Indicator Y Axes

[DavidE]

I use and rely on indicators quite heavily and both QT and MT do a great job of offering a wide breathe of indicators to choose from and for displaying them.  What I find very useful is linking indicators so that the relationship between them is easier to see then in separate charts.

 

MT (and QT) makes a very good attempt at assigning left and right Y axes for linked indicators.  At times MT will overlay two axes on one side of the chart while the other side is unused.  In some of these cases I've discovered that by reordering the linkage of the indicators the axes will be applied to both the left and right side of the chart.  This works in some cases and not in others.

 

MT does a excellent job of dynamically changing the axis to maximize the display for some indicators such as oscillators, but at times a gap open can enlarge the axis so much that as the indicator "settles down" it is difficult to see the movements.  Related to this is that some indicators use this dynamic scaling while others use a fixed scale which when linked makes the relationship difficult to determine.  For example ProGo linked to FullStoch.  The center (or "zero") line for FullStoch remains stable at 50 but the center line for ProGo changes in relationship as the axis dynamically adjusts itself.

 

Having said this I would ask if the following features could be considered:

 

1. The ability to assign linked indicators to use the right or left side of the chart to display their Y axis.  In some cases multiple indicators maybe assigned to share the same axis while another linked indicator maybe using its axis on the opposite side of the chart.

 

2. Similar to the top pricing charts, ability to set, individually, a Y axis in the lower charts as dynamic or with absolute values.  This should allow setting a stable center line and address the gap open spike while still allowing for dynamic scaling when desired.

 

Thank you considering these requests to an already great piece of software.

[Mike Medved]

Hmm

 

Can you give me an example of two indicators that, when linked, will show values on one axis and not spread it on two? That definitely needs to be fixed.

[DavidE]

Thanks for the reply:

 

StochRSI + Williams %R

 

ProGo + RSI

 

RSI + Medved Oscillator

 

The following first set overlays, second reorder splits the axes:

 

RSI + MACD

MACD + RSI

 

SlowStoch + MACD

MACD + SlowStoch

[Mike Medved]

Ok thanks. That bug is now fixed and you will see the fix in next release.

 

Here's the logic MT uses:

 

1. For the same indicator (that is, if you link two or more of same indicator with diff parameters), the axis is reused

2. For others, it looks at ranges. If one range is less than 4 times the other range, same axis is used. Otherwise, it splits off another axis.

3. 3 maximum axes' values are plotted. The other axes would still work but their values would not be shown.

 

What you're seeing (some dynamic, some fixed) is just how each indicator is programmed. Some indicators have fixed ranges - like 0 to 100, always. Some are left to be dynamic.

[DavidE]

Mike,

Thank you for making the necessary fixes, I look forward to checking them out in the upcoming new release.

 

I understand that some indicators, by their nature, operate within a predefined range (Fixed) while others do not have a predefined range (Dynamic).  When linking and comparing two such indicators their relative position to each other becomes skewed as the dynamic axis adjusts itself.  I am currently using such a pair of indicators that are giving me some great entry points and in the occasional instance when the center points of the axes line up the relationship and cross over points of the indicators is easy to discern but as the dynamic indicator adjusts that relationship becomes more difficult to visualize.

 

From  your description of how the axes are applied in the indicator charts I can understand how it would be problematical to use the same functionality as in the pricing charts to define the characteristics of the indicator Y Axes.  However, I'd still like to explore the possibility of being able to establish a stable relationship between Fixed and Dynamic indicators.

 

Would it be possible that within the Indicator Parameters Panel, for Dynamic Indicators and as an Optional setting, to define the upper and lower values to be displayed or to constrain the Y Axis.  If the Indicator value exceeded these constrains then it would run off the chart similar to what occurs on the price chart when the prices exceed a constrained Y axis.  This could be in the form of two values defining the limits or as a single parameter that would define the upper and lower limit away from the zero point on the axis (All Dynamic Indicators that I've worked with so far generate positive and negative values around a zero point.  If this is not a correct assumption then the single parameter idea will not work for all cases).

 

Thanks again for considering this and your prompt attention to the fixes.

[Mike Medved]

Hm... We could, for all indicators, add the "fixed range high/low"  parameter that would allow you to set fixed range for currently dynamic indicators or change the fixed range for currently fixed ones...

 

The only problem is complexity. This adds more "stuff" to that window. Users get scared when faced with so many choices.

[vrtrader64]

...

The only problem is complexity. This adds more "stuff" to that window. Users get scared when faced with so many choices.

 

IB found an elegant solution to this problem, for the TWS. They have a feature selector, whereby specific features can be enabled/disabled and this can help tune the complexity of the UI to the individual users' taste.

 

(just a thought)

[DavidE]

Mike, I can understand your concern as I've seen and used programs where the available options can be overwhelming. 

 

I think that vrtrader64 (thank you) offers a possible solution for that problem.  Currently within the MT Settings panel, Charts /General, several Indicator options are offered.  Maybe an option to "Allow Indicator Axis Adjustment" could be added that when selected would make the "fixed range high/low" parameter visible in the Indicator Parameters Panel.

[Jerry Medved]

I don't know if you have seen IB's TWS - it is a monstrosity of settings.  We would like to avoid that.