Weekly MACD Fline

dhall6938

One more time please. For more than an hour now this scan has not recognized the weekly Fline as having turned down below last week's close. I have been watching it all morning and running the scan over and over but so far, it has not yet picked it up. My list 9 only contains NDX and SPX and both weekly Flines have been lower for most of the morning.

[Favorites list is 9] and [Weekly MACD Line(12,26,9) > 0.0] and [Weekly MACD Line(12,26,9) > Weekly MACD Signal(12,26,9)] and [Weekly MACD Line(12,26,9) < Last week's MACD Line(12,26,9)]

dhall6938

The scan just now picked up both NDX and SPX after an hour or so. Is it possible that the scan requires a certain percentage before it pick's up the change? Maybe it requires a certain amount of time to pass before it will pick it up?

markd

It could be they don't calculate weekly data from the first tick of the week for the scan engine.

You could ask Support when (what time) is weekly data first updated in the scan engine database at the start of new week. Maybe don't send in your scan code - I'm guessing keep the question simple or it might go to the end of queue.

dhall6938

Thanks Mark, I have sent a question to them also

dhall6938

Well, another non response from support. I am about to make the assumption that they chose not to respond in hopes that I'll stop asking hard questions.

dhall6938

FYI, if anyone is interested. The weekly MACD Fline has been pointing down all day long today for NDX and the scan has not recognized it all day today.

markd

See what happens if you run the scan tonight after market close.

If it's still down then, and the scan picks it up, it would tell you that weekly data is updated (or rather, calculated) end of day for the scan engine.

If it doesn't pick it up, there may be some quirk with the scan.

dhall6938

Thanks Mark. The scan has worked fairly well during the day for quite a while now. It has worked during the trading day for several years with the occasional event where it doesn't work for an hour or a little longer. I have watched the weekly Fline scan recognize and switch back and forth several times during the same day as price fluctuated up and down dragging the weekly Fline up and down. It does work during the trade day is all that I am saying. Today, is the first time where I was looking at it, that it didn't work all day long. Having said all of that, it just picked it up about an hour after the close. Thanks

markd

I'm wondering if Mondays might be a special case. Once the first weekly calculation is done, the rest follow timely, but the first calculation is not scheduled for the first tick on Monday. It may just be server interruptions, data vendor interruptions, maintenance, updates, could be anything.

dhall6938

GM, Mark. I am wondering the same thing about Mondays. As you might imagine, trying to keep up with a weekly indicator like the macd fline is difficult because it doesn't change very often and I have to be in front of my pooter when it does change. What is the likelihood of it changing on a Monday again so that I can try to verify the Monday case. I also wonder if the scan engine continues to use the previous day's data for intra day signals. Would you have any idea about that? As best I can tell today, the weekly macd does update during the day at times but it always updates within an hour after the close each day. I use the weekly as my long term trend so updating after the close does me no good so I have to come up with some other way to do it. I may convert the weekly into a daily approximation. I can already see that the daily approximation is very close to the weekly but it is not exactly the same. It may not make any difference in my trading though. I have a lot of work ahead of me I guess. Thanks again. I appreciate you still trying to be of help with this ongoing issue for me

dhall6938

Yes, I understand that the interruption could be caused by a variety of things. I might be able to live with the usual hour or so without an correct updated scan but not all day long. That doesn't work for me. It's a little difficult to believe that the normal interruptions occur as often as I experience them but I could be wrong. In any event, If I understood what is happening, I might be able to work around it or work with it somehow and that is why I haven't given up yet.

markd

I would assume that intraday data stops at the close and begins again at the next day's open (or the first trade in the instrument, which isn't necessarily the same thing). So, an indicator would drop the last value from yesterday as it picks up the first - or next - value from today. I don't KNOW that to be the case, but I assume it is.

As far as converting weekly data to daily: if the signals are close, it probably makes sense to do it. In my experience, indicator signals are very rarely precise anyway. And, rarely is there only one chance to get into a position in a timely way. But, I suppose it depends on your trading style and what you are trading, so you are the best judge of that.

dhall6938

Thanks again, Your a good help, I appreciate it