Home

Improvian Guide

1. Add indicators you believe are valuable inputs for predicting the model target ChaikinOsc Close 3 13 Add Ease fMov Ulcerlndexs Close 20 Edit Remove 13 Improvian Guide Alerts Alerts are a set of conditions which when met cause Tradecision to send a visual and or audio signal The Improvian defined conditions for each alert are automatically checked at each bar for all the defined securities helping the trader avoid missing an important trading opportunity Alert Builder is a specific tool designed for building and managing alerts Studies Studies are similar to indicators in terms of computational methods However unlike indicators they find bars that meet certain requirements and mark them on the chart Study Builder is a specific tool designed to build and manage studies Scans Using market scans you can find stocks that meet some requirements defined with the help of Improvian expressions or predefined conditions By using Improvian you can examine hundreds of symbols in real time against your own custom defined criteria NeatScan is a separate application designed for building and managing scans Position Size Calculations Position size calculation is a mathematical expression defining the size of the next position One of the most efficient strategies to increase the trading efficiency is the calculation of a position size based on the indicators of the trading system or the current risk rewar
2. again British pounds and so on or replace the default skip words with their corresponding translation into your preferred language to make your rules more readable to you or your colleagues Skip words are managed from the Improvian tab Select Tools Improvian Options Skip Words tab Improvian Options 1 Printing Editor Code templates Predefined Variables Add Remove Defaults Cancel Help 22 Improvian Guide Expressions An expression is any combination of reserved words values price data and operators that calculates some value For example High Low High Close or Close gt 50 AND Close gt Open Expression is part of a statement An expression can be e Numeric e Boolean also called logical or true false e String text Numeric expression is a number or a reserved word that represents a numeric value or a combination of numbers operands and reserved words that evaluates to number for example Open 10 Boolean or True false expressions can be either a True or False value or an expression that evaluates to True or False True false expressions invariably involve a comparison for example Open Close A string text is a set of symbols no more than 1000 in parenthesis for example This is a string String expression is a string or a reserved word that represents a text value or a combination of strings operands and reserved words that e
3. 56 If an expression does not contain any brackets all the operations should be executed according to the rules of operator precedence Equal precedence operations have to be made from left to right For example 24344 2 3 4 The table below shows the precedence order assigned to operators in the Improvian The operators in this table are listed in the precedence order the higher the operator is in the table the higher is its assigned precedence Here is the Operator Precedence table Not unary lt gt gt lt lt gt And Or 27 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 3 Creating the First Custom Indicator Using Indicator Builder Indicator Builder is a special tool used to create and manage custom indicators To launch Indicator Builder click Tools Indicator Builder menu item or press F8 Indicator Builder provides easy access to the tasks you may need to complete while managing or using your custom indicators You can quickly select an indicator from the Custom Indicators List The Indicator Properties pane displays the name description and status of the selected indicator along with the Improvian code that instructs how to calculate the indicator You can use the Indicator Builder toolbar to create new indicators edit a selected indicator create a copy of an indicator delete an indicator or insert it into the current chart Tradecision contains several pre defined cus
4. The number of the string can be indicated inaccurately If a semicolon is missing the error can be detected only in the next string This assertion is also true for the other types of errors In any case the cause of the error is found somewhere very close to the indicated coordinates As you can see the Messages panel contains errors that occurred because Improvian could not correctly identify the string of the first variable s definition due to the absence of the semicolon The best thing to do would be to correct the first error and then check the technique again by pressing F5 or double clicking the toolbar button Check As in this case it often happens that the first error is the only real error and Improvian also indicates other errors that sequent from it To correct the technique you need to fix the errors In our example this means adding a semicolon Edit string 2 by adding a semicolon at the end of the string Understandably not all the errors can be fixed so easily When you receive an error message try to understand it to see where in the source text the mistake occurred 82 Improvian Guide Semantic Errors Another example of simple errors is spelling mistakes Change a string in our rule to Control not WideRangingDayLocatd and N2 lt BarsBackLimit and press F5 to check the technique In this case the unintentional spelling mistake in the variable name is the omission of the last letter e Im
5. And Close lt 50 If the value of Close for any of the bars is equal to 51 the general condition will be false because the left part of the expression is false This should be kept in mind when combining expressions using And if any of the expressions is false the overall expression is false In case of the hammer study it would be expedient to carry out further checks only if for the current bar the hammerhead is located above the middle of the bar Min gt MedianPrice and if this hammerhead exists at all Open lt gt Close if Min gt MedianPrice and Open lt gt Close The Or operator requires at least one expression to be true for the overall expression to be true For instance both the following expressions are true as at least one of the compared expressions is true 2 3 1 0r 24 2 4 Close gt Open Or Open gt Close The Not operator inverts or negates the value of the logical expression For instance the following expression is not true High lt Low However if you add the Not operator before this expression it will turn the false expression High lt Low into a true expression Not High lt Low And Or Not are called logical operators because they use computer logic to combine two or more Boolean expressions into one big Boolean expression 45 Improvian Guide keep it in mind that a Boolean expression takes one of the two expressions true or false Look at this expression 3 4 7 And
6. Complete Select All F E Messages Paste MetaStock View selecting whether to display Messages pane and Dictionary pane or not Printing printing your technique Options changing editor preferences modifying fonts and colors for Improvian lexical and syntax constructions and creating editing code templates 33 Improvian Guide Using Variables Variables are simply named blocks of memory or placeholders As long as a trader i e you provides names for them he can assign any names to the variables To make the text of your trading technique clear and easy to read try to make these names meaningful In your technique you will be able to save the values in memory blocks After that you will be able to refer to these values using their names or recalculate them For instance to save an entry containing the total volume of trades for the previous bars you can create a variable with the name TotalVolume With every new bar you will be able to place a new value of the total volume of trades into the variable called TotalVolume By creating variables you reserve some part of the memory for storing data that your technique can later use When inventing names for your variables abide by the following rules Firstly the name of the variable cannot exceed 255 symbols When selecting the length and name of the variable try to find the right balance between descriptiveness and conciseness Very short names su
7. control point Use Trace Watcher to Track Down Variables Sometimes a technique acts as if it went astray This happens because those values that you expected to find in the variables are located elsewhere To verify that the variables do not contain any unforeseen excessive values insert the instruction print to display the variable values on the Trace Watcher compiler screen Do not forget to delete the activations of print when the final version of the technique is ready Make Your Comments Concise and to the Point Verbose comments take up a lot of time and the valuable screen space during technique analysis That is why you should keep your comments concise When you are developing a complex technique during several days the following comments will be pertinent this is what I thought this is how I planned this in this case the result is unknown here I need to improve reduce change the technique or when used in alerts this needs to be changed Such comments will further save your time and help you find errors that occurred as your vision of the technique changed and various parts of your technique correspond to various parts of your idea 95 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 8 Advanced Possibilities of Improvian Multi Data Strategies Referencing Price Data of Other Symbols You can significantly improve you trading strategy by using Improvian s powerful ability to reference price or technical indicator infor
8. data provider According to your Improvian procedure it is now the current bar The Improvian statements in your procedure are always evaluated relative to the current bar With the first bar there are no previous bars and thus the above comparison does not hold true When the process is completed as far as the bar evaluation is concerned Improvian goes ahead in time to the next bar making it the current bar for which the statements in your procedure are estimated Generally an Improvian procedure consists of a number of statements which can result in a trading activity for example generating a buy or sell signal Once all of the statements in the Improvian procedure for the current bar are completed the price data from the next bar is read and the procedure is run another time using the new price data The procedure is repeated across the chart from left to right until all of the prices from all the bars on the chart Improvian Guide have been examined As a result for a 500 bar on a chart the Improvian procedure runs 500 times once on every bar 17 Improvian Guide Price Data Identifiers Improvian gives you the very useful ability to evaluate price data Moreover Improvian provides a number of reserved words for accessing price data from each bar The following table represents the most frequently used price data values Price Data Abbreviation Description Open O First available
9. defines whether the functions in a technique can see a certain variable or value or not For example if you have changed a technique in such a way that it cannot pass the values Close Low and High as parameters of MyTrueRange your technique will try to execute MyTrueRange causing an error message The reason for that is the following the price values are accessible only in those techniques that deal directly with price data as functions can just as well be used in those places in which Improvian cannot guarantee the availability of the price data Additionally a variable declared in a technique is inaccessible within a function because the technique does not have to activate exactly this function and therefore Improvian will not be able to guarantee that the rest of the techniques will contain the same variables However you should remember that the reverse is also true In other words a variable declared in one function is inaccessible in another function or technique The variables MyTrueLow and MyTrueHigh declared in MyTrueRange are accessible only within MyTrueRange and will not be accessible in the activating technique Thus if you do not expressly specify the value of Close or any other variable specified within a technique as a parameter the function MyTrueRange will not be able to access it If a function still tries to access the variable Improvian cannot recognize this and displays an error message In the case of the M
10. flow of your technique is interrupted and the technique jumps to a new section of the program code as result of a comparison or decision made based on certain parameters is called branching or Technique Branching You need to understand how you can manage your technique sequence i e the sequence in which the operators are executed in order to be able to perform various operations depending on data that your technique obtains 37 Improvian Guide Understanding Operator If Then The operator If Then is most often used to organize the branching of a program This operator compares the data and makes a decision on what needs to be done based on the results of the comparison If this condition is met the technique is executed by the operator following the keyword Then Otherwise the program performs no action and simply proceeds to another string Thus each comparison has two possible outcomes Note Relational operators such as the sign of equality enable you to compare two portions of data For instance comparing literal variables you can check the variables for certain values The most frequent is the relational operator represented by the sign of equality which checks whether the two expressions are equal However there are also relational operators for such relations as less lt more gt and not equal When you use relational operators to compare two values you write a Boolean or logical expression
11. function name variable To reference the previous values just add the number of bars back you want to reference enclosed between two backslashes For example to reference Close one bar ago you need to write C ose 1 Previous values are referenced relative to the current bar When your study is verified against the 9th bar of a chart Close 1 refers to the Close of the 8th bar For example in the hammer study on page 50 above the condition LRL Close 9 0 lt LRL Close 9 0 1 compares Linear Regression Line for the current bar with the Linear Regression Line value one bar ago 48 Improvian Guide Using Study Builder Study Builder is a special tool used to create manage and load your custom studies into a chart Unlike the indicator which returns a numeric value for each bar the study returns a Boolean true false value to identify the bars that meet your criteria To launch Study Builder click Tools Study Builder With Study Builder you will be able to mark a particular market activity and or specific chart pattern with color markers plotted over a chart This enables you to follow the recurrence and consequences of those market conditions that you want to note As soon as it is added to the Studies List a study becomes part of your study collection and you can easily edit it and apply it to any chart The number of diverse studies you can build is virtually unlimited so you can build as many as you
12. is identical to the symbol string of the second operand lt gt String Returns True if the symbol string of the first operand is not identical to the symbol string of the second operand unary not Boolean Returns True if the operand s value is False and returns False if the operand s value is True and Boolean Returns True if the value of the first and second operands are True and returns False if otherwise or Boolean Returns True if the value of at least one of the operands is True otherwise False 25 Improvian Guide Operators Operand Type Result Value Numeric Numeric String String lt gt gt lt lt gt Numeric Boolean lt gt String Boolean not and or Boolean Boolean 26 Improvian Guide Operator Precedence When writing a program string that contains numerous arithmetic operations you might want to more clearly indicate the operator precedence For this purpose round brackets should be used The following examples illustrate the operator precedence This precedence can be changed with the help of brackets The operations in brackets are the first to be executed For instance Close High Low is understood as High Low X then Close X Y When there are numerous brackets the calculations start with the innermost brackets Expression 4 2 3 4 is calculated as 3 4 7 then 2 7 14 then 4 14
13. one of the two sets of operators depending on the result of the comparison operation written in the inequality If the inequality is true those conditional operator instructions will be executed that belong to the if then construction If the inequality is false those instructions that belong to the else construction are executed The execution of the program follows one of the branches After the construction if then else is executed the instruction of the else construction following the last semicolon is executed 43 Using Comparison Operators Improvian Guide In your first indicator MyFastK only an equality operator was used for comparison Often you will need to compare values using other methods Sometimes as in the hammer example on page 50 one needs to find out whether a value is smaller or larger than another value Improvian demonstrates the full range of relational operators that you can use in If Then operators and other operators that use comparisons The following table lists relational operators and simple examples of their use Relational Operators Operator Value Examples Equal 5 6 1 Open Close or IBM IBM lt gt Not equal 5 lt gt 4 4 Open lt gt Close or IBM lt gt MSFT lt Less than 5 lt 44 Open lt Close or AAA lt BBB gt More than 51 gt 29 Open gt Close or C gt F lt Less or equal 6
14. otherwise called as a true or false condition Simple operator If Then The simple operator If Then consists of the key word If followed by a Boolean expression condition You should end the Boolean expression into the key word Then and an operator or a group of operators that you want to accomplish if the Boolean expression is true A Boolean expression is the expression which takes one of the two meanings true or false For instance expression 3 4 7 is true while expression 6 1 9 is false Usually a Boolean expression compares a variable with a constant or with another variable such as MovingAverage 0 1 gt LatestClose OR MovingAverage 10 CurrentLow To avoid the division by zero mistake in the indicator MyFastK we can change the expression as follows 38 Improvian Guide Inputs Length Length 9 0 1000 1 End inputs Var LowestLow 0 Difference 0 End var LowestLow Lowest Low Length Difference Highest High Length LowestLow if Difference 0 then return 0 return Close LowestLow Difference 100 Note Some indicator strings are printed with an indent By combining the indented indicator strings that are part of the If block you can better see the structure of your source code Empty strings are used in the body of the indicator in order to separate the code blocks from one another Tradecision overlooks all these empty strings and indents However this make
15. pleasant task By the time you are through studying this Guide you will have the skills and knowledge to develop profitable trading techniques Moreover you will reach the crossing where you will be able to decide whether you want to be one of the gurus and continue honing your skills in creating profitable trading and analysis techniques Improvian Guide Who Should Read This Guide This Guide is for all those who want to start creating trading and analysis techniques in Tradecision using the Improvian trading language You do not need any preliminary training to use this Guide All the main programming methods are explained on practical examples All you need to understand the contents of the Guide is the basic computer skills such as the use of the keyboard and mouse It is recognized that emotions cause traders to make poor trading decisions and thus lose part of their money or even the whole of their account That is why many successful traders believe that using system based trading or rules can be their competitive advantage Therefore if you want to use the discipline approach in your trading Improvian can help you implement your trading ideas Improvian Guide What is a Trading Technique Essentially trading and analysis techniques created by traders using any trading software are relatively simple computer programs A computer program is a set of instructions in the form of words codes diagrams symbols and so o
16. price for the bar High H Highest price within the bar Low L Lowest price within the bar Close C Last available price for the bar Volume V Total volume of trades within the bar Open Interest OI Total number of open contracts Improvian Guide Referencing Price Data You can set the number of bars trading techniques can reference from the Preferences dialog box For this 1 From the Tools menu click Preferences 2 In the Preferences dialog box select the Improvian tab 3 In the Calculations area select how many bars ago the trading techniques can reference by entering a value in the Techniques can reference bars back box The default value is 100 bars Improvian Guide Reserved Words As any other language Improvian has a set of main components that make up its core These are words symbols or methods used to build expressions These components should be organized and ordered in a certain manner to build correct sentences and expressions The basic Improvian dictionary contains a set of reserved words Each of the reserved words has its meaning or purpose such as a definition of program sections branching identification comparison or reference price values For example in the following expression ifa gt 2 then a 2 if then are reserved words The following keywords are reserved to identify price fields Open High Low Close Volume OI O C H L V The following keywords are reserved t
17. the code simpler and easier to understand Besides the breakdown into functions allows simplifying the bug tracking and fixing process 93 Improvian Guide Format Your Code an Appropriate Way Use comments to write short descriptions of subtasks and break the code down into separate sections Avoid the temptation of writing several commands in one string if you are not sure that this part of code functions well Your code will be longer but if you receive a message about an error occurring in one of these strings you will know where to look for the error Finally when you are sure that your code functions as expected you will be able to fit the whole of it into one string should you want to do so Try to adhere to the formatting style used in the built in functions or create your own style that would help you visually check the compliance of the begin end and if else blocks in the in build If operators At first the indents may seem excessively long However they are irreplaceable for fast definition of code structure and search of a missing end for example There are many reasons why you should follow the above tips and the most important of them is that this way you will improve the readability of your code The easier it is to read your code the easier it is to find the error To Locate Logical Errors Fast Discuss Your Technique with a Colleague One of the best ways to find an error at once is to show your te
18. until it encounters a new condition use the While cycle Pay attention not to write cycles that never end For instance if you are writing a While Do cycle with a condition that never receives a true value the cycle will repeat eternally When this happens it seems that your technique has locked up your computer In fact your technique is simply executing your eternal cycle without ever going to abandon it Oftentimes the only way out would be pressing Ctrl Alt Del to force the technique to stop 78 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 7 Debugging Trading Techniques There are two types of programming errors that can unexpectedly occur in your techniques The first type is the execution error which usually crashes the technique and causes an error message The second type is the logical error which is far more insidious and hard to detect Logical errors occur when you write a string of the source code that does not perform as expected It is quite possible that you have been adding the wrong variables using incorrect logical operators or forgetting to add brackets to the expressions to define the operator precedence This chapter is dedicated to those technique execution errors that being incorrectly processed result in error messages displayed on the screen during a technique s execution or in aborting the technique The most popular execution error is the attempt of your technique to divide a certain number by zero Detecti
19. used in this Guide Element Meaning Italic Used for code characters Bold Indicates emphasis or a Tradecision s command or dialog box Note Refers to significant information inside a given topic Improvian Guide Is it Easy to Learn a Language Do you think that you have to spend years learning programming before you can write technical indicators or trading systems You are wrong You can start writing trading techniques as soon as you have learned several simple commands Of course you will need some time before you can create a trading masterpiece for example a constantly profitable trading strategy However this does not mean that you will not be able to check your ideas reduce risks or stabilize profits by way of creating a useful trading strategy indicator or a function as early as now As in any other endeavor the first step is the most important It is your luck that you have already made this first step by reading this comprehensive Guide which will help you master the Improvian trading language In this Guide you will find such methods for creating trading techniques that can be applied by any trader using the Tradecision application irrespective of his or her qualifications You will see that acquiring these skills is rather easy Furthermore if you are patient enough and willing to spend some time on comprehending the main principles the process of studying the techniques will become an easy and
20. your Close is always a bit smaller or at least equal to the Highest High Probably the prices for this security always go up after the wide ranging days You can try to insert the strategy into a couple of other charts to verify this assumption However the picture you will see will always be the same You can examine some of the bars in your chart using the bar numbers displayed in the Trace Watcher window to see what is going on in the market After verifying the Close and highest High values for several bars the reason for no signal having been generated is clear you are trying to compare the Close with the High including the current bar which makes your condition impossible to execute The solution to this problem is obvious you have to replace the Highest High N2 N1 1 with the Highest High 1 N2 N1 1 in order for the current bar not to be included in the calculation of borders of the signal strategy range Now you can easily delete the strings with println and begin end from your strategy Note 70 reduce the size of the code the number of the strings we performed a string combination operation More information on operations with strings will be provided in the next chapter 90 Improvian Guide Working with Strings Merging Strings Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation when you have to combine two or more strings into one string For example you may have to combine the name and value of your string v
21. ES YOU EXECUTE ARE SOLELY UPON YOUR JUDGEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF RISK THE RESULTS OF THIS SOFTWARE IS HIGHLY DEPENDENT UPON USER OPERATIONAL FACTORS USER SPECIFIED SETTINGS AND USER PROVIDED DATA INCLUDING DATA QUALITY AND CONSISTANCY THIS SOFTWARE IS EXPERIMENTAL IN NATURE AND ANY USE IS FULLY AT YOUR OWN RISK PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT ALWAYS INDICATIVE OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE AND ANY MODELS BUILT BY THIS SOFTWARE MAY CREATE SUBSTANTIAL FINANCIAL LOSSES WITHOUT NOTICE IF YOU OR OTHERS DECIDE TO TRADE SECURITIES BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THIS SOFTWARE YOU ACCEPT THAT THERE MAY BE DEFECTS IN THIS SOFTWARE AND SHALL HOLD ALYUDA RESEARCH INC HARMLESS FROM ANY CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH DEFECTS OR FOR ANY OTHER CAUSE INCLUDING THE INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE OR ANY OF ITS FUNCTIONALITY REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ALYUDA RESEARCH INC IS AWARE OF SUCH DEFECTS OR INABILITIES 110 Thank you for using Tradecision We vish you the best of luck in your trading Should you have any questions feel free to contact The Tradecision Technical Support Team at support tradecision com Alyuda Research 2001 2006 111
22. Improvian Guide RAR ek OE SOR Eoo cloro dor Koo do eor oo poa docs preso ore oos koe coe oos dose dote does Custom Function MyTrueRange Description Calculates true range for the given bar Created by your name Last Edited date TEUSGEOIOS EE EROS GEGEOSCEOE IEGEOSEORONOE OK EARLE AS ERAS IS EA RAE eae es Re SES ORO S DK Eos ES IE E function ClosePrice Numeric Close LowPrice Numeric Low HighPrice Numeric High Numeric Var MyTrueLow 0 MyTrueHigh 0 End_var If ClosePrice 1 lt LowPrice Then MyTrueLow ClosePrice 1 Else MyTrueLow LowPrice If ClosePrice 1 gt HighPrice Then MyTrueHigh ClosePrice 1 Else MyTrueHigh HighPrice Return MyTrueHigh MyTrueLow 70 Improvian Guide Understanding Functions The first line of a function declares a function function parameters and the type of the return value In our example function ClosePrice Numeric Close LowPrice Numeric Low HighPrice Numeric High Numeric the keyword function informs Improvian that you are declaring a function The keyword is followed by a set of parameters in parenthesis ClosePrice is the first parameter of this function It has the Numeric type and its default value is Close Similarly the second parameter LowPrice has the Numeric type and its default value is equal to the Low of the current bar and so forth If you use more than one parameter in the function you need to separate the parameters from one an
23. K K K CE CK CE K K K K K CE K K K 2K K CE CK K K CE K OK K OK K K CE K K K K K K K CE K K K K K 2K OK KOK Wide Ranging Bar Strategy gt Entry Long Rule Description Enters long position based on wide ranging days pattern Created by your name Last Edited date KK K K K K CK CK OK CK K OK K K K 2K K K 2K 2K K CK CE OK CE K OK K K K K K K 2K K K CE OK CE CE OK K K CE K K K K K K K K K K K KOK TEKEE t Var Length 9 VolatilityRatioLimit 2 Sum 0 i 0 PeriodAverageTrueRange 0 VolatilityRatio 0 PrevBarIsWideRanging false End_var calculate average true range for the previous Length bars For i 1 To Length do Sum Sum MyTrueRange Close i 1 Low i High i PeriodAverageTrueRange Sum Length VolatilityRatio MyTrueRange Close 2 Low 1 High 1 PeriodAverageTrueRange PrevBarIsWideRanging VolatilityRatio gt VolatilityRatioLimit Return PrevBarIsWideRanging and Close gt High 1 15 Improvian Guide Scope of Variables Now that you know about functions you can learn how Improvian manipulates the variables between functions and techniques The question arises why we pass Close as a parameter when we activate the function MyTrueRange Why could we not directly use the Close value in the function Are not both Close and function MyTrueRange part of the same technique Parameters have to be used in functions due to the so called visibility range which
24. Mov RSI C 21 Lowest RSI C 21 13 Highest RSI C 21 13 Lowest RSI C 21 0 00001 13 8 E 100 6 Click OK to save the indicator Note you cannot import all formulas from MetaStock automatically There are several problems that prevent such easy importing If you encounter a problem you should review your code to find the cause of the problem 104 Improvian Guide Problems Relating to Translation from MetaStock into Improvian 1 Those indicators that draw several lines on a one sub chart Only the first line will be converted and plotted For example Pds Input EMA Periods 1 1000 21 Pct Input Percentage Bands 0 1 10 5 MA Mov C PdS E TBnd MA 1 Pct 100 LBnd MA 1 Pct 100 MA TBnd LBnd will be translated as an indicator that returns a single value input inpO EMA Periods 21 1 1000 inp1 Percentage Bands 5 0 1 10 end input var Pds inp0 Pct inp1 MA Mov C Pas E TBnd MA 1 Pct 100 LBnd MA 1 Pct 100 end var return MA return TBnd return LBnd As a result only a single MA value can be inserted into a chart 2 Indicators using MetaStock s DLL for example a function call from the PowerPivot library For example if you use the following piece of code TCL ExtFml PowerPivots TimeCapsules L 3 1 The code will not be processed correctly and Improvian will report an error 3 Tradecision does not support some of th
25. MyTrueRange we can use variables or functions rather than the variables ClosePrice LowPrice and HighPrice which were specified during the declaration It is important that the types coincide and not the parameter names Functions can have no parameters at all In order to activate a function that has no parameters you do not have to write anything in parenthesis For instance RandomValue 71 Improvian Guide One should bear in mind that a function receives parameters in the same order in which they are listed during the function activation In the string of the function declaration Function the parameters should be listed in the same order as during the function activation For instance MyTrueRange Low Close High will return the wrong result 72 Improvian Guide Using Functions in Strategy Builder Next to simplify our entry long rule with the help of the function MyTrueRange do the following 1 To launch Strategy Builder from the Tools menu select Strategy Builder 2 From the Strategy List select Wide ranging days and select Edit Entry Long 3 In the Expression box in the Improvian Editor window delete or comment on the following lines of the code BarTrueLow 0 BarTrueHigh 0 If Close i 1 lt Low i Then BarTrueLow Close i 1 Else BarTrueLow Low i If Close i 1 gt High i Then BarTrueHigh Close i 1 Else BarTrueHigh High i And instead of BarTrueRange i Ba
26. Not 4 1 4 Is this expression true or false If you conclude that it is true it means that you have understood how the logical operators function The expressions on both sides of And are true Therefore the entire expression is true The table below summarizes your knowledge of logical operators 46 Improvian Guide Logical Operators Operator Value And True if both sides of the expression are true Or True if one or two sides of the expression are true Not Turns true to false and vise versa Of course you do not need to write such expressions in your program 3 4 7 And Not 4 1 4 They do not serve any other purpose than to educate However when you use variables you can never know in advance whether your expression will be true or false For instance is the expression below true or false Profit gt MinProfit And Risk lt MaxRisk Until you know the true value of the variables Profit MinProfit Risk and MaxRisk you will not be able to say anything about these expressions Nevertheless using logical operators in If Then assertions your program will be able to receive data and take the appropriate action based on whether the expression turns out to be true or false 47 Improvian Guide Referencing Previous Values If you need to reference the value of a price series variable or expression to any of the previous bars you need to use a special qualifier after the
27. R 8 5 2 3 eire uaa oab Ru eo Roa dausubsn saa sEhan Musa inan TEFRERSRERPERERRRESPRR RMEEBAEKNA 96 Advanced Possibilities of Improvian eee eee eee eene 96 Multi Data Strategies Referencing Price Data of Other Symbols 96 Using Custom TimesSeries 5 iceberg erri a e niece ele iR eed TREE Eg res 97 Using Built Inc Studies tre RR tem nails Ma RE IRE RR RR REX RRFR EA eta ERE 98 Using DEL FUNCIONS iais eere exec a eee xo nre Rina te exe iex a eo v ER a e Cem a RE 99 Analyzing Technique Interdependencies ccccceceese eee e eee ee tenet eee nnnm 100 Importing EasyLanguage Techniques ceceee cece eee eee eee eee neta me 101 Importing MetaStock FOrmMulas cccecceeeeee eee eee eee eee eee em memes 104 To insert a MetaStock COE cecececcccece eee ee eee e eee ee eee nnne nana ren nnn ea 104 Problems Relating to Translation from MetaStock into Improvian 105 Glossary of Terms e eeeeeeseesee a enaena hann hun aun une a AE ERRESA sunu nun 107 aede a PEETA AT ETE T 109 DISGCIAIMG EREERRDHHTELTHTPQTEGTDTTIEERTDITORTOD ITE OHUIEETT ODIT DEDERE CHITI einaudi 110 Chapter 1 Introduction Improvian Guide Welcome to the Tradecision s Improvian Guide a step by step guide that covers the basics of creating trading techniques with the help of the Improvian trading language Notation Conventions The following conventions are
28. REE e FILAS ERE CREU NER E ets 12 Inputs and Targets for Neural Models c ecceeeeee eee eens teeta teense ee teeta eeees 13 Alert e I ICE 14 Studie Suor miranda EE EAE EEE eigo I Inc RRIP ARR E XD APP RRIRTEA EAE Ri NA ETC RS eee 14 Ie ce EE 14 Position Size Calculations enr ev bea teria E devs cer RIRXEYAKA ees 14 FUNCOM rmm 14 CHAPTER 2 cccceeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeseseaeeaeeeeseeseaeaseeeeseaueeseuaesaueuseuansggs 16 The Basics Of Improvian cccccceceseceeeceseeseeeeeseeeeeeseeeeeneeaeeaeeaseaseaseaaeaeeneensensens 16 Processing Principles i i erre teet Soe ntn SERE RR RR E RERIRRRFRMENSEN ERREUR ERE 16 Price Data Identiflers iore ER ied dead vag TEE aaa AERA evra RECEN EXER XA arn 18 Referencing Price Data ett Lee tutti ea pr Sod iE EE DIRE A EK S AAEE CIAR TUS 19 Reserved WOFds sean earannan Aa AE Anene TAA ERR TE neri EREEERERRIREPT RAE TADE EA AREE n 20 SKIP WOFrdS a IM T 22 EXPrESSION EE Pm 23 Statements dnd Punctuation eie etr eter tete ede Ra ERR ERR RARE FAR ER TER TR 24 lenculsecenc E 25 Operator Precedence 1 iieri sen esae oe Te sag ARE A v eaa ee ea EI cra id 27 CHAPTER 3 ssseseuseueussunuasuR ua a4 a aa Aaa haa aedini En iaai saia 28 Creating the First Custom Indicator s ssssss22s 5 55 5 15 28 Using Indicator Bulldet acca caveat eves Ed RAEAN AAE EAE CEN ANEA AAAA 28 Using the Improvian Editor te E A A ERR N Aa a 30 Using A
29. a special word processor that allows you to write your own formulas in the Improvian language The Improvian Editor is automatically displayed in a separate dialog box when you create or edit an indicator strategy study alert scan or model input L Improvian Editor Entry Long fy Check fxg Edit View lt 4 Printing ff Options Expression Line Colu D Type Lie Colu Description ype Categories 4 r Functions Al Functions Description My Functions Analytical Functions la Returns the absolute value of the Basic Ci parameter Date and Time Key Words Market Strength Math Functions Momentum Indicators Money Management x seb oris sal Show ful names Insert Details Dk Cancel Help The Expression pane is used to write an indicator or another technique code The case used when entering techniques does not matter For example RSI and rsi are treated the same way You can use the standard clipboard commands while editing expressions To copy the highlighted text press CTRL C to cut press CTRL X to paste press CTRL V The Messages pane contains error messages if your code is invalid The lower pane contains the Improvian Dictionary where you can select built in functions to view their details or insert the functions into the Expression box under the cursor with a double click 30 Improvian Guide To use a built in function from the Dictionary 1 In the Categ
30. annot assign any new values to an input inside a technique as to do so you will need a special variable In other words the input is used as a constant specified before using the technique Note If you need to use some constant value within your technique you can add a separate parameter in the Inputs block with the constant value Tradecision will ensures that the parameter will not be changed and will be used as a constant To make the MyFastK indicator universal you will need to add at least one input the number of bars for the calculation of HighestHigh and LowestLow 9 by default To add an input open MyFastK in Improvian Editor and enter the following strings at the very beginning of the indicator body Inputs Length Length 9 End inputs Now replace 9 with the Length input in the indicator code You will also be able to set the minimum 0 and maximum 500 input values and increment step 1 As a result the complete indicator body will look as follows Inputs Length Length 9 0 500 1 End inputs Var Difference End var LowestLow 0 LowestLow Lowest Low Length 41 Improvian Guide Difference Highest High Length LowestLow return Close LowestLow Difference 100 42 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 4 Creating the First Custom Study Understanding Nested If Then The simple construction if then else helps make a decision depending on whether a certain cond
31. ariable that you are trying to display in the debugger window To derive a single standalone string you will have to combine these strings by attaching one string to the end of the next string The new string must fully incorporate the content of the two initial strings To solve this task use the Improvian concatenation operator represented by the plus symbol This symbol is present on your keyboard For instance to combine two strings type the following StringVar value is StringVar A simple string combination is not however a complete expression You should inform Improvian where you want the new string saved To do so use the Improvian assignment operator represented by the colon and sign of equality 12 For strings the assignment operator is used in the same manner as for numeric variables For the purpose of our example use the following command FullString StringVar value is StringVar To see how it all works let us consider the following strings of the programming code Var Definition String value is FullString StringVar End v r FullString Definition StringVar println O FullString In this fragment of the technique three variables are declared first then values are assigned to two of them StringVar and Definition In the sixth string these strings are merged together and the result is assigned to the third variable FullString 91 Improvian Guide Sub
32. ators that represent a value Formula is a logical arrangement of one or more functions operators data arrays and so on For example Average True Range strategy return CLOSE 0 gt OPEN O 0 5 AVGTRUERNG 14 Function Builder a special tool that allows creating and managing user functions Function Parameter a value enclosed in parentheses which can be given to a function Parameters provide the information required to calculate the function value The parameters that can be assigned to a function are explained in the description of the function Name Identifier a name of a function It can be no longer than 1000 symbols including letters of Roman alphabet numeric characters and underscore It is incorrect to begin an identifier with a digit Previous values Variable value of the previous step a 1 Reference a reference to a variable or array used in a function declaration Return statement A return instruction stopping the execution of a program and returning a value Syntax a set of rules defining how to compose sentences using the given language Improvian and its words Syntax allows understanding how to write formulas based functions and operators Semantics a branch of linguistics which studies meaning in language including the relationship between the language thought and behavior For example if a computer understands the semantics of a document it understands the document s mean
33. bles viewing the variable values during the execution of a technique To display the variable values in one of the windows Trace Watcher employs a special Improvian function print or println 86 Improvian Guide Function print The function print displays the text in between double quotes or variable values The text is displayed in one of the Trace Watcher windows To display certain special symbols use ex cape sequences in print sequences of symbols that start with a left slash The following are three examples of how the print function is used Print O Entered short position using secondary condition Print 0 BarNumber Print O Current bar number is NumToString BarNumber 0 Here the first parameter is the number of Trace Watcher window which can change from O to 9 The second parameter is the text that you want displayed on the Trace Watcher screen If the text is within double quotes it will be displayed on the compiler screen without change If the text is the name of a variable or function the compiler screen will display their value The third output option employs the possibilities of Improvian for working with strings while formatting the output The functions for performing operations with strings will be described later The print function can display several strings of text with the help of escape sequence n Mn new string The table below lists escape sequences that
34. can be used in the print function 87 Escape Sequences in the Print Function Improvian Guide Sequence Value n Enter new line t Tabulation indent M Quotation mark symbol Backslash For instance the following activation of the function print will result in two strings being displayed in the compiler window Print 0 An The last entered position is Xn X V BUY V 88 Improvian Guide Function Printin The function println is similar to the function print but it displays its parameters from a new line The following two activations are absolutely similar Print O n New string PrintIn O New string 89 Improvian Guide Working with Trace Watcher In order to see the cause of an error extend the code using the following commands if WideRangingDayLocated then begin This CrossAbove Close Highest High N_after N_before 1 Println O Bar NumToString BarNumber 0 Println O Close NumToString Close 2 t HH NumToString Highest High N_after N_before 1 2 End else This false Now save the code and insert the strategy into the chart Then open Trace Watcher by selecting Trace Watcher from the Tools menu In the zero tab you will be able to see the Close and Highest High prices for those bars that meet the specified criteria While scrolling down to see the values of the bars you can see that
35. can come up with You can quickly select a study from the Studies List The Study Properties pane displays the name description and status of the selected study along with the Improvian code that provides instructions on how to evaluate each bar using the study You can use the Study Builder toolbar to create a new study edit a selected study create a copy of it delete the study or insert it into the current chart Tradecision contains several predefined studies i e InsideBar Islands Pivots you can use for a start Below you can find out how to create a new study that identifies bars with well known pattern Wide ranging day 49 Improvian Guide To create the Hammer study 1 On the Study Builder toolbar click New The Custom Study dialog box will be displayed 2 In the Custom Study dialog box type Hammer in the Study Name and Full Name boxes 3 In the Description box type Identifies bars that represent Hammer candlestick pattern 4 Under the Expression box click Edit Improvian Editor will be displayed 5 In the Improvian Editor window in the Expression text box type or cut amp paste through the Clipboard the study code provided on the next page 6 Click OK Custom Study Study Name Hammer Full Name Hammer Description Identifies bars that represent Hammer candlestick pattern Expression yeso nH RE RARE ARR RR AREER XXXXXXNNXXM Name Hammer Description Identifies bars that rep
36. ch as i k st do not provide any information about the value of the variable Very long names take too long to write and read Secondly the name of the variable should start with a letter The following symbols can be letters numbers and underline symbols You cannot use spaces and most of the punctuation marks in the name of a variable Since Improvian is not case sensitive you can use caps and lower case characters in the names of the variables in any combination For instance ParabolicSAR parabolicsar and ParabolicSar in Improvian will be considered as one and the same name Finally you cannot use any of Improvian s reserved words as variable names The following are examples of valid variable names BuyLevel My SMA PriceLevel Value23 AMOUNT ParabolicSAR The following are examples of invalid variable names 79ParabolicSAR Price Level Cur volume Close 14 34 Improvian Guide Declaring Variables In Improvian the variables can be of three types Numeric Boolean and String Strictly speaking only a string variable can contain text and only a numeric variable can contain a numeric value To avoid pitfalls and inaccuracies we suggest that you declare the variables before you start using them When you declare a variable you not only impart the name of the variable to Improvian but you also indicate how this variable should be used For instance to improve your indicator MyFastK you can add the following
37. chnique A comment has a start and an end Everything in between is ignored by Improvian and you can insert any kind of text into the comment without affecting the technique This is Improvian comment The above string is an example of a comment Every comment starts with 4 and ends with Note In Improvian Editor comments are highlighted with color 62 Improvian Guide Why do you need comments Comments are not necessary for Improvian and the language ignores them Comments are designed for the trader They contain advice assumptions on what you are trying to achieve or a description of how well this technique works In a comment you can write absolutely anything you want although the more descriptive a comment is the more useful it will be for you later Most comments written by experienced traders start with several lines providing basic information on the technique For example for the MyFastK indicator we recommend using the following opening comment Name MyFastK Description Calculates Fast Stochastic Created by your name Last Edited current date time 2 These several strings inform you about the purpose for which the technique was written by whom and when In the source text you can write comments in the form of notes for instance find out tomorrow why this part don t work as expected or enter gap identification code here later Comments can be e Multi string as in the f
38. chnique to another trader The other trader does not know what you have been trying to encode and you will have to explain it to him discussing with him the logic of your code As you do this you will understand which part of your code does not meet your intentions Sometimes It Is Useful to Disable Part of Your Code Using Comments to Localize an Error Let us assume that there is an error in the function GetMySignal but you do not know where exactly at the beginning of the code somewhere before the numerous activations of the mathematical functions or somewhere at the end of the code One of the ways to know this is to comment on for instance all the activations of the mathematical functions This way you will narrow down the search space to be analyzed If the error persists you will know that it is located outside the commented code 94 Improvian Guide Use Return to Reduce Your Technique Another way to identify the location of the problem is to temporarily use additional activation of the Return function in the middle of the code This way you will be able to debug even a program that is caught in an endless loop At a certain point insert the function return 0 This will stop the technique immediately In this manner you will be able to divide your code into parts If your technique stops at the control point the error is located somewhere further If the technique does not stop the error is somewhere before the
39. closure is below the minimum signal range TT Improvian Guide Understanding While Loops Unlike the For cycle whereby the cycle index is defined by the cycle borders the While cycle continues being executed until the condition of its execution is met The condition is a Boolean expression similar to those that you used with the If operator In other words any expression that can be true or false can be used as a condition in the While cycle For example To find the nearest bar which is greater than the target while C i lt target do i i 1 A technique positions the value of the control variable before the start of the While cycle This is important because it guarantees that the initial control value is a non zero one If it happens so that initially the control variable was equal to 0 the technique will never reach as far as the operator block in the While cycle because the condition of the cycle execution will immediately be considered false Mistakes like this one despite their seeming plainness sometimes take up a lot of traders time Note 7here is a variety of cycling methods designed for various programming situations Although experience is always the best teacher certain things still should be borne in mind during the selection of the cycle construction When you want a cycle to be repeated a specified number of times the best choice will be the For Do cycle If you want the cycle to be executed
40. d ratio The Improvian language offers unlimited opportunities for performing this kind of calculations Position size calculations can be edited in Money Management Editor Function Function is a set of frequently used or logically separate instructions Building functions allows saving time and makes trading techniques more clear and compact Function Builder is a specific tool designed for building and managing functions In addition you can modify any of the built in trading strategies studies indicators and functions that are included in Tradecision Moreover you can test your own money management rules defining them with Improvian As traders know money management is the most important part of successful trading And Tradecision provides you with a powerful Money Management Editor For your convenience the most popular money management rules are predefined and easily accessible Improvian Guide Tradecision can store an unlimited number of technical analysis techniques For specific tutorials on each of the formula based tools Indicator Builder Strategy Builder and so on refer to their specific chapters in the Tradecision User Manual Improvian Guide CHAPTER 2 The Basics of Improvian Processing Principles One of the key purposes of Improvian is to compare the price data from one bar and with that from other bars In this connection you need to understand how your Improvian techniques such as technical indicat
41. de To create a new strategy 1 On the Strategy Builder toolbar click New The Strategy dialog box will be displayed 2 9 In the Strategy Name box of the Strategy dialog box type Wide ranging days In the Description box type Enters position based on wide ranging days pattern In the Signals area select Only Longs Click the Entry Exit Rules tab select the Entry Long tab and then click Edit The Improvian Editor will be displayed In the Expression of the Improvian Editor window type or cut amp paste through the Clipboard the long entry rule code provided below the list Click OK Select the Exit Long tab and click Edit In the Improvian Editor dialog box in the Expression text box type or cut amp paste through the Clipboard the entry long rule code provided below the list Strategy Wide ranging days Properties Entry Exit Rules Stop Rules Click Edit button and define your rule E dit Clear Entry Long Exit Long Entry Short Exit Short RRKRXKAXAARAARRRKRAARAAARARARARAARAAARARARARARARARARARARARARAKARARN Wide Ranging Bar Strategy gt Entry Long Rule Description Enters long position based on wide ranging days pattern Created by your name Last Edited date XNXXNXXXXXXXXNANNXXXXXXXOO BOUM OC UXCCCAC CCCII EXEC CC CINE Var Drder Type Market Limit C Stop C Stop Limit Expiration Limit Price Stop Price Cancel Help Clic
42. e MetaStock functions The list is constantly changing 4 The inability to access the variables and values of other indicators for this purpose Function Builder can be used Automatic conversion for structures using fml and fmlvar functions is not supported 5 Operations with different types are not allowed MetaStock allows implied conversion of value types Tradecision doesn t support it which leads to its inability to convert code automatically For example if you want to use MetaStock s if close open 10 15 it will be as iff close open 10 15 in Improvian Improvian Editor will inform you about the error Function iff with parameters Numeric Numeric Numeric not found It means that in Improvian there is only an IFF function which has a Boolean expression as its first parameter Manually we can write it as follows iff close open lt gt 0 10 15 105 Improvian Guide The above variant of the function has the correct expression syntax 106 Improvian Guide Glossary of Terms Builders special program modules that allow creating and managing trading techniques in Tradecision All these models have separate windows It means that you cannot access a strategy or indicator say from Study Builder Comments text blocks that can carry some explanatory information for a particular trading technique Syntax explanatory information Expression an expression is any combination of reserved words and oper
43. e problem reproducible If so then how If a dialog box with an error message was displayed please include the full text of the dialog box including the title in the title bar Which version of Windows are you using For example Windows XP Service Pack 2 Which version of Tradecision are you using From the Tradecision menu select Help and then click About Please include the entire version line in your problem report 109 Improvian Guide Disclaimer LEGAL NOTICE Tradecision generates hypothetical or simulated performance results Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain inherent limitations Unlike an actual performance record simulated results do not represent actual trading Also since the trades have not actually been executed the results may have under or over compensated for the impact if any of certain market factors such as lack of liquidity Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown ALYUDA RESEARCH INC IS NOT A REGISTERED TRADING ADVISOR IN ANY CAPACITY NOR IS IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER MAKING TRADING RECOMMENDATIONS OR ADVICE THROUGH THIS SOFTWARE ANY BUY OR SELL SIGNALS CREATED BY THIS SOFTWARE OR ANY APPLICATION OR SYSTEM USING THE RESULTS OF THIS SOFTWARE ARE PURELY HYPOTHETICAL AND ANY TRAD
44. eeaeeeeeuaeeeuaseeuaueaueseauassguausauansggs 67 Improving Your Strategy ccsccceeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeueseeeeeseueeseeeeseeonsggs 67 Understanding FUNCTIONS 2 ir oreet terc tege Pr dod ha Eae LI pr AR d ga L4 EAS E VE E To Ra Tua 67 Using Function Builder Your First Custom Function eeeeeeen nnn 68 Understanding FUNCEIONS isinsi e tenete e Hx Ree ERR E RR ERA ARR E EE ene EY values 71 Using Functions in Strategy Builder ssesssssssssemm mm 73 Scope of Variables secs ure Ere eAR Seeds cakes hades GU ERURRRKR ERI ER EX E ERE RES 76 Improving Strategy Ideas cece cece eee eee ene messen esses nnne 77 Understanding While LoODS c cc cece cence eee eee III sensere 78 CHAPTER 79 Debugging Trading TeChniques ccccceesceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeaeeeuaeeeeaeeeueeeaueeeanas 79 Errors in Your Techniques incisis rye rav vea cena Ren na E VR AZ a E ERA KAY NEU TED reves 80 Error MESSAGES iiid eR EU EGRE AER ERE E ETE NE 81 Syntax EFFOES 20 eei ria ceo RA IAEA ER ER TERRIER AAS Y Rd yr RP A S ad Tua 82 Semantic EFtOrS7 5 e v rain xa a ae a de rte a erai i diea EX XR A Ru 83 Run Time and Logical Erro Seep cocer ee ee ewe ta re a cea ERR ERR Ee cen venta 84 Run Time Error Messages in Tradecision Techniques cccceeeeeseeeee esse eeeeaeenas 85 Detecting Run Time and Logical Errors ccceeceee eee e cence eee eee eee mene 86 FUNCTION
45. fication of a b c corrections Fibonacci Clusters The tool is used for calculating price levels using pivots and Fibonacci retracements It allows you to determine the probability of a trend reversal for the each price level Noise Removal The Noise Removal tool allows you to create and analyze the smoothed curve of a price chart 98 Improvian Guide Using DLL Functions With the help of DLL Manager you can refer to functions subroutines stored in dll files DLL stands for Dynamic Link Library and refers to a file with a dll extension DLLs are used by applications to store functions and data required for proper operation You can register a function using the Register Function tool Once properly registered the function can be used as a standard function for example to create a custom indicator To register a new function 1 In the Tools menu click DLL Manager The Register function dialog box will be displayed 2 Click Add 3 In the Creating new function dialog box click Select Library to locate a dll file on your PC 4 In the Library Function list select the function you want to register 5 In the Function Name box enter a name for the function 6 In the Return Value list select the type of the value to be returned The following options are available int Integer Value float Floating Point Value double Floating Point Value with Double capacity bool Boolean N In the Parameter type
46. he right of the sign of equality which is produced by the value corresponding to the type of the variable The variable type numeric Boolean string is defined by the first assignment in the block of the declaration of variables Var Note In all the above cases the mathematical operation is located to the right of the sign The following entry is unacceptable Variable1 Variable2 Variable3 40 Improvian Guide Using Inputs The current version of the calculation Highest and LowestLow functions maintained for the last 9 bars Obviously there is a need to increase or reduce this value in accordance with each specific security In order to eliminate the need to change the source code every time or build several very similar indicators that vary by one number in the calculation such input values are used that can be set each time the indicator or any other technique is called In other words the inputs are indicator parameters that can be replaced and are used to calculate the indicator value To set inputs a special block is used which begins with the keyword Inputs or Ins and ends into the keyword End inputs or End ins Every input should have a name and initial value To ensure automatic control of the parameter entry accuracy you can set the minimum and maximum possible parameter values and incremental step Within the indicator you can use input values in the same manner as you use numbers However you c
47. hem The activation of a function should envision the return of the function to the variable or use of the return value in an expression Note Tradecision provides separate entry windows for separate entry and exit rules for long and short orders to make your code clear and avoid lengthy code in one place For the same reason Strategy Builder provides different windows for entering stop loss and profit take rules for long and short trades 67 Improvian Guide Using Function Builder Your First Custom Function Function Builder is a special tool used to create edit and manage your custom functions Unlike indicators or studies a function can be used not only to evaluate something for each bar but also to perform some general operations such as finding the minimum of two values or converting a numeric value into a Boolean value To launch Function Builder click Tools Function Builder Just like with the rest of the building functionality you can quickly select a function from the Functions List The Function Properties pane displays the name description and status of the selected function along with the Improvian code for it You can use the Function Builder toolbar to create a new function edit a selected function create a copy of it or delete it After a valid function is added to the Custom Functions List it can be used in any of your techniques just like any other built in function Let us improve our entry long rule fr
48. hey are created the Custom Time Series are added to the Custom Time Series category available in Improvian Editor You can use custom time series to build your custom indicators strategies and neural models For example very often you can improve your model performance using fundamental factors and market indices as model inputs Similarly with custom time series you can use 3 rd party time series such as the values of proprietary indicators and studies 97 Improvian Guide Using Built In Studies The following analytical studies are available with a single click Auto trends The Auto trends tool is used to automatically draw trends lines over the chart The tool provides automatic trend lines identification for minor intermediate and major trends Pivots This study identifies and marks a turning point in the trend on a chart Tradecision identifies Minor Intermediate or Major turning points Pivots are useful as the start or end points when drawing objects such as Fibonacci retracements or other analytical studies are used Single Day Patterns This kind of patterns is used for the identification of single day patterns such as runaway and thrust days Reversal Patterns Automatic identification of reversal patterns such as V top double top head and shoulders Elliott Wave analysis An exceptional tool for those traders who have used counting Elliott waves to make trading decisions The tool includes automatic identi
49. ided in one of the following chapters Note When creating your trading techniques in Improvian be careful not to make any spelling mistakes in the variable names Mistakes in variable names cause errors in programs Such errors are difficult to 35 Improvian Guide find For example let us assume that there is a variable called Difference in your technique and you have misspelled this variable as Diference in the technique For Improvian Difference and Diference are absolutely different variables and each of them can have its own value Every symbol of the program is important Be careful not to miss a single symbol and not to make a single mistake this will result in Improvian displaying an error message or in an unpredictable erroneous behavior of the trading technique 36 Improvian Guide Understanding Technique Branching Program Flow and Branching Technique Branching is the order according to which a technique executes its code Up until now your indicator had a successive program stream and the actions have been performed starting from the first string and then consecutively string after string till the very end of the program However most of the indicators will sooner or later reach a point where a decision has to be made regarding some specific part of the data Here the technique should analyze the data decide what to do with it and move on to the corresponding part of the code The situation when the consecutive
50. in any other way Thus you will save your time and acquire the necessary skills faster Use the Built in Improvian Functions in Full Improvian offers a large number of built in functions to manage the progress of a technique and to define the necessary conditions These functions operate properly and often simplify the code For instance when writing your own While cycle you can use the functions BarsWhile BarsSince ValueWhen and instead of writing the For cycle you can use the functions CountIf IsIncreasing or IsHighest Do Not Try to Fix All the Bugs at Once Fix your bugs one at a time If there are many try to avoid the temptation of fixing all the errors in one editing session Instead fix one error verify the technique and execute it to see how it works Often the solution to one problem automatically solves all the other problems too In any case start with the problems that result in infinite loops or logical inability of the technique to reach the keyword return Remember that trying to fix many bugs at a time you can breed new errors whereas it would be much easier to control the situation if you remember that you have changed for example strings 12 and 17 of your source text only Break Long Code into Functions If your source text tends to become quite long try to break it into parts or rather into functions As shown in the previous strategy related example breaking the code into functions makes
51. in purpose of this chapter is to show how to create pattern based strategies using only price data Close High and so on and Improvian s capabilities 55 Improvian Guide Understanding Loops A cycle is a recurring process of executing a block of commands Operators are executed from the start of the block and until the program reaches the end of the block Having reached the final point the program returns to the start of the block and the process is repeated The process can be repeated infinitely Cycles are useful if you need to calculate a value based on the number of the preceding bars or to compare one of the parameters of the current bar with the largest smallest average value of one of the previous N bars For instance you can search for the biggest true range for the previous N bars with the help of the cycle 56 Improvian Guide Understanding For Do Loops The For cycle is probably the most frequently used cycle in Improvian It instructs the program to execute a block of code a specified number of times Look at string buy rule that begins with the keyword For The cycle starts with this string The word For informs Improvian that you are initiating the For cycle After For you will see i short for index which is the value that rules the cycle The value can have any name that is valid for a variable The variable that rules the cycle is a meter of cycle loops Improvian takes the number fol
52. ing St dy B llder rct rete hr re Rome ee DEXTERAE ERR Le Ed PR TRIN 49 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 5 ssesessessuasuuuauu Ra a4 RA RRRRRRGARRRRRSRXSSASASEAERXSEASRSEASRXSEASRXSSASRSSRSRXSSRSuNsA 53 Your First Trading Strategy esessesessesessene au nn aun u uuu u uana uuu nua 53 Using Strategy Bulld6er iiir cete kei ceed nove IR RR RR REX AR LEV EH PE ditt 53 Understanding LOOPS 2 ree tee neto xx Li e emu Ld eden erai epi sex da Pee LEER ERES 56 Understanding For Do Loops sssssssssse me messes ese ene sete 57 Using Variables in LOOPS 5n cete eter kr rti xh et eh enn OR In CEANA NEEE NA cutee 58 Understanding Arrays iecore pa chu eren AEDI Fea E IPAE ERES ERRARE ETE DR NOTE TRUUNTA EA 59 Using a Variable as Array Index sssssssssssssssss Ime messen sees 61 Using Comments ide rx ex terial tees wooed exu eri s De a ASAE AA e ERE RN AR OPE a dx 62 Understanding Comltrients i2 cseette seii edid sarete sa e ble Ehe an a EP e ER Ro eg ds 62 Why do you need comments ssssssseseseseeese nnne nne nennen nemen ren n 63 Advanced Comments Usage e erp x a in nha ar dan RARE RR A LU Ea 64 Comments as a Means of Code Deactivation ecceeeeee cent ee eeeeeeeeeeneees 64 The Danger of Nested COMMeNtS e cece cece cette ee eee teeta memes 64 Special comments 5 eke a cache ee ete ae va ROMA EN te ae 66 CHAPTER 6 ccccceceneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeseeeeauaeeaea
53. ing too rather than just interpreting a series of characters Statements an Improvian s statement represents a complete instruction Statements can contain reserved words operators and punctuation marks and always end into a semicolon 107 Improvian Guide if Length gt 0 then Average Sum Length else Average 0 Technique Validity A trading technique can be valid or invalid A technique is valid if it can be executed correctly A technique is invalid when it uses another technique that cannot be called for one of the following reasons absence of the technique it was permanently deleted the parameters of the technique were changed Trading Technique a trading strategy alert scan study or indicator you want to create and or use in Tradecision 108 Improvian Guide Support The Tradecision Support Team is dedicated to helping you succeed with Tradecision Our support is easily accessible thorough flexible and free Feel free to contact us via E mail support tradecision com Internet www tradecision com support support htm or Live Support online chat Phone 347 416 6083 7am 3pm Eastern Time 888 862 2759 ext 3 9am 5pm Pacific Time Fax 510 279 5649 Mail Neo Digital Inc 4432 E Enterprise Str Fremont CA 94538 USA Please include the following information with your technical support questions A Clear detailed description of your problem or the question Is th
54. irst example above e Onecstring as the second and third strings above as long as it is a comment and not an instruction you do not need a semicolon at the end of the string e Closing a string These comments are located in the same string with the Improvian instruction most often at the end of the string 63 Improvian Guide Advanced Comments Usage Comments as a Means of Code Deactivation Since comments are ignored by the compiler they can be used to deactivate certain parts of the technique If something works incorrectly make a comment on it Besides you can insert a note to clarify why this section is commented upon Sometimes just it happens so that something that is supposed to work doesn t The reason for that may be that you accidentally commented on this part of the technique If a very large part of the source code is marked with the commentary color you have most probably missed a closing parenthesis The Danger of Nested Comments The most grievous error that may occur while making comments is the so called nested comments A nested comment is a comment that is located inside another comment Let us look at the following part of a technique If Close Open then begin BullBarsNo BullBarsNo 1 Bull Trigger BullBarsNo gt Limit Limit is entered as technique input end Else BearBarsNo BearBarsNo 1 Sum Sum 1 This technique already contains a comment Let us assume that you want t
55. ite BarTrueRange 3 and BarTrueRange 4 respectively and so on To assign values to the array elements indicate the element index in square brackets For instance the following instruction Ranges 1 High Low will assign the value High Low to the first element of the array Ranges 60 Improvian Guide Using a Variable as Array Index As you already know if necessary most numeric constants in Improvian can be replaced with numeric values A natural and very efficient way of using this option is to simultaneously use one variable as a meter of the cycle For Do and as an array index For instance in our example the variable i is used as the cycle control variable and index of the array BarTrueRange Note The variable i is also used to compare the values High and Close or Low and Close for adjacent bars to calculate their true high or true low 61 Improvian Guide Using Comments Understanding Comments To remember why you have written parts of your code this way or another to remember your ideas and what you are making your technique do in a command you should insert comments into your source text In smaller techniques featured in this manual comments are not necessary However they will become essential when you start writing larger techniques in which you can easily lose track of your ideas Comments will help you look through the source text quickly showing you what exactly is encoded in the te
56. ition is true or false i e you have to make a decision on whether to execute the first or the second set of instructions depending on the condition If you need to make a decision on whether to execute the first second or third set of instructions or more complex nested operators if then else are used By using the nested cascade operators if then you can reduce the time spent on calculations You can select to use these operators only when required i e when a certain condition is met When Tradecision attends to the first operator If Then the application checks the value of the variable choice as a result of each bar s analysis using the abovementioned study If both conditions are true which is the case with hammer bars See page 50 Tradecision proceeds to the next operator If Then If one of the conditions is false for more information on operators and logical operators refer to the following chapters Tradecision will ignore the nested operator if then and proceed to the operator else assigning the value false to the study which will mean that this bar cannot be a hammer bar Using the combination of the keywords if then else we can write a program that can make alternative decisions In itself the if then combination can help make a decision and execute special commands when the condition is met However if the conditional operator contains the else phrase the program will select
57. k OK 10 In the Strategy dialog box click OK to add the new strategy to the strategies list 54 Improvian Guide di OR DEA RRR AE AEE Rs EO a eR IRR IE OE Ee OR RR RE a EE AS OKOK EON RO RR RE HS GEORG Wide Ranging Bar Strategy gt Entry Long Rule Description Enters long position based on wide ranging days pattern Created by your name Last Edited date PERE LRRD EEA I EEE EE TE EAE REE SOROR RE ek es ee ee RR aE ae IE E Var Length 9 VolatilityRatioLimit 2 Sum 0 i 0 BarTrueLow 0 BarTrueHigh 0 PeriodAverageTrueRange 0 VolatilityRatio 0 PrevBarIsWideRanging false Array BarTrueRange 50 0 End_var calculate average true range for the previous Length bars For i 1 To Length do begin find true low for the i th bar ago If Close it t1 lt Low i Then BarTrueLow Close i 1 Else BarTrueLow Low i find true high for the i th bar ago If Close i 1 gt High i Then BarTrueHigh Close i 1 Else BarTrueHigh High i for each bar save its true range in array BarTrueRange i BarTrueHigh BarTrueLow Sum Sum BarTrueRange i end PeriodAverageTrueRange Sum Length VolatilityRatio BarTrueRange 1 PeriodAverageTrueRange PrevBarIsWideRanging VolatilityRatio gt Volatility RatioLimit Return PrevBarIsWideRanging and Close gt High 1 Note You can make this strategy shorter by using built in functions However the ma
58. lements C Curly brackets Used to indicate comments un Quotation marks Used to indicate string text items 24 Improvian Guide Operators Operators enable you to manage reserved words and values to create complex expressions Different operators are available for the different types of operands The tables below summarize the operator usage and result type Operator Operand Type Semantics unary Numeric Changes an operand value to the opposite Numeric Sums up the values of two numbers String Merges two rows Numeric Subtracts the value of the second operand from the value of the first operand T Numeric Multiplies the value of the first operand by the value of the second operand Numeric Divides the value of the first operand into the value of the second operand lt Numeric Returns True if the first operand is lesser than the Second operand gt Numeric Returns True if the first operand is greater than the Second operand lt Numeric Returns True if the first operand is lesser or equal to the second operand gt Numeric Returns True if the first operand is greater than or equal to the second operand Numeric Returns True if the first operand is equal to the Second operand lt gt Numeric Returns True if the first operand is not equal to the Second operand String Returns True if the symbol string of the first operand
59. lowing the assignment operator to start the count The number that follows the keyword To is the last i value in the cycle This means that during the execution of the cycle i will assume values from 1 to Length In succession As long as the value Length is specified in the ninth block of the declaration of variables the cycle will repeat nine times i e all the instructions within the cycle will be executed nine times for each of the nine previous bars In the long entry rule at the point where the For cycle starts Improvian places number 1 in the variable I and remembers the limit that defines the condition for the stop of the cycle incidentally this is the value of the variable Length Next Improvian proceeds to the next string that compares the Close of the previous bar with the Low of the current bar current in this case means the bar being processed by the cycle i e the bar i bars back to define the true low based on the results of the comparison Following this Improvian consecutively executes all the instructions up to the keyword end The keyword end defines the end of the body of the cycle and instructs Improvian to increment or increase the value of the control variable and start executing the operations over again starting from the top of the cycle Thus i becomes equal to 2 and the program returns to the string For Then the program compares the value of i with the number following the keyword T
60. lt 7 Open lt Close or C lt C gt More or equal 14 gt 14 Open gt Close or O gt C 44 Improvian Guide Using Logical Operators The term Logical Operators is used to mean Boolean operators i e operators dealing with True False values Those are operators such as amp AND NOT and OR enabling you to create logical expressions that yield true or false results As it is clear from the hammer study example on page 50 a simple comparison using the If Then operator is often not enough to identify whether a bar complies with your criterion How can you be sure that for instance a price falls within a certain range The best way to guarantee that data is within a proper range is to use logical operators in the If Then expression Let us assume that you need to make sure that Close is within the range between 10 and 50 inclusive To do so you need to make sure that Close is more or equal to 10 However you will also need to make sure that Close is less or equal to 50 To help you handle this situation Improvian offers you three logical operators And Or and Not which can be used in any kind of combination in the If conditions The And operator requires that all expressions be true for the complete expression to be true For instance in order to be sure that Close is within the range from 10 to 50 inclusive you need to set the following condition Close gt 10
61. lt PFINE 25 ERRARE Se a EE LR E 87 Escape Sequences in the Print Function eeeeseeeeee enm 88 Function PrinthiQ ss cce becasue et Roo ex cua TTE EE gx EX pg ta ead a er wv eR Re Ea 89 Working with Trace Watcher ranim nicieni eee i eee esee nemen senses messen seen 90 Working With Strings aapa n En DEE NESIE e rar EEEE rain E EP ENTER Ere REN IR aa eg 91 Merging SUNS e LEER 91 Substring Extraction REP ed RR EE tr NR ERR VOCE Pa EE EN ERRAT ERE RE RA 92 Focating a Substring serere Ph enter dx ne a npe SEE EE Ria 92 Converting String to a NUMDEL cece cece eee eee eee memes sense mese 92 8 Tips that Will Help Make Debugging Easier sssssssssrsrrsessrrrrsrurrrrnunsrerrnrnneernn 93 Use the Built in Improvian Functions in Full seem 93 Do Not Try to Fix All the Bugs at Once sssesssssssssssem mmm 93 Break Long Code into Functions irisa tas iraa aaa E E memes 93 Format Your Code an Appropriate Way ssssssesseeeeen nnnm nnns 94 To Locate Logical Errors Fast Discuss Your Technique with a Colleague 94 Sometimes It Is Useful to Disable Part of Your Code Using Comments to Localize nisi so neret teer L ppc LEE Epi sedate 94 Use Return to Reduce Your Technique sess nnm nnn 95 Use Trace Watcher to Track Down Variables ssssesseeeee 95 Make Your Comments Concise and to the Point ssessessseeeseeene 95 Improvian Guide CHAPTE
62. mation from any security or data feed you use in Tradecision For example in many cases it s worth comparing a stock s price with the overall exchange index before making a buy or sell decision You do not need to add the required symbols to your chart If the required symbol data is available in the Data Manager database you can refer to this data in any technique using Improvian The External Function allows obtaining an expression value the first parameter based on the price data of another stock the second parameter For example to obtain the Dow Jones Industrial index from Yahoo Finance you can use the following syntax DJIClose External Close DJI Additionally you can calculate any indicator and even any numerical expression using the price data of the specified symbol For example to obtain a short SMA for QQQ s Close you need to use the following syntax QQQ SMAO9 SMA External Close QQQ 9 The number of the external price data you reference in your technique is not limited Using the External function you can easily compare one security against another one compare market indices or look at the relationship between different groups of issues 96 Improvian Guide Using Custom Time Series Custom Time Series is a method that allows you to add external data for market calculations for example in Indicator Builder The data should be stored on your local hard drive in a text file After t
63. n expressed in a loadable form suitable for a computer and activated by it in order to achieve certain goal or results Most programs consist of a loadable set of instructions that determine how the computer will react to user input when the program is running i e when the instructions are loaded What is Improvian Improvian is a special programming language for traders It gives you a variety of opportunities to implement your own trading ideas for example design a trading system or improve an existing study or indicator It is can be easy if you are ready to spend some time to explore the Improvian syntax For example a trading system is composed of one or more trading rules In your strategy you just need to indicate what you want to be your buy sell sell short and other conditions Improvian can be accessed from the Improvian Editor a special word processor that allows you to write your own ideas in the form of a strategy indicator study and so on using specific syntax Improvian is comprised of a combination of reserved words operators functions parameters and punctuation Tradecision s Improvian Dictionary includes a collection of built in functions covering many of the most popular trading techniques These include all types of Moving Averages Volatility Momentum chart patterns to name but a few All language constructions are not case sensitive i e IBM is the equivalent of ibm Improvian Guide Wha
64. nd name have to be the same as in TradeStation Note If you select the From File option you will need to locate the imported file on your PC 5 Click OK The Improvian Editor will be displayed for you to check edit and approve the function syntax For details refer to Using Improvian Editor 6 In the Improvian Editor click OK 102 Improvian Guide The function will be added to the Custom Functions List 103 Improvian Guide Importing MetaStock Formulas Tradecision enables you to import MetaStock code into Improvian It can be helpful if you want to use MetaStock code in your analysis or trading techniques in Tradecision To insert a MetaStock code For example you want to import Stochastic RSI 21 13 Smoothed which you found in the Formulae Collection at http forum equis com ezformulae php The formula has the following code Mov RSI 21 LLV RSI 21 13 HHV RSI 21 13 LLV RSI 21 00001 13 8 E 100 To automatically translate the formula into Improvian do the following 1 In Tradecision go to the Tools menu and select Indicator Builder 2 Click New to create a new indicator StochRSI 3 Click Edit The Improvian Editor dialog box will be displayed 4 Copy the MetaStock Stochastic RSI 21 13 Smoothed code to clipboard 5 In the Improvian Editor dialog box click Edit and select Paste MetaStock The MetaStock code will be automatically decoded into Improvian as follows return
65. ng Execution Errors According to computer experts no faultless software programs exist As you start writing full size techniques you will see that for yourself As your techniques become longer you will make sure that the error search and recognition can be a hard and complicated task When your technique consists of a few strings only you can check each string of code and detect the inaccuracy However when your technique grows to include dozens and even hundreds of code strings it is unlikely that you will enjoy the idea of reading through every string of code Instead you will most probably want to locate the part of the technique where the error has occurred and thus speed up the search For this purpose the Tradecision application provides a simple to use debugging tool called Trace Watcher which will help you easily find errors in the programming code 79 Improvian Guide Errors in Your Techniques When writing complex techniques be ready to spend a lot of time on error recovery from simple spelling mistakes to logical errors Errors are inevitable Even the developers of Improvian receive error messages every day You should not be embarrassed by errors Consider them training tools or polite reminders Improvian tries to identify the cause of an error and locate it as precisely as possible displaying a corresponding message on the Messages panel There are four types of errors that can occur in your techniques syn
66. ntrol variables identically in all of them Most often cycle control variables are called index i enumerator e control counter c Choose the most suitable version and always use it This will increase your techniques readability and reduce the time one will have to spend on understanding the code at a later date 58 Improvian Guide Understanding Arrays In your techniques you will face the task of storing and processing multiple interlinked values For instance to use the cycle for processing nine various variables you will have to employ an array An array is a variable which can have more than one value An array is designed to provide access to a series of variables under one name It will be convenient for you to use arrays if you need to store similar information about the number of previous bars To use an array declare it in the variable block with the help of the keyword array For example the following string Array BarTrueRange 50 0 declares the array BarTrueRange composed of 50 elements and assigns the value 0 to all the array elements during the declaration In this manner an array can be used to store numeric variables If you need to use an array to store Boolean variables you need to assign the values true or false to the array elements during the declaration for example Array BullBars 14 false If you need to use an array for storing string variables you need to assign an empty
67. o If the meter of the cycle in i is less or equal to the number following To the program will execute the cycle again Incidentally the process continues until i is greater than Length i e 9 If you want the control variable of the for cycle to decrease and not to increase replace the keyword To with Downto For instance the above cycle can be written as follows For i Length downto 1 do In this case the indexing inside the cycle needs to be changed accordingly as it will be described later 57 Improvian Guide Using Variables in Loops As with most numeric values in the program you can replace numbers with variables and use them in your For Do cycles the way the variable Length was used instead of 9 in the above example Practically you will use variables in your cycle parameters as often as numbers or even more often Using variables in the cycle For Do is an effective programming tool making your programs more flexible The control variable of the For Do cycle for instance i in For i 2 1 to 9 do is an average variable The only difference between this variable and the other variables is that Improvian knows how to use this cycle variable for its own purposes such as maintaining the cycle for as long as required And as the cycle variable does not differ from the other variables its value can be set even within the cycle To ensure uniformity of your techniques we suggest naming cycle co
68. o change this part of the technique to ensure that the operator if is not executed at all and only the increment of the Sum variable is executed To achieve this make a comment on all but the last string that you want executed Intuitively traders do the following t If Close Open then begin BullBarsNo BullBarsNo 1 Bull Trigger BullBarsNo gt Limit Limit is entered as technique input end Else BearBarsNo BearBarsNo 1 Jj Sum Sum 1 However for Improvian a comment begins with the opening bracket before if and ends into the closing bracket before end i e the first curly closing bracket found Therefore nested comments should not be used To avoid the pitfalls of nested comments be careful when deactivating part of a technique Incidentally the solution is to remove the comment Limit is 64 Improvian Guide entered as technique input Alternatively you can make a comment on each separate string in which case our string would look as follows Bull Trigger BullBarsNo gt Limit Limit is entered as technique input This method is efficient because the comment still ends into the symbols The additional symbols in the comment are ignored 65 Improvian Guide Special comments Comments can be used for the visual separation of different parts of code For instance 111 Comments can be decorated with special symbols For instance fe RAE A on REE IOS AE ok ae Moos ok
69. o be used in Boolean expressions True False AND OR NOT 20 Improvian Guide The following is a list of the most frequently used Improvian Reserved Words var if byref vars then byval variables else true variable while false end var do printin end_vars for print end_variables to end_variable downto end_input begin end_in end end_ins array end_inputs function input return in boolean ins numeric inputs string You cannot use a reserved word as a name for your indicator or any other trading technique From this point of view some built in functions can be considered as reserved words too You can look it up in the Improvian Function Reference whether a function can be used as a reserved word For example the following description for the Low function is provided Name Low Full name Low Syntax Low Description Returns Low value specified number of bars ago Returns A numeric value Example Low Reserved Word Yes 21 Improvian Guide Skip Words Skip words are another group of reserved words used to make your techniques read more like English or any other language The Improvian Editor ignores these words when verifying your trading techniques Unlike in any other trading language that contains skip words you can create your own dictionary of skip words to be used for creating trading techniques For example you can add words such as shares later afterwards
70. o ok Name MyFastK Description Calculates Fast Stochastic Created by your name Last Edited current date time ERE ERA EE AR AE RE EE RE eee en PE AE ete cles ce Shee elk eet eee eke Name MyFastK Description Calculates Fast Stochastic Created by your name Last Edited current date time 66 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 6 Improving Your Strategy Understanding Functions Lengthy techniques are hard to organize and read A full size technique can contain five and more pages of code and you will have to spend a lot of time on locating the part of the code you need To solve this problem you can use modular methods of writing techniques Thus you will be able to subdivide a long technique into sub techniques whereby each part performs its own individual task To make the code of your technique easier to understand divide the technique into sub techniques As a result each sub technique in your technique has only one main task while being short and specific When you overload your sub technique with too many tasks you strip it of its individuality In order to subdivide your techniques into sub techniques and to use one and the same code in several techniques Improvian offers functions in other words sub techniques Functions can be built using Function Builder Functions are designed to divide your techniques into smaller sub techniques Functions return the value to the technique that activates t
71. om the previous chapter using the BarTrueRange function 68 Improvian Guide To create the BarTrueRange function 1 On the Function Builder toolbar click New The Custom Function dialog box is displayed 2 In the Function Name and Full Name boxes of the Custom Function dialog box type MyTrueRange 3 In the Description box type Ca culates true range for the given bar 4 Under the Expression box click Edit Improvian Editor will be displayed 5 In the Expression box of the Improvian Editor window type or cut and paste through the Clipboard the function code provided under the list Editing Custom Function oE y Check fg Edit s view lt j Printing Expression 1 WOKCKCKCk Ck ck ckckckck ck Ch k kk kk ck ck CK k ck ck kckck ck h Ch Ck ck ckckck ck kc k ck ck ckckck cc kk KA Custom Function MyTrueRange Description Calculates true range for the given bar Created by your name Last Edited date dee eee eee eee ko koc eek ee ee ee eee eee e function ClosePrice Numeric Close LowPrice Numeric Var MyTrueLow 0 MyTrueHigh 0 End_var If ClosePrice 1 lt LowPrice Then MyTrueLow ClosePrice 1 Else MyTrueLow LowPrice If ClosePrice 1 gt HighPrice Then MyTrueHigh ClosePrice 1 Else MyTrueHigh HighPrice m gt mes j Ok Cancel Help 6 Click OK 7 In the Custom Function dialog box click OK to save the new function 69
72. ons You can also convert numeric values into strings with the help of reverse conversion using the NumToString function thus expanding your capabilities of processing the calculation results To convert a string into a number use the StringToNum function as it is shown in the following fragment of technique code Number StringToNum StringVar 92 Improvian Guide 8 Tips that Will Help Make Debugging Easier If the height of the source text of your technique is greater than the height of Improvian Editor screen and you are writing a technique for the first time you will most probably be unable to just sit down and encode the entire technique from scratch making it work perfectly The human nature is such that errors are common during the writing of techniques Improvian does notice spelling mistakes but there can occur other types of errors or defects in techniques No errors may be found in a technique during the verification but when the technique is run unexpected behavior occurs despite the fact that the technique simply executes the trader s commands It often happens so that the trader forgets about some of the essential things while using Improvian When that happens it would be reasonable to revert to this chapter and read once again the overview of those methods that can be used to solve your techniques related problems You should do so before you start making phone calls sending e mails or discussing your problem
73. ons as well as instructions required to calculate the conditions with the help of which the commands of input and output from a position can be performed A trading system can be back tested to identify its profitability risk level and efficiency Strategy Builder is a separate tool used to build and operate trading systems Simulation Manager is used to analyze strategies 3 Edit 2 Copy AS Apply Strategy si Simulations Optimize Strategy Properties Parameters Value Name Average True Range Description Generates long short entry orders when the close is higher Signals Shorts and Longs CCI 100 100 Crossover Strategy Type Strategy CCI 100 100 Crossover Optimizable 1 Optimizable No CCI MA Crossover Last Modified 6 25 2004 3 57 00 AM Derivative MA Status Valid M Crossover ptimizable MACD Crossover PercentR Crossover RSI 30 70 Crossover 12 Improvian Guide Inputs and Targets for Neural Models Inputs and targets for neural models are expressions of any degree of difficulty forming input and target parameters for neural networks The possibilities of Improvian enhance neural networks potential and enable traders to gain an advantage over those market players who use other trading neural network based software Model Builder is a special tool designed to manage neural network models New Model CAT Model 1 Select Model Inputs Step 3 of 4
74. or trading strategy and so on examine the price data from a chart Typically you receive data from a data provider in the Data Manager Then you open a chart in Tradecision A specified symbol s chart consists of multiple bars made up from price data It can be minute daily weekly and other bars Each bar simply sums up the prices for a trading interval and can contain such price values as open high low and close prices for the period Consequently a chart is a visual representation of a period of trading history for a symbol whereby individual bars represent trading periods The following is what happens when this simple trading strategy rule for Entry Long is written down using Improvian Return Close gt High 1 Incidentally you are instructing Improvian to compare the closing price of the current bar with the high price of the previous one and generate an Entry Long order when the close exceeds the previous high This comparison is made for the closing price of every bar in the chart the high price from the previous bar being compared every time Although your trading technique is applied to a price chart filled with different bars the procedure that is used to evaluate the data in the chart is always the same Each price bar includes price volume OI date and other information received from a data provider To evaluate a chart Improvian starts reading the price data from the first bar in the chart as it came from the
75. ories group box select the appropriate category 2 In the Functions area select the function that you need or simply type the function in the box under Functions You can read the description of the selected function in the Description box 3 Select the highlighted function and double click it or click Insert The selected function will be displayed in the Expression box 31 Improvian Guide Using AutoComplete There is another way of using the Improvian Dictionary which is AutoComplete feature In the Expression box enter the first letter of the built in function and press Ctrl Space or right click to select AutoComplete from the list The capability allows automatic expansion of a word from the Dictionary when only several of the letters are entered fy Check fxg Edit view lt 4 Printing fci Options Expression return MAJ 32 Improvian Guide Improvian Editor Toolbar You can use the Improvian Editor Toolbar for the following tasks Check checking indicator or another technique validity If an error is found a message explaining the error will appear in the Messages box Edit accessing Undo amp Redo features work with the Clipboard clear the Expression box use Auto Complete function or paste techniques from MetaStock Improvian Editor Entry Long fy Check f 4 Edit 8 view lt 4 Printing fei Options Expression Pp CLOSE 20 1 fsg Clear Ctrl Del rm Auto
76. other with commas while declaring the function and activating it in the body of the technique The parameters are used in the function body in the same manner as the variables are used in a technique s body Note The naming conventions for functions and parameters are the same as the naming conventions for variables The part of the string after the parenthesis Numeric informs Improvian that this function returns to the activating technique a value of the Numeric type This also means that in the function body the value of the expression after the keyword Return should be numeric for otherwise a type mismatch error will occur The following string of the function is the string that informs Improvian which value will be returned from the function Note To return a value from a function the keyword Return is used which among all denotes the end of the function Now in order to be able to use the function in the body of any technique you need to activate it in the following manner MyTrueRange Close Low High A function can have as many parameters as required However you need to make sure that the parameters defined by you during the procedure activation match the type and sequence of the parameters that you defined in the string of the function declaration Function During the function declaration you can use different variable names However they should be of the same type In other words in the example
77. p NW EZ Improvian Language User Guide Version 3 0 Alyuda Research Inc Improvian Guide 2001 2006 Alyuda Research All rights reserved I mprovian Language User Guide No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic magnetic tape mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without permission in writing from Alyuda This document is provided for informational purposes only and the content of this document is subject to change without notice Alyuda assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document Improvian Guide Contents Chapter MEN EP 6 Introduction cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeesaeeeseeeasaeeaeaseasaeeasaseauaeeauaseeuaeeaueeeesaeensens 6 Notation Conventions eise nh x eevee ya exa x an E iis NEA ANAA EENAA ANENA A VENAS 6 Is it Easy to Learn a Language ssssssssssssssene meme nensem een n nnn 7 Who Should Read This Guide sss essem seen 8 What is a Trading Technique is centem ra extend in nn Rx aa en na e n Re a ada 9 What is ImproViarn i oorr e nears acs canota T eER leder rri PI E tee oe DE E RBIP IET TRI 9 What Can You Create i ge Ree xa Rag ERR RR RA EY ER RA RERMERR EAR RU ARR RAE 10 Technical Indicators ira iret ete n eet Veet wid i a m aia a EV d i ev a aN 11 Trading Systetms cios i oerte hd eite ta che Chen vasa cts PE RE TERR P A
78. provian searches for the variable WideRangingDayLocatd but it cannot find it and displays the corresponding error message The variable WideRangingDayLocatd is not declared Sometimes it is difficult to spot the misprint in a long variable name at first glance and it seems that Improvian is wrong In this case we are dealing with a semantic error Semantic errors occur when the code is in compliance with the rules of the language the code syntax is correct but the semantics meaning cannot be defined unambiguously or does not comply with the previous code the task To fix this error edit the source text again and replace the word WideRangingDayLocatd with the one that would make the program correct The most common semantic errors are misprints in function parameters or function types for instance the activation of CrossAbove Highest High 13 where the second or first parameter is missing 83 Improvian Guide Run Time and Logical Errors Let us assume that you have decided to use the simplest variation of the FastK indicator provided in Chapter 2 return Close Lowest Low 9 Highest High 9 Lowest Low 9 100 Sooner or later for a certain security and period the indicator will encounter a situation whereby Highest High 9 will be equal to Lowest Low 9 and the difference will be equal to zero In this case when you try to insert the indicator into a chart you will receive an error message This may conf
79. rTrueHigh BarTrueLow write BarTrueRange i MyTrueRange Close i 1 Low i High i 4 Click OK Now your strategy rule has the following code 73 Improvian Guide of cheek Ack AE A ae EE AG EEE a OSEE EO Eo EE A Solos porco eos eoe der oos posee deae oo kK Wide Ranging Bar Strategy gt Entry Long Rule Description Enters long position based on wide ranging days pattern Created by your name Last Edited date DK OK K K K K K PK K K CK CE OK K K OK K K K K 2K 2K K K CE OK CK K CE K K K K K 2K 2K K K K K CE OK K K CE XK K K K K K K K K K K K K EEL Var Length 9 Volatility RatioLimit 2 Sum 0 i 0 PeriodAverageTrueRange 0 VolatilityRatio 0 PrevBarIsWideRanging false Array BarTrueRange 50 0 End_var calculate average true range for the previous Length bars For i 1 To Length do begin BarTrueRange i MyTrueRange Close i 1 Low i High i Sum Sum BarTrueRange i end PeriodAverageTrueRange Sum Length VolatilityRatio BarTrueRange 1 PeriodAverageTrueRange PrevBarIsWideRanging VolatilityRatio gt VolatilityRatioLimit Return PrevBarIsWideRanging and Close gt High 1 74 Improvian Guide By using your new MyTrueRange function you can avoid using BarTrueRange array thus simplifying your technique even further To know how this can be done analyze the code below PK OK CK AK CK CK OK K CK PK CK CK CK OK K PK K K CE CK K
80. resent OK Cancel Help 7 Inthe Custom Study dialog box click OK to save the new study and add it to the Studies List 50 Improvian Guide DK OK K K K K K K K K CK CE CE K OK OK K K K PK K K K 2K K K 2K K K K CE CE CE K CE K K K K K K 2K K K K K K K OK CE K K K kKkKkKKKKKKXKXKX Name Hammer Description Identifies bars that represent Hammer candlestick pattern Last Edited date KK K K K K K K K CK K K K K K K K K K K CK K CE K K K K K CE K K K K K CE CE CE CK K K 2K K CE CK K K K K K K K K K K K K PERE Ee aE Var Min 0 Max 0 End_var Min Min Close Open Max Max Close Open if Min gt MedianPrice and Open lt gt Close then if Min Low gt Max Min 2 and High Max lt Max Min and LRL Close 9 0 lt LRL Close 9 0 1 then This true else This false else This false return This The Hammer Study inserted into a minute chart Hammer 51 Improvian Guide In the following chapters we will provide a detailed overview of the new Improvian elements in this code nested if then comparison operators logical operators and previous values referencing 52 Improvian Guide CHAPTER 5 Your First Trading Strategy Using Strategy Builder With Strategy Builder you can design historically test and fine tune your trading strategies To create a trading strategy you need to formalize your own trading ideas or modify improve the existing one
81. s To do so you need to define the conditions for your buy sell rules using Improvian Editor To launch Strategy Builder in the Tools menu click Strategy Builder The Strategy Builder dialog box contains a toolbar a list of your strategies and the parameter pane that displays the parameters for the selected strategy Using the Strategy Builder toolbar you can create edit copy delete and apply the selected strategy Tradecision contains several predefined strategies based on well known trading ideas You can review them to get an idea about the strategies structure and the instructions used in buy sell rules Below you can find information on how to create a new strategy based on a wide ranging day pattern Wide ranging days have a true range that is far larger than the true range for the previous days and are especially meaningful after a strong trend The simplest formal definition of wide ranging days is as follows a wide ranging day is a day on which the true range for the current bar is twice or more bigger than the true range of the preceding N day long period The simplest strategy based on the wide ranging day pattern is entering into a position if the close of the bar following the wide ranging bar is more or less than the true high or true low of the wide ranging day Note This rule is too simple to be used as is so you should be prepared to learn to improve this strategy in the following chapters 53 Improvian Gui
82. s from first to last list select the type of the function s parameter and click Add 8 Click Save You can select several parameter types The function will be added to the Registered functions list and the External DLL functions category of the Improvian Editor 99 Improvian Guide Analyzing Technique Interdependencies Technique Interdependencies is a special dialog box intended for reviewing all trading techniques available in Tradecision The functionality enables analyzing dependencies between techniques and the ability to edit them To Manage Technique Interdependencies 1 In the Tools click Technique Interdependencies 2 In the Technique Interdependencies dialog box select the select the Model Strategy or any other required technique 3 Review the dependencies that you are interested in by selecting Depends On and Used In tabs You can use the following toolbar buttons Locate in the list Select previous techniques Show only invalid techniques 100 Improvian Guide Importing EasyLanguage Techniques With Function Builder you can import TradeStation s functions You can only convert functions from EasyLanguage However there are several problems that prevent converting the EasyLanguage functions into Improvian Links to unimplemented techniques in Tradecision cannot be converted without receiving an error massage You need to try import the unimplemented function at first A DLL function call
83. s your indicators easier to read and understand for you and any other programmer What happens inside this version of MyFastK indicator Let us assume that for some of the bars the value HighestHigh High Length will be equal to the value LowestLow When Tradecision reaches the operator If Then it compares the value of the variable Difference with the number 0 As most of the bars these values do not correspond to each other or in other words the statement is false Tradecision skips the code string following the keyword Then and proceeds by executing the keyword else In those cases when Difference is equal to zero Tradecision will avoid making a mistake of dividing into zero by assigning the zero value to the indicator 39 Improvian Guide Assigning Values to Variables While reviewing code of a new version of the indicator you should remember that the special operator is used to assign values to variables The variable is located to the left of the operator It is followed by the operator and then which in turn is followed by a description of the action performed by the value The expression to the right can be a number a mathematical expression a built in Improvian function generating the value or any other variable In the latter case the variable value to the left of the operator will receive the same value as the variable to the right In this case any kind of character will be acceptable to t
84. string Extraction In the same manner as you combine several strings to create a long string you can divide strings into shorter strings These shorter strings are called substrings In order to clip out any part of a string Improvian suggests using the Substring method The Substring function returns the specified number of symbols from the beginning of the string along with the specified symbol to the end of the string It cuts the specified symbols out of the string For instance if we add the following expression to the end of the previous example CurrentTicker Substring TickerList 5 4 CurrentTicker value is GOOG Locating a Substring Now that you know how to extract a substring from a larger string you need to learn to locate the string you need Let us assume that your string contains a ticker list and you want to find the ticker GOOG in it To solve this task of locating a substring in a string use the function InString For instance TickerPosition InString TickerList GOOG TickerPosition value is 5 Converting String to a Number As we already know there is a big difference between numeric values and text strings even if a text string contains numbers Numeric values can be used in mathematical operations and strings cannot Fortunately Improvian offers a convenient function called StringToNum which enables converting strings with numbers into numeric values that can be directly used in mathematical operati
85. string to the array elements or any symbol string for example Array DJI Tickers 30 You cannot use number arrays to store Boolean or string variables and visa versa One array can store only elements of one type You cannot use any elements or inputs in the declaration of the array For example you cannot declare an array in the following manner Array BarTrueRange Length 0 Array BarTrueRange 50 InputValue1 The memory blocks that make up an array are called array elements For instance in the amount array amount 1 is the first element in the array amount 2 is the second element of the array and so on An array can contain from 1 and up to 65 535 elements If you try to write a value that is less than 1 or larger than the array size set during declaration you will receive the error message Array dimension must be in the range from 1 to 65535 during the technique s execution Indexes are used to derive an individual value for each array element Index is the number that identifies a block in which one of the array values is stored For instance to refer to the first result in our array BarTrueRange you will have to write BarTrueRange 1 Here the index is the number in the square brackets In this case we are referring to the true range for the first bar in the array To refer to the second average result write BarTrueRange 2 To refer to 59 Improvian Guide the third and fourth average results wr
86. strings at the beginning of the code Var LowestLow 0 Difference 0 End var The first string Var informs the Improvian that the following is the variable declaration block The second string LowestLow 0 is the declaration of the variable It informs the Improvian that you are going to use the variable with the name LowestLow in the program and that this variable will be used as a number Similarly the third string informs that you are going to use the numeric variable Difference And finally the last string says that this block of the declaration of variables is complete and provides instructions on how to calculate the indicator The first variable is used to avoid double calling the LowestLow function in the indicator body thus increasing the speed of the calculation The second variable is used to improve the readability of the code and shorten the long formula As a result the source code of your indicator MyFastK can be written as follows Var LowestLow 0 Difference 0 End var LowestLow Lowest Low 9 Difference Highest High 9 LowestLow return Close LowestLow Difference 100 As you can see both variables store the calculation results in order to refer to the results of this operation later without having to repeat the formula or expression This is not the final version of the indicator since division into zero is possible here The correct indicator code is prov
87. t Can You Create Using the Improvian language you can create analysis techniques that can help you make a profitable trading decision Inventing your own techniques isn t easy First of all you need an idea Then you need to write that idea down Improvian will allow you to write down any kind of idea you can only come up with and Tradecision will inform you about how well your trading idea performs With Improvian you can create Trading system rules using the Strategy Builder capability Inputs for Neural Models Indicators using the Indicator Builder capability Custom Functions Alerts using the Alert Builder capability Studies using the Study Builder capability Custom scans using NeatScan market scanner Improvian Guide Technical Indicators Indicators perform mathematical calculations for each bar The results are presented in the form of a diagram which enables visual comparison with price data or other indicators based on instructions that were created using the Improvian language Indicators are built in Indicator Builder a special tool for indicator building and management Ed New em Edit y zal Copy Ba Delete ny Insert Into Chart E Import Export o Custom Indicators List Indicator properties i Parameter Value Indicator Name Full Name Description Status o m Expression een 11 Improvian Guide Trading Systems Trading systems contain conditi
88. tax semantic run time and logical errors The following chapters describe how to avoid and fix them 80 Improvian Guide Error messages To understand why syntax errors occur replace the following first three strings of the Var block right after the comments in our entry long rule and press F5 Var WideRangingDayLocated false Control true After the verification you will see a common error message in the first string of the Messages panel 3 4 At Control missing Sintax error An error message contains the following information 3 a string in which the error occurred In this case it is string 10 although errors may have occurred in other strings as well lt 4 gt the number of the string symbol where the error occurred according to Improvian At Control missing gt a description of the error lt Syntax error gt the type of the error In this case it is an error that occurred during the syntax analysis i e a syntax error or a similar error Despite all the information received it may still be unclear what exactly is wrong However Improvian will try to provide as much information as possible on the reason for it being unable to continue building the technique In fact the error is in string 2 the number of the string is indicated talking the comments into consideration However Improvian is flexible and it does not detect that something is missing until it reaches s
89. tom indicators you can use at the beginning Below you can see how to create new custom indicators using the formula for the well known Stochastic Fast K indicator or rather part of a well known Stochastic indicator To create the Stochastic Fast 9oK indicator 1 On the Indicator Builder toolbar click New 2 In the Custom indicator dialog box in the Indicator Name and Full Name boxes type MyFastk 3 In the Description box type My first variant of the Fast Stochastic K indicator 4 Click the Edit button The Improvian Editor will be displayed 5 In the Improvian Editor dialog box in the Expression box enter return Close Lowest Low 9 Highest High 9 Lowest Low 9 100 28 Improvian Guide Custom Indicator MyFastK 3E Indicator Name MyFastK Full Name MyFastK 700 00 Description My first variant of the Fast Stochastic K indicator Expression return Close Lowest Low 9 Highest Hiah 9 Lowest Low 9 100 DK Cancel Help 6 Click OK 7 In the Custom indicator dialog box click OK to save the new indicator and add it to the list Note This is not the final version of the indicator since division into zero is possible here The correct indicator code is provided in one of the following chapters In the next chapter you will learn how to use the Improvian Editor 29 Improvian Guide Using the Improvian Editor The Improvian Editor is
90. tring 3 Note You can use this flexibility and make the change in string 3 However this will reduce the readability of the code 81 Improvian Guide Syntax Errors The type of an error is also important Syntax analysis or parsing allows detecting a syntax error i e an error resulting from the omission of an Improvian punctuation symbol Syntax defines the method to combine language elements In other words syntax defines the sequence of combining language elements Therefore a syntax error means that two language elements that according to the Improvian syntax cannot follow each other Have been placed next to each other Incidentally we can see the omission of a semicolon symbol at the end of string 2 To correct this error we need to edit the source text and fix the invalid part In this case we need to edit the rule all over again and add a semicolon at the end of string 2 Even if you take a very close look at string 3 you will not be able to see anything incorrect there However if you look a little way back you will see the error and fix it If you have been unable to locate an error in the string indicated by the compiler remember the syntax errors By the way the omission of a semicolon is one of the most common errors in techniques To facilitate your search for errors the numbers of the current string and column under the cursor are displayed to the left in the status bar at the bottom of the edit panel
91. umulated summation or multiplication for instance when calculating an indicator that uses the result of its former calculations in its expressions In this case the sum will increase infinitely until it exceeds the bounds Check the expressions carefully to see where in the expression the required devisor could have been omitted return h l c this 1 this 2 In all the above cases Improvian s debugging options to establish the cause of the error 85 Improvian Guide Detecting Run Time and Logical Errors Tradecision provides a simple debugging tool for detecting run time and logical errors Trace Watcher To locate run time and logic errors using Trace Watcher change the code of the last operator If in our technique to the following if WideRangingDayLocated then This CrossAbove Close Highest High N2 N1 1 else This false Some traders could easily write this code and check whether Close exceeds the value of the highest High for the previous N2 N1 1 bars At first glance the formula seems correct and its verification does not expose any errors However after inserting this technique into a chart you will not detect a single signal You can go through the code over and over again checking the logic and you will still be unable to find the cause for this system behavior In such cases use Trace Watcher to find out whether it is true that the input condition is met for neither of the bars Trace Watcher ena
92. use you as your indicator has been functioning without any errors for many other securities or even functioned well for the same security in the past In such cases you have to deal with run time errors 84 Improvian Guide Run Time Error Messages in Tradecision Techniques 1 The index is outside of array bounds this means that an array element outside the array was called For example there is a declared array consisting of 100 elements and there is a call to the array element in the program Var array ar 100 20 end var ar 101 10 2 Division by zero This error message means that a division into zero has taken place For instance the indicator with the text return C O H H 1 will issue this message during the insertion if the expression H H 1 will produce value equal to 0 To avoid this use constructions of the IFF type so that you can convert the initial expression retaining its meaning into the following one return IFF H H 1 0 0 C O H H 1 If the division into zero situation arises the expression will return 0 3 Exception thrown by function This message means that in the attached DLL function an exception was generated during its activation 4 Floating Point Operation Error This message means that a floating point operation error has occurred This message is issued if the result of an arithmetic operation for the module exceeds the admissible value of 1 7 E 308 This usually happens in case of acc
93. utoComlplete iter tere prt rta vae TH ERAR A E AAE eae 32 Improvian Editor TOODA iieii iari EEEE mne nennen nnn nnn 33 Using Variables 5 ixe cre RE UR EC n eek eoa cee ade eter wea cbs COE REN REA 34 Declaring Variables dieere nen exe eir xn rar n I pr ie Er ara aces 35 Understanding Technique Branching s s sssssssssresserrnrrssurrrnuseurrrnnusurrnnnunuerrnrtnnns 37 Program Flow and Branching ccceceee eee eee eee eee e emen nenne 37 Understanding Operator If THEN ssssssssessssssssesesem emen anatase 38 Simple operator If Then 20 ccc cccescesceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeseeeaeetanenaeneasengs 38 Assigning Values to Variables nisi aeia cece eee eee eee nena erate ean mene 40 SIPIG IM PUTS iiss ste LEE 41 CHAPTER 4 ccc cceececeeeeeeeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeseaeeseaeaeeseeeeaeeeeeeeeeeuessasauseuaeseeansggs 43 Creating the First Custom Study ccccceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeensaeeneans 43 Understanding Nested If THGN innii iiia eee eee eee eee semen senses 43 Using Comparison Operators sssessssesssseese eene nemen nnn 44 Relational Operators sssssssssssseesseee eene nennen nnne nnn nnn 44 Using Logical Opetatotrs eer tere e e Lob vu e FERA RE x ER TREE CERE 45 Logical Operators coire saei te eb de ule FEAT eeu ER ER er m Di FR Lr FUHR edle inda 47 Referencing Previous Values esssssssssssessees memes eese messen senes 48 Us
94. valuates to string for example This is a string expression 23 Improvian Guide Statements and Punctuation A statement is a combination of expressions and reserved words that represents a complete instruction and always ends into a semicolon such as for instance the If Then structure or variable declaration statements For example return statement is an instruction of return It stops a program s execution and returns a value Statements can be very simple such as Return Close Open or more complex multi line expressions such as if Length gt 0 and MyIndicator Length 14 then Average Sum Length else Average 0 Even though the second example includes several calculations and conditional expressions both examples are valid statements that start with a statement reserved word return and if correspondingly and end with a semicolon In addition to the end of statement punctuation mark there are several other punctuation symbols You will use these often while writing in Improvian The table below summarizes the usage of the punctuation symbols Symbol Name Description Semicolon Used to indicate the end of a statement Bar nthiesas Used to indicate operator precedence or group calculations i Comma Separates items such as parameters used with functions on a list NN Backslashes References price data from the previous bars Square brackets References array e
95. will not be translated correctly For example JMA value1 jrc jma 2k series leni phase1 Compiler Directives will not be translated correctly For example BeginAlert Using unsupported constructions for example RawAsk of Leg count is not supported There is no list of such constructions available 101 Improvian Guide To import a function from TradeStation 1 From the Tools menu select Function Builder 2 Click Import and select Import from TradeStation Function Buildei L1 X EH New EF Edit G2 Copy 2 AccDist j Parameter eo _ Short Name gt Import from TradeStation Full Name cCamurauori VISUVUIU ADX iib bust i E i3 AD Classic Description Accumulation Distribution uses the closing price s proximity ADXR Status valid 3 In the Omega Import dialog box enter the name of the required function and select the function type The following function type options are available e Numeric e String e Boolean Omega Import Function Name p Function type lt Select gt Y Source From Clipboard C From File E i Cancel 4 Choose the source from which the functions are to be imported by selecting one of the following options e From Clipboard e From File Note If you select the From Clipboard option you will need to run TradeStation copy the function and then paste it in Improvian Editor The function type a
96. yTrueRange procedure the variable MyTrueLow is local with respect to MyTrueRange Limitations such as this one are fair for all trading languages and were introduced due to the reasons described below As long as the variable cannot be seen anywhere with the exception of the function where it is declared you will never have to worry about some other function changing its value without you knowing about that In addition local variables make functions all sufficient as if everything that a function needs were combined in one block If the value of a variable used in the function causes the technique to crash you will know exactly which of the modules needs to be checked You will not have to search through the entire technique to find the cause 76 Improvian Guide Improving Strategy Ideas A strategy that is based on wide ranging days can be improved by introducing a term of signal range The upper boundary of the signal range is calculated as the highest maximum of the time period from N1 day and up to the wide ranging day The boundaries of the signal range are defined by the highest and lowest of the true minimums and maximums on the N1 day interval up to the last day with a wide range plus N2 after it The entry into the long position and exit from the short position occurs when the closure exceeds the upper signal range limit In a similar manner the entry into the short position and exit from the long position occurs when the

Improvian Guide

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents