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Re: Natural hour bars



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> Subject:           Re: Natural hour bars
>    Date:           Fri, 10 Mar 2000 19:48:49 -0600
>    From:           Lawrence Price <lprice1023@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>      To:           Glenn Suprenard <glennts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>	          Omegalist <omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>I have experimented with different length bars in many systems.  I find that
>often there is a length of bar that seems to work with a particular stock
>and a particular system.  I doubt that this has anything to do with other
>traders and their signals but rather to do with the peculiar juxtaposition
>of chart and system that is created by a bar length.  It is an intriguing
>subject.  I have wished that I were capable of programing a way to optimize
>bar length for a symbol.
>
>Lawrence Price


You almost guessed it - if you change the bar interval AND you are 
using length-based indicators (and who isn't?) then EVERYTHING CHANGES!
The bars that produced the initial results are no longer there. 
A moving average of 100 bars on a 5-minute chart does not cover/compare 
the same bars as on a 10-minute chart. In this case it covers half as 
much time.  Is it not obvious that this will affect your results?

I have re-written several indicators to be time-based rather than 
length-based.  This was so that I do not have to calculate and change 
the indicator length when I changed the bar interval.  (Of course they 
actually ARE length-based, but the indicator does the calculation).  
Also, I like thinkingt in terms of time (say, a 2-hour moving average)
rather than 
an abstract length (12 bars ? 15? 22? 36?)

donc