Consistent trend - A smooth takeoff

cme4pif

Lets say you were more interested in a good gain, with a very low deviation from the trend over a period. For example equity A and B both rise 7% in a month but A is a nice smooth line and B is very "wobbly". How would you scan for a smooth accent like A? Enclosed two graphs A (progressive) is steady compared to B (canfor) I would want to screen for the steadier uptrend. I am guessing it would be something like a SMA(90) of a STD deviation, or a PPO of a set up SMA lines, or even a novel twist on the Aroon . . . In short I am looking for equities that have just a nice straight line from lower left to upper right, how would you write that scan?

markd

Looks like either STD or PPO would work with longer term smas, like maybe 63 and 126 (one quarter and two quarters).

For STD you would want to look at few examples and determine the boundary values and then scan for those - e.g max(?, Std Deviation(?)] < ? and min(?, Std Deviation(?)] > ? .

Same with PPO, except you might try just checking for PPO Hist(?,?,0) never going below zero - that would indicate the shorter term MA never dipped below the longer.

That said, stocks often change character, so several months of smooth rise do not guarantee several more. Smooth charts over a long period of time mean steadily rising earnings, usually in established businesses, so you might have some luck with fundamental research - like Value Line if they are still around. Smooth charts over a shorter period occur because the stock is riding an economic wave, like the commodities boom, or in some cases, like newer issues, the stock is being managed higher.

I would also suggest looking at the really big picture by looking at monthly charts, like 15 - 20 years. Set up your candleglance, download each industry into a list, sort by market cap, and review.

cme4pif

Hi;
I did get it working and it is doing some great stuff for me,
I will not go in to the whole scan, but the part I need ended up being this code:
and [max(100, Std Deviation(10)) < .5]

Thank you.