Anchoring Trend Channel lines

[GlennL]

When I draw a Trend Channel on a 60min bar chart and then swap to a 5min trend channel, the trend channel may move if I do not have enough 5 minute bars loaded. The trend channel seems to want to recalculate itself based on the available bars irrespective of where I first drew it.
This issue becomes even worse if I draw a weekly trend channel and later switch to a 15minute chart.
I need to state that I cannot load thousands of bars of data just to get the larger trend channels staying where I put them.
Is there a way to lock a trend channel in place so that when I swap to a smaller timeframe with less bars the trend channel lines are still where I put them?
This issue does not happen with Lines and Rays which remember where they were put.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Hello GlennL,

Can you please right click the Trend Channel and select 'Properties'. Select the Data-tab and check if these values change when switching intervals.

When I test a Trend Channel in a daily chart and then switch to a 15 minute, it does not change these values.

[GlennL]

On your smaller timeframe (15 min) chart, do your have bars going back to the anchor point for your daily bar chart? If so then that also works for me as well. It is when my smaller timeframe does not go back to the original anchor points that the issue occurs.
See attachments

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

I see, thank you for clarifying.

I cannot reproduce it on my end so far. I created the same Weekly chart and switched to a Daily interval. Subsequently I reduced the days to load to 100 days, but the Trend Channel still displays in the chart. Are you able to reproduce it if you create a new chart?

[GlennL]

What I provided to you was a brand new chart.
Are you saying that in your daily version on MSFT, you have trendlines that start off to the left before any bars?

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Yes, I used similar lines in my Weekly chart as you did. The bottom line starts at 1/17/2014.

[GlennL]

I am at a loss then as to why yours works and mine does not.
I tried expanding my bars on the daily to cover the weekly range and the trend channel was drawn properly....as expected. When I then dropped it back to a smaller timeframe, the trend channel could not be drawn properly.
When comparing the settings on the trend channel from wkly to day, the differences are as follows:
- Attach to is set to MSFT wkly on the wkly and to MSFT day on the day. The only other option is MSFT All Charts. I tried changing this and even recreating the trendline in the wkly with this setting but still when I go back to the daily it disappears.
- On the Data tab the difference is that on the day bar chart, the date of the anchors have all been changed to the first bar on the day bar chart. The chart changes these dates when I toggle between wkly and day bar charts. On your day bar chart, when you do not have bars going back to the original anchor points, are your anchor dates changed like mine or not?

Do you have any other ideas on why your chart works differently to mine?

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Yes, it changes the dates on my end as well. I am not sure why you experience this issue. We will need to find a reproducible scenario. I notice you have some indicators applied in your chart. Are you able to reproduce it if you create a new chart without indicators and apply a Trend Channel?

Can you please check what NinjaTrader version you have installed. You can check this at Control Center-->Help-->Help (7.0.1000.xx). If you do not have our latest version (7.0.1000.29), please download and install it. You can download and install the latest NinjaTrader version from the link below on top of your current version. Make sure NinjaTrader is shut down when installing the new version.

http://ninjatrader.com/

[GlennL]

It is curious that you say it changes the dates on your charts as well, but it keeps the trend channel the same as it was on the weekly chart. How does it do this if the anchor points / dates have changed ? Can you provide a chart of the daily bars and channel so I can see what your looks like.
If I produce a new chart with no indicators then yes I get the same issue.
I also have the latest version of NT7 installed.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

The starting times are changed to the time of the first price bar.

[GlennL]

Thanks for that.
I think I have worked out what you are doing differently.
In my trend channel all 3 anchor dates on the large timeframe bar chart are outside the range of the smaller timeframe. If I put 2 anchors within the smaller timeframe then it seems to draw ok. If I put 1 anchor within the smaller timeframe then I can still see the trend channel but it is not anchored properly and draws a different channel.
Can you confirm this on your chart.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Yes, I experience the same behavior on my end. Please make sure 2 anchor points are included in the smaller timeframe for the trend channel lines to plot.

[GlennL]

Unfortunately trend channels are not always made like that.
Can you put a request through to your development team to look into keeping trend channels in the one place if they are locked as per the dialog window. This also applies to rays and lines which behave the same way.
Thanks

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

I have forwarded your request to plot drawing tools properly even if not all anchor points are in the visible display to development. Thank you for your feedback.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Can you put a request through to your development team

I've just tested this scenario in NinjaTrader 8, and it appears to be resolved in the latest build. This should no longer be an issue for you once you switch over to NinjaTrader 8.