EHLER'S INDICATORS
MT4: go here
MT5: go here
Background & CareerEhlers trained as an electrical engineer: he holds a BSEE and MSEE from the University of Missouri. Later, he completed doctoral work at George Washington University, specializing in fields & waves and information theory.
Before becoming a full-time independent trader, he worked at Raytheon, retiring as a Senior Engineering Fellow.
He began trading privately in 1976. Over time, his engineering background shaped his approach to market analysis and algorithmic trading.
What He’s Known For — DSP + Market AnalysisEhlers is widely regarded as a pioneer in applying digital signal processing (DSP) — including spectral analysis and filter theory — to financial market data (stocks, futures, forex, etc.).
One of his landmark innovations: the MESA algorithm (Maximum Entropy Spectrum Analysis), a method to detect dominant cycles in price data and adapt indicator parameters accordingly, rather than relying on arbitrary/fixed periods.
His philosophy: before coding or deploying any trading technique, one should test it on theoretical waveforms (idealized data) to validate the math; only then apply to real-world data. In his view, this reduces overfitting and miscalibration.
Publications & Code — For Traders & CodersEhlers has authored numerous books, such as MESA and Trading Market Cycles, Rocket Science for Traders, and Cybernetic Analysis for Stocks and Futures.
He has been a frequent contributor to Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities magazine (often abbreviated “S&C Magazine”), where he published many indicator designs, trading system ideas, and code snippets (e.g. for various trading platforms).
His indicators often aim for “zero-lag” or minimal-lag filtering — smoothing price data without introducing too much delay. Tools like the “Directional Movement w/ Hann Windowing (DMH)”, “Zero-Lag filters”, “Laguerre filters”, custom oscillators, and cycle filters are widely attributed to him and used in algorithmic trading systems.
What to Know — Strengths and CriticismsStrengths: Ehlers’ approach is mathematically rigorous, explicitly uses engineering and DSP principles, and avoids “magic numbers” (like fixed-length 14-day RSI) by adapting to changing market cycles. This can produce more robust, adaptive trading indicators relative to standard ones.
Challenges / Criticisms: Some trading-community explorations of his systems (e.g. one based on his “Instantaneous Trendline” indicator) have shown poor performance with trend-following logic in out-of-sample backtests — leading some to invert the signal and use a mean-reversion logic instead.
This suggests that while the math or filtering ideas may be sound, actual trading success still depends heavily on how the filters/indicators are used, optimized, and tested — underscoring the need for rigorous backtesting and risk management.
Relevance & Influence — Why Traders Still Follow HimEhlers’ work helped popularize the use of DSP and adaptive filter design in trading tools, influencing many modern algorithmic traders, coders, and quantitative analysts.
Many “custom indicators” in trading platforms — especially those promising less lag and more responsiveness — trace their conceptual lineage to Ehlers’ research.
For traders with a coding background (e.g. using EasyLanguage, Python, or other algo-trading platforms), Ehlers’ papers and book content remain valuable as a mathematical foundation for building custom, tailored trading systems.
]]>
TASC = Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities
TradeStation: November 2023
In his article in the September 2023 issue titled “VAcc: A Momentum Indicator Based On Velocity And Acceleration,” author Scott Cong has introduced a new momentum indicator based on the simple physics principles of velocity and acceleration. The indicator is said to be responsive, precise, and easy to use. In addition, the indicator is said to be less susceptible to overbought/oversold saturation. The TradeStation implementation in EasyLangauge uses a VAcc function.
Code: Select all
Function: VAcc// TASC NOVEMBER 2023// VAcc Function// Scott Conginputs:iLength( numericsimple ),iSmooth( numericsimple ),iReturnType( numericsimple );Variables:Length( iLength ),Avg_acc( 0 ),Avg_vel( 0 ),Sum_acc( 0 ),Sum_vel( 0 ),Idx( 0 ),Result( 0 );Sum_vel = 0;for Idx = 1 to Lengthbegin Sum_vel += (Close - Close[Idx]) / Idx;end;Avg_vel = XAverage(Sum_vel / Length, iSmooth);Sum_acc = 0;for Idx = 1 to Lengthbegin Sum_acc += (Avg_vel - Avg_vel[Idx]) / Idx;end;Avg_acc = Sum_acc / Length;if iReturnType = 0 then Result = Avg_velelse Result = Sum_acc;VAcc = Result;Indicator: VAcc // TASC NOVEMBER 2023// VAcc - Velocity (V) and Acceleration (Acc) // Scott Conginputs:Period( 21 ),Smooth( 5 );variables:AvgVel( 0 ),AvgAcc( 0 );AvgVel = 100 * VAcc(Period, Smooth, 0);AvgAcc = 100 * VAcc(Period, Smooth, 1);Plot1( AvgVel / Period * 2, "VAcc" );Plot2( 0, "Zero" );]]>
For MT4, please go here:
topic8423458.html
===========================================================================================
In Forex, TMA usually refers to the Triangular Moving Average —
a type of moving average that smooths price more strongly than SMA or EMA.
What is TMA (Triangular Moving Average)?The Triangular Moving Average (TMA) is a moving average that applies double smoothing to price data:
- First, it takes a Simple Moving Average (SMA).
- Then, it takes another SMA of that first SMA.
===========================================================================================
Why is it called “Triangular”?Because the weighting of the price data forms a triangle shape:
Prices near the middle of the period get more weight.
Prices at the start and end get less weight.
Example for a 7-period TMA weight distribution:
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1
This “triangle” of weights gives the name Triangular Moving Average.
===========================================================================================
What TMA is used forTrend direction
Smoother signals with less noise
Support/resistance dynamic levels
Filtering out fake volatility spikes
Traders like it because it looks cleaner than many other moving averages.
===========================================================================================
Important: Centered TMA vs Regular TMAIn Forex forums (especially Forex-Station), TMA often refers to Centered TMA, which recalculates historically because it uses future bars for smoothing.
Regular TMA = normal triangular MA (does not repaint)
Centered TMA = smoothed and shifted; recalculates (many people call it “repainting”)
Mladen explained:
“Centered TMA recalculates; that’s not repainting. It’s just math that uses future data.”
This is why many TMA indicators appear to “move” historically.
]]>
topic8414481.html
Thank you
]]>
]]>
For MT4, please go here:
dashboard-type-indicators-for-mt4-t8473219.html
]]>
]]>
- US, Nikkei stock futures, West Texas Crude futures affected
- Cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers caused outage
- Traders left without prices, expect market volatility
This technical issue is impacting futures trading for the US S&P 500 and NASDAQ, as well as Foreign Exchange products.
Japan's core CPI continues to be stubbornly high and has exceeded the BoJ's 2 percent target, leading to demands for increased interest rates.
Anyone here affected by the outage?
]]>
Code: Select all
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+//| Copyright © 2020, Gehtsoft USA LLC | //| http://fxcodebase.com |//+------------------------------------------------------------------+//| Developed by : Mario Jemic |//| mario.jemic@gmail.com |//| //+------------------------------------------------------------------+]]>
mt4-candlesticks-patterns-correlation-b ... 73184.html
]]>
Developing and continually evolving a trading system isn't just a technical task, but rather a personal challenge for me as a trader. I view every strategy as a living organism that needs to be observed, tested in real-world conditions, and purposefully improved, identifying and strengthening its weaknesses. A month ago, I launched live tests for a cluster trading system for gold . Now I'm expanding the trading bot's weaknesses by adding new trading systems.
A trend-based trading system for breaking out extremes for XAUUSD
Opening a position: Take any trend indicator (I use the "AceTrend" indicator) and plot a zigzag on the highs and lows of its trends. We'll open a long position at the previous high and a short position at the previous low. We'll use pending stop orders to open the position.
Position closing and monitoring: we'll use STOP LOSS, TAKE PROFIT, and TRAILING STOP. All values are expressed as percentages of the current symbol price. We'll hold pending orders until the trend reverses.
The system demonstrates the highest stability and combines harmoniously with regular trend-following entries.
]]>
I want to share one experiment — the fully automatic expert "2MA BlackBox" for XAUUSD (Gold) on the hourly timeframe (H1).
I would like to receive feedback and suggestions for improvement. I will be grateful for the bugs and errors found.
A month ago, testing of the concept of synergy of several trading systems in one robot began. To be honest, the results were amazing! But it's still in the works: longer tests and improvements are needed.
To develop and test the idea, a similar cluster of systems based on the "Moving Average Cross Signal" indicator was assembled.
How do I start testing?
It's simple:
1. Download the free "Moving Average Cross Signal" indicator from the official MQL market.
2. Put his file in the Indicators/Market folder of your MT5.
3. Run the Expert on the XAUUSD, H1 chart.
How does it work, to put it simply?
The magic is all about synergy. Several subsystems have been created based on the same principle:
• As soon as the indicator shows the up arrow, we place a pending Buy Stop order just above the maximum of the current candle.
• To exit a trade, we use Stop Loss, Take Profit and Trailing Stop.
• Pending orders "live" for only one bar (1 hour), if they are not triggered, we delete them.
• Each system works independently, meaning one can open a deal even if the other is already in the market.
And what is the synergy here?
The systems were configured in turn so that they could back each other up. If one system failed in a certain market situation, then the next system was "taught" to be stronger in this particular weak spot, slightly increasing its lot at the time of setup. In the finished version, the lot is not increased and all subsystems trade in the same volume. As a result, they work as one well-coordinated team.
That's how it looked in the strategy tester — it looks very encouraging!
2MA_BlackBox_v1.ex5Downloaded 135 times 923.43 KiB
]]>
]]>
Is there a specific forum to ask if anyone knows of a certain indicator?
]]>