR (Year()=Ey AND Month()<Em); Start AND (End OR (Start AND Alert(Start=0,2)));

There is a bit of an annoyance with the fact that when you modify the formula, it puts the input values back to the defaults. I initially had my formula set to use 1 / 1 / 2016 as the default values which is a non-trading day. I had also removed the plot aspect of the formula, although it doesn't hurt by being there and instead of using Plot + C you could just use Plot at that part of the formula. I also made the default input values 1/4/2016 to avoid that annoyance of the line disappearing when trying to tweak the formula.

I would think if the increase is a fixed daily percentage increase it could be added to the plot value each bar. Roy is a far savvier programmer than I. If I am able to get some free time to think about it I can give it a shot. If you don't get a full answer here, you can also try submitting a formula request to our formula department.

https://www.metastock.co...s/CustomFormulaForm.aspx

Edited by user Thursday, February 25, 2016 3:14:34 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi David Here's an indicator that should at least partially meet your needs. I've used 252 as the nominal number of trading days, which I believe is true for most US trading years. Sadly this is not the case for every year. Apart from trade entry date and an annual percentage target there's also a control for blanking extraneous data to the right of the entry date if required. This feature caters for a reduction of any chart distortions caused by extreme values at the right side of the chart. The "Shft" control effectively turns rightmost plot values into N/A results. Hope this helps Roy {Annual % Target} {Roy Larsen, 29/02/2016} Pc:=Input("Annual % Target",-99,199,20); Dy:=Input("Open Trade Day",1,31,1); Mn:=Input("Month",1,12,1); Yr:=Input("Year" ,1980,2020,2013); Shft:=Input("Blank Rightmost Bars",0,999,0); Buy:=(DayOfMonth()>=Dy AND Month()=Mn AND Year() =Yr) OR Year()>Yr OR (Year()=Yr AND Month()>Mn); Buy:=Buy*Alert(Buy=0,2); Cost:=(Cum(Buy)=1)*Buy*CLOSE; Hold:=LastValue(Highest(Cost)); Plot:=Cum(Cost+(Hold*(Pc/100)/252)*(Ref(Cum(Cost>0),-1))); Ref(Ref(ValueWhen(1,Plot<>0,Plot),-Shft),Shft);

Hi Roy Your coding does a lot more than "at least partially meet your needs"; it almost completely fulfills what I was hoping to achieve. If I could trouble you just a little further - as per the 3rd paragraph of my #5 post above: "The only other thing that I . . . need to do is adjust (or input?) the $ value on the input date, to reflect my buying price rather than the closing price." I could either enter the actual price as an input, or I could enter a variation to the Close - whichever is easier to incorporate. Is that practicable?

Thanks Roy - absolutely perfect! Very much appreciated. And MS Support - thank you again for your initial help - it gave me the encouragement that a solution to the problem was really achievable.