Tools for forexhard's Stairstep Breakouts system

Nah... that was a direct email to you, not a post...
Brains in the red zone already ?...

Sq

Don't mind me, gentlemen. I know I'm in good hands. I'm eager to see where this goes from here. I wish I could assist with the coding too, but this is something I never learned.

good to hear from you again, FH!

We will definitely need you to check the CZ boxes and see how we can improve them.
At the moment, i am not that much convinced that they are placed properly, at least with the default settings that i came up with (daily ATR 30 * 0.25, and a 5pips buffer -- new EA version to come soon !).

Not yet "falling like candy"

Sq

Oops. I read a lot of posts in my email box to save going to the threads and mistook this.

Got to go out soon to accompany some woodwind exams and will get onto this when I return. I will do the necessary incorporation to save you the bother.

All my previous version does is tidy up the code guys. It will already cut down some on the processor use, but that apart doesn't do much. The Biggie will come later.

-- EDIT: new version 1.7 including some cosmetics changes suggested by FH --

Attached is a new version of the Indicator.

It has the following improvements:

- added "AutoBoxRange" (true/false), "AutoBoxRangeDailyATRperiod"(=30) and "AutoBoxRangeDailyATRfactor"(=0.25) inputs: when true, will use AutoBoxRangeDailyATRfactor*daily_ATR_value as the BoxRange value;

- added "BoxBufferPips" input, draws the Yellow and Magenta lines at this buffer away from the formed Box;
These are your real breakout lines;
- added drawing of vertical lines marking the bar on which the Box initially formed; This helps locate the Boxes compared on other indicator sub-windows (like stochastics, MACD, RSI, whatever).

- added statistical data on maximum Buy/Sell expenctancy for each "Session"; max Buys and Sells for each Session are indicated on the chart itself, the total and average maximum pips are displayed in the upper right corner in white; CAUTION: this does NOT count the "loosing trades", only the "best buy" and "best sell" for each session;
- statistical data are saved in a CSV file in (mt4)/experts/files folder; the CSV file name is on the typical model
"EURUSD-sqDynamicBreakoutBox(4x60min,30p).csv"
Controlled by "CreateStatisticsFile"(true/false) input;


Known bugs:

- still won't draw the breakout lines continuously... don't know why it stops plotting them at some point yet..... ?!? If anyone wants to figure this out,
we would all be happy!


NOTE about using the indicator with Steve's EA:
this new version is still compatible with Steve's EA -- the indicator's inputs invoked by the EA are still in the same order, so the EA should not see any difference (hopefully...);


Next improvements to come:

i will eventually add some TP levels around the breakout lines, as we had done in the LondonBreakout and 3Tier indicators.
This would allow to display multiple TPs based on Fib ratios or fixed TP levels.


Sq

Thanks for all the work so far steve & sq!

I found a simple pattern which might add something to the probability. If the box breaks out to the oposite side of the prev trand, but the box itself doesn't contain the high or low of the previous trend, the probability it will go very far from the box is quite small - as far as i looked back into the data ( see pic).

Hope this adds something

Squalou, nice work! I like how it switches back and forth from standard format and the ATR range.

I do have 2 mod requests:

1) Please make the vertical lines optional with both a True/False (On/Off) selection, as well as colors.

2) Please place the statistical data onto it's own separate background, which can be adjusted by corner, color, and font size.

No rush. When ever you can find the time.

Thanks,

FxH

Got that in; i updated my previous post.
Don't know yet how to create a "text background"...
I've seen some of THV indis doing this.
I'll check that out.
Is that so important anyway ?...

Sq

Not important to the system at all. Just making a wish list, really. That's why I said no rush.

Line mod works great. Thanks!

FxH

Squalou, Here's a possible bug. I changed the settings to BL22/BTF15. The chart shows the current artifact, but it doesn't show the last swing high after the breakout.

Fantastic sq. I have replaced the post 1 version. Now I am looking at combining our two ea's.

Cheers

Try that one...

Sq

I see what you did there!

Ok guys, I have put into post 1 the EA version that I left trading happily when I had to go out. This one relies on having the indi in your indi folder; if you replace this with the latest version, then the cpu hammering it causes is impossible to tolerate, so I have replaced the updated post 1 indi with the old one. This will not be for long.

Attached is a version of the EA that sq sent to me earlier. sq has fantastic ideas for this bot's development based on work he has done earlier. I usually find it best to simply sit back and enjoy when he gets involved, so I have invited sq to take over this project. I will simply become the drone and make sure that post 1 is always up to date.

I have renamed the new version as there are bits of code from a number of cintributors. This one does not make a call to the indi at all; the saving this gives in cpu activity is immense.

Only thing is, sq, that I cannot persuade your version to either draw the boxes or display >0 hi-lo values (Alpari UK M15); this is the only reason I have not immediately dumped my version.

I attach it here so you guys can play and see if it is something I am doing wrong - I am about to do a computer re-boot to see if this help.

Given the performance of my own humble bot today, this is getting exciting.

OK, so here is a system mod:

When you use the buffer zone, the yellow/magenta lines move away from the blue consolidation box. So it would be nice to have a continuation zone highlighted like I show it here in the attached pic. This is nice to have for reversals. It should extend as far as the magenta lines extend. It should have it's own color selection.

Thanks!

FxH

I have the ea on my live account, waiting for an EChf breakout. It looks as though the problems I had with the ea and the indi apparently losing contact were caused by the conditional I had to read the indi only at the start of each candle.

The problem recurred at the open of each new candle so I removed the conditional. This ups the processor use, but this is only temporary. Updated version in post 1.

Sorry Steve, but I just found a major bug. Notes on pic. I wouldn't go live just yet.

Note: This bug is only on the EA. Squalou's indicator works as expected.

FxH

Thanks but it is ok. I am usually the first to try one of my ea's live because I know what it is capable of doing. It is being highly supervised.

I just made my first 19 live pips trading out of the box FH - EChf. I set the tp at 1.7 and it hit within seconds. The market screamed on past what would otherwise have been the Atr tp but never mind. A first liver bringing in the pips is nice.

Welcome to the FxH pip club, Steve!

Just falls from the sky like manna from heaven, doesn't it? You're welcome! LOL

PS - Did you catch the note about the bug?