Guest Post: QuoteTracker: Paintbars Tutorial

Posted on January 31st, 2007
Written by Prospectus
Posted in: N/A (old archives)

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

QuoteTracker is an outstanding charting program that I use. It’s got a freeware version with a few limitations and ads, and the full version is free to holders of a funded ($2k) TD Ameritrade account (which I also have). Without that, it’s only $7/month or $60/year. QT is a charting package only, not a data provider or brokerage. You can link to lots of different data sources and even integrate trading within QT with some brokerages (like MB Trading, Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade). I get my data from my TD Ameritrade account, and I trade manually through Zecco. Lots of different options there–full details are at the QT site.

One of the great features of QT is the Paintbars–graphical signals that show up on your charts based on quantitative calculations that you define. Here’s an example of one of my charts:

cytr-candle-last-3-days_30m-2007-01-31-093357.GIF

This chart has two paintbars added, which I chose to show up as a diamond above the candle–gray if it’s a narrower range bar than the previous one, and yellow if it’s an inside bar (which is also a narrower range bar by definition). In the chart above, the second bar is narrower than the first, hence the gray diamond. The third is inside the second, so it gets yellow.

To set this up in QT, you choose Charts>Chart Paintbar Editor from the menu. You get a screen that looks like this:

ss1.jpg

You can see one of the paintbars that I created in that picture. You create a new paintbar, name it, and then add rules. Rules are the calculations and comparisons made to decide to implement your paintbar on the chart or not. You can have more than one rule per paintbar. If you click the “switch to simple expression” toggle button, you can go to a pulldown list of built-in indicators. By choosing some of these and then clicking the button again, you’ll see the complex expression code–this is a good source of examples to build your own complex expressions. In my example, the words ‘Bar High’ refer to the high of the current bar, and ‘Bar High[1]‘ refers to the high of the previous bar. The number in brackets is an offset of previous bars. The “action” and “else” pulldowns determine what you will do if the conditions you specify are or are not met. You can also change the color involved in the paintbar.

Here’s the code for some of my paintbars:

NRBar:
if ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[1]-Bar Low[1]) set color to Gray

InsideBar:
if ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[1]-Bar Low[1]) AND Bar High[1]>=Bar High AND Bar Low[1] <= Bar Low set color to Yellow

NR7:
if ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[1]-Bar Low[1]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[2]-Bar Low[2]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[3]-Bar Low[3]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[4]-Bar Low[4]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[5]-Bar Low[5]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[6]-Bar Low[6]) AND ABS(Bar High-Bar Low) <= ABS(Bar High[7]-Bar Low[7]) set color to $8000FF

Once you have saved your paintbar, you need to apply them to a chart. Right click on a chart and choose “select indicators”, and you see this screen:

ss2.jpg

There is an indicator called Paintbar-Top and one called Paintbar-Bottom. ‘Top’ shows up on the price, while ‘Bottom’ shows up linked to a lower panel, like volume or another indicator. Once you enable it with the right arrow, you have to click the “edit” button for the paintbar indicator you want to set up. Once you do, you see this:

ss3.jpg

Choose the paintbar you saved that you want to use from the “name” list, and then choose your “show on” effect. Hit ok and you’re ready to see them in action! Make sure you save the chart template if you want to be able to keep the setup.

Feel free to post your own paintbar codes in the comments, or to ask questions about any of the above.

Comments

  • Tina
    Super programming newbie here, but experienced quotetracker user. Can some one point me to a site where I can learn how to program alerts from the beginning? Otherwise can someone come up with an alert for a simple set of rules I've come up with?
  • RJ
    barry,i can help you with the audiable alerts.email me at rjinw@hotmail.com
  • Eternum
    Elder Impulse System:

    Rule1: if (MACD Histogram > MACD Histogram[1]) AND (EMA(12) > EMA(12)[1]) set color to Lime and stop

    Rule2: if (MACD Histogram < MACD Histogram[1]) AND (EMA(12) < EMA(12)[1]) set color to Red else set color to $FFFF80

    You need to have the following indicators placed on your chart (can be hidden): EMA(12), MACD Histogram( 11, 25, 8 ). Adjust indicators parameters to your liking.
  • YR
    Actually there is still a QT user forum still running which might worth checking it out http://www.forum.qtusers.com/

    Cheers!
  • President Fox
    David,
    While the original QT forum has been closed since the Ameritrade buyout, comments and questions re. QT can still be posted at qtusers.com.
  • QuoteTracker's excellence as a trading platforum is largely attributed to its successful effort to constantly listen to its users. With the acquisition of the platform by TDA, I understand the forum is no longer open to new comments - that's a shame. While the future of the platform is not altogether certain - its a great tool for traders. I also have to say that it was one of the first platforms to integrate with Trade-Ideas: http://www.trade-ideas.com/QuoteTrackerStart.html
  • Space4u2go
    I have been using QuoteTracker for almost 10 months and its one of the best charting softwares I have come across for such low price.

    Another free charting software similar to QT is StockWrap.
  • @Estocastica: Awesome! I never thought of that! Thanks for cleaning up my charts! :)
  • Here are the paintbar codes that em sent:

    Hammer:
    if (bar open<bar close) and (bar open-bar low>0.01) and bar open-bar low>((bar close-bar open)*0.75) and bar high-bar close<((bar close-bar open)/1.75) set color to $FFFF80 and stop else do nothing and stop

    Inside hammer:
    if (bar open<bar close) and (bar open-bar low>0.01) and bar open-bar low>((bar close-bar open)*0.75) and bar high-bar close<((bar close-bar open)/1.75) and (Bar High<=Bar High[1]) and (Bar Low>=Bar Low[1]) set color to Blue and stop else do nothing and stop

    Shooting star:
    if (bar open>bar close) and (bar open+bar high>0.01) and bar open+bar high>((bar close-bar open)*0.75) and bar high-bar close>((bar open-bar close)/0.5) and bar open-bar low<((bar open-bar close)*2) set color to $0080FF and stop else do nothing and stop

    Inside shooting star:
    if (bar open>bar close) and (bar open+bar high>0.01) and bar open+bar high>((bar close-bar open)*0.75) and bar high-bar close>((bar open-bar close)/0.5) and bar open-bar low<((bar open-bar close)*2) and (Bar High<=Bar High[1]) and (Bar Low>=Bar Low[1]) set color to Yellow and stop else do nothing and stop
  • Esto: I made the same change here.. I only want to see the MA crossings.
  • I adjusted the code for the 5eMA to only display an arrow if there is a close occurring on the opposing side of the 5eMA. This is a little bit cleaner, as it only shows an arrow when there is a change to either above or below the 5eMA.

    if Bar Close>EMA(5) AND Bar Close[1]<=EMA(5)[1] set color to lime
  • em and Prospectus: Thank you for all your help!
  • awesome, thanks em
  • em
    Ugly... right click on a chart and click on 'select indicator'. Once there, scan the Upper indicators area and click on the 'Paintbar - Top' and move it to the right.

    On the right, click on the 'Edit' bar. There you'll see dropdown menus. Under Show On, you want to select 'Shape above candle'. Then you can pick anything you want. I set it to the foreground, 10pt.

    Hope that helps.
  • Thanks, this is great.
    But how do you get the diamond to show up above the candle?
  • em
    Richard... I'll email them to you too so you can post. Maybe you have a quick and easy way :)
  • em
    esto... I'll email 'em to you now.
  • em: If you don't mind, could you send/post the code for the following:

    Hammer
    Inside hammer
    Shooting star
    Inside shooting star

    Looks like I've been under-utilizing the power of QT.
  • Thanks a lot!
  • @em: it's because you are using less-than and greater-than signs, I bet. Part of my first try at posting code did the same thing. The < and > look like html code to the blog, so it gets confused. You have to use &lt; for less-than and &gt; for greater-than. I'm deleting the partial comments, FYI, but please do try again.
  • em
    weird, I can't see the entire post. Can anyone else see it?

    esto: I use the following:

    Hammer
    Inside hammer
    Shooting star
    Inside shooting star
    NR7
    NR7 inside hammer
    NR7 inside shooting star
  • Here's a bunch:
    Close above EMA
    if Bar Close>EMA(5) set color to Lime

    I implement it with a green up arrow below the candle

    Close below EMA
    if Bar Close<EMA(5) set color to Red

    I implement it with a red down arrow below the candle

    I use the EMA Close paintbars as a quick visual reference for "Trader-X" exits, where you watch for a close below the 5-ema or exit at end of day. You could just see it on your own, but I like the visual cue. Here's an example of it in action.

    Distribution-ATR (O'Neill distribution of a lower close on higher volume but paired with an ATR(20) comparison to weed out small moves)

    if (Bar Close<Bar Close[1] AND (abs(bar high-bar low))>Average True Range(20) AND Volume+ema>Volume+ema[1]) set color to Red

    I implement it as a red overlay behind the volume bar on a daily chart. For that you have to link it to an indicator, so in the "select indicators" window you select the paintbar and the volume indicator both, right-click and choose 'link selected'.
  • prospectus: What paintbars do you use? I noticed that you have rules for a close above an eMA and a close below an eMA -- if it's not too much trouble would you mind sharing the code for those as well?

    em: What paintbars do you find helpful?
  • I also love QT! I've used it (with iQFeed) for about a year now and haven't looked back. Great post!
  • The Carter Squeeze Play (chapter 10 of Mastering the Trade):

    Rule 1:
    if Bollinger Bands(20,2).Upper > Keltner Bands(20,1.5).Upper AND Bollinger Bands(20,2).Lower < Keltner Bands(20,1.5).Lower AND Momentum(12,3).Signal > 0 set color to Green and stop

    Rule 2:
    if Bollinger Bands(20,2).Upper > Keltner Bands(20,1.5).Upper AND Bollinger Bands(20,2).Lower < Keltner Bands(20,1.5).Lower AND Momentum(12,3).Signal <= 0 set color to Red else set color to Gray

    [Edit: I updated the formula to values I liked better. I really like that QT lets you hide the idicators needed for the painbars, since I don't want bollinger bands and keltner channels and momentum on my charts!]
  • em
    Prospectus... nice post. I've been using Paintbars for awhile now and can't trade without them now. However, I punched in your NR7 code to compare with mine and realized I had the wrong code. I was showing NR6!!! Doh. Thanks for the code.
  • Gav
    Prospectus,
    Sounds cool. Maybe I should give it a try and cut down my cost on Tradestation. :)
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