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Chart Type: Chart Type Help HIPs/LOPs HIPs/LOPs Help
HIPs and LOPs are HIgh Points and LOw Points. HIPs and LOPs are often called pivots, but as we use the term Pivot for one of our proprietary indicators we'll stick with HIPs and LOPs.

HIP A HIP is a bar with a high that is higher than the bar before it or the bar after it.
 On the charts, a HIP is represented by a "H" above the day it occured.

LOP A LOP is a bar with a low that is lower than the bar before it or the bar after it.
 On the charts, a LOP is represented by a "L" below the day it occured.


Origin:
The origin of the concept is most likely Henry Wheeler Chase's ringed highs and lows from the 1930s. In that era traders recorded prices on columnar pads for analysis and circled a high that was higher than the high above it or below it, or a low that was lower than the low above it or below it.

What it does:
In an upswing HIPs and LOPs will occur in an orderly progression higher and vice versa.
In a consolidation they will form no discernable pattern.



HIPs and LOPs are very useful for identifying short-term resistance and support and can be used as markers in a swing trading approach. They can also be used to identify stop levels and as trend identifiers in the wake of a Squeeze. They are also useful in pattern recognition. For example, a W bottom will consist of a LOP, a HIP and then a LOP.

HIPs and LOPs are one of the oldest and most basic technical tools. Careful study of these crucial markers will reward you with a better understanding of the basic structure of price and market dynamics.
Bollinger Bars
Prices on the chart are represented with bars. Each bar consists of the open, high, low and close for the period.  The green portion indicates that the close was greater than the open, and the red portion indicates that the close was less than the open. Blue portions are the day's range.
Bar (Traditional)
All bars black.

Bar (Interday Color)
Color of bars based on today's change.
If today's last price is greater than yesterday's close, bar is green.
If today's last price is less than yesterday's close, bar is red.

Bar (Intraday Color)
Color of bars based on intraday action.
If last is greater than open, bar is green.
If last is less than open, bar is red.


Overlay: Overlay Help    
Bollinger Envelopes
Bollinger Envelopes are a variation on Bollinger Bands that focus on the extremes of price action. Bollinger Bands are centered on a moving average--usually of the close, while Bollinger Envelopes are anchored by the extremes, the highs and the lows.

The upper Bollinger Envelope is constructed from a moving average of the highs and the standard deviation of the highs, the lower Bollinger Envelope is constructed from a moving average of the lows and the standard deviation of the lows. Here are the formulas:

UpperBE = Average(highs, 20) + 1.5 * StandardDeviation(highs, 20)
LowerBE = Average(lows, 20) - 1.5 * StandardDeviation(lows, 20)
MiddleBE = (UpperBE + LowerBE) / 2

Bollinger Envelopes are particularly useful in extreme market action and are the base of the Ice Breaker trading system.


Overlay2: Overlay2 Help        
    John Bollinger's Price Magnet
    In the old days market technicians often constructed artificial or synthetic prices. Some said that their prices were where the security should have been trading. Other said they were where it would trade. Still others thought of theirs as support and resistance.

    One example still in use are the "floor trader's numbers", but there were lots of examples of that sort of thing in the history of technical analysis. I got these "floor traders" calcs from Marc Chaikin:
    • Upper Pivot = 2 * Mid - Low
    • Mid = (High + Low + Close) / 3
    • Lower Pivot = 2 * Mid - High

    See Marc Fisher's ACD and Pivots in his "Logical Trader" for more on current usage.

    In doing some work on zero-lag moving averages I was reminded of the calculations for synthetic prices and when I saw similar ideas reflected in Jim Alphier's work, I thought I'd give them a spin. However, I didn't want a simple bracket, Bollinger Bands already served that role, but rather a sense of the most probable direction of prices. After a lot of staring at the ceiling, Price Magnets were born. The idea is simple and robust, the calculated prices act as "magnets", "pulling" prices higher or lower. You can think of them as a logical bias or tendency if you like. Enjoy.


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Index Last Chg Chg %
S&P 500 1,101.60 +0.05 +0.00%
S&P 100 (LargeCap) 500.56 -0.46 -0.09%
S&P 400 (MidCap) 760.27 +2.16 +0.28%
S&P 600 (SmallCap) 348.50 -0.44 -0.13%
Nasdaq 100 1,864.00 +3.70 +0.20%
Nasdaq Composite 2,254.70 +3.01 +0.13%
Dow Jones Industrial Avg 10,465.90 -1.22 -0.01%
Dow Jones Transportation 4,422.94 +7.92 +0.18%
Dow Jones Utility Avg 385.53 -1.81 -0.47%
Russell 1000 (LargeCap) 606.10 +0.36 +0.06%
Russell 2000 (SmallCap) 650.90 +0.45 +0.07%
Russell 3000 649.40 +0.38 +0.06%
Value Line Geometric 317.19 +0.25 +0.08%
Value Line Arithmetic 2,394.84 +2.45 +0.10%
CBOE Gold 201.90 +3.47 +1.75%
CBOE Oil Services 620.60 -0.50 -0.08%
Phila Semiconductor 348.80 -3.70 -1.05%
Phila Oil Services 181.57 -0.64 -0.35%
CBOE Volatility 23.50 -0.63 -2.61%
CBOE Nasdaq Volatility 24.52 -0.66 -2.62%



Bollinger Band Indicators
Per. 1 Per. 2 Per. 3
Percent B (%b)
This was the second indicator derived from Bollinger Bands. %b (Percent b) depicts the location of the most recent close within the Bollinger Bands. At 1.0, the close is at the upper band, at 0.0 it is at the lower band and at 0.5 it is at the middle band. A %b reading of 1.1 means that you are above the upper band by 10% of the width of the bands. -0.2 means that you are below the lower band by 20% of the width of the bands. This is a very useful tool for identifying divergences and pattern recognition.
Bandwidth
This was the first indicator derived from Bollinger Bands. BandWidth depicts how wide the Bollinger Bands are as a function of the middle band. The formula is (upper band - lower band) / middle band. BandWidth is most often used for identifying the Squeeze, and the beginning and ending of trends. In addition to the BandWidth line, we draw two reference lines to give a sense of where the current BandWidth stands in relation to history. The upper line represents the highest BandWidth in the past125 periods (a Bulge). The lower line represents the lowest BandWidth in the past 125 periods (a Squeeze). %BandWidth presents this information in a normalized manner.
BB Impulse
BB Impulse is the newest Bollinger Band indicator. It measures price moves as a function of the width of the Bollinger Bands. The value is the periodic change divided by the upper band minus the lower band. We present two reference levels on the chart, an alert level and an impulse level. Generally the market moves in the direction of the latest alerts and/or impulses except towards the end of a move, where one can take advantage of reversal signals from this indicator.
Percent Bandwidth
%BandWidth (Percent BandWidth) uses the formula for Stochastics to normalize BandWidth as a function of its n-day lookback period. 125-periods is normally used. 1.0 equals the highest BandWidth in the past n periods, while 0.0 equals the lowest BandWidth in the past n periods. The interpretation is similar to BandWidth, but some find the normalized, or closed, presentation more intuitive. %BandWidth, along with %b, are the two primary building blocks of Bollinger Band trading systems.
Bandwidth Delta
BandWidth Delta depicts the rate of change in BandWidth and is useful is diagnosing the peaks and troughs in BandWidth for potential trend changes. This indicator is especially useful when trying to analyze the potential for consolidations or reversals after large moves.
Volume Indicators - Standard
Volume
This is a simple plot of the transaction volume recorded for each period plotted on the chart above. A moving average is included to help identify high and low volume days. You may specify the number of periods in the average; 50 is the default.
Normalized Volume (Vol %)
Normalized volume is volume divided by an average. This plot has two main uses. It allows you to judge whether volume is high or low on a relative basis and it allows the comparison of volume levels from issue to issue. You may specify the number of periods in the average; 50 is the default.
The horizontal line at 100 is where volume for that day equals its n-period average.
On Balance Volume (OBV)
This is the best known of all the volume indicators. OBV was popularized by Joe Granville and is a good trend indicator. OBV adds volume to a running sum when price advances subtracts volume from the running sum when price declines. It is meant to model the basic forces that drive the market.
EMA:
Price-Volume Trend (P-VT)
PVT is David Markstein's variation on OBV in which the percentage changes from period to period is used to parse volume.
EMA:
Accumulation-Distribution (AD)
Accumulation Distribution (AD) was created by Larry Williams to track buying pressure (accumulation) and selling pressure (distribution). AD compares the range between the open and close relative to the range of the day. It is a concept very closely related to Japanese candlestick charts.

Bullish: Positive divergence (AD rising, price falling)
Bearish: Negative divergence (AD falling, price rising)
EMA:
Intraday Intensity (II)
Intraday Intensity (II) was developed by David Bostian, this indicator uses the position of the close in relation to the high and low to parse volume. It is meant to track the activities of institutional block traders, large blocks move the market in direction of their order flow - increasingly so toward the close).

Bullish: Positive divergence (II rising, price falling)
Bearish: Negative divergence (II falling, price rising).
EMA:
Sponsored Volume
Sponsored Volume (SV) is a version of Intraday Intensity (II) from Jim Alphier that uses true highs and true lows instead of periodic highs and lows in its calculation. If you trade something that has frequent or large gaps, you may want to use this instead of II.
EMA:
Interday Accumulation
Interday Accumulation (IA) is a version of Accumulation-Distribution (AD) that uses true highs and true lows instead of periodic highs and lows in its calculation. If you trade something that has frequent or large gaps, you may want to use this instead of AD.

Bullish: Positive divergence (IA rising, price falling)
Bearish: Negative divergence (IA falling, price rising)
EMA:
Volume Indicators - Oscillators
Accumulation-Distribution % (AD%)
Accumulation Distribution % (AD%) is the closed form of Accumulation Distribution(AD). AD% is calculated by taking a n-day sum of AD and dividing by a n-day sum of volume, the result is a normalized AD that is now comparable from issue to issue. 20-days is the default period.

Bullish: AD% above 0
Bearish: AD% below 0
Intraday Intensity % (II%)
Intraday Intensity % (II%) is the closed form of Intraday Intensity (II). II% is calculated by taking a n-day sum of Intraday Intensity and dividing by a n-day sum of volume, the result is a normalized II that is now comparable from issue to issue. 21-days is the default period.

Bullish: Values above 0
Bearish: Values below 0
Sponsored Volume %
This is the closed form of Sponsored Volume. Sponsored Volume % is created by taking a n-day sum of Sponsored Volume and dividing by a n-day sum of volume.
Interday Accumulation %
Interday Accumulation % (IA%) is the closed form of Interday Accumulation (IA). IA% is created by taking a n-day sum of IA and dividing by a n-day sum of volume, the result is a normalized IA that is now comparable from issue to issue. 20-days is the default period.

Bullish: IA% above 0
Bearish: IA% below 0
Money Flow Index (MFI)
MFI compares volume on up days to volume on down days in a manner similar to RSI. The typical price price (high + low + close)/3 is used to determine up from down. You may specify the number of days used in the calculation; 10 is the default.
Volume-Weighted MACD
VWMACD is exactly the same as MACD, but volume-weighted averages are used instead of exponential averages. The periods used are 12, 26, 9 (signal).
Volume Oscillator
This indicator considers nothing but volume. It is the difference between a short moving average of volume and a long one. It is used to confirm volume patterns in relation to price patterns. For instance, it can be used to assess whether there is sufficient volume to support a rally. You may specify the number of days used in the averages; 10 and 20 are the default.
Trend Identification - Moving Average
Departure Chart
One of the oldest technical tools and perhaps the most basic of the trend identification tools, the departure chart measures the difference between two moving averages, one short and one long. 10 and 20 are the default periods.
MACD
Gerald Appel created MACD, a departure chart with an average added that acts as a signal line.
The MACD line is the difference between a 12-day and a 26-day exponential average.
The signal line is a 9-day moving average of the MACD.
The histogram is the difference between the MACD and the signal.
Relative Strength
Compare
Compare performance over a period of time. Values are percentage change since the beginning of the chart period (left side always starts at 0%).

Compare options:
1. Market: vs S&P 500 and our Market structure
2. Industry: vs Group and Sector
3. vs specific stock, group, index, etc
Market
Industry
Trending versus Trading Range
Per. 1 Per. 2 Per. 3
Directional Movement Index (DMI)
Created by Wells Wilder, it parses the price structure into + and - components, DMI+ and DMI-. However, the most interesting feature is a derivative of the DMI indices, called ADX. ADX indicates whether the data is trending or not. Values above 18 are considered to indicate trends while values below 18 are associated with trading range markets. You may select the look-back period. A 14-day calculation period is most common.
Vertical Horizontal Filter (VHF)
Tushar Chande's trend analysis tool. VHF compares highs with highs and lows with lows of a certain period to arrive at its depiction of the trendiness of the data. A 14-day period is the default.
Choppiness Index
Choppiness Index developed by E.W. Dreiss uses chaos principles to measure 'choppiness' or directionality of the market (whether prices are trending or in a period of trendless consolidation). Low values (below 38) correspond with the end of a trend (up or down) and high values (above 62) occur after significant consolidations in price.
Aroon Indicator
Aroon Indicator developed by Tushar Chande attempts to identify direction and magnitude of a trend. Aroon consists of 3 lines: Aroon Up line above 70 indicates strong uptrend, Aroon Down line above 70 indicates strong down trend, and Aroon Oscillator line near zero indicates a consolidation phase (no trend).
Momentum - Simple
Momentum
Momentum is the point change of price over a specified time period. Futures traders prefer this to Rate of Change. The second period is for EMA of the momentum. 12 days is the default period for both.
EMA:
Rate of Change
Rate of Change is the percent difference of price over a specified period. Stock traders should prefer this to Momentum.
Momentum - Up versus Down
Chande Momentum Oscillator (CMO)
CMO is Tushar Chande's attempt to capture Pure Momentum. You may specify the back period; 14 is the default.
Relative Momentum Index (RMI)
This is Roger Altman's momentum variation on Welles Wilder's Relative Strength Index, RSI. Instead of accumulating +/- price changes, RMI accumulates changes in momentum. Over 70 is considered overbought and under 30 is oversold.

The first parameter is the timeframe (default is 14).

The second parameter is the days for calculating momentum (NOTE: RMI = RSI when timeframe is same and RMI momentum set to 1)
EMA:
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
Welles Wilder's Relative Strength Index, RSI, is a classic technical analysis tool that compares strength on up days to weakness on down days. The fixed values of 70 (overbought) and 30 (oversold) are most often used as signal levels. However, in a bullish environment 80 and 40 may be better suited and 60 and 20 are often used in bear markets. In fact many analysts use the swings of RSI through various levels to define bull and bear markets.
Normalized RSI
See RSI below. Plotting 50-day, 2.1 standard deviation Bollinger Bands on RSI allows the analyst to dispense with fixed levels and focus on indicator action. The upper band serves the same role as RSI 70 (overbought) and the lower band serves the same role as RSI 30 (oversold).

We go one step further and create a Normalized RSI by plotting %b of RSI and 50-day Bollinger Bands. The formula is:

Normalized RSI =
(RSI - LowerBB(RSI))
 % 
(upperBB(RSI) - lowerBB(RSI))
QSTK
Qstick is a moving average of the bodies of Japanese candlesticks. Qstick is negative when the closes have been less than the opens for a certain period and is positive when the closes have been greater than the opens for the same period. Thus it is a look at the internal trend of the price structure. 5-10 day periods are most common.
Ultimate Oscillator
This is Larry Williams' weighted momentum oscillator. The Ultimate Oscillator is a combination of three different individual oscillators of varying time frames. This should be the smoothest of our momentum tools. You may specify the time frames for the three underlying oscillators; 5, 10, and 20 are the defaults.
Range Tools
Stochastics (%K %D)
This is George Lane's Stochastics, an indicator of where we are in the price range of the past n-days.You may select the number of days in the basic calculation. Choosing fast or slow sets whether %k is a raw calculation (fast) or a 3-period smoothed value (slow). The second parameter is the n-day period for %k. The third parameter is the number of smoothing periods for %d. Fast, 10, and 3 is the most common set of parameters. Slow, 10, and 3 is also popular.
Williams %R
This is a variation on Stochastics that some prefer. %R depicts where you are in the range of the past n-days without smoothing. Note that the scale is reversed from that for Stochastics. A 20-day period is a good starting place for stocks.
Average True Range
Overbought/Oversold
Deviation from Average
The most basic overbought/oversold tool. It expresses how far prices are from a n-day average as a percent of the average. A 50-day average is the default.
Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
CCI is a sophisticated overbought/oversold tool that uses volatility as its gauge. A 20-day period is the default.
Alphier Indicators Alphier Help
Alphier Indicators
The late Jim Alphier passed away unexpectedly in 1990. He was a portfolio manager, market historian and a master technician that took most of his knowledge with him to the grave. By studying his papers we have been able to recreate three of his indicators, Expectations, Psychology and Conviction. We feel that these three are amongst his most important contributions and we are confident that these are true to his conceptions. (See Sponsored Volume in the volume indicators section for a rare Alphier contribution to volume analysis.)
Alphier Psychology
This is a component of the Expectations curve that is more sensitive and shorter-term in outlook. It can be used on its own or to help anticipate changes in the Expectations curve.
Alphier Expectation
The Expectations curve is a supply-demand calculation along the lines of Accumulation Distribution or Intraday Intensity. It is executed with Jim's unique flair and there isn't really anything else in TA quite like it. Use it like you would any other supply-demand tool – volume is not a factor – or follow the rules we have implemented on the chart.

Expectation Chart rules:
1. 40 and 160 demark the oversold and overbought zones.

2. Alerts & Signals
  • Minus signs (-) are Sell Alerts or Buy Alerts
    Alerts are precursors to Signals. They can act as signals for aggressive investors.

  • "S" are Regular Sell Signals
    "B" are Regular Buy Signals

  • "M" are Major Sell Signals or Major Buy Signals
    Following a Major signal, the first opposite Regular signal is ignored.

  • Asterisks (*) are Reversal Sell Signals (Expectation falling from 200) or Reversal Buy Signals (Expectation rising from 0)
CLIP
Alphier Conviction
This is a classic divergence indicator, implemented only as Jim might have, that works by providing a comparison of the counts of plus and minus days versus the actual gains recorded. Classic divergence analysis is at its best here.



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