To place a Study Alert or Trading System on a chart, click the Study Alert button on the Drawing Toolbar. The cursor will change to a pencil while placing the alert on the chart. Click the mouse on the chart to place the alert on the chart. The 'Alert Properties' window will then be displayed. Several panels are shown in the parameters window. The panels are used to set alert and trading system conditions, colors, sounds, messages, and specify values to be tested. The Study Alert will test one or more values, and trigger a Study Alert if the proper conditions are met. Note: The ESPL programming language can be used to program more sophisticated Trading Systems.
Enter your Study Alert values in Panel 'A' and Panel 'B'. Configure the 'Conditions' that must exist between the two Study Alert values. If the condition exists, then a Study Alert will be triggered and the appropriate action or Trade will take place.
Panel A
Panel 'A' is used to specify a Data Point to test for the Study Alert. The Category selections are the same as those documented for the DYO study.
read more » DYO: Category
Study Value - Study values that are present on a chart can be tested against other values. Select the Study from the 2nd drop-down list. Select the particular study's value from the 3rd drop-down list. For example, you could select the 'Stochastic' study from the 2nd list, and then select the '%D Value' from the 3rd list.
Study Flag - Studies that are placed on the chart will report a variety of conditions. You can test these conditions to trigger Alerts. Select the Study from the 2nd drop-down list. Select the desired Study Flag from the 3rd drop-down list. For example, you could select 'Stochastic' from the 2nd list, and select '%D Rising' from the 3rd list.
Number - A fixed numeric value can be entered. The Study Alert can be tested against this number. The number field can reference a Global Variable value by enclosing the GV number in square brackets. Example: [5] will get the number value from GV[5].
Bar values such as these can be referenced. Click the read more link for a full list of available reference tags.
| [$O],[$H],[$L],[$C] |
Bar Open, High, Low, Close |
| [$V],[$T] |
Bar Volume, Tick Count |
| [$N],[$R] |
Bar Net, Range |
read more » DYO: Reference Tags
Bar Offset - A Bar Offset can be specified to reference earlier bar data. For example, a Bar Offset value of -1 would read data from the prior bar. A value of -5 would indicate 5 bars back. An offset of zero is the current bar.
Always True - Panel 'A' can be set to always be True. This allows a portion of the test to never fail.
Conditions Panel
The 'Conditions' panel is used to specify the Study Alert Test. The 'Condition' specifies a condition that must exist between Panel 'A' and Panel 'B' in order for the Study Alert to be Triggered. For example, to test if the current High Price (in Panel 'A') is greater than or equal to the previous bar's High (in Panel 'B'), check the 1st and 3rd boxes in the 'Conditions' panel. All the chart bars that meet the condition of 'A > B' and 'A = B' will trigger a Study Alert.
Panel B
Panel 'B' is used to specify the second value to use in the Study Alert test. The possible values are the same as those in Panel 'A' documented above.
Marker
The Marker panel is used to place an optional marker on the chart to mark where Alert Conditions have occurred. The 'Location', 'Position', and 'Shape' of the marker can be selected from the drop-down lists.
The marker is a visual cue for each alert condition. This example shows a purple bar at the bottom of the chart when both Stochastic study lines are rising.
Alert Message Panel
The 'Alert Message' panel is used to print an optional message on the chart. The message will print each time an alert condition occurs. Enter a text message in the text box (no longer than 36 characters). Alert conditions are shown with markers. Set the color of the markers with the 'Marker True' and 'Marker False' color boxes. The alert message will be printed on the top row of the chart. The color of the alert message banner can be set with the 'Text Color' and 'Panel Color' color boxes. Check the 'Enable' box to activate alert messages. The Alert Message can be removed from the chart by simply clicking on the message. The Alert Message can be automatically removed by placing a check the 'Auto Remove' box. The message will be auto removed when the alert condition is no longer true. Check the 'Show False' box to display markers for False conditions.
The same bar values can be referenced as documented for the Number field. In addition, the chart's symbol can be referenced by using [$S] in the body of the message string. Example: [$S] Alert
E-mail
Check the E-mail check box to enable this Study Alert to e-mail an Alert Message.
read more » E-mail Alerts
Alert Sound Panel
The 'Alert Sound' panel is used to specify sounds when an alert occurs. Select either 'Silent', ' Beep', 'WAV', or 'Copy to Clipboard'. If 'WAV' is selected, then the indicated Windows .WAV file will be played when the alert condition triggers. Use the Browse button if necessary to locate a .WAV file on the computer. NOTE: The maximum length for the .WAV path and filename is 36 characters. If 'Copy to Clipboard' is select, then the text in the 'Message' box will be pasted to the windows clipboard. This feature can be used in conjunction with Speakonia (or other Speech software) so that your alert Message text will be spoken by the computer.
Trading System
The 'Trading System' panel is used to specify trading system actions when an alert is triggered. The trades will be logged and can be viewed. Select the trade 'Action' that each condition should trigger. Multiple Trading System objects may be necessary to enter and exit positions.
Action
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Price
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Specify the 'Price' to use for the trade value. Select the 'Quantity' of shares or contracts for each trade. Enter a 'Commission' value for each round turn trade. To view the trade results, select Charts | Trade Detail from the menu. NOTE: Select 'Do not trade Now' from the 'Action' drop down list to prevent any trading system trades from being logged. This will effect all Alert objects on the chart.
Check the 'Close Only' box to specify that the 'Test' for the alert condition will only occur at the completion of a bar. The condition will not be tested until the bar has completed its time frame and moved to the next bar. Uncheck the box to test for the condition on every tick. Check the 'Use as Default' button to specify that all Alert and Trading Systems use the current settings as defaults.
Properties Window
After placing a Study Alert on a chart, click the Chart Objects button, select Alert, and then click Properties to view the properties window. Click the Delete button in the properties window to remove the Alert from the chart. If more than one Study Alert is placed on a chart, click Delete All to remove all of them.
Trade Alert Example
Stochastic Crossing: The following example demonstrates how to trigger a Trade and Alert each time the 'Stochastic' study lines cross. First open a chart and place a 'Stochastic' study on the chart. Next, place the Alert Object on the chart from the Draw Tools button panel and set the properties as shown on this form.
Select Charts | Trade Detail from the menu to view the detail of each trade.
Trading System Actions
The trading system Action is taken when the Study Alert condition is True. The terms should be fairly self explanatory. Below is a summary of the Actions available.
Stop and Reverse: This action is for use with relationship flags. The position will be Long when the Flag is True. The position will be Short when the Flag is False. The current position is closed out and the opposite position is taken so that the position always tracks the Flag state. The position size will be the Quantity setting.
Exit Any Position: Sell out a long position and buy out a short position.
Exit Long Position: If long, sell out the long position.
Exit Show Position: If short, buy out the short position
Buy: Buy Quantity contracts regardless of current position. Example: If long 2 contracts, a buy of 3 will result in a total of 5 contracts. If short 2 contracts, a buy of 3 will result in being long 1 contract.
Buy Reverse Long: If out or already long, no action is taken. If short, 2 contracts a buy reverse long with a quantity of 3 will result in buying 5 so the short position is liquidated, and the new long position is of quantity 3.
Buy If Out: A conditional buy that is performed if current position is flat.
Buy If Long: A conditional buy that is performed if the current position is Long. If the current position is long 2, a buy of 3 will result in a long position of 5.
Buy if Short: A conditional buy that is performed if the current position is Short. If the current position is short 2, a buy of 3 will result in a long position of 1.
The Sell choices mirror the logic explained above for the Buy choices.
The Do Not Trade Now sets a flag that overrides the Buy/Sell logic that might result from other Study Alerts that follow in this template. Potential trading from those signals is blocked for this bar. A typical use might be a time test that blocks signals from studies because the market is closing.
read more » Risk Disclosure
Last modified 1/30/10 6:57 PM
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