OPEN-SOURCE SCRIPT
Confluence script
This is modified version of Dale Legan's "Confluence" indicator written by Gary Fritz.
================================================================
Here is Gary`s commentary:
* I moved the core Confluence computations into a Confluence function.
Since the Confluence indicator returned several "states" (bull, bear, grey, and zero),
he modified the return value a bit:
-9 to -1 = Bearish
-0.9 to 0.9 = "grey" (and zero)
1 to 9 = Bullish
The "grey" range corresponds to the "grey" values plotted by Dale's indicator, but
they're divided by 10.
So -0.4 is equivalent to "grey -4" in Dale's indicator.
* I got rid of a bit of extra computation in the function. I didn't try to do a hard-core
Pierre-style optimization :-), but I noticed several significant chunks of calculation were
being done several times each bar, and I commented them out and replaced them with an intermediate
variable. It still calls sine/cosine a dozen times on each bar, which accounts for the bulk of the
processing time, but I think it's a bit easier to understand what the code is doing this way. (It also
seems to work better -- see below.) For the most part I didn't try to use mnemonic names for these
intermediate variables, because I don't understand exactly what the values represent!!
* I'm appending a simplified Confluence indicator using the function.
* I've also appended a simple Confluence system. This system sets an entry stop above/below the current
bar if Confluence goes into bull/bear mode, and similarly sets an exit stop below/above the bar where it
exits bull/bear mode. There's also an optional "aggressive" stop mode that tightens the stops if the market
moves in your direction; for example, if the high is 1000 and your "Trigger" offset is 2, the initial stop
is set at 1002. If the next bar has a high of 997, the stop is tightened to 997+2=999.
Interestingly, when I first wrote this system, I ran into a strange MaxBarsBack problem. The Confluence
indicator worked just fine with a MaxBarsBack setting of "Auto-Detect." But systems don't have a setting
like that -- you have to specify a fixed value. But NO fixed value (up to the maximum of 999) worked for
either the system OR the indicator! And I couldn't see anywhere that it was looking back that many bars.
Then, when I did the optimization on the Confluence code, the MaxBarsBack problem mysteriously disappeared.
Sometimes TradeStation is just spooky... Any ideas what happened?
I've appended a sample system report for the system on SPX, using the default parameters. The system actually
does pretty well. It probably won't make anyone rich, but I thought some folks might enjoy playing with it.
There are some other things you could do with it -- e.g. it might be interesting to change it to look for
long opportunities when Confluence hits -9, and short when it hits 9.
================================================================
Here is Gary`s commentary:
* I moved the core Confluence computations into a Confluence function.
Since the Confluence indicator returned several "states" (bull, bear, grey, and zero),
he modified the return value a bit:
-9 to -1 = Bearish
-0.9 to 0.9 = "grey" (and zero)
1 to 9 = Bullish
The "grey" range corresponds to the "grey" values plotted by Dale's indicator, but
they're divided by 10.
So -0.4 is equivalent to "grey -4" in Dale's indicator.
* I got rid of a bit of extra computation in the function. I didn't try to do a hard-core
Pierre-style optimization :-), but I noticed several significant chunks of calculation were
being done several times each bar, and I commented them out and replaced them with an intermediate
variable. It still calls sine/cosine a dozen times on each bar, which accounts for the bulk of the
processing time, but I think it's a bit easier to understand what the code is doing this way. (It also
seems to work better -- see below.) For the most part I didn't try to use mnemonic names for these
intermediate variables, because I don't understand exactly what the values represent!!
* I'm appending a simplified Confluence indicator using the function.
* I've also appended a simple Confluence system. This system sets an entry stop above/below the current
bar if Confluence goes into bull/bear mode, and similarly sets an exit stop below/above the bar where it
exits bull/bear mode. There's also an optional "aggressive" stop mode that tightens the stops if the market
moves in your direction; for example, if the high is 1000 and your "Trigger" offset is 2, the initial stop
is set at 1002. If the next bar has a high of 997, the stop is tightened to 997+2=999.
Interestingly, when I first wrote this system, I ran into a strange MaxBarsBack problem. The Confluence
indicator worked just fine with a MaxBarsBack setting of "Auto-Detect." But systems don't have a setting
like that -- you have to specify a fixed value. But NO fixed value (up to the maximum of 999) worked for
either the system OR the indicator! And I couldn't see anywhere that it was looking back that many bars.
Then, when I did the optimization on the Confluence code, the MaxBarsBack problem mysteriously disappeared.
Sometimes TradeStation is just spooky... Any ideas what happened?
I've appended a sample system report for the system on SPX, using the default parameters. The system actually
does pretty well. It probably won't make anyone rich, but I thought some folks might enjoy playing with it.
There are some other things you could do with it -- e.g. it might be interesting to change it to look for
long opportunities when Confluence hits -9, and short when it hits 9.
Open-source script
In true TradingView spirit, the author of this script has published it open-source, so traders can understand and verify it. Cheers to the author! You may use it for free, but reuse of this code in publication is governed by House rules. You can favorite it to use it on a chart.
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