Revisiting Study Settings

Hello. I tried to reply back to one of the posts but topic was closed, so thought to start a new one on a prior topic, the settings in TOS.

First, QCharts does not actually show the mathematical settings it uses in the RSI or ADX, etc., (i.e. exponential, wilders, weighted, Wilders, Hull, etc.), so I looked at a bunch of my old printed QCharts and started messing around with them, doing A vs B with TOS charts and found the following mirror the old QCharts (all per Gary WIlliam's settings):

StochRSI:
At top of settings:
rsi lengh 13
overbought 80
oversold 20
rsi average type Exponential
rsi price Close
k period 21
d period 5
slowing period 3
average type Simple

Options:
Show study checked, all others unchecked

Plots (near bottom of settings)
FullK: Values Numerical, draw as squiggly line, style is straight line, width 1, Color Red, Show Plot, Show Title, (not showing bubble)
FullD: Values Numerical, draw as squiggly line, style is straight line, width 1, Color Green, Show Plot, Show Title, (not showing bubble)
Overbought and Oversold I have as Black lines for color.

The above create an identical image to my correctly setup QCharts (used for many years, set 100% correctly). Default settings for TOS are close, but do not create the same results as in the QCharts.

MACD:
Fast length 8, slow length 13, macd length 5, average Exponential, and only checked Show Study
Value Red, Avg Green,

ADX is Very interesting as the default in TOS is not correct. I searched and found the following code and created my own (ADXWSBS) and it creates a "perfect" ADX study that mirrors Gary William's QCharts settings (you copy below, and create a study, beyond the scope of this post but easily found online):

# DI, ADX, and Trend Indicator (updated 12/18/13)
declare lower;

input DI_length = 5;
input ADX_length = 13;
input Strong_Trend = 25;

def DX = if (diplus(di_length) + diminus(di_length) > 0) then 100 * AbsValue(diplus(di_length) - diminus(di_length)) / (diplus(di_length) + diminus(di_length)) else 0;
plot ADX = ExpAverage(DX, adx_length);ADX.DefineColor("Stronger", Color.CYAN);
ADX.DefineColor("Weaker", Color.PINK);
ADX.AssignValueColor(if ADX > ADX[1] then ADX.Color("Stronger" ) else ADX.Color("Weaker" ));
ADX.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.LINE);
ADX.SetStyle(Curve.SHORT_DASH);

plot "DI+" = DIPlus(DI_length);
"DI+".SetDefaultColor(Color.RED);
"DI+".SetLineWeight(1);

plot "DI-" = DIMinus(DI_length);
"DI-".SetDefaultColor(Color.GREEN);
"DI-".SetLineWeight(1);


I hope this helps. Have a great day!

Thank you! The ADX DI you created is different from what I have. The rest is the same, from GW's settings. I look forward to testing it out.

Yes, there's been some disagreement about the correct DMI settings for some time now. TOS does appear to handle things a little differently than Qcharts that's for sure. I'm not certain on what the final verdict is concerning the Directional Movement indicator (DMI) in order to emulate Qcharts perfectly. Maybe this is it. I'll give it a look when I get back in town.

The only indicator I'm stilling having trouble with is the Autowave that I use in TOS. It doesn't match up with Qcharts, and once you get it to match up with one symbol when you change to another symbol and/or time frame it doesn't match any more. Especially as you scroll back in time to test how well it matches.

Also it would be best if someone that currently as access to Qcharts to test these out, since they have the latest version of the program, and they are able to switch to many different symbols in order to ensure that they all match up perfectly. I'd be willing to say that just because you can match up on one symbol does not mean it will be perfect on another symbol. As I said earlier I've seen it happen. If you still have the Qcharts installed I'd also bet you can find the files that contain the info about the indicator settings and whether or not a particular symbol is using simple, exponential, or Wilder's. Just a thought.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2016 10:55AM by RichieRick.

Just to add my 2 cents worth, listed below is my replication of the QCharts ADX study. It seemed to exactly match QCharts from the testing I did. BTW, Gary never used the ADX line in my classes, it was always set to the chart background color. Only the DMI lines were used. What this means is that you can use a standard DMI study and not worry about custom code to get the ADX value to match QCharts.

As for the elusive Autowave indicator, I have never been able to find out exactly how it works. I even contacted the original developer and tried to get detailed specs for it, but no luck. As best I can tell from looking at the old QCharts documentation it uses a combination of Fibonacci levels, number of bars since last line was drawn, and magnitude of price change since last line was drawn. I have never used Alchemcharts, but I wonder how its developer was able to implement Autowave unless he purchased or licensed the code from eSignal.

declare lower;

input DIlength = proprietary value protected by Gary's NDA;
input ADXlength = proprietary value protected by Gary's NDA;

def hiDiff = high - high[1];
def loDiff = low[1] - low;

def plusDM = if hiDiff > loDiff and hiDiff > 0 then hiDiff else 0;
def minusDM = if loDiff > hiDiff and loDiff > 0 then loDiff else 0;

def ATR = WildersAverage(TrueRange(high, close, low), DIlength);
plot "DI+" = 100 * WildersAverage(plusDM, DIlength) / ATR;
plot "DI-" = 100 * WildersAverage(minusDM, DIlength) / ATR;

def DX = if ("DI+" + "DI-" > 0) then 100 * AbsValue("DI+" - "DI-" ) / ("DI+" + "DI-" ) else 0;
plot ADX = WildersAverage(DX, ADXlength);

"DI+".SetDefaultColor(GetColor(1));
"DI-".SetDefaultColor(GetColor(8));
ADX.SetDefaultColor(GetColor(5));

A couple more cents worth based on relatively recent GW remarks..

Time would be better spent working on learning to trade well than focusing on trying to get indicators absolutely perfect. You should reach a point that, if forced, you could use another charting system with indicators that are close enough that you can still trade well. Yes, we have all heard that "it's all about the indicators" but that is in context of "trading is an art". We need the indicators but art and experience are the final filters. Trading starts with technicals but does not end there.

As for autowave, yes, a/w is very important but is also a liar. At the end of the day it is just another tool that happens to be very important when used in full context of GW's system. It's not just a signal. By the way, GW suggested on a few occasions that he will not trade without it. if it is important enough for him to make that statement then it only makes logical sense to me to have the tools suggested by the mentor. Just my thoughts..

Happy Trading!

NCT

Hi guys,

Did the issue with the ADX settings ever get settled? I'd like to ensure that all of my TOS setting match Qcharts EXACTLY!!!

I know Gary is pimping Alchemcharts now, but he still uses Qcharts himself. To me that speaks volumes. I don't really trust the accuracy of the price data from Alchemchats like I do with TOS. Not to mention TOS is still free. Like that....!