Keeping track of Highs and Lows

[pbailey19]

Programming question: In my new strategy, I'd like to keep track of the highs and lows made by an indicator. For example: Let's say that I'm using a set of Stochastics, and I want to keep track of the highs and lows made by the %K line (by measuring the slope to catch inflections, let's say.)

I'd like to have some kind of array, or DataSeries, that I could refer to in the strategy. For example, let's say I have an array of "Lows", so I could see if I've been making higher lows.

This seems like it should be straightforward, but then I had an "a-ha" moment: I'm comfortable creating my own custom indicators using DataSeries objects, but a DataSeries always adds a new value for every minute/candle/tick. If I have a series of 100 Tick bars, they may only contain, say, five highs and five lows.

So I suppose, in general, my question becomes: I want to create a DataSeries/Array that only adds a new value occasionally and irregularly. Is this a problem?

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello pbailey19,

Thank you for your post.

There are multiple ways that you could accomplish this.

You could have a variable that contains the current low, if there is a new lower low, you can add this value to a list (array) of low values then set the variable to that new low.
http://www.dotnetperls.com/list

You could also use LowestBar(Low, CurrentBar-1)[0]. The [0] would be the lowest low, [1] would be the second lowest low, etc.

[pbailey19]

Whoa! I didn't know that LowestBar (or HighestBar, I assume) would do that. I mean, I thought it was a single value, not an array/list. Of course, before I get too excited ... it sounds like it's sorting the highs and lows by value, instead of keeping them in order, chronologically. So I would always be getting an array of sorted lows and highs.

Yeah, I think maintaining a list of highs and lows is the way to go, for me. Unless there's a way to keep LowestBar and HighestBar from sorting?

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hi pbailey19,

LowestBar will return a bars ago value of where that bar was.
http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/h.../lowestbar.htm

To print the low from using that you would call Low[Lowestbar(Low, CurrentBar-1)[0]].

That would return the price of the lowest low.

However, it looks like it would be better for you to store the lows to a list.

[koganam]

Programming question: In my new strategy, I'd like to keep track of the highs and lows made by an indicator. For example: Let's say that I'm using a set of Stochastics, and I want to keep track of the highs and lows made by the %K line (by measuring the slope to catch inflections, let's say.)

I'd like to have some kind of array, or DataSeries, that I could refer to in the strategy. For example, let's say I have an array of "Lows", so I could see if I've been making higher lows.

This seems like it should be straightforward, but then I had an "a-ha" moment: I'm comfortable creating my own custom indicators using DataSeries objects, but a DataSeries always adds a new value for every minute/candle/tick. If I have a series of 100 Tick bars, they may only contain, say, five highs and five lows.

So I suppose, in general, my question becomes: I want to create a DataSeries/Array that only adds a new value occasionally and irregularly. Is this a problem?

You will need to use either an ArraList or a generic List.

[walshmagger]

Hello pbailey19,

Thank you for your post.

There are multiple ways that you could accomplish this.

You could have a variable that contains the current low, if there is a new lower low, you can add this value to a list (array) of low values then set the variable to that new low.

http://www.dotnetperls.com/list

You could also use LowestBar(Low, CurrentBar-1)[0]. The [0] would be the lowest low, [1] would be the second lowest low, etc.

More about ...http://csharp.net-informations.com/collection/list.htm