Request on Technical Analysis graphs

[Djobydjoba]

Hello Mark,

In the Technical Analysis graphs, I would really like to display (three) moving averages with Bollinger Bands simultaneously on the upper graph. And, for the Bollingers, I would like an option to hide the middle MA.

Could these possibilities be evaluated?

Another minor suggestion for Bollinger Bands: 2.5 value is quite frequently used for standard deviation, so it would be interesting if values with decimal could be allowed for this parameter.

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for the feedback. On the BB, did you want 3 or 2 moving averages? It sounds like you only want 2, but you mentioned 3 also. I didn't quite follow that part.

Thanks for pointing out the standard deviation issue.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

I would like to display 3 MA (short, mid and long term) with BB (and possibly four with the MA of the BB).
In fact, in the technical Analysis Graph Options, if the control "Indicator" could be splitted in two controls : one for activating moving averages (1, 2 or 3 MA), one for activating BB, that would be great.

It would be interesting too if the MA for the bollingers bands could be potentially hidden, because there are some case where we're not interested in the MA associated with the BB, we want only to display the upper and lower bands.
So there could be 3 choices for the MA of the BB : Simple, Exponential or Hidden.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Okay, understood, thanks for the clarification/feedback.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

Besides the renewing of my interest to display BB (and optionally its MA) + 1, 2, or 3 MAs simultaneously, another wish:
Be able to hide/unhide the lower graph. And, if possible, with keyboard shortcut or button for quick action.

Motivation: I like to see graphs with full amplitude (Y axis), it's easier to appreciate movements and cycles of prices. In TA graph, the lower graph part flattens significantly the graph in the upper part, and it's less practicable/enjoyable to read. I am torn between using the TA graph (I use the RSI and the BB), and the MA Overlay Share Price graph with its full amplitude in the Y axis. So, be able to hide/unhide the lower graph in a TA graph would be the best of both worlds.

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Okay, understood, thanks for the idea. This graph hasn't had many updates for a while, so hopefully we can make some improvements here.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

1) In the TA graph type, when the Candlestick (or Heikin-Ashi Candlestick) price display is selected and when there is only close values (no open, high and low), the price is not displayed. So it is not handy to go through different investments, the ones that have OHLC (indexes, stocks) and the others (funds, relative strengths...). The share price display has to be changed constantly.
Suggestion: switch to close price display if OHL data are missing. (and I realize it is not as simple, because there is the strange case where an investment can have close prices AND OHLC prices in it...)

2) About candlesticks, I wonder if there could be a way to improve the display definition (clarity), in particular when a wide dates range is displayed?
- I think the candlesticks up and down should be both color filled. Currently the candlesticks up aren't filled, the clarity suffers (IMO)
- I've made a comparison with my trading software when a wide dates range is displayed:
Fund Manager display: https://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/5039 ... 7h1202.png
Trading Software (ProRealTime): https://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/6622 ... 7h1201.png
Fund Manager has nothing to be ashamed of, but I think the clarity is better in the trading software. Again, my idea is that the clarity suffers with the candlesticks not filled (but it would have to be checked). Another reason, and the main reason I think, is the width of the candlesticks. In ProRealTime the candlesticks are just a colored vertical segment (high, low) after reaching a threshold. In Fund Manager, a minimum width remains and makes the rendering quite bold and pasty.

Anyway, some feedback.
Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for the ideas/feedback.

1) Interesting idea, I can see why you'd want this.

2) Yes, FM's minimum candlestick body width is 3 pixels, so you can have an empty or filled body. The definition of a candlestick is that up days have an empty body, and down days have a filled body. We wouldn't want to always fill the body when there is room, as that would not be a candlestick. Is that what you are suggesting? I can see the other point though, that if there isn't enough space we scale down to less than 3 pixels. You would lose the ability to view the body open/filled when zoomed way out, but the colors would still provide an indication of an up/down day.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your response.

up days have an empty body, and down days have a filled body.

This is a way to display candlesticks I have rarely seen elsewhere. Generally, the bodies of the candlesticks, up and down, are filled.

In my trading software: https://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/6534 ... 7h4803.png
In Fund Manager: https://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/5843 ... 7h5101.png

In Fund Manager, my idea is that the empty body has a negative effect on the readability, and for short dates range too. Grid lines can be seen through the empty body, which is for me quite disturbing. Psychologically, a filled body candlestick has more weight than an empty body candlestick, so this leads to a bias in perception too. Me personally, I would suggest filled bodies for up and down candlesticks, as it is quite the standard elsewhere.

I can see the other point though, that if there isn't enough space we scale down to less than 3 pixels. You would lose the ability to view the body open/filled when zoomed way out, but the colors would still provide an indication of an up/down day.

Anyhow, after a certain point of dates range width, the body (open and close) are unreadable, so perhaps it would be better to display high and low only with one pixel width when the density of candlesticks on the screen is "very high"? I don't know is this would be better visually, I only guess so.

By the way, the default colors for up and down candlesticks are inverted! Generally, the red (or pink) color for a down day, and the blue (or green) for an up day, and not the opposite...

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for helping educate me on candlesticks. On the filled/hollow body I think I was reading a reference that was using black/white drawing, so they had filled/hollow. I mistakenly thought this was part of their definition. For colored displays it makes sense to always fill in the body with the appropriate color. We'll try to get some of these improvements into the next major update.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

I wouldn't make my personal preferences (or habits) a principle. So I have looked more into hollow candlesticks (simply searched candlesticks in Google Images), and yes they are used, undoubtedly. My idea is it was more a standard few years ago (and you must be right, they may come from the black and white ages). Now, in modern charts programs, color filled candlesticks are more a standard. I think hollow candlesticks are OK on a white background, but not very OK on a colored background. When the graphs are printed, perhaps hollow candlesticks can be better in some case too. But IMO, filled candlesticks should be at least an option, if not the default.

We could think it is just a matter of color taste, but I found this article from Stockchart. It's on the difference they make between Solid and Filled Candlesticks: https://stockcharts.com/articles/mailba ... ticks.html

Really, in 7 years I swing in candlesticks and do TA, I have never came across such a distinction before! I would say that 95% people or more use the "solid candle" display (as they name it), that is, the way of display candlesticks of the second graph (based solely on the diffence between open and close).

If you would grab some ideas on candlesticks, TradingView is a TA/trading plateform, browser based, that is becoming more and more used worldwide. It can be used for free without having to create an account. Just clic on this link: https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=TVC:SPX
The community of users share their graphs too: https://www.tradingview.com/ideas/

On a TradingView graph, right clic > Properties, style, the style for the candles can be selected. Candles by default, but Hollow Candles can be selected too, and this is the difference that is explain too in the above article from Stockchart!

So, I've learned something on hollow candles!

Regards.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Good info, thanks for sharing. FM is only comparing open/close to determine color and filled/hollow. It doesn't compare close to prior close, so based on that documentation it is really only plotting solid candles. I think we will start drawing them all solid, and invert the default colors, so the red is for down days and the blue will be for up days.