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Thanks Tams. What you say is very true and usually i am more than happy to do the legwork, as i want to understand the basis of what i am doing...it gives so much more insight. It's just that in this instance i really don't know if i can do what i want to do and so i don't know if i'd be wasting my time trying to acheive the impossible. I'd be intrigued to know if you have found a way to do this successfully, as MC can't tell me how to, they say MC gold cannot do this and that i'll have to wait for the next version to come out at the end of the summer...and pay for the upgrade too. I'm frustrated as this is the one thing i want to use MC for and i'm told it can't do it, If that's right then maybe i have to look at manipulating the data prior to putting it into MC, but there are so many drawbacks to doing this, i think i might be better off finding another way...

I've made the following changes. See jpegs. But it's still applies itself to one of the underlying symbols. I think the problem might be the input CurrentBar - what to do next...no ideas at the moment.

I'd be happy to spend the time doing this, if i knew that MC would actually backtest treating the spread_d1d2 indicator as a standard symbol. You very kindly told me how to create the indicator and said that it can be used as mentioned above. At the same time (well before actually), i sent an enquiry by email to MC and they said you could create the spread indicator and apply indicators to it (which i've done, with your help) but they say that you cannot apply a strategy to it. Given this, i was just trying a quick and dirty way of doing it to see if i can get it to work in principle. If i could then i'd planned to put the time in learn how to code properly and start testing my ideas. At the moment, it looks to me like the problem is that the spread_d1d2 is not recognised as an input...and not the duplication point that you have highlighted probably needs looking at too.

Hi Tams just because i simply copied the code from the preloaded MovAve Cross LE signal, and that's the code. That signal works on a normal symbol, but not on a the spread_d1d2 indicator. Syn

I think i might have found my answer. Is it because spread_d1d2 is not an input? And if so, can you create custom inputs in MC? I've got a horrid feeling you can't... Anyone any ideas or thoughts?

I am trying to amend a signal, in this case the MovAve Cross LE, to base it upon the spread_d1d2 indicator instead of a symbol price. I've got so far and still trying as it isn't working yet. Am i trying to do something that is fundamentally not right? Please see attached jpeg for code. It compiles at least...which i was quite pleased with - :o

Hi Tams sorry for the delay in my reply. I've had some unavoidable distractions - not least my lack of experience with MC - which you've probably seen on the MC support forum! However, i have now had time to try build a simple strategy (as a test) on the spread_d1d2 indicator. I can add indicators onto the indicator, but the trouble comes when you try and add signals it to (in order to build the strategy). The signals default to the underlying symbols, and i cannot find a way to make them apply to the spread_d1d2 indicator instead. You mentioned that you should be able to do this in order to backtest. Is there something i am missing? I'd really appreciate you help. Cheers Syn

The devil is always in the detail as you say! Exactly, i'll need to be able to have significant numbers of symbols in order to look for traded candidates. Whatever system i end up with, it needs to have enough capacity and functionality with as little fuss re setup and maintanence as possible. Lots to look into and consider. I'll let you know how i get on. Have a good weekend. Syn

Very true. Relatively straightforward analysis of spreads is going to be the main thing i'm wanting to do. And i have MC for other stuff i might want to do. If Neoticker can do this in a plug and play fashion, then it might be the best way forwards for me. I'll have to check it out and have a serious think. Having MC sat there i would ideally like to be able to use that and save the cash! I've asked Amibroker about what i want to do, and got two useful replies. Their customer service is very good in my experience. I was told that their AFL wizard allows you to create SCAN & BACKTEST formulas. Video:Preview. Plus, there is now a drag&drop interface for indicators that you can use without coding. But i was told that for composite symbol creation, i'll need some basic (but pretty easy concepts) AFL knowledge. So I need to look into further too. :o

Just from what the little you've said, it sounds like neoticker may well not be for me. I really need to be spending the time on background work for my trading rather than on learning a new system. Another option would be Amibroker. Sounds like it can do all that Neoticker does with regards to creating custom spread/index symbols, and then being able to bring the software's complete functionality to bear on them. I downloaded a trial well over a year ago and liked it. But, in order to much at all, involved a fair bit of coding...so not for me. I checked their site yesterday though and it has an AFL wizard, which i think might be a new feature, which may well have done away with much of the need to code. Have either of you used Ami recently? Yet another option would be to find a piece of software, a data dowloader/mainipulator of somekind, which i could bolt onto MC (maybe through excel). I could then set it up to create the custom spreads for me and feed them into MC. Once set up this could then do the work in the background for me. Maybe that's the way...the main issues i can foresee with that might be the creation of the historic data for my custom spreads. Plus, I've never done this kind of thing before and don't know if it's messy (at the MC end) and means a lot of data maintenance work (which i could well do without). Is this something either of you have any experience of?

I looked at Neoticker when i was buying MC. But i was put off by the complexity of it. In my perfect world, i could do the whole lot without having to touch any code. I guessed to use Neoticker you have to rely upon code more than you do using MC?

I've just had a look. Looks absolutely perfect for my needs. But if it involves having to be more reliant on tougher coding than MC then i don't think it would be for me. But i'll definitely take a closer look. Thanks BlowFish! Syn

Hi BlowFish just out of interest, does that mean neotciker can create such a custom symbol that can be used just as a real symbol, i.e. so you can make full use of neoticker's functionality on it? Also, not being nosey, i just wondered why do you no longer use neoticker? Any particular weakness(es)? Syn

Thanks for that Tams. You#'ve really helped me out with this thing. Cheers Syn

Of course. I would only be wanting to do relatively simple backtesting. I like to keep things simple and i don't think complicated TA is useful on spreads. It's more about wanting to get a feel for what things are useful and how and what things are not. Can you please explained what you mean by EOD or IOG? And from your reply, i assume your implying that i can backtest on the basis of using the spread indicator in place of a symbol? Cheers Syn

Hi Tams i'm very please to say that i have got the spread function working perfectly along with various indicators based upon it. So, again thanks very much for your help! The spread_d1d2, obviously plots as an indicator. So now the challenge is for me to find out whether i can base backtesting on this, using the spread_d1d2 indicator as the symbol price to use in the strategy, e.g. for the price of spread_d1d2 to be used as entry and exit points. I'm guessing that this may be rather difficult or impossible, because MC sees spread_d1d2 as an indicator and not a symbol and so MC might not actually allow you to treat it as a symbol. Have you ever tried to use the spread_d1d2 indicator in such a way? It'd be really helpful to know as i have not done any backtesting in MC before and so have a bit of a learning curve to negotiate at the same time! Cheers Syn

That's brilliant Tams, thank you! I've been unable to get the time to try this since your initial post. But i have today off from work and so i'll be doing it today. Cheers Syn

It'd be interesting to know how you get on if you do try it. It's a really useful function, as not all data providers have the groupings/sectors, etc that you might want to analyse. I can't see why dataNN would not update on ticks, if you are charting on ticks, but then again, i am far from the best qualified person to answer that question. Syn

Hi Tams, that's fantastic. You're right Andrew did reply, but being a complete novice at coding i didn't realise the potential of what he was saying. I really hope what you've mentioned works as i'd like it to. That'd be great! Don't take that as though i'm doubting you by the way. I'm just happy that you've probably solved my problem in such a simple way. I'll try it and let you know how i get on. I assume that if i wanted to include more than two symbols in the spread, or make an equity spread where there is a partial ratio between the symbols, e.g. cdata1 - 0.70cdata2 - 0.30cdata2, i would simply include this in the code for the function. Am i right? I'm guessing i might be right in principle, but wrong in code! :haha: Thanks again for your helpful reply. Syn

Hi there I'm a real coding novice and wondered if any of you experts (or non-experts, i'm not choosey!) out there could help me. I want to be able to create a custom symbol in order to chart the spread differential between two (or ideally 3 or more) symbols in Multicharts. I would want to be able to weight the consistuent symbols, so for example have symbol 1 as 1.00, symbol 2 as -0.50 and symbol 3 as -0.50. I would want the function to chart the differential between those symbols as one symbol (and not as an indicator). This would then allow me to utilise all of the indicators and functionality in MC to analyse this true composite symbol. I know i can do this myself, through merging symbol data in excel and using ASCII format to bring it in to MC, but this is messy and timeconsuming. Ideally the composite symbol would be able to import the data from whatever dataprovider i am using and picking the data up from the selected symbols via quotemanager. Someone has created a composite symbol (CompoSymbol) indicator on the MC forum and this can chart the differential between two symbols, but it does this as an indicator and so means you cannot have other indicators/analysis based on it. I was wondering whether, 1. Is this actually possible in MC? 2. Has anyone has already had the need for this and so already done the coding? 3. If so, would they be kind enough to share it? Looking forward to see if anyone can help or advise. Regards Syn

Hi Harlequin thanks for posting your code! Given that i'm a complete newcomer to coding, it doesn't mean much to me at the moment! But it gives me something to work with. Cheers S

Hi Tams thanks very much for the post. I have in fact already found the ABC floor pivots indicator. I really like it but i'd like to make my own tweaks to it. There are two things i would really like to do to this indicator, but don't know how. I'd really appreciate anyones help. 1) To display the prices (as well as the label, e.g. 27.93 RR2) at each floor level 2) To have it plot the levels in anticipation of the forthcoming period, i.e. at the end of trading today, to plot the levels in the clear space at the end of the chart where the tomorrow's bars will plot. Otherwise you still have manually calculate the forthcming pivot levels and add them to the chart (or simply bear them in mind), which is far from ideal. I don't know if anyone has already done this, or knows how to? Cheers Syn

Hi Chipeur just come across your coding. A very helpful little indicator. Thanks