clouring MS bars

Is there a way of coluring metastck bar charts under specific conditions? for example say you wanted to look back 5 bars and take the average and then if the next bar was avove that average, colour the bar green and if the bar was below the average colour the bar red?

thanks

don't worry about it ...... I gave up and bought tradestation!

.....If you do manage to find the formulae then please post it here........!!

.....If you give up after couple of days then please let us know which software you have gone for this time....!!!

tradestation

........Actually I meant AFTER you have gone to Tradestation...!!!

Hi Zambuck, I have been using Metastock and metastock pro for at least 10 years if not more. In that time( at least since ver 6) there has been litlle if any improvement in the handling of realtime futures. Whilst MS is probably great for stocks it is not good for trading realtime futures.

What is your point?

dovetree said:

don't worry about it ...... I gave up and bought tradestation!

Click to expand...

I dont't get this; first you ask for a way of achieving something using a piece of software, then you declare that you are using a different software to achieve it! I am confused, what is your point?
Also what do you mean by "average of the last 5 bars", Moving Average,Average True Range, or what else?
I would suggest that you try the Expert Advisor, it is the only way you'll be able to colour bars on precise events; you could also try to get the Developper Kit, but you probably need a programmer's skills to use it.
Finally, just contact Equis, the creators of Metastock, and tell your problem; for a fee, they should be able to programm the software for you to do what you want.
All metastock users are aware of its limitations, I prefer to work within these constraints. The day I'll out-grow the software, I will abadon it, as simple as that; but I am still mystified as to what your point is.
Eduardo. :|

I don't get it either, Dovetree - you say that you've been using MetaStock for ten years, and yet still not able to use the very simple bar highlight function within the MetaStock chart Expert?

Good luck with TS - you are definitely going to need it!


jose '-)

Agree with you guys......

Dovetree, if you have been using the software for the number of years you mention, then perhaps you would have known it's limitations anyway.......

I don't make any claims that I am an expert of MS, but having tinkered with coding, burning late night oil, going to site of Jose and Roy, I can say that I have learnt a lot......But it is persistance etc that pays.....

There are people like Jose, Roy Larson, whose sites you should visit and see the coding in MS that has been achieved........

All the best mate...

On that note...

zambuck said:

Agree with you guys......

Dovetree, if you have been using the software for the number of years you mention, then perhaps you would have known it's limitations anyway.......

I don't make any claims that I am an expert of MS, but having tinkered with coding, burning late night oil, going to site of Jose and Roy, I can say that I have learnt a lot......But it is persistance etc that pays.....

There are people like Jose, Roy Larson, whose sites you should visit and see the coding in MS that has been achieved........

All the best mate...

Click to expand...

Not to mention the MS user groups; here is the address of one of them:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/equismetastock
I would suggest that you visit too, and see of people help each other with coding matter.
Besides, I understand that coding in Tradestation is more difficult than coding on Metastock; how did you manage it?
Another point you made - MS is better at trading stocks; what on earth make you thinks that? I trade FTSE100 Cash spread bets, which is the closest you can get to trading futures free of tax without any problem, I'm sure that the same can be done with Futures - all you need is a reliable source of data; also, any day trader could beg to differ: that I know of, Metastock does not offer Level II screen, unlike, say, Tradestation (for US stocks), Sharescope (for UK stocks), or e-Signal (both), to mention a few, indispensable for succesfull stock day trading.
I look forward your reply on these matters.
Eduardo

Hi Guys,thanks for the great replies. I guess the answer to most of your questions is that I would rather spend my time working at trading not working at learning how to program. And Jose , the expert won't easily do exactly what i'm after.

But the interesting thing with this tread that I only got a response when I suggested MS had limitations.??? and tradestation whisles and bells were more suited to trading futures.

Cheers and have a Great Xmas

dovetree said:

...look back 5 bars and take the average and then if the next bar was avove that average, colour the bar green and if the bar was below the average colour the bar red?

Click to expand...

1) MetaStock -> Tools -> Expert Advisor -> New -> Highlights -> New -> Color Green:
Cross(C,Ref(Mov(C,5,S),-1))

2) Ok -> New -> Color Red:
Cross(Ref(Mov(C,5,S),-1),C)

3) Ok -> Ok -> Attach -> Close.

4) Observe Green and Red coloured bars indicating original conditions.


Not bad for a rookie that has been using MetaStock for less than ten years, eh?!


jose '-)

thanks Jose, ALthough looking at your home page,I would hardly call you a rookie!