Retrieve Indicator Value from Another Chart

[havmann]

I am in the process of creating an indicator (on a 1 minute E-Mini chart "emini1.ach") that requires the value of an RSI indicator on a 15 minute chart (located on the same layout/page - but different chart "emini15.ach"). Additionally and if it is possible, I also need to retrieve the value of the last COMPLETED 15 minute bar (not necessarily current 15 minute bar).

Question 1:
is there code to "peak" over at another chart (.ach)

Question 2:
if this exists and/or is possible how can I retrieve the value of the last competed bar (or in this case RSI value)

Thank you in advance for your brain stormin',
Kim

[Guest]

Yes you can. see this link

[ckryza]

Kim:

You can use global variables to accomplish that. Basically you would have a script running in your 15-min chart that sets the value of two global variables (e.g., RSI and LastClose) and a second script running on your 1-min chart would poll these global variables and use the information accordingly.

You can find out more about the global variable functions in the EFS help file:

http://share.esignal.com/groupconten...le&groupid=114

Chris

[havmann]

Thanks guys - that did the trick!

Kind Regards,
Kim

[havmann]

OK - now I got that to work beautifully - in "real time", well at least the code works - the profitability still needs some work!!

I can't seem to get my brain around how to backtest this sucker. I have the system generating buy, sell, stop and exits just fine (on the one minute chart), But using the Backtest functionality with global values only uses the most recent value from the two other charts (which makes perfect logic sense).

Is there a way to syncronize the global values (on the 5 and 15 minute charts) with the backtesting strategy on the 1 minute chart?

Thanks again,
Kim

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hello Kim,

The Strategy Analyzer only back tests on a single chart's data. We don't currently have the ability to synchronize calls to external chart data for back testing through EFS. Feel free to submit a suggestion to our development team at [email protected].

[Guest]

That is a tall order, I am not sure this will be addressed by efs2, but there is a good potential since I believe efs2 will be capable of evaluating multiple time frames in a single Advanced Chart/efs. If you were to do this currently, you have several alternatives, none of them easy (it can be done, efs can do pretty much anything if you have the time and the will to succeed).

Here are some options:
You could use tick playback to run the multiple efs's in an accelerated manner. This would be slow. Another option would be to save the information in a file, then you would have to read the information back from the file and evaluate both timeframes in the efs.

One way would be to timestamp the information in either one or multiple files. I would have a dedicated efs which, when you pressed a certain button, it would execute a function that would continue to execute until it were complete. This function would read the data into arrays, then would perform the calculations and the backtest buys and sells for the entire file. The downside is that you could not use the strategy analyzer for this method.

One other way to do this and still use the strategy analyzer is to save your "feeder " timeframe info in a file, then reload the "master" efs which, as it loaded the chart, would read the file info and use the eSignal strategy analyzer methods to perform the buys and sells. The second method would take advantage of the eSignal strategy analyzer.

These are the ways I have approached similar problems, but I have not yet gotten to the point of backtesting multiple timeframe information. I am still trying to get that primary strategy which I will use my other timeframes to fine tune.

I probably have not been that much help other than to attest to the difficulty of the task. I hope this will provide you some insight though.

Regards,

[Gavishti]

A possibility is to store data for your 15 minute variables in arrays. Presumably you would want to synchronize with the start of an hour. Calculate your 15 minute RSI and Last Close from the data in these arrays. Last close would be fairly straight forward. RSI is a bit more involved since you won't be able to use the builtin study. This should be a way to get around the multiple efs issue and still update your signals in real time.

[havmann]

WHOA Doctor!! Sounds like a little bit of old fashioned Blood, Sweat and Tears type of testing, will be the most effecient - at least for a rookie EFS programmer like me.

I will submit this scenario as a suggestion to the E-Signal development team - so maybe I/we can take benefit of that code at a later time.

However, if I do find idle time - might start playing around with some more "dangerous" stuff - as described below.

Thanks AGAIN to y'all - for all your great suggestions and over-all help in my journey through EFS.

Kind Regards,
Kim