Tweaking divergence code

• 11/04/2021 at 11:55 AM #180943
  Mike Boorman

  Hello everybody… I wonder if you could help me?

  I have some divergence code that looks back a certain number of bars which seems to work okay when I’m comparing a current low that is lower than a previous low, but doesn’t work so well when a current low is higher than a previous low.

  My graph command tells me that ‘priorlow’ is 13,801.3 which is nearly a hundred bars back from the current low (the lows are labelled on screengrab), and yet the code only permits a lookback of 30 bars.

  I’m wondering if this also has something to do with a market that is constantly rising, but that is just a guess.

  Does anyone know how to solve this?

  Thank you in advance.

  Divergence code sample

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False back=30 longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[back/2](low) IF low = CurLow THEN PriorLow = lowest[back](low[back]) CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close) FOR i = 0 TO (back - 1) IF low[i + back] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i + back] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i + back] Break ENDIF NEXT ENDIF macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP longhigherlow=0 endif graph priorlow

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False     back=30   longhigherlow=0   CurLow = lowest[back/2](low) IF low = CurLow THEN PriorLow = lowest[back](low[back]) CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close) FOR i = 0 TO (back - 1) IF low[i + back] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i + back] PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i + back] Break ENDIF NEXT ENDIF   macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD   c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong   longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6     Limitbuy=close-5   if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP longhigherlow=0 endif       graph priorlow

   

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/04/2021 at 12:14 PM #180947
  robertogozzi

  I did not test it, but it seems you are referencing BACK, while you should reference HALF (if I got what you meant to achieve):

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False back=30 half=round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) IF low = CurLow THEN PriorLow = lowest[half](low[half]) CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close) FOR i = 0 TO (half - 1) IF low[i + half] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i + half] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i + half] Break ENDIF NEXT ENDIF macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP longhigherlow=0 endif graph priorlow

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False back=30 half=round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) IF low = CurLow THEN PriorLow = lowest[half](low[half]) CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close) FOR i = 0 TO (half - 1) IF low[i + half] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i + half] PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i + half] Break ENDIF NEXT ENDIF macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP longhigherlow=0 endif graph priorlow

  

  robertogozzi

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  11/04/2021 at 12:40 PM #180953
  Mike Boorman

  Thanks for your suggestion, Roberto. It changes things slightly, but doesn’t solve the problem. Priorlow now refers to a bar which is 90 back from the current low, which is not the intention of the code.

  I notice that when I reduced the lookback to 28 it found a much more recent low on May14 (where the leftmost blue arrow is on the original screengrab). I hope this helps.

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/04/2021 at 3:17 PM #180959
  robertogozzi

  Add this indicator to your chart  (see attached screenshot):

  DEFPARAM DrawOnLastBarOnly = true ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow = 0 ONCE CurBar = 0 ONCE back = 30 ONCE half = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1 IF low[j] = CurLow THEN CurBar = BarIndex[j] CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j] //PriorLow = lowest[half](low[half]) PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half]) FOR i = Half TO Back-1 IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i] Break ENDIF NEXT Break ENDIF NEXT DrawArrowUP(PriorBar,PriorLow - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255) DrawArrowUP(CurBar,CurLow - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255) RETURN

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

  DEFPARAM DrawOnLastBarOnly = true ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow   = 0 ONCE CurBar   = 0 ONCE back     = 30 ONCE half     = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow       = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1    IF low[j] = CurLow THEN       CurBar  = BarIndex[j]       CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j]       //PriorLow = lowest[half](low[half])       PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half])       FOR i = Half TO Back-1          IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN             PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i]             PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i]             Break          ENDIF       NEXT       Break    ENDIF NEXT DrawArrowUP(PriorBar,PriorLow - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255) DrawArrowUP(CurBar,CurLow - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255) RETURN

  This is the code for the strategy (I could just test it for syntax errors only):

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False ONCE VLstop = 1 ONCE VLtake = 2 ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow = 0 ONCE CurBar = 0 ONCE back = 30 ONCE half = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1 IF low[j] = CurLow THEN CurBar = BarIndex[j] CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j] PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half]) FOR i = Half TO Back-1 IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i] Break ENDIF NEXT Break ENDIF NEXT macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP endif graphonprice priorlow coloured(255,0,0,255) graphonprice curlow coloured(0,128,0,155)

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False ONCE VLstop   = 1 ONCE VLtake   = 2 ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow   = 0 ONCE CurBar   = 0 ONCE back     = 30 ONCE half     = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow       = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1    IF low[j] = CurLow THEN       CurBar  = BarIndex[j]       CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j]       PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half])       FOR i = Half TO Back-1          IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN             PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i]             PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i]             Break          ENDIF       NEXT       Break    ENDIF NEXT macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 then    sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop    tp=sl * VLtake    Set target profit tp    Set stop loss sl    BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP endif graphonprice priorlow coloured(255,0,0,255) graphonprice curlow   coloured(0,128,0,155)

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  Mike Boorman

  

  robertogozzi

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  11/04/2021 at 7:15 PM #180985
  Mike Boorman

  Thank you Roberto! 🙂

  On first look, the code looks like it is working properly. I will do a longer check tomorrow.

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/05/2021 at 11:12 AM #181019
  Mike Boorman

  Hey Roberto,

  The code looks great, but I can’t get the indicator to work. When I add it, it simply creates a blank box under the chart with a scale on the right-hand side…. no arrows appear on the chart. Are there other settings I need to tweak in order to get it to appear on the chart?

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/05/2021 at 12:31 PM #181028
  robertogozzi

  Add it ON your chart, not UNDER.

  You have to click the PRICE tag on the top left corner of your chart, then select ADD INDICATOR and choose from the list.

   

  

  robertogozzi

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  11/05/2021 at 5:07 PM #181061
  Mike Boorman

  Ah okay, thanks – I’ve added it to the right place now.

  Currently I only see the indicator arrows at the most recent bar range. Is it possible to make the indicator return them multiple times going back months or years?

  I’m sorry if these are very basic questions, but I’ve never programmed an indicator before. I’ve had a look in the manual and tried a few things but I can’t get them to work. It’d be great if I could see all the instances of new curlows and new priorlows.

  Thanks.

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/05/2021 at 7:44 PM #181070
  robertogozzi

  You can use this version, but the output is not so tidy:

  DEFPARAM DrawOnLastBarOnly = true ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow = 0 ONCE CurBar = 0 ONCE back = 30 ONCE half = round(back/2) ONCE MaxLows = 50 //plot no more than these many arrow pairs IF BarIndex = 0 THEN FOR k = 1 TO MaxLows $PriorL[k] = 0 $PriorB[k] = 0 $CurL[k] = 0 $CurB[k] = 0 NEXT ENDIF longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1 IF low[j] = CurLow THEN CurBar = BarIndex[j] CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j] PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half]) FOR i = Half TO Back-1 IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i] IF CurLow <> CurLow[1] AND PriorLow <> PriorLow[1] THEN //shift previous data 1 place backwards FOR k = MaxLows DOWNTO 2 $PriorL[k] = $PriorL[k - 1] $PriorB[k] = $PriorB[k - 1] $CurL[k] = $CurL[k - 1] $CurB[k] = $CurB[k - 1] NEXT $PriorL[1] = PriorLow //add a new #1 set of data $PriorB[1] = PriorBar $CurL[1] = CurLow $CurB[1] = CurBAR ENDIF Break ENDIF NEXT Break ENDIF NEXT FOR k = 1 TO MaxLows IF $CurB[k] <> 0 THEN //plot only if there's data in it pl = $PriorL[k] pb = $PriorB[k] cl = $CurL[k] cb = $CurB[k] DrawArrowUP(pb,pl - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,255,0,155) //GREEN = prior low DrawArrowUP(cb,cl - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255) //BLUE = current low ENDIF NEXT RETURN

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

  DEFPARAM DrawOnLastBarOnly = true ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow   = 0 ONCE CurBar   = 0 ONCE back     = 30 ONCE half     = round(back/2) ONCE MaxLows  = 50            //plot no more than these many arrow pairs IF BarIndex = 0 THEN    FOR k = 1 TO MaxLows       $PriorL[k] = 0       $PriorB[k] = 0       $CurL[k]   = 0       $CurB[k]   = 0    NEXT ENDIF longhigherlow=0 CurLow       = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1    IF low[j] = CurLow THEN       CurBar  = BarIndex[j]       CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j]       PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half])       FOR i = Half TO Back-1          IF low[i] = PriorLow THEN             PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i]             PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i]             IF CurLow <> CurLow[1] AND PriorLow <> PriorLow[1] THEN //shift previous data 1 place backwards                FOR k = MaxLows DOWNTO 2                   $PriorL[k] = $PriorL[k - 1]                   $PriorB[k] = $PriorB[k - 1]                   $CurL[k]   = $CurL[k - 1]                   $CurB[k]   = $CurB[k - 1]                NEXT                $PriorL[1] = PriorLow                                //add a new #1 set of data                $PriorB[1] = PriorBar                $CurL[1]   = CurLow                $CurB[1]   = CurBAR             ENDIF             Break          ENDIF       NEXT       Break    ENDIF NEXT FOR k = 1 TO MaxLows    IF $CurB[k] <> 0 THEN    //plot only if there's data in it       pl = $PriorL[k]       pb = $PriorB[k]       cl = $CurL[k]       cb = $CurB[k]       DrawArrowUP(pb,pl - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,255,0,155)  //GREEN = prior low       DrawArrowUP(cb,cl - highest[5](range)*2) coloured(0,0,255,255)  //BLUE  = current low    ENDIF NEXT RETURN

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  robertogozzi

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  11/05/2021 at 8:10 PM #181075
  Mike Boorman

  Oh wow! This is brilliant!!

  I’ve adapted it so it only shows arrows when my price-action entry criteria is met, so now the chart doesn’t look so crowded. This is going to save me a lot of time when I cross-check the validity of my divergence parameters (I think they are entering a bit too often using lows that are not significant enough).

  Thank you so much Roberto 🙂

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/06/2021 at 3:04 PM #181128
  Mike Boorman

  I hope this is the final thing on this, Roberto 🙂

  I’ve decided to use the PSAR as a way of improving the accuracy of priorlow. I want priorlow to be less than the PSAR in order to allow for an entry but I can’t do it with the code “priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back]” “priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2]”. I assume this is because the priorlow is derived from a lowest bar in a range (which could be bar 26 or whatever) rather than simply the absolute value of the 30th bar back.

  How would I do this?

  Thank you again.

  (I’ve attached a screengrab which graphs “priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back]” with a black arrow denoting the priorlow bar)

  Divergence code

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False ONCE VLstop = 1 ONCE VLtake = 2 ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow = 0 ONCE CurBar = 0 ONCE back = 30 ONCE half = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1 IF low[j] = CurLow THEN CurBar = BarIndex[j] CurMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j] PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half]) FOR i = Half TO Back-1 IF low[i] = PriorLow and low[i] THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i] PriorBAR = BarIndex[i] Break ENDIF NEXT Break ENDIF NEXT macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low) c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 and priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back] then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP endif graph priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back]

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

  DEFPARAM CumulateOrders = False ONCE VLstop   = 1 ONCE VLtake   = 2 ONCE PriorLow = 0 ONCE PriorBar = 0 ONCE CurLow   = 0 ONCE CurBar   = 0 ONCE back     = 30 ONCE half     = round(back/2) longhigherlow=0 CurLow       = lowest[half](low) FOR j = 0 TO Half - 1 IF low[j] = CurLow THEN CurBar  = BarIndex[j] CurMACD  = MACD[12,26,9](close)[j] PriorLow = lowest[half](low[Half]) FOR i = Half TO Back-1 IF low[i] = PriorLow and low[i] THEN PriorMACD = MACD[12,26,9](close)[i] PriorBAR  = BarIndex[i] Break ENDIF NEXT Break ENDIF NEXT macconflong= CurMACD < PriorMACD c1 = Curlow > PriorLow c2 = Curlow =lowest[3](low) c3 = close < ExponentialAverage[5](high) and close > ExponentialAverage[5](low)   c6 = macconflong longhigherlow= c1 and c2 and c3 and c6 Limitbuy=close-5 if not onmarket and longhigherlow=1 and priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back] then sl=abs(close-lowest[5](low))*Vlstop tp=sl * VLtake Set target profit tp Set stop loss sl BUY 1 PERPOINT AT Limitbuy STOP endif   graph priorlow < SAR[0.02,0.02,0.2][back]

   

  

  Mike Boorman

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  11/06/2021 at 6:23 PM #181143
  pror

  The SAR repainted, be careful for an intraday condition

   

  

  pror

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  11/08/2021 at 1:50 AM #181204
  robertogozzi

  What is “and low[i]” for, in line 18?

   

  

  robertogozzi

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  11/09/2021 at 6:33 PM #181325
  Mike Boorman

  Hey Roberto,

  That’s actually there in error, but it doesn’t make any difference. I’ve deleted it since. I worked out that using [i] was what I needed to do in order to measure the priorlow bar against something else, and I think that I’ve got it working okay…. I hope! 🙂

  

  Mike Boorman

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