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█ CONCEPTS
Oscillators are indicators widely used by technical traders. These indicators swing above and below a center value, emphasizing cyclic movements within a frequency range. In his article, Ehlers explains that all oscillators share a common characteristic: their calculations involve computing differences. The reliance on differences is what causes these indicators to oscillate about a central point.
The difference between two data points in a series acts as a highpass filter — it allows high frequencies (short wavelengths) to pass through while significantly attenuating low frequencies (long wavelengths). Ehlers demonstrates that a simple difference calculation attenuates lower-frequency cycles at a rate of 6 dB per octave. However, the difference also significantly amplifies cycles near the shortest observable wavelength, making the result appear noisier than the original series. To mitigate the effects of noise in a differenced series, oscillators typically smooth the series with a lowpass filter, such as a moving average.
Ehlers highlights an underlying issue with smoothing differenced data to create oscillators. He postulates that market data statistically follows a pink spectrum, where the amplitudes of cyclic components in the data are approximately directly proportional to the underlying periods. Specifically, he suggests that cyclic amplitude increases by 6 dB per octave of wavelength.
Because some conventional oscillators, such as RSI, use differencing calculations that attenuate cycles by only 6 dB per octave, and market cycles increase in amplitude by 6 dB per octave, such calculations do not have a tangible net effect on larger wavelengths in the analyzed data. The influence of larger wavelengths can be especially problematic when using these oscillators for mean reversion or swing signals. For instance, an expected reversion to the mean might be erroneous because oscillator's mean might significantly deviate from its center over time.
To address the issues with conventional oscillator responses, Ehlers created a new indicator dubbed the Cybernetic Oscillator. It uses a simple combination of highpass and lowpass filters to emphasize a specific range of frequencies in the market data, then normalizes the result based on RMS. The process is as follows:
Apply a two-pole highpass filter to the data. This filter's critical period defines the longest wavelength in the oscillator's passband.
Apply a two-pole SuperSmoother (lowpass filter) to the highpass-filtered data. This filter's critical period defines the shortest wavelength in the passband.
Scale the resulting waveform by its RMS. If the filtered waveform follows a normal distribution, the scaled result represents amplitude in standard deviations.
The oscillator's two-pole filters attenuate cycles outside the desired frequency range by 12 dB per octave. This rate outweighs the apparent rate of amplitude increase for successively longer market cycles (6 dB per octave). Therefore, the Cybernetic Oscillator provides a more robust isolation of cyclic content than conventional oscillators. Best of all, traders can set the periods of the highpass and lowpass filters separately, enabling fine-tuning of the frequency range for different trading styles.
█ USAGE
The "Highpass period" input in the "Settings/Inputs" tab specifies the longest wavelength in the oscillator's passband, and the "Lowpass period" input defines the shortest wavelength. The oscillator becomes more responsive to rapid movements with a smaller lowpass period. Conversely, it becomes more sensitive to trends with a larger highpass period. Ehlers recommends setting the smallest period to a value above 8 to avoid aliasing. The highpass period must not be smaller than the lowpass period. Otherwise, it causes a runtime error.
The "RMS length" input determines the number of bars in the RMS calculation that the indicator uses to normalize the filtered result.
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NinjaTrader: June 2025
In “Making A Better Oscillator” in this issue, John Ehlers presents a new oscillator he calls the cybernetic oscillator. The indicator discussed in the article is available for download at the following link for NinjaTrader 8:
Once the file is downloaded, you can import the indicator into NinjaTrader 8 from within the control center by selecting Tools → Import → NinjaScript Add-On and then selecting the downloaded file for NinjaTrader 8.
You can review the indicator source code in NinjaTrader 8 by selecting the menu New → NinjaScript Editor → Indicators folder from within the control center window and selecting the file.
