In addition to the previous example, formulas maybe written in other styles, including the following:

range_form=(AvgTrueRange($1)+$1.recent)/2

This shows how a previously defined formula called AvgTrueRange can be used, or embedded, in another formula (in this case, it is embedded in a formula called range_form).

Reference to Past Bars

avg_volume=($1.volume+$1.volume[1]+$1.volume[2])/3

This shows how a past value can be used in a formula using the square brackets [ ]. Within the brackets, type the desired number of bars back that you want to use in the calculation. [1] is the value one bar back, [2] is the value two bars back, etc.

volAccumulator=$1.volume+volAccumulator[1]

This shows how a formula can make reference to itself. In this case, the current volume is added to the formula’s previous value.

MidTickAvg(input)=eavg($1.avgtick,14) Overlay

MFI_(series)=($1.high-$1.low)/$1.volume Study

These are examples of formulas you intend to chart, or custom indicators.

When you bring up a Graph Menu and select Study, you’ll notice that there are two categories of indicators: Overlays and Studies.

Overlays are indicators which share the same scale as the price data. Moving averages are a good example of an overlay indicator. It makes sense to "overlay" a moving average on a bar chart or candlesticks because its values are related and very close to the price data.

Studies refer to the group of indicators which have their own scale. Volume is a good example of such an indicator. An instrument’s volume is usually very different from its price, as in the case of an equity which trades in the $17 to $18 price range and has a volume of several hundred thousand shares. If the active window on your screen contains a chart and you select Volume from the Select Study menu, the volume study will not overlay, but replace the price data.

You write your indicator as a formula in the Formula Listing, just as we’ve done previously. You only have to specify one more thing, and that’s whether you intend your indicator to be viewed as an overlay or a study.

If you want your indicator to be viewed as an overlay, insert the word input in parenthesis after the formula’s name, as in this example:

MidTickAvg(input)=eavg($1.avgtick,14)

If you want your indicator to be viewed as a study, insert the word series in parenthesis after the formula’s name, as in this example:

MFI_(series)=($1.high-$1.low)/$1.volume

RSI_Momentum(series)=rsi(mom($1,1),3)

This shows how a formula can be written so that a study is performed on another study. In the previous example, a three-period RSI is performed on a one-period Momentum study.

Many of the studies which come with Aspen Graphics can be performed on other studies without having to write a special formula. For more

information on Studies-on-Studies, see the Study chapter of this manual.

To chart a formula, follow these steps:

If the formula contains an (input) or a (series), follow these steps to chart it:

1. Single right click in the chart window in which you want the study to appear. It will be highlighted with a blue border.
2. Tap the key one time. This will bring up the Graph Menu.
3. Single left click on Study. The Select Study menu will appear.
4. Single left click on Formulas. The Select Formula Study menu will appear.
5. Select the formula from either the Overlays or the Studies categories.
6. Single left click on Done. The formula will be displayed on the chart.

Displaying a Formula in a Quote Window                              Top of Page

You can quote the value of a formula by formatting the name of the formula in a quote window. For instructions on how to format a quote window, see the Quotes chapter of this manual.

Color Rules                              Top of Page

Edit a Color Rule                              Top of Page

1. Type cht_1 .
2. Tap the key one time. The Graph Menu will be displayed.
3. Single left click on Color Rules. The Color Rules menu will appear.

4. Single left click on the color rule you would like to edit. The Color Rule edit menu (Figure 3) will appear.

5. Make any necessary changes to the color rule and single left click on Done.

Write a custom Color Rule                              Top of Page

Color Rule Example                              Top of Page

1. From the Graph Menu, select Color Rules. From this menu, select Add Color Rule.
2. Single left click under Name. Type in 5% Gain, and tap .
   

   Color rules are not case sensitive; upper and lower case letters can be used interchangeably. Using both upper and lower case letters in the name can make it easier to read from the Color Rules menu.

3. Single left click under Formula. Color rule formulas always use the if( ) function. To write the formula, type the following:
   if(pchg ($1)>5,clr_green,clr_red)
   

   This formula will color any bar on the chart green where the percent change from the previous bar was above 5%. The rest of the bars on the chart will be colored red. The $1 variable was used so that the color rule could be applied to any instrument that is displayed in the chart.

4. Check the Status field; if it says ok, select Done. If it has an error message, change the formula to read exactly as the line above.
5. Single left click on Done from the Color Rule menu.

4. Single left click on the color directly to the right of the High price. This will display a palette of colors (see Figure 5).

5. Single left click on Rules… A list of Color Rules (see Figure 6) will appear.

6. Single left click on 5% Gain. This color rule will now appear in the Color column of the Parameters menu.
7. Single click left on Done. The color rule will be activated.

Writing A Color Rule For A Specific Symbol                              Top of Page

Using Color Rules To Color Studies                              Top of Page

Color rules can be displayed on studies as well as price data. When using color rules to color study values, there are two options. If you want the color rule to evaluate data based upon the values of the study, use the $1 convention. For example, to be alerted when the slope of the study is rising, enter the following in he formula field:

if($1>$1[1],clr_green,clr_red)

Using the $1 variable in place of a symbol in this formula allows you to use this color rule on either a bar chart (where it will monitor rising values of price data) or a study (where it will monitor the study values).

To color your STUDY based upon data of the underlying, RAWDATA must be used instead of $1. For example, if we wanted to be alerted when the instrument’s price is rising or falling, regardless of the study value displayed on the chart, enter the following formula:

if(rawdata>rawdata[1],clr_green,clr_red)

With a study displayed in a chart, activate the color rule by bringing up a Graph Menu and selecting Parameters. Click on the color displayed in the Color field, select Rules…, then select the color rule you previously entered. Clicking on Draw or Done will display your color rule on the study.

Using Number Codes For Colors In A Color Rule                              Top of Page

In very lengthy color rule formulas, replacing the number codes for the colors can save valuable space. (Color rule formulas are limited to 255 characters). Number equivalents to system colors are listed in Table 12.

COLOR	NUMBER
Yellow	0
Green	1
Cyan	2
White	3
Violet	4
Pink	5
Orange	6
Gray	7
Red	8
Blue	9
Purple	10
Black	11

Table 12

The 5% Gain formula, using number codes in place of the colors, would be written the following way:

if(pchg($1)>5,1,8)

Coloring Specific Prices                              Top of Page

Color rules can be used to color a specific price on the bar chart. For example, to set 5% Gain to the Low price, follow these steps:

1. Bring up a Graph Menu.
2. Single left click on Parameters.
3. Single left click on the color to the right of the Low price (see Figure 7).
4. Single left click on Rules…
5. Single left click on 5% Gain.
6. On the Parameter menu, under the Graph heading, single left click on Bars and change to Dots (see Figure 7).
7. Single left click on Done.

Figure 7

Alarms

Aspen Graphics’ alarm feature enables you to monitor and be instantly alerted to criteria which you define. These criteria include the following:

Times & Dates
Functions
Formulas
Mathematical expressions

Alarms cannot monitor Trendlines or News stories.

Writing or Modifying an Alarm                              Top of Page

The Alarms Menu (see Figure 8) allows you to modify existing alarms or to create new ones. To display the alarms menu, type .alarm , or single left click on Alarms from the Main Menu.

Figure 8

Initially, the Alarms menu will be empty. After you create an alarm, it will be listed on this menu.

To modify an existing alarm, single left click on the alarm. When an alarm is selected, it will bring up the Add or Edit an Alarm setup window containing that alarm.

To write a new alarm, single left click on Add Alarm. When Add Alarm is selected from the alarm menu, the Alarm Setup window (Figure 9) will be displayed:

Figure 9

  Elements of the Alarm Setup Window                              Top of Page

Field	Function	Examples
Trigger Condition	Specifies the condition about which you want to be alerted.	Spm7==765 ck7.recent-cn7.recent>4
Memoran-dum	Enables you to enter a description or message about the alarm.	Positive cci value SELL!!
Command Actions on Trigger	Enables you to assign a command or string of commands to be enacted when the alarm is triggered.	My_Page;\wn7;.print Cht_1;sp#;.mav
Trigger When State:	Enables you to toggle through the three trigger condition states which will set off the alarm.	True: Alert when Trigger Condition is true. False: Alert when Trigger Condition is false. Changes: Alert when Condition changes.
Audio Alarm:	If a sound card is installed in your system, it enables you to specify one of the preset audio alarms or to assign custom .wav files to the alert.	For information about assigning a .wav file to an alarm, see "Setting an Audio Alarm" later in this chapter.
This Alarm is:	Enables you to activate the alarm or to keep the alarm in memory but render it inactive.	Enabled: Alarm will activate when Trigger Condition is met. Disabled: Alarm is not active; Aspen Graphics will not be monitoring the Trigger Condition.
Audio Repeat:	Enables you to repeat the audio alarm.	On: Will repeat the audio alarm every 10 seconds until the alarm is turned off. Off: Audio alarm will only sound once.
Visual Alert:	Enables you to toggle the visual alarm window on or off.	On: The alarm window will be displayed at the bottom of the screen when the alarm is triggered. Off: The alarm window will NOT be displayed when the alarm is triggered.
Current State:	Non-editable field; displays whether the Trigger Condition is currently true or false. Also will display an error message if the alarm has not been written syntactically correct.	True: Trigger Condition criteria is true at this time. False: Trigger Condition criteria is NOT true. Null Value: Trigger condition is lacking necessary parameters to evaluate the condition. Syntax Error: Syntax error in writing the Trigger Condition.
Done	Saves the alarm & returns you to the Alarms Menu.	A single left click on Done will save all information contained in the setup window.
Cancel	Exits the Alarm setup window without saving changes & returns to the Alarms menu.	Single left click on Cancel to return to the Alarms menu.
Delete	Deletes the alarm from memory and returns to the Alarms menu.	Protected selection. Double left click to delete the alarm.

Table 13

Defining a Trigger Condition

The first step in writing an alarm is establishing the Trigger Condition. To enter a Trigger Condition, single left click in the Trigger Condition field; an edit box will be displayed.

There are six types of criteria that can be entered in this field. The following sections include definitions and examples of these.

Instrument Symbols and Prices                              Top of Page

You can set an alarm on any instrument that is defined in your system. The Trigger Condition needs to reference a specific instrument; using the $1 variable will return an error message in the Current State field.

Examples:	When you will be alerted:
ibm==137	When the price of IBM reaches 137

Table 14

Times                              Top of Page

Alarms can be written to alert you to a specific time. These trigger conditions need to be written in HH:MM format, using 24-hour notation.

Examples:	When you will be alerted
time>=9:00	on or after 9:00 a.m.
time==15:45	at 3:45 p.m.

Table 15

Dates                              Top of Page

Dates used in trigger conditions need to be stated in mm/dd/yy format. Dates can be combined with times using the and operator.

Examples:	When you will be alerted
date==4/15/97	on April 15, 1997
date>=1/1/98	on or after Jan 1, 1998
date==6/1/97 and time==14:00	on June 1, 1997 at 2:00 p.m.

Table 16

 

Aspen Graphics’ date math capabilities make it possible to create alarms that tell you when it is a certain number of days before a future’s or option’s expiration date.

Examples:	When you will be alerted
date==ck300c.expire-3	three days before expiration
date==spu7.expire	expiration day
date<=dmm7.expire-2	two days before expiration

Table 17

Formulas                              Top of Page

Any formula defined in your Formula Listing menu can be referenced in the Trigger Condition of an alarm. If the formula was written using the $1variable, you must include the symbol in the trigger condition.

Examples:	When you will be alerted
spread(ck7,cn7)>=0	when the spread value is positive
chart(slowk(sp#,9)>=slowd(sp#,9)[-1],1,2,100,0,1)	when the %K line is above %D line

Table 18

If you are setting an alarm on a formula which requires other parameters in addition to an instrument, you must use the chart function around the formula.

Functions                              Top of Page

An alarm can be set to monitor any Aspen Graphics function. For a complete list of functions, see the Formulas section of this manual.

 

Examples:	When you will be alerted
chart((mom(sp#,10)>mom(sp#,10)[1] and mom(sp#,10)[1]>mom(sp#,10)[2])[-1],1,2,100,1,3)	when momentum is increasing over the last 2 bars
chart((rsi(ck7,14)>70 or rsi(ck7,14)<30) [-1],30,1,100,1,3)	when the RSI is above or below 30

Table 19

If you are setting an alarm on a function which requires parameters in addition to an instrument, you need to use the chart function.

Expressions                              Top of Page

You can write a mathematical expression as a condition for an alarm. An expression can employ any of the operators in Table 20.

Operator	Name	Example
^	Exponentiation	kc#^2
-	Negative	-2*(ibm.last)
+	Positive	+spz7
*	Multiplication	42*(ho#)-cl#
/	Division	ibm/indu
+	Addition	ck7+cn7
-	Subtraction	cc#-cc#1
==	Equals	intc==131
>=	Greater than or equal to	kw#>=470
<=	Less than or equal to	time<=14:00
!=	Does not equal	date!=1/1/98
>	Greater than	gcm7>gcz7
<	Less than	ok7<175
A space must be used before and after the next two operators when using them in a formula.
AND	Evaluates both trigger conditions. Alerts only when both conditions are met.	ck7.high<=300 and cn7.high>=300
OR	Evaluates both trigger conditions. Alerts when either condition is met.	time==9:45 or time==13:10

Table 20

What Happens When The Alarm Is Triggered?                              Top of Page

If the "Trigger When State" matches the "Current State" in the Alarm Setup Window, your alarm will be triggered as soon as you select Done. This allows you to test your alarm after creating it to ensure that it is evaluating your criteria properly.

When an alarm is triggered, an alarm window is displayed across the bottom of the screen (if you have enabled the Visual Alert). The alarm window will include the date & time the alarm was triggered, the state of the trigger condition (T=true, F=false), the trigger condition, a memorandum (if you entered a message in the Memorandum field) and directions for removing the alarm window from the screen.

Figure 10

If more than one alarm is triggered before the alarm window is cleared off the screen, they will be stacked on top of one another. The number of alarms that can be displayed at one time depends on the font size settings; the smaller the font size, the more alarms that can be displayed simultaneously.

Figure 11

Resizing and Moving the Alarm Window                              Top of Page

You can resize and move the alarm window just as you would any other Aspen Window (see the Aspen Windows section for more information). Once you move or resize the alarm window, it will remain in that state until you exit and reenter the program.

Removing the Alarm Window

The keyboard command to remove the alarm window from the screen depends upon the type of operating system you have. On DOS systems, tapping simultaneously will clear the alarm window off the screen. On WindowsÒ systems, will remove the window.

Command Actions on Trigger                              Top of Page

The Command Actions on Trigger feature allow you to assign any Aspen Graphics command to be enacted when your alarm is triggered (for a list of all Aspen commands, see the Appendix of this manual). For example, if you have written an alarm to trigger when the price of May corn goes above 305 and you would like to print your favorite page (called My_Page) when your alarm is triggered, enter the following in the Command Actions on Trigger field:

Figure 12

When your alarm is triggered, My_Page will be displayed on your screen. May corn will be entered into all windows of your page, and the page will be printed.

If you are running the Aspen Graphics for WindowsÒ , the portion of your screen that will be printed when the alarm is triggered depends on the selection in the Object section of the Print Setup box. If Screen is selected, the entire contents of the screen, including the alarm window, will be printed. If Active Window is selected, only the window which was active when the page was saved will be printed.

If you are running Aspen Graphics for Windows®, and you want to autoprint using this method, make sure that Print Preview (found in the Print Setup box) is not selected. If Print Preview is selected, the system will wait for you to approve the print job before it is printed.

Setting an Audio Alarm                              Top of Page

The Audio Alarm field enables you to assign a sound sequence to an alarm. Single left clicking in the Audio Alarm field will scroll through the numbers assigned to the audio alarms. Leaving this field blank will only trigger a visual alarm; no audio alarm will accompany it.

If your computer is equipped with a sound card, you have access to up to 99 audio alarms. Using the Windows® audio recorder, you can record a custom message and assign it to an alarm. The Windows® audio recorder creates .WAV files. To create a .WAV file for use in an Aspen alarm, record a message, and name the file using the convention ALARM<integer>.WAV. Examples of names for your .WAV files are:

Alarm1.wav
Alarm23.wav
Alarm89.wav

Up to 99 unique .WAV files can be saved and applied to the Aspen alarm function. Save the .WAV files to the \apex directory on the drive out of which you run Aspen Graphics for WindowsÒ .

To assign a .WAV file to an alarm, left click in the Audio Alarm field until the integer which corresponds to the name of the .WAV file is displayed. For instance, if the file is named Alarm16.wav, scroll through the numbers in the Audio Alarm field until the number 16 appears. When the alarm is triggered, that custom recording will sound.

Alarms on Instruments Quoted in Fractions                              Top of Page

Some equities and commodities are quoted in fractional numbers, i.e. U.S. Bonds are quoted in thirty-seconds and grain options are traded in eighths. To set alarms based on fractional prices, use the following syntax:

Syntax		Meaning
+numerator	Specifies eighths. To enter a price in the trigger condition in eighths, (for example, sx600c==29 3/8 ) type in sx600c==29 3.
+ numerator	Specifies thirty-seconds. To enter a price in the trigger condition quoted in 32’s, (i.e. us#>=107 26/32), type in us#>=10726.
+<32nds><1/8’s of 32nds>	Specifies half- and quarter-thirty-seconds. See the following section on Half and Quarter Thirty Seconds.

Table 21

To indicate a single digit numerator for 32’s, you must preface it with a zero. For example: us#==107 3/32 would be entered us#==107’03. A price of less than one also needs a zero. 14/32’s would be entered as: 0’14.

Half- and Quarter-Thirty-Seconds                              Top of Page

To enter a trigger condition based on half-thirty seconds, follow these steps:

1. Reduce the fraction to thirty-seconds. This will produce one of two conclusions:

The fraction reduces to an even number. For example, you want to set an alarm to alert you when the five-year note hits 104 ²⁸/₆₄. This fraction reduces to ¹⁴/₃₂. The Trigger Condition should be written as:    fv#==104’14

The fraction does not reduce evenly. For example, you want to be alerted when it hits 104⁴³/₆₄. This trigger condition should be entered as:     fv#==104’214

104 represents the whole-number portion of the price.

‘21 represents the reduced numerator (⁴³/₆₄ reduces to ^21.5/₃₂).

4 represents the multiplier ⁴/₈, converting the fraction to half-thirty-seconds.

2. To enter a trigger condition based on quarter-thirty-seconds follow these steps:

Reduce the fraction to thirty-seconds.

If it reduces evenly, follow  the step in the previous section.

If the fraction does not reduce evenly, follow these steps:

For example, you want to use tu#==102⁵³/₁₂₈ as the Trigger Condition. It would be entered as:

tu#==102’132

102 represents the whole-number portion of the price.

13 represents the reduced numerator (⁵³/₁₂₈ reduces to 13¹/₄ thirty-seconds).

2 represents the multiplier ²/₈, converting the price to quarter-thirty-seconds.  

Cloning Alarms using the F12 Key                              Top of Page

At times, you may need to set the same alarm for a number of different instruments. The most efficient way to duplicate the alarm is by using the F12  key. To clone an alarm, follow these steps:

1. Type .alarm or select Alarms from the Main Menu. Select Add Alarm.
2. Enter your alarm in the Trigger Condition field.
3. Single left click on Done.
4. Select Add Alarm.
5. Single left click in the Trigger Condition field.
6. Tap the F12 key one time. This will display your last trigger condition in the edit box.
7. Change the symbol and tap .
8. Single left click on Done.

Top of Page