Is there anybody out there that has 'New Concepts In Technical Trading Systems' and has had a look at, or is using, 'The Swing Index System'?
I am using the SI System exclusively now and everything is perfect except for one thing and that is the calculation of the value of the 'Trailing Index SAR' and it's driving me 'nuts'!!!
The problems (I think) are as follows:
When the book was written (and I'm not too sure if these 'rules' are still in place today) there were 'limits' imposed at the exchanges in an effort to avoid 'panick selling' (for want of a better phrase or description) e.g. in 1989 there was a 'limit' of 50 points imposed on the Dow (down from 80 points) and the idea was that if the index dropped by 50 points or more then trading was halted for a period (half an hour I think or something like that). During that period only buy orders could be executed. The idea was to curb volatility and give traders and investors time to 'cool off' before deciding to short the Dow again thus avoiding the 'cascade effect' or 'panick selling'.
Now my problem is this: (as I said before) I don't know if these limits are in place today or not at the exchanges but suffice to say, even if they are still in force at the exchanges, they certainly do not apply to the forex market. That is problem number one. So how do you 'eliminate' this 'limit' from the equation WITHOUT affecting the 'desired' or 'correct' resulting ASI value? You cannot make it '0' because then you are dividing by zero which of course gives you an error and you cannot make it some 'ridiculous' figure either (like '999999' i.e. you are 'saying' that the maximum allowable move in a day is '999999' i.e. this limit would NEVER be reached by ANY instrument in a day).
The above is causing me 'endless grief' in the calculation of the 'Trailing Index SAR' as well. For example: if you use Wilder's ASI calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book applied to the Dow the 'Trailing Index SAR' when calculated is so close to the price that I'm convinced that it's wrong BUT if you use Wilder's ASI calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book applied to Soybeans then the 'Trailing Index SAR' 'looks' right i.e. it's not too far from the price but far enough to allow for a 'decent' move before signalling that it's time to place an order that would result in a 'stop and reverse' if 'hit'. On the other hand if you apply the calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book to Silver (the price of Silver is quoted in exactly the same way as commodities i.e. '99.99' or '$17.50') then the value of the 'Trailing Index SAR' is so far away from the price that it would NEVER get hit. Again, I've 'played around' with this and the only thing that I can come up with is that it MAY have something to do with the 'value' per pip movement e.g. when Soybeans moves a couple of cents then the profit or loss could be, let's say $10, BUT when Silver moves a couple of cents then the profit or loss could be, let's say, $100.
I don't know what to make of this and, like I said, it's driving me 'nuts' so any input would be appreciated (and believe me that I am not asking this question because I'm too 'bone idle' work it out for myself i.e. I have spent AT VERY LEAST three months trying to figure this one out. I've even looked on the Internet for an answer or to see how others have 'coded' the ASI in MT4 for example and I can tell you that I don't see this being 'coded' ANYWHERE correctly i.e. I saw one example where the 'limit' was simply multiplied by 100 making it 300 and I can tell you that if you used THIS figure for the 'limit' when you calculated the 'Trailing Index SAR' for a forex pair you again would have the same problem i.e. subtracting 60 points from this figure would result in a 'Trailing Index SAR' value that is so far from the price that it would NEVER EVER get 'hit').
Edit:
Don't worry: I 'figured it out' (had one of those 'lightbulb' moments as happens from time to time)!!!
I am using the SI System exclusively now and everything is perfect except for one thing and that is the calculation of the value of the 'Trailing Index SAR' and it's driving me 'nuts'!!!
The problems (I think) are as follows:
When the book was written (and I'm not too sure if these 'rules' are still in place today) there were 'limits' imposed at the exchanges in an effort to avoid 'panick selling' (for want of a better phrase or description) e.g. in 1989 there was a 'limit' of 50 points imposed on the Dow (down from 80 points) and the idea was that if the index dropped by 50 points or more then trading was halted for a period (half an hour I think or something like that). During that period only buy orders could be executed. The idea was to curb volatility and give traders and investors time to 'cool off' before deciding to short the Dow again thus avoiding the 'cascade effect' or 'panick selling'.
Now my problem is this: (as I said before) I don't know if these limits are in place today or not at the exchanges but suffice to say, even if they are still in force at the exchanges, they certainly do not apply to the forex market. That is problem number one. So how do you 'eliminate' this 'limit' from the equation WITHOUT affecting the 'desired' or 'correct' resulting ASI value? You cannot make it '0' because then you are dividing by zero which of course gives you an error and you cannot make it some 'ridiculous' figure either (like '999999' i.e. you are 'saying' that the maximum allowable move in a day is '999999' i.e. this limit would NEVER be reached by ANY instrument in a day).
The above is causing me 'endless grief' in the calculation of the 'Trailing Index SAR' as well. For example: if you use Wilder's ASI calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book applied to the Dow the 'Trailing Index SAR' when calculated is so close to the price that I'm convinced that it's wrong BUT if you use Wilder's ASI calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book applied to Soybeans then the 'Trailing Index SAR' 'looks' right i.e. it's not too far from the price but far enough to allow for a 'decent' move before signalling that it's time to place an order that would result in a 'stop and reverse' if 'hit'. On the other hand if you apply the calculation EXACTLY as it is in the book to Silver (the price of Silver is quoted in exactly the same way as commodities i.e. '99.99' or '$17.50') then the value of the 'Trailing Index SAR' is so far away from the price that it would NEVER get hit. Again, I've 'played around' with this and the only thing that I can come up with is that it MAY have something to do with the 'value' per pip movement e.g. when Soybeans moves a couple of cents then the profit or loss could be, let's say $10, BUT when Silver moves a couple of cents then the profit or loss could be, let's say, $100.
I don't know what to make of this and, like I said, it's driving me 'nuts' so any input would be appreciated (and believe me that I am not asking this question because I'm too 'bone idle' work it out for myself i.e. I have spent AT VERY LEAST three months trying to figure this one out. I've even looked on the Internet for an answer or to see how others have 'coded' the ASI in MT4 for example and I can tell you that I don't see this being 'coded' ANYWHERE correctly i.e. I saw one example where the 'limit' was simply multiplied by 100 making it 300 and I can tell you that if you used THIS figure for the 'limit' when you calculated the 'Trailing Index SAR' for a forex pair you again would have the same problem i.e. subtracting 60 points from this figure would result in a 'Trailing Index SAR' value that is so far from the price that it would NEVER EVER get 'hit').
Edit:
Don't worry: I 'figured it out' (had one of those 'lightbulb' moments as happens from time to time)!!!