Jim Dean Sage   Posts: 3022 Joined: 9/21/2006 Location: L'ville, GA  User Profile | Re #5 ... the chart is actually somewhere in the forum I believe ... might be in help somewhere to ... to discover more about that little triangle, Chart Properties > Trades > check Show All Reinforced Signals, Close, and look at the chart You'll note that several new hollow triangles have appeared ... just above the last of the solid row of triangles on the -Vote line. So ... the answer is ... the hollow triangle is a "Reinforced Signal". But, when we turn OFF that feature, why does one still remain? Answer is, I suspect, a very small idiosyncracy in the plot logic. Why? LOOK AT THE EMA's. The 5 JUST BARELY crosses over the 20 on the day before - zoom in and you'll see it. So, on the 14th, we have another crossover that occured in the 20-bar "window" that defines the "performance metric" for that system ... this 20-bar value is in the bottom right of the System block ... and is SUPPOSED to be just related to optimization ... but look what you find out when you start asking questions, eh? Anyways, this crossover is a totally different thing than the other hollow triangles are indicating. This is a legitimate System SIGNAL, fired by the system block ... the others are coming out of the Vote block. So, they are different KINDS of signals ... one that is "core" to the system, and the other that is "manufactured" by the Vote block. Which leads us to question #2, about the three triangles. These have to do with the Lookback parameter in the Vote block. Try this ... open up the Vote block and change the lookback to 4 instead of 5 ... close and OK ... double-click on CAT to recalc ... you'll see you now only have TWO triangles. Now, change it to 2 instead of 4 ... before you click OK and recalc ... try to figure out what is *going to* happen, before you do it. Once you DO it ... there's question #7 for you! why did changing the lookback to 2 do what it did to the voteline> Now that you've gone through that exercise ... see if you can answer question #2 ... hint ... count backwards from the rightmost bar that has a solid triangle in the row ... to the 5/20 system's signal. You got #6 exactly right ... and show one of OT's "idiosyncrasies" - OT has a few odd ways of counting things. N-bar exit starts counting with zero, not with 1. So ... an input of ten bars actually exits on the eleventh bar since the trade started. Second ... there is a just-discovered bug in OT (yep, you and I - we found it! - and it has been reported) ... when a Market on Close order is used for Entry. Rather than explaining all that ... let's just change our entry-order to MARKET ON OPEN. I'm plotting the new chart below. Make that change to your Orders Block. Now, click on the voteline to see the advisor. Tell me what you have learned about Entrys vs Signals, from that recap. Hint: you can doubleclick on the chart to see the databox appear, to help ID prices and dates of bars. This last little item you are about to discover is an IMPORTANT one, btw ... many longtime OT users don't understand it properly. P.S. I will be out of pocket till later tonight, or maybe early tomorrow. [Edited by Jim Dean on 7/8/2010 3:46 PM]  Attached file : DualEMA Chart-CAT-phantom cross.png (32KB - 847 downloads) Attached file : DualEMA Chart-CAT-MOO.png (27KB - 864 downloads) |
