Better Volume Indicator and Tradestation

cunparis · #21 06-08-2009, 05:02 AM

Hi Guys I just found this thread. I have both TS & NT and the better volume for NT doesn't work at all. I've done comparisons and it's not even close.

I ported the Better Volume code to NT but there's just one small problem: NT doesn't have access to historical bid/ask information. So the indicator worked in real time but if you do anything that would cause a refresh you loose all your volume information. This historical bid/ask feature is supposed to be added in NT 7.0.

So what I do is use better volume with TS and use my other indicators with NT. I prefer to do everything on one platform but some tasks are much easier on one or the other.

Hope that helps.

BlowFish · #22 06-08-2009, 05:08 AM

Neither TS or NT have historical bid/ask info. Its fortunate then that the better volume indicator does not require it

are you getting mixed up with another indicator?

cunparis · #23 06-08-2009, 06:22 AM

Originally Posted by BlowFish

Neither TS or NT have historical bid/ask info. Its fortunate then that the better volume indicator does not require it

are you getting mixed up with another indicator?

BV for TS uses upTicks & downTicks. on a tick chart, if the tick is an uptick then that means it occurred at the ask right? how does TS draw the better volume indicator for historical data if TS doesn't have the bid/ask information?

Trader333 · #24 06-08-2009, 06:36 AM

If you read the code you will see that one version plots based on tick volume and does not discern between upticks or downticks at all.

Paul

cunparis · #25 06-08-2009, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by Trader333

If you read the code you will see that one version plots based on tick volume and does not discern between upticks or downticks at all.

Paul

The only thing interesting is having it use the upticks & downticks.

BlowFish · #26 06-08-2009, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by cunparis

BV for TS uses upTicks & downTicks. on a tick chart, if the tick is an uptick then that means it occurred at the ask right? how does TS draw the better volume indicator for historical data if TS doesn't have the bid/ask information?

Essentially it looks at the ratio of Volume against Range and marks high volume low range bars low volume high range etc. etc.

An uptick does not necessarily occur at the ask if price is being bid up (bid and ask lift) you can have upticks on the bid. This is completely academic as this indicator uses total volume, it does not split the volume in anyway.

cunparis · #27 06-08-2009, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by BlowFish

Essentially it looks at the ratio of Volume against Range and marks high volume low range bars low volume high range etc. etc.

An uptick does not necessarily occur at the ask if price is being bid up (bid and ask lift) you can have upticks on the bid. This is completely academic as this indicator uses total volume, it does not split the volume in anyway.

Good point about the bid moving up. You're far more knowledgeable about this than I am. But I'd like to clarify one point: BetterVolume uses upTicks & downTicks (if configured to do so). So tradestation must provide this historically correct? I'm not sure what you mean about it using the ratio with the range, that's a bit over my head I'm afraid.

BlowFish · #28 06-08-2009, 08:20 AM

Looks like I was wrong about how the code works -apologies- it looks as if he is doing some sort of 'weighting' for up and down volume. I don't think the earlier versions did (but I may be wrong there too).

Maybe I'll go through and change all the value1 value2 value3 etc etc etc to more meaningful names so we can actually see what is going on!!

pa18 · #29 06-08-2009, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Fibtrader

When using the BetterVolume indicator in TS and tracking Forex, set the Forex symbol to Tick Count not Trade Volume. The BetterVolume indicator will work with this setting. Forex does not report actual volume.

I want to use for NinjaTrader.

cunparis · #30 06-08-2009, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by pa18

I want to use for NinjaTrader.

I think you have to wait until NT7.

I posted my attempt at porting bettervolume to NT in the NT forums, search for the thread "Better Volume Beta", go to the end of the thread to see the recent posts. Maybe someone will be able to figure out how to do it with NT6.5.