Please make horizontal alert trendlines also work if they are diagonal

[MTfan]

Hi,

First of all thank you so much for making MT!!!! I was a huge and grateful fan and user of QuoteTracker and have never found anything better than QT, unitl MT.

I was thrilled to see that on historical charts, you have the Alert line! I tend to trade trends using trendlines as one input for making trading decisions. This works well for me.

However, most of the trendlines I draw are diagonal to follow an up or down trend.

It seems at the moment that the MT Alert line works only if horizontal. If I try and change it to be diagonal, MT tells me I have to delete the associated alert.

Please please seriously consider making Alert lines work even if they are diagonal. It would be a huge benefit to me and anyone using trendlines to trade.

Thank you for you consideration.

[Jerry Medved]

we allow diagonal rendline alerts on intraday charts.  The horizontal restriction is only on Historical charts.  We cannot accurately extrapolate the diagonal trendline on a historical chart without the historical data there and since the historical data does not get updated every minute or any time for that matter when the historical chart is not open, we would not be able to trigger the alert unless the chart that had the alert line was open.  That is not an accceptable situation.  With horizontal lines on the historical charts, no extrapolation is needed and therefore we can trigger the alerts based just on the intraday data, regardless of what chart windows are open.

Jerry

[MTfan]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks once again for your quick response and explaining about why diagonal trendlines cannot be used on historical charts. That makes sense.

I looked into how will diagonal trendlines on intraday charts would work for my trading style.

I would need say 10 to 20 days of chart to draw a trendline. I can see that the intraday chart can have a 10 day period and longer than that thru a custom period selection.

However if I select a 10 day period, the chart only shows me a maximum of 1 day back - eg today on Jan 5 2016 the chart is showing me just all of January 4th and Jan 5th up to the current time (12:15 pm for me).

Is it possible to show 10 days of data in the chart? Or even 20 days using the custom setting?

I am using just Yahoo feed if that makes a difference.

Thanks ahead of time....

 

 

[Jerry Medved]

MT can show up to 120 days of data on intraday charts (default is 60).  However, it does need to have the actual data to show.  If you bring up a chart for a symbol that MT doesn't have data for, it will "Backfill".  Yahoo free backfill is supposed to get multiple days of data, but right now I just checked and there seems to be a problem. We will check.  Meanwhile, you can switch to Google for the backfill and that will get you 5+ days. 

If the backfill sources that only return limited # of days is all you have, MT does store the data on the symbols so as more days go by, you will have more data.  

Do you have a brokerage account with any of the supported brokers?

[Jerry Medved]

ok, fixed the Yahoo configuration. Please select FILE / HELP / Check for Updates in MT (Dashboard or Portfolio window)

After that, go to SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts, select Yahoo and change the max # of days for backfill to whatever you need. Default is 10. Max is currently 19

[MTfan]

Thanks Jerry again for your quick response and updating the software!

"Do you have a brokerage account with any of the supported brokers?"

• Not at the moment. I am in Canada and I am considering getting a Royal Bank account just to be able to use it with MT.

"Please select FILE / HELP / Check for Updates in MT (Dashboard or Portfolio window)"

• I did that and was informed that I have the latest version of all files.
• I have version 1.0.9741.1653

"After that, go to SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts, select Yahoo and change the max # of days for backfill to whatever you need. Default is 10. Max is currently 19."

• I did that. Setting was already at 19.
• Now able to get 10 days shown on the chart but not more. If I choose All data for the Period then 10 days is shown. If I choose 20 days as a custom Period then 10 days is shown....

Hmmm - Sorry if I dont understand but when I go to SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts/ Show at top, I have:

• Google
• Yahoo

If I select Google then the max Intraday backfill is 10.

If I select Yahoo then then max Intraday backfill is 19.

If I highlight Yahoo (yellow background) and click Ok to close the Settings screen and then open the Settings screen, then Google is highlighted.

So I am not clear on the meaning of "Show at top" - I thought it is meant to be any easy way to select favorite data sources. But it does not seem to save my selection. Ie if I select Yahoo and then come back to the screen, Google is highlited.

Since Google is highlighted, and its max is 10 days, is that why I can see max 10 days on the chart, even though I had selected Yahoo and set it to 19 days?

 

 

[Jerry Medved]

ok, you have everything updated.  Now for the selection - Setting screen is used for configuring accounts.  It is NOT used for selecting.  The only significance of which site is selected on that screen is which site is being configured at the moment.  

There is a tile on the dashboard that shows you the current default backfill source. clicking on it lets you change that.

[MTfan]

Thanks Jerry,

I now do have Yahoo set up to load 19 days of backfill for intraday charts.

In the Dashboard I have the Backfill source and the Hist BF source selected as Yahoo.

Yet if I select a custom period of 19 days in an Intraday chart, then only the last 10 days are still displayed.

Also for some symbols if I select 10 days the chart shows 3 days plus the current (not concluded) day.

Edited January 7, 2016 by MTfan

[Jerry Medved]

if you click on the Backfill Button (vs just counting on it to be automatically backfilled), does it fill in?  If not, check the Max  of days on intraday charts on SETTINGS / CHARTS / GENERAL ...

[MTfan]

Hi,

"if you click on the Backfill Button (vs just counting on it to be automatically backfilled), does it fill in? "

• Well it fills in to 10 days of data, not 19.

" If not, check the Max  of days on intraday charts on SETTINGS / CHARTS / GENERAL ... "

• I think you mean SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts, select Yahoo and change the max # of days for backfill to  19? That is the current setting.

So currently:

• SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts, Yahoo > max # of days for backfill is 19
• On an intraday chart under Main tab:

1. Period is set to 19 days
2. Backfill is set to Yahoo
3. Clicking "Backfill with OHLC" results in 10 days being displayed
4. "Backfill using" is set to and re-select to Yahoo and results in 10 days being displayed

Not sure if I have missed something....

 

[Jerry Medved]

that was not a typo - the setting on data sources controls # of days MT will request for backfill. Setting on Charts / General will control total # of days MT will show and store.

[MTfan]

Sorry, Jerry if I misinterpreted what you were meaning...

Ok, currently:

• SETTINGS / DATA SOURCES / Configure Accounts, Yahoo > max # of days for backfill is 19
• SETTINGS / CHARTS / GENERAL > Max number of days of intra day data is set at 60
• On an intraday chart under Main tab:

1. Period is set to 19 days
2. Backfill is set to Yahoo
3. Default number of days displayed is always since Monday - on Thursday it displayed from Monday to Thursday, on Fri from Mon to Fri, and today which is Sat, it displays Mon thru Fri - looks like MT is set to display from the beginning of a week
4. Clicking "Backfill with OHLC" results in 10 days being displayed
5. "Backfill using" is set to and when re-selected to Yahoo, results in 10 days being displayed

So not able to see more than 10 days, and feeling a little overwhelmed by all the settings...

[Jerry Medved]

there was once again an issue with the Yahoo configuration. I made further adjustment.  Please do FILE / HELP / Check For Updates, then restart MT even if  no updates were listed.  Then try again. If you still have a problem, clear the data, then backfill and let me know the result

[MTfan]

"Please do FILE / HELP / Check For Updates, then restart MT even if  no updates were listed.  Then try again. If you still have a problem, clear the data, then backfill and let me know the result "

• Before doing the above, I had about 12 to 13 days showing in intraday charts, depending on the symbol.
• After doing it, I am seeing 10 days again, even if I request a period of 20 days...

 

[Jerry Medved]

ok, recreated the situation and fixed. Do the update steps again please. Then go to settings and change the backfill days for Yahoo to 20 (it will show 10).  then try again

 

[MTfan]

Ok, Now if I have the period set to 20 days, and select Main > Backfill > Backfill with OHLC data, then I do see a chart that now goes back to dec 15th.

Thanks for fixing that!

However, I do need to click Main > Backfill > Backfill with OHLC data for each chart.

1) Is it possible for an intraday chart to automatically load the data for the default period that has been set (in my case 20 days), like the historic charts do?

 

2) Once an intraday chart does show 20 days of data will it automatically update the chart for upcoming days? Ie still show 20 days of data, but including the latest day? Or do I need to click Main > Backfill > Backfill with OHLC data for each chart each day?

 

3) You said earlier - MT can show up to 120 days of data on intraday charts (default is 60). I am not sure I see how I would get that amount of data to be shown. For example, the maximum for the custom data period is 20 days. Also the max Yahoo backfill setting is 20 days.

 

[Jerry Medved]

1) The reason you have to manually hit it is because that forces full backfill.  Auto backfill only backfill from the last point MT knows a backfill occurred. (expectation being that the backfill source # of days doesn't really change often). You can clear all data and then backfill all.

2) Yes, it should automatically update either from the quotes you are getting or with auto backfill. 

3) Lets say you backfill today, then 10 market days from now - MT will now have 30 days.   Also, there are sources that can backfill a lot more than 20 days.  IQFeed, TD Ameritrade, Stockwatch and others

 

[MTfan]

Jerry thank you so much for all your responsive and excellent support!

20 days allows me to have enough data to be able to draw alert lines (suited to my way of trading) in intraday charts!

Re:

3) Lets say you backfill today, then 10 market days from now - MT will now have 30 days.   Also, there are sources that can backfill a lot more than 20 days.  IQFeed, TD Ameritrade, Stockwatch and others

It seems the max period for Intraday charts (in custom) is 20 days. How would I see more than 20 days? Will the custom period maximum increase as MT stores more data? To me it seems a fixed setting at 20 days....

I am sorry about all the questions.....

[Jerry Medved]

max # of backfill days is max 20 for Yahoo.  The max is datafeed specific.  The max for total # of days on the chart is on SETTINGS / CHARTS / GENERAL screen. 

[MTfan]

Sorry Jerry this is a mistake on my part. I thought that Intraday chart > Main > Period > Custom > could only be a max of 20 days but now I see I can change it to more than 20 days.....

 

[MTfan]

Resolved and closed......