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360 Pages·2001·3.18 MB·English

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THE TRADING SIGNALS, INDICATORS, SHOWME STUDIES, PAINTBAR STUDIES,
PROBABILITYMAP STUDIES, ACTIVITYBAR STUDIES, SEARCH STRATEGIES, MODELS,
FUNCTIONS AND TRADING STRATEGIES (AND PARTS THEREOF) IN THIS BOOK ARE
EXAMPLES ONLY, AND HAVE BEEN INCLUDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.
TRADESTATION TECHNOLOGIES DOES NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE ANY SUCH
TRADING SIGNALS, INDICATORS, SHOWME STUDIES, PAINTBAR STUDIES,
PROBABILITYMAP STUDIES, ACTIVITYBAR STUDIES, SEARCH STRATEGIES, MODELS,
FUNCTIONS, OR TRADING STRATEGIES (OR ANY PARTS THEREOF), AS THE USE OF ANY
SUCH TRADING SIGNALS, INDICATORS, SHOWME STUDIES, PAINTBAR STUDIES,
PROBABILITYMAP STUDIES, ACTIVITYBAR STUDIES, SEARCH STRATEGIES, MODELS,
FUNCTIONS AND TRADING STRATEGIES DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL MAKE
PROFITS, INCREASE PROFITS, OR MINIMIZE LOSSES. THE SOLE INTENDED USES OF THE
TRADING SIGNALS, INDICATORS, SHOWME STUDIES, PAINTBAR STUDIES,
PROBABILITYMAP STUDIES, ACTIVITYBAR STUDIES, SEARCH STRATEGIES, MODELS,
FUNCTIONS, AND TRADING STRATEGIES INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK ARE TO DEMONSTRATE
HOW EASYLANGUAGE CAN BE USED TO DESIGN THEM.
TRADESTATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC. IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING ANY INVESTMENT
OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. IF INVESTMENT OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE IS
REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A LICENSED PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE SOUGHT.
Copyright © 2001 TradeStation Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be re-
produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho-
tocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of TradeStation Technologies, Inc. Printed
in the United States of America.
TradeStation®, SuperCharts®, OptionStation®, RadarScreen®, ProSuite®, PowerEditor®, and
EasyLanguage® are registered trademarks of TradeStation Technologies, Inc. ProbabilityMap, ActivityBar,
PaintBar and ShowMe are trademarks of TradeStation Technologies, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark
of Microsoft Corporation and MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Contents
CHAPTER: 1 - Introduction ...................................................................1
What is EasyLanguage? .....................................................................................................2
What Can You Create? .......................................................................................................2
Additional Resources ..........................................................................................................3
CHAPTER: 2 - The Basic EasyLanguage Elements ..............................5
How EasyLanguage is Evaluated .......................................................................................6
About the Language .........................................................................................................10
Referencing Price Data .....................................................................................................11
Expressions and Operators ...............................................................................................12
Referencing Previous Values ...........................................................................................17
Manipulating Dates and Times .........................................................................................20
Using Variables ................................................................................................................25
Using Inputs ......................................................................................................................30
EasyLanguage Control Structures ....................................................................................33
Writing Alerts ...................................................................................................................39
Understanding Arrays .......................................................................................................45
Understanding User Functions .........................................................................................50
Output Methods ................................................................................................................64
Drawing Text on Price Charts ..........................................................................................76
Drawing Trendlines on Price Charts ................................................................................89
Understanding Quote Fields ...........................................................................................109
Multimedia and EasyLanguage ......................................................................................110
CHAPTER: 3 - EasyLanguage for TradeStation ..............................115
Writing Trading Signals .................................................................................................116
The Trading Strategy Testing Engine .............................................................................117
Trading Verbs .................................................................................................................131
Understanding Built-in Stops .........................................................................................144
ii Contents
Writing Indicators and Studies ..............................................................................................148
Writing ShowMe and PaintBar Studies ................................................................................154
Writing ProbabilityMap Studies ............................................................................................159
Writing ActivityBar Studies ..................................................................................................166
CHAPTER: 4 - EasyLanguage for RadarScreen .....................................179
Writing RadarScreen Indicators ............................................................................................180
Writing Indicators for SuperCharts SE .................................................................................185
Specifying Availability of Indicators ....................................................................................191
CHAPTER: 5 - EasyLanguage for OptionStation ...................................193
OptionStation Data Analysis .................................................................................................194
Reading OptionStation Data ..................................................................................................195
Writing OptionStation Indicators ..........................................................................................204
Writing Indicators for SuperCharts SE .................................................................................208
Writing Search Strategies ......................................................................................................214
Writing OptionStation Models ..............................................................................................221
OptionStation Global Variables ............................................................................................233
CHAPTER: 6 - EasyLanguage and Other Languages ............................235
Defining a DLL Function ......................................................................................................236
Using Functions from DLLs .................................................................................................238
More About the EasyLanguage DLL Extension Kit .............................................................239
APPENDIX A: - EasyLanguage Syntax Errors .......................................241
APPENDIX B: - EasyLanguage Colors, Widths & Codes ......................273
APPENDIX C: - Reserved Words Quick Reference ...............................275
Index..............................................................................................................337
CHAPTER 1
Introduction

This book is a comprehensive reference for EasyLanguage, TradeStation Technologies’
industry-standard computer language. It explains in detail the capabilities of the language
and its structure, using examples throughout to illustrate the concepts and syntax
presented.
This book first covers the basic elements of EasyLanguage common to the TradeStation
Technologies products—TradeStation, RadarScreen, and OptionStation—and then
delves more deeply into the EasyLanguage specifically for use with each.
This book covers EasyLanguage concepts in the context of the products; it does not
provide procedural information on using the EasyLanguage PowerEditor or the
TradeStation Technologies products or the user interface. All procedural instructions are
covered in the Online User Manual.
The appendixes at the back of the book contain two useful references: a reserved word
quick reference and the EasyLanguage syntax errors. The reserved word quick reference
is a complete list of the EasyLanguage reserved words, listed alphabetically. The syntax
error list is a complete list of the verification syntax errors generated by the PowerEditor,
listed by error number. You’ll find this useful when troubleshooting your EasyLanguage.
In This Chapter
! What is EasyLanguage?...........................2
! What Can You Create?.............................2
! Additional Resources...............................3
2 What is EasyLanguage? CHAPTER 1
What is EasyLanguage?
EasyLanguage is a simple, but powerful, computer language that enables you to create
your own custom trading and technical analysis tools. By combining common trading
terminology with simple decision statements, EasyLanguage makes it easy for you to
write your own trading rules and actions in a clear and straightforward manner.
Simply put, TradeStation, RadarScreen, or OptionStation reads your EasyLanguage
statements, evaluates them based on the price data that has been collected, and performs
the specified actions.
What Can You Create?
EasyLanguage enables you to create your own trading signals, indicators, studies, search
strategies, models, and functions. Or, if you choose, you can copy and modify any of the
hundreds of built-in trading signals, analysis techniques, and functions that are included
with the TradeStation Technologies products.
The types of trading and technical analysis tools you can create for each TradeStation Tech-
nologies product are:
TradeStation
! Indicators (chart-based)
! ShowMe Studies
! PaintBar Studies
! ActivityBar Studies
! ProbabilityMap Studies
! Trading Signals (to form Trading Strategies)
! Functions
RadarScreen
! Indicators (grid-based)
! Functions
OptionStation
! Indicators (grid-based)
! Search Strategies
! Pricing Models
! Volatility Models
! Bid/Ask Models
Introduction Additional Resources 3
! Functions
SuperCharts SE (included with RadarScreen and OptionStation)
! Indicators (chart-based)
Your TradeStation Technologies product can store a total of 1,000 ActivityBar studies,
1,000 functions, 1,000 trading signals and trading strategies (combined), and 1,000
indicators, ShowMe studies, PaintBar studies, ProbabilityMap studies, search
strategies, and models (combined). Keep this limit in mind when creating your trading
signals, analysis techniques, and functions.
Additional Resources
To reduce your EasyLanguage learning curve, TradeStation Technologies provides the fol-
lowing educational and support resources:
Learning to Use EasyLanguage Book
It is easiest to learn a computer language step by step, following a structured outline, build-
ing upon examples, and practicing what you’ve learned along the way. The Learning to Use
EasyLanguage book included with your TradeStation Technologies product provides step-
by-step learning, and we strongly suggest you use it as your introduction to EasyLanguage,
or as a refresher before delving into this reference.
EasyLanguage Support Center
The EasyLanguage Support Center provides various resources to help you create your trad-
ing and technical analysis tools, including access to technical support, a list of
EasyLanguage solution providers, and analysis techniques you can download and import
into your EasyLanguage PowerEditor.
To access the EasyLanguage Support Center, visit:
http://www.tradestationtechnologies.com/support/easylanguage.shtm
4 Additional Resources CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
The Basic EasyLanguage Elements
EasyLanguage is the industry standard language used to describe trading ideas, and it is the
most powerful, versatile, and easy to use customization tool used by traders world wide.
But how does it work? This chapter answers that question, and introduces you to the
syntax, grammar, control structures, and general concepts that are the foundation for
EasyLanguage.
This chapter discusses how EasyLanguage performs its calculations, and provides a solid
foundation for you to begin working with one or more TradeStation Technologies
products—TradeStation, OptionStation, or RadarScreen.
In This Chapter
! How EasyLanguage is Evaluated.............6 ! Writing Alerts.........................................39
! About the Language...............................10 ! Understanding Arrays............................45
! Referencing Price Data...........................11 ! Understanding User Functions...............50
! Expressions and Operators.....................12 ! Output Methods......................................64
! Referencing Previous Values.................17 ! Drawing Text on Price Charts................76
! Manipulating Dates and Times..............20 ! Drawing Trendlines on Price Charts......89
! Using Variables......................................25 ! Understanding Quote Fields.................109
! Using Inputs...........................................30 ! Multimedia and EasyLanguage............110
! EasyLanguage Control Structures..........33
6 How EasyLanguage is Evaluated CHAPTER 2
How EasyLanguage is Evaluated
Regardless of what type of trading or technical analysis tool you’re writing—an indicator,
trading signal, search strategy, etc.—the first step is understanding how EasyLanguage
evaluates data.
EasyLanguage and Price Charts
A price chart typically consists of a number of bars built from price data associated with a
specified trading instrument. Each bar summarizes the prices for a trading interval—most
commonly a time period such as five minutes or one day—and includes values such as the
open, high, low, and closing prices for that period. Other bar data such as the date and time
of the bar’s close, the volume, and the open interest is also available for each bar.
One of the main uses of EasyLanguage is to evaluate price data from one bar and compare
it to data from other bars; therefore, it is important to understand how an
EasyLanguage trading signal, analysis technique (i.e., indicator, study, search strategy or
model) or function evaluates the price data on a price chart and performs its analysis.
Let’s look at a simple one-line trading signal:
If the Close > High of 1 Bar Ago Then Buy at Market;
This simple statement is instructing EasyLanguage to compare the closing price of one bar
with the high price of another, and to generate a buy order for the open of the next bar when
the close is greater than the high. This comparison is made on the closing price of every bar
in the chart, each time referencing the high price of the preceding bar.
Assume you have incorporated the above trading signal into a trading strategy that you’ve
applied to a chart. Even though your trading strategy is applied to a chart filled with many
different bars, the information that is evaluated for each bar is always the same (i.e., close
price, volume, high price, etc.). Remember, a chart is a visual representation of a period of
trading history for a symbol, where individual bars represent trading intervals.
To evaluate your chart, EasyLanguage evaluates the price data from the very first bar in the
chart to the most recent bar on the chart. In terms of your trading signal, analysis technique,
or function, the bar being evaluated is considered the current bar (thus, at some point, every
bar on the chart is considered to be the current bar). The EasyLanguage statements in your
procedure are always evaluated relative to the current bar.
Now, on the first bar of the chart, there are no previous bars so the comparison in the
example above cannot be performed. Thus, the trading strategy would have to wait un-
til the second bar of the chart in order to perform any calculation. This is called ‘max-
imum number of bars the study will reference’ or MaxBarsBack. This concept is
discussed in detail on page 18.
When your procedure is done evaluating the current bar, EasyLanguage steps forward to
the next bar in the chart, making it the bar on which the statements in your procedure are
evaluated, or the current bar.
Typically, a trading signal, analysis technique or function includes a number of instruc-
tions, each of which can result in an action; for example, an indicator will display a value,