How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

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Trader Question
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Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:31 am

How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by Trader Question »

When I try to overlay the nearby S/R from a HTP to a LTP, all I get are lines forming some sort of rectangle.

How do I make the rectangles in a solid block of color?

R.M.
pldot
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Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:52 pm

Re: How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by pldot »

There are two ways to do this:

1) set the bar thickness to the fattest selection, and set the bar style for the plots to bar high and bar low (some experimentation may be necessary; plots 1 and 3 bar high, and plots 2 and 4 bar low. ) Then move bar spacing until the lines converge.

2) Use the TradeStation rectangle drawing tool and set the colors to create the solid style color block that you desire, and draw in the colors by hand.

We use both methods from time to time.
Trader Question
Posts: 709
Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:31 am

Re: How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by Trader Question »

I have another question.

I'm trying to overlay the live 1hour envelopes, pldot, nearby S/R into my 5 min. chart and every time
I do it, the lines don't align with the static 1 hour envelopes, etc.

Is this something that can't be done on the older DG software version?

R.M.
pldot
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Posts: 779
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:52 pm

Re: How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by pldot »

First thing to check is that the data is sufficient. Run at least a few days of 5 minute data. Then make sure the sessions are the same, and data itself is the same symbol. Make sure the "natural hours" or "session hours" is not affecting the plotting.
Trader Question
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Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:31 am

Re: How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by Trader Question »

I noticed that the values of the envelope top and bottoms, etc. on the 1 hour chart are not exactly the same as the values when ovelayed on a 5 min. chart when globex activity is included. But when I exclude globex as in for example @er2.d, the values are exactly the same.

Since the computation is always based on 12 5 min. bars, if there is no activity on certain 5 min intervals, the first 12 bars may very well extend beyond an hour in globex. Is there any way around this?

R.M.
pldot
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Posts: 779
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:52 pm

Re: How Do I Make Overlays Solid Block?

Post by pldot »

I've been looking at this and see that the problem is connected to when the bars start; when the values are off on the hourly vs. the intraday the hourly bars start at (for example ) 9:00 and the hourly overlays on the 5 minute chart start at 9:30; thus the hourly overlaid envelope values are a little out of whack with the hourly envelope. This is a programming issue and I am not sure how to resolve it. It is not related to the no-activity-five-minute-bar situation that you mention. Someday we might delve into this and adjust the code but I don't think it will be in the near future.

But... why look at globex 24 hour five minute charts anyway? It is a very short timeframe, and the low activity bars really screw up the geometry.

One thing you might consider is shifting to tick charts, which accumulate trades into equal bars and the resulting patterns are clean and reliable. The software will accommodate tick charts as well as time-based charts. Try 1000 tick bars and 4000 tick bars, or some other logical combination that looks and feels comfortable to you. The overlays will plot according to the number of bar multiples the same as time-based charts.

If you need longer time-frame bars than the tick charts (TradeStation has a 4095 tick max) then try using volume bars; in the futures contracts read as shares and so you can construct charts using different timeframes using similar principles as hours and minutes, etc. The methodology will work on volume charts, tick charts as well as time charts.
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