How to equalize the offset ?

[erilein]

Hi i thought about many formulas and noticed that the offset studies supply the best & cleanest signals... so i would like to know if there is a way to calculate the offset ( because when you are watching the signals of some studies with offset -3 in 180 min you are 9 h behing the realy time of the signal...)

I dont know if it works but it would be very nice to extend the lines....

regards erilein

[Doji3333]

I think...

what you are asking for is impossible...

You see... When you offset an indicator by -x, you are essentially moving the indicator BACKWARD on the chart (to the left).

This means that you NEED future price bar data in order to calculate and offset the indicator. This need for future bar data is where you're idea may fail...

Let's take an example, XYZ stock in Real-Time (@ 10AM) with your indicator using an offset of -3.....

In order for your indicator to work, you would need to know the next (future) three bars formations. Seeing as though we don't know what price will do in the future, we can't have the indicator accurately calculate any value for NOW.

Sorry to bring you this bad news. If, you know a way to accurately predict the future price bars, then I think you can get it to work. Otherwise, you're stuck.

I hope this helps.

B

[gspiker]

Hi,

Brad is correct, but there are trading methods you can use to mitigate the long delay in signals you describe given a negative offset on a long interval chart. These methods carry extra risk, but can get you into a move earlier.

The most obvious one:

If you understand the formula for the indicator well, you should be able to tell what future price level will need to be attained for a signal to be generated. This, of course, can be coded and displayed on the chart.

Once you see that your 180m indicator is close to signaling, you look at charts running the same indicator but on a lesser interval, say 30 minutes and 15 minutes. If they are long, or when they do go long you can enter early off these, with the knowldge that your longer interval hasn't signaled and therefore tighter stops should be used. If your longer interval does signal, you can then start to use the trading rules of the longer interval - or use the shorter intervals to scale out...saving the finial position close for when it is signaled on the longer chart.

This is very general, since how you would apply it depends on the indicator(s) in question, and your trading style. There are also other methods of doing similar things. Some traders will take the slightly higher risk for the earlier entry, some will not. It all depends on what they feel comfortable with and how successful backtesting has shown the strategy's to be.

Garth