Indicator within Indicator.. Slow. Too many calculations?

[marty087]

Hi

I am building an inidcator that uses the last 3 Zig Zag Highs and Lows... I have constructed a simple loop at the beginning of my indicator that will update the ZZ points and store them in an array. (see below for loop code)

The issue is that the indicator takes about 10 to 15 seconds to load on my 1 minute chart and i cant work out why...

I suspect it may be because everytime this loop checks, the Zig Zag indicator has to run from beginning to end (or at least from beginning up until the point necessary)..... Therefor making this way of calling the ZZ to find the points to do the same calculations over and over again....

Can anyone confirm that my suspicions are correct and maybe offer a solution? If i am correct, then the only answer i can think of is to add my code into the ZZ indicator, but i would rather keep them separate.

Thanks in advance for any kind help.


for (int x = 3; x >= 1; x--)
{

int zzLBar = ZigZag(DeviationType.Points, zZDeviation1, true).LowBar(0,x,100);
int zzHBar = ZigZag(DeviationType.Points, zZDeviation1, true).HighBar(0,x,100);
zzLow[x] = Low[zzLBar];
zzHigh[x] = High[zzHBar];
zzLB[x] = zzLBar;
zzHB[x] = zzHBar;

}

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Hi Marty, yes from your description I would also believe the loop / zz point storage would lead to the performance 'hit' you've seen. It might be quicker to simply update the points as they are formed / confirmed in the orignal indicator.

What would also of course contribute is the amount of data loaded, so please keep an eye on your lookback settings for the data series this is applied to.

[marty087]

Thanks again Bertrand.

Can strategies be used to display data in real time on screen?

Eg. Could I code a strategy that uses the Add() function to display the zig zag and then put my code in there that could then display my calculated lines on the chart............ Or cannot strategies be used like this?

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Yes, Strategies could Add() an indicator for display / visualization benefits:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=3228

For then plotting strategy calculated values you could use the Strategy Plot technique shown here -

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=6651

However there are some limitations with this technique, so for your setup working this directly from the original indicator and storing references values as they are found would be likely the best way to proceed.