/*********************************************************************************************** Title: TradeFlow Sentiment Indicator for eSignal By: Divergence Software, Inc. Web: http://www.sr-analyst.com ================================================================================================ Dislaimer: For educational purposes only! Obviously, no guarantees whatsoever and use at your own risk. ************************************************************************************************ Project Description: =================== The TradeFlow-Sentiment indicator allows you to visualize the trading activity based on trade size. Only trades with a size within the range you have specified will be considered for purposes of creating the plot. The default settings will monitor the buying/selling of all traders, but useful information can be gained by filtering on large traders (i.e., those trading in lots of 50 and up..or even 100 and up). The idea being that by paying attention to what the "big money" is doing you can catch sentiment changes sooner and, in general, make better-informed trading decisions. The default min/max trade sizes are set up with the S&P eMini in mind but, again, you can customize the values to work with most futures contracts and all stocks. This indicator will NOT work with currencies. The plot shows accumulation/distribution within the share-size group you have defined. A rising plot indicates buying while a falling plot indicates selling. A value above zero indicates net-long while a value below zero indicates net-short. Recommended usage would be to load two copies of the indicator. The first copy should be set to monitor only large traders (i.e., those trading in lots of 50 or 100 and up). The second copy should be set to monitor either all traders or just small-money traders (i.e., those trading in lots of 1 to perhaps 10). With two copies loaded as described, you will be able to clearly see the price levels at which the big- money traders are buying or selling as well as quickly spot the big-money traders diverge from the pack. Calculation Type (Logic): ======================== There are two calculation types available, "Analyze Volume" and "Analyze Trades". When "Analyze Volume" is selected (the default) then trades and trade volume are taken into account for purposes of the sentiment calculation. When "Analyze Trades" is selected individual trades are taken into account for purposes of the sentiment calculation but the size of each trade is ignored...so each trade placed gets equal weight. If you are an active trader taking lots of small clips then "Analyze Volume" will probably work best for you. If, on the other hand, you are more of a swing trader (or at least stay in a trade more than just a few minutes) then the setting of "Analyze Trades" may work best. Experiment with both (using the eSignal Tick Replay feature) to determine which calculation type works best for your style of trading. Sensitivity: =========== Select from four sensitivity settings: "Raw Data", "High", "Medium", and "Low". These simply govern how quickly the plot will react to sentiment changes. The "Raw Data" setting utilizes no smoothing/filtering and can be very choppy while the "Low" setting incorporates a high degree of smoothing/filtering. The "High" sensitivity setting is the default and, while it still reacts quickly to changes in buying/ selling, it remains smooth enough to provide clear trend/sentiment signals. Note that for the "High", "Medium" and "Low" settings it can take a few bars for the smoothing/filtering logic to kick in. Usage Notes: =========== The TradeFlow-Sentiment indicator uses data that is available in realtime only and, as such, it provides no historical plot (i.e., it begins operating from the current price bar when it is loaded). IMPORTANT!!!: 1. If the indicator is refreshed or reloaded during the trading day, the plot will be cleared and will begin again from the current price bar. There is no way to restore the plot once the indicator has been refreshed or reloaded. Probably best to load the indicator into its own chart that you won't fiddle with during the trading day. If you are going to experiment with settings (which is a good idea) then do so after-hours using the eSignal Tick Replay feature, which allows you to walk through an entire trading day (tick-by-tick) at up to 200-times faster than 'realtime'. 2. Read #1 again. Recommended usage would be to load it into a lower-interval chart (perhaps a 1-min or 30-second chart or even a tick chart) before the market opens and then let it run. If possible, load the indicator before 9:00am EST and watch the pre-market activity. Indicator Parameters: ==================== Define Trade Size to Monitor: Minimum Trade Size: The smallest trade size (in shares/contracts) for a trade to be considered for purposes of accumulating data. Default is 1. Maximum Trade Size: The largest trade size (in shares/contracts) for a trade to be considered for purposes of accumulating data. Default is 10000. Cursor Window Label: Customize the Cursor Window label. This can be useful if you load multiple copies of this indicator. Default is "Sentiment". Rising Plot Color: The color to use for plotting a line that is rising. Default is green. Falling Plot Color: The color to use for plotting a line that is falling. Default is red. Thickness: The plot thickness to use. Default is 2. Range is 1-10. Line Type: Select from Solid, Dot, Dash, DashDot, DashDotDot. Default is Solid. Reference Line Color: The color to use for plotting the reference line (zero-line). Default is black. Thickness: The plot thickness to use. Default is 1. Range is 1-10. Line Type: Select from Solid, Dot, Dash, DashDot, DashDotDot. Default is Solid. Logic: Select from "Analyze Volume" (the default) and "Analyze Trades". If "Analyze Volume" is selected then the sentiment calculation is derived from the buy/sell volume. If "Analyze Trades" is selected then the sentiment calculation is derived from the trades and each trade is assigned equal weight. Sensitivity: Select from "Raw Data", "High", "Medium", and "Low". The default is "High". Disclaimer: For educational purposes only! Obviously, no guarantees whatsoever and use at your own risk. *******************************************************************************************************/