Elementary Question..

In mt4 when placing a stock MA on chart, after placing the MA, the options for "apply to" change and give you the option of "Previous indicators Data".

I know it is plain english, but if I go back and change the apply to input to previous indicator the output would then be taken from the previous indicator in the indicator list?

so instead of the ma being based on say the close of the price bar it could be based of the close of a smoothed HA bar for instance? or whatever indicator happened to be in the previous spot on the indicator list?

I know this is what it says I just want to be sure here...

thank's for your input.

After experimenting for a few minutes, here's my understanding.

Press Ctrl-I to see a list of indicators. If you were to henceforth apply an MA that's set to "First indicator's data", it will plot a MA of the topmost indicator in that list; if "Previous indicator's data", it will plot a MA of the last one added, which in this case will be the bottommost one in the list.

I tried it with a custom indicator (Jurik MA) as the bottommost, and it worked just as I described. I assume that if the custom indy has data values in more than 1 of the 8 permissible buffers, it would plot a MA of the values in the first buffer.

If the targeted indy doesn't have values in any data buffer (e.g. all it does is plot objects - I tried it with Plot News, for example), then it seems that no MA gets plotted, which likewise follows the above logic.

I also tried it with a Bollinger Band as the targeted indy, and it plotted a MA of the median line.

You can also use this facility in windows other than the main price chart. For example, if you already have a RSI plotted, and you drag the MA indy into that window, and set it to "First indicator's data", a MA of the RSI will be plotted.

Experiment yourself, and see if your results agree with mine.

I concur with your assessment of my question Mr. H.

thank you for looking into it..... you are very gracious with your time here on the forum..

Its kind of funny this thing, because I knew the options for previous or first indicator was there but I could not find it about 3 weeks ago, I then today stumbled upon the fact that you had to first plot the ma then go back to it to access those parameters....

you'd think after almost 4 years of mt4 I would have noticed that... ....