Re: n-day breakout system

["Jeff" <jcob3@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin:

Thanks for the information.  LASTVALUE() appears to accomplish my goal.
After your caveat, I read about the function in the MS manual, and I don't
think it will be a problem for this application.  That being said, using the
volatility multiplier didn't make a significant difference in the indicator
or system results any way.  Perhaps a different measure of volatility will
make a bigger difference.  We'll see.

Thanks again

Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin243@xxxxxxx <Kevin243@xxxxxxx>
To: metastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <metastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2000 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: n-day breakout system


>In functions like HHV, etc. Metastock language requires a constant for the
>length of the function.  You need to look at the LASTVALUE() function for
>using as a constant in the HHV function.  Try the following code.
>
>n:=20*(Stdev(C,20)/Mov(Stdev(C,20),5,S));
>nhigh:=Ref(HHV(H,LastValue(n)),-1);
>HIGH>nhigh AND CLOSE > Ref(CLOSE,-1)
>
>Hope this works for you.  There are some quirks with using LASTVALUE, but I
>can't remember what they are.  Maybe some one else on the list can help
>identify the quirks.
>
>Kevin Campbell
>
>
>In a message dated 2/26/00 6:47:50 AM Central Standard Time,
>jcob3@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
>> Help needed for formula wizards.
>>
>>  I have coded the entry for the n-day breakout system from Perry
Kaufmann's
>"
>> Trading Systems and Methods" as:
>>  ENTER LONG:
>>
>>  n:=20;
>>  nhigh:=Ref(HHV(H,n),-1);
>>  HIGH>nhigh AND CLOSE > Ref(CLOSE,-1)
>>
>>  I would like to be able to vary "n" using a volatility multiplier like
>this
>> one taken from Chande's "The New Technical Trader",
>>
>>  Stdev(C,20)/Mov(Stdev(C,20),5,S), so that, ultimately "n" will equal
20*(
>> Stdev(C,20)/Mov(Stdev(C,20),5,S)).
>>
>>  So far so good, but when I try to implement this into the ENTER LONG
>Formula
>> I get the following error message.
>>
>>  "This variable or expression must contain only constant data.",
referring
>to
>> the "n" in the "nhigh" formula.
>>
>>  n:=20*(Stdev(C,20)/Mov(Stdev(C,20),5,S));
>>  nhigh:=Ref(HHV(H,n),-1);
>>  HIGH>nhigh AND CLOSE > Ref(CLOSE,-1)
>>
>>  After pondering this I thought that maybe it was because the "n" needed
to
>> be a whole number for this particular formula; after all, it must be
>> difficult to select a highest high value for a fractional day.
Therefore,
>I
>> altered the formula thusly:
>>  n:=int(20*(Stdev(C,20)/Mov(Stdev(C,20),5,S))).  I was willing to accept
>that
>> the program would round every decimal down.  Unfortunately, I received
the
>> same error.  This makes little sense to me since I can simply put n:=
opt1
>> for as many days as I want and the formula works just fine.
>>
>>  Any help with this little conundrum will be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>  Jeff
>>