Volume Based Charts Request for HELP

[brownsfan019 17]

As you guys know here I am a big fan of the Volume Based Charts / Share Bar charts. I am a TradeStation user. I thought a few things looked odd today while I was watching things progress...

 

 

As you can see, this is an EC chart set at an interval of 500 shares. Well, hopefully you can also see the problem here... All those yellow highlights are when a candle formed that was OVER the 500 setting. :mad:

 

Frustrating to say the least.

 

So, I am asking for help of those using something other than TS for charting - if you could be so kind as to first see if your charting platform supports Volume Based Charts (aka Share Bars) and then add a volume histogram to the bottom of it and see if the volume is nice and uniform or if it is like my pic above. Please post all feedback here so we can help each other out!

 

Thanks!!!

[walterw 10]

Brown : check on the symbol format if volume is based on ticks or volume....(should be on volume) because the volume indicator will use any of both depending on the symbol format setting.... hope helps cheers Walter.

[brownsfan019 17]

Brown : check on the symbol format if volume is based on ticks or volume....(should be on volume) because the volume indicator will use any of both depending on the symbol format setting.... hope helps cheers Walter.

 

Walter - all charts are set to volume.

 

I found a few posts on the TS forums that deal with this subject. Apparently TS is at least aware of this, but does not look like they have done anything to fix it or at least give you the option to make them constant.

 

Here's the key word "Constant". TS does not support Constant Volume Bars. In other words, if a large order comes thru right as your candle is nearing a close, that order will be included in your volume chart and then a new candle will form. Not sure why TS does this or at least allow you to set it as constant, but it is what it is.

[walterw 10]

I see.... well I feed TS with esignal data, never got that problem....

[Guest cooter]

Tradestation has never been accurate with their volume based charts. This is a known fact in the world of technical analysis. E-Signal and Ensign or Sierra should have accurate volume bars; TS is simply "approximate" in nature, not "constant".

[Guest cooter]

I see.... well I feed TS with esignal data, never got that problem....

 

Walter,

How do you manage to feed TS with e-Signal data? And what versions are you using?

[walterw 10]

I have a TS 8.1 with owndata 2.4.... work like a charm....

[bh_trade 10]

Actual volume is usually *very* close to the volume bar setting, i.e. very close to constant volume, within a handful of shares on my charts. I was unable to enlarge your chart so I could not see the actual numbers but I suspect the reason the volume subgraph "looks" so spikey is due to scaling, meaning a 510 share bar might look like a huge spike on the subgraph when in reality it is less than 2% difference from ideal.

[Guest cooter]

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.... when dealing with $$$ (especially if you're paying for the privilege of using their platform) you'd like some sort of accuracy, wouldn't you?

[brownsfan019 17]

Actual volume is usually *very* close to the volume bar setting, i.e. very close to constant volume, within a handful of shares on my charts. I was unable to enlarge your chart so I could not see the actual numbers but I suspect the reason the volume subgraph "looks" so spikey is due to scaling, meaning a 510 share bar might look like a huge spike on the subgraph when in reality it is less than 2% difference from ideal.

 

bh - some spikes were over 20% of the next candles volume. This is unacceptable in my opinion. If I put in 500 share bars, the candles should reflect 500 and not one contract over. "Just about right" will not work for me.

 

In the big yellow box on the left, you can zoom in and see that that candle is 680 contracts. That is 180 OVER. That is 36% more volume than I wanted. That's a problem.

 

And the difference in the appearance of the charts is substantial when looking at them side-by-side. We are not talking about an extra tick or two of movement.

[brownsfan019 17]

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.... when dealing with $$$ (especially if you're paying for the privilege of using their platform) you'd like some sort of accuracy, wouldn't you?

 

Thank you Cooter, my sentiments exactly. I am not paying for somewhat accurate charting when most others out there do exactly what I need and want.

[bh_trade 10]

Guess I'm not worried about little stuff like that. What's more troubling with TS is from time to time (like most of this morning) their time and sales (dom) bid/ask data lags the market. The last trade price is correct but many times today have seen last trade blatantly through a bid/ask so right now I don't trust their bid/ask data. Now that bothers me.

[brownsfan019 17]

Guess I'm not worried about little stuff like that. What's more troubling with TS is from time to time (like most of this morning) their time and sales (dom) bid/ask data lags the market. The last trade price is correct but many times today have seen last trade blatantly through a bid/ask so right now I don't trust their bid/ask data. Now that bothers me.

 

I guess it depends on your view, but a 36% increase over my threshold setting is not 'little stuff'.

[Guest cooter]

Little stuff, like accurate charting, I suppose. So what exactly are you using TS for, may I ask?

 

Guess I'm not worried about little stuff like that.

[seaview 10]

brownsfan

 

You could take a look at Amibroker AmiBroker - Technical Analysis Software. Charting, Backtesting, Scanning of stocks, futures, mutual funds, forex (currencies). Alerts. Free quotes.

It supports volume based charts. They have an evaluation copy you

can download.

 

I've only played around with the feature briefly but it looks ok.

 

seaview

[brownsfan019 17]

Well nothing like shooting down a trading day b/c of software issues...

 

So far it looks like MultiCharts and ESignal are going to be good options for what I need - Constant Volume Based Charts (CVBC's). :rolleyes:

 

MultiCharts link - http://www.tssupport.com/products/multicharts/

With Multi, you need to add a data feed as well. Here's the list of supported data vendors - http://www.tssupport.com/products/multicharts/datamanagement/ (scroll to the bottom). Depending on where you trade, you may be able to plug data into Multi from your broker and not pay the data fee.

 

ESignal link - http://www.esignal.com/ Depending on what data feeds you need will dictate the cost here.

[Anonymous 11]

BrownsFan;

 

Have you looked into Ensign Software yet?

[Guest cooter]

Well nothing like shooting down a trading day b/c of software issues...

 

So far it looks like MultiCharts and ESignal are going to be good options for what I need - Constant Volume Based Charts (CVBC's). :rolleyes:

 

 

You might want to consider adding Ensign to the mix for this:

 

Here's a couple of links for you to review:

 

January 2004 Trading Tips Newsletter

May 2004 Trading Tips Newsletter

 

They have both Constant Volume Bars, and Constant Range Bars (aka Momentum Bars) available.

[TinGull 10]

Here's what I had for the 500 volume setting...

[Guest cooter]

Here's what I had for the 500 volume setting...

 

Which platform and data vendor?

[TinGull 10]

Oops...sorry. InvestorRT with dtniq feed.

[brownsfan019 17]

Here's what I had for the 500 volume setting...

 

Tin - yours is not nearly as exaggerated as mine, but you can see there where there are candles over the 500 setting. For a trader using VBC's like myself, that simply will not work.

 

Thank you for sharing.

[TinGull 10]

Right. I totally understand. Just thought Id share...no pun intended...

[brownsfan019 17]

BrownsFan;

 

Have you looked into Ensign Software yet?

 

Pivot - they are on the list as well, but right now Multi looks the best simply b/c you can easily move your Easy Language from TS into Multi. They have 'Easy Language Support/Importing' which obviously saves hours and hours of work... So, unless I see something that concerns me there, probably going with Multicharts and a IQFeed.net data feed into that.

[brownsfan019 17]

Here's another very important reason for my concern in case the entire picture is not clear (and for future readers of this thread):

 

When just ONE candle is off due to a charting error in how the VBC is handled, everything else you may use is now off - whether that be moving averages, indicators, other candles that then show up, etc.

 

For example - in looking at a TS chart side-by-side to a Multi chart, I was getting VERY different signals and setups throughout the ENTIRE day. It's amazing how just one little difference can alter the appearance of your chart dramatically.

 

EVERYTHING is off as soon as ONE candle is not correct. If you think trading is hard, try doing it with a chart that isn't being displayed the way you thought it was...