Will NT7 allow for "future" bars plotting?

[astra]

I'm currently working on an indicator that needs to draw few bars ahead of the current bar. As NT7 beta is only few days away from release is it possible to tell me whether this facility will be available or not, so either to hold or try to find another way to plot it?

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Hi astra, thanks for the post - this feature has not been implemented yet and unfortunately we can't guarantee it will.

[astra]

Hi astra, thanks for the post - this feature has not been implemented yet and unfortunately we can't guarantee it will.

Hi Bertrand,

Can you please add it as a suggestion to your list. With all the new features we expect in NT7 making it a superb platform, the lack of future projection will be an important shortcoming.

Existing indicators, like Moving Averages, etc. already allow displacements from the indicator list. But unfortunately, the displaced plot on the right stops on the current bar ( OK for history but useless for future projections). Other indicators like Heiken Ashi, Probability and AI, to function properly, need to plot in the future.

astra

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

astra, thanks for the details and your input - this feature is already on our list for consideration.

[sefstrat]

You can use gdi to custom draw in the future.. just set RightHandMargin in the chart properties so there is space on the right hand side, then have your custom drawing code draw objects in that space.

Check out the candle clear indicator for ideas of how to draw candles using GDI if you intend to do that with heiken ashi =)

[astra]

Thx sefstrat. Yes this could solve half of my problem: the visual. But I still have to find ways to solve the other half: the strategy bit. My fault I didnt put it right from the beginning. Lets say we have two plotlines/Indicators crossover situation:

IndiA[1] < IndiB[2] && IndiA[0] > IndiB[1] => Enter Long.

Now the same situation as above but this time our indicators have a predictive power of, say, two bars ahead. To be able to do something like this...:

IndiA[-1] < IndiB[0] && IndiA[-2] > IndiB[-1] => Enter Long.

If [1] is one BarAgo, [-1] to be one BarAhead. If something like this was possible now, I could have just added the predIndicator like any other indi the chart and then create a strategy with the wizard : appx 10 min. away from backtesting!

[scjohn]

I am wrapping up work on a type of GMDH modeling and have now come to the part of coding that makes predictions based upon the network evolved. I now want to make predictions into the future (right margin) of the chart.

It looks like NT7 will not support future bars so there will not be an easy way to do this. Is there some new feature in NT7 that might be useful that would not involve writing a custom GDI? Maybe like a custom pop up data box or something.

[sefstrat]

The custom GDI part is easy, basically all you have to do is look at any indicator with custom drawing and copy the code, then modify the part that calculates the x coordinate.

I am wrapping up work on a type of GMDH modeling and have now come to the part of coding that makes predictions based upon the network evolved. I now want to make predictions into the future (right margin) of the chart.

It looks like NT7 will not support future bars so there will not be an easy way to do this. Is there some new feature in NT7 that might be useful that would not involve writing a custom GDI? Maybe like a custom pop up data box or something.

[tortexal]

you don't need to plot into the future actually. The math just needs to be able to hold a future value. I had the same problem but solved it the following way:

math -> predicts value 'a' 2 bars out (or 20 or 30 or w/e)
on bar update() draw dot @ 'a' price on the current bar.

That way you can see where you are relative to where you're going (or should go). I did it this way because i knew the math was right, but i couldn't see what was going on w/o having to use the output window. see if that works for what you want

[astra]

Thanks tortexal. I'll try your suggestion although I suspect that my indicator will be most of the time very near to the current price and will be confusing.

Now that the date of NT7 beta release shifted to the end of September I hope to reconsider to add this feature sooner than later.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

Quick question:

We are considering providing support for plotting into the future.

- How far into the future are you looking for?

I ask since there is a tradeoff, if we make the future value infinite, the farther out you go the more calculation intensive it is in calculating the virtual x-axis into the future.

[sefstrat]

Glad to hear you are considering this Ray.

Personally, I think 20 bars would be plenty. Plotting ahead anymore than that is really not very useful IMHO.

[Alfred]

Hi Ray...

Took a bit of time to look at this area of estimates for future plots....

On daily bars...
500 bars minimum
2500 ok
5000 ok too

This would allow one to look ahead 1 year minimum at 500 bars...but starting back in the chart you need a bit more to look out 1 year minimum...a year is an important event to take a look at and play around with....

On intraday bars...1 minute for example...
500 bars would show the typical market day of 390 minutes...
I would say again something like this...
500 bars minimum
2500 ok
5000 ok too

If you are looking at 24 hour intraday markets....perhaps double or triple the above....others may wish more...??

On seconds bars...
Here I personally typically look at a series of charts of say as low as 3 seconds but usually 6 seconds to 30 second bars and measuring fairly short term specific events with several techniques not that far typically into the future...for example on an 8 second chart 2 hours or 900 to 1000 bars would be way more than enough into the future in my view...often am looking at stuff 15 20 to 30 minutes or so into the future on a 6 second chart...perhaps an hour or two + or so on a 30 second chart...something like that...if you may get into more formal squaring of price and time techniques (as in the attached examples) on seconds charts you would probably want more than that...have not been able to play with that area as yet...

For seconds bars I would maybe estimate the future plots a bit higher here than daily or intraday bars generally...
1000 bars minimum
5000 ok
10000 ok too maybe

Several examples attached ...a couple of charts squaring price and time (1 minute and daily charts ...Gann technique) ...I often use something somewhat similar to this technique along with other methods...

Hope this may be helpful...
Thanks...

[scjohn]

Hi Ray,

I would say no more than what the HomondyneDiscriminator will give you. If I remember correctly Ehlers caps that at 50. So 50 bars regardless of time interval.

On a more practical basis, probably not more than 3 to 5 bars.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

Thanks all.