General – getting started
The Quantum Trend Monitor is in fact two indicators in one. It has been designed to help you stay in trends once they begin, but also to signal when a trend is potentially coming to an end, or is simply pausing before continuing further. The indicator is best used in conjunction with the Quantum Trends indicator. The Trend Monitor aims to smooth out the minor pullbacks and reversals which are all part and parcel of the price action, helping to keep you in the trend to maximise the profit potential from every position. This is function of the solid bar, which displays four colors. When the market is trending strongly, the the Trend Monitor is either bright red or bright blue. When the market is in transition or at a pause point, then the Trend Monitor is either dark red or dark blue. If the Trend Monitor transitions from one bright color to another, ( from red to blue, or form blue to red) then this is signalling that the current trend has potentially come to an end. The Trend Monitor smooths out the ups and downs in a trend, which will be reflected in your Quantum Trends, which then provides the ‘fine detail’ of every move.
The second element of the Trend Monitor is the yellow trend line, which displays the ‘strength’ of the trend, and gives an additional perspective on the trend. The trend line moves above and below the ‘mean’ which is displayed as a white dotted line on the indicator. As the trend develops, so the yellow trend line moves above and below the mean level, and as it reaches the extremes, then this is another potential signal, that the trend is becoming exhausted. The trend line indicator can be applied directly on the Quantum Trend Monitor itself, as shown above to keep your charts clean and clear, or separately in another window. As with all the Quantum trading indicators, the Quantum Trend Monitor is best used in multiple timeframes which will then give you visual signals to changes in trend, both upstream and downstream of your principle trading chart.
- The Quantum Trend Monitor indicator works in all timeframes from tick to seconds and minutes to months
- The indicator can be ‘fine tuned’ to your own preferences in terms of the speed with which the indicator will react to possible changes in trend
- For clarity, we find it is best applied to the bottom of the chart
Installation
Open your NinjaTrader 8 platform and select a chart.
Right click the chart to bring up a menu which looks like the following image:
Select Indicators… which will open the following window. (Alternatively, you can open this window by clicking the Indicators button in the chart toolbar or by pressing Ctrl + I while focused on the chart.)
In the Indicators window, scroll down to the QuantumTrendMonitor indicator and click it to select the indicator. Once selected, click add in the Configured frame which will put it on the list of active indicators to be added in the chart.
Before clicking the OK or Apply button to complete, the indicator has a number of options which ca be configured. You can click the Apply button at any time, and this will apply any changes you have made to the indicator without closing the window. This will allow you to see the changes you have made to the indicator, without closing with the OK button or the Cancel button.
Configuration
All of the user configuration is down on the right hand side of the Indicator window. These are the default setting when you first install the indicator to a chart.
Parameters
NeutralConstant – this parameter gives you full control over the sensitivity of the TrendMonitor indicator, by allowing you to fine tune the indicator to your own trading style and preferences. Increasing this parameter makes the indicator more sensitive to determining weak trends hence the transitional colors will expand, while reducing the value will also reduce these regions making transitions appear more quickly. This is a personal choice and as always in trading, it’s a question of assessing risk – the risk of getting in too early or too late, and also the risk of getting out too early or staying in too long. From our experience we have found that a value of 20 is a good starting point, and this value can then be adjusted to suit your trading style accordingly. Any number above 20 will increase the periods of congestions, whilst any number below 20 will reduce them accordingly.
ShowMomentumLine – you can check or uncheck this option to show or hide the trend line. The trend line is an oscillating line which measures and displays the steepness and the direction of the trend and is applied on top of the TrendMonitor. It is hidden/unchecked by default.
Data Series
Input series – this shows the timeframe for the indicator and will be displayed according to the chart time.
Set up
Calculate – please DO NOT change this setting and leave as the default of On each tick.
Label – this is the label which will display on the chart once the indicator is attached.
Maximum bars look back – this is the maximum number of bars in the look back for the indicator. We suggest you leave this as the default of 256 as it is memory friendly
Visual
Auto Scale – DO NOT change this setting and leave this as the default of True (checked)
Displacement – DO NOT change this setting and leave this at the default of 0
Display in Data Box – we suggest you leave this at the default of True (checked)
Panel – this specifies the panel number where the indicator will appear. We suggest you leave this as the default of New Panel
Price Marker(s) – please DO NOT alter this setting and leave as the default of True (checked)
Scale Justification – please DO NOT alter this setting and leave as the default of Right
Visible – this shows or hides the plots of the indicator. Please leave it checked to make the indicator visible.
Plots
This is where you can change various properties of the indicator’s plots:
- Momentum – or what we call the trend line. Please note that this is only visible when the parameter ShowMomentumLine is checked.
A list of plot styles or properties will be shown to you by clicking the arrow graphic beside the plot for you to customize the appearance of the plot to your liking:
- Color – default is Yellow
- Dash style – default is Solid
- Plot style – default is Line
- Width – default is 1
Once you have made any changes to the settings for the Trend Monitor indicator, left click the OK button to complete and update the indicator.
Removing an indicator
These are the steps to remove an indicator from a chart.
Right click on the chart then select Indicators… from the menu. Select QuantumTrendMonitor from the Configured frame and click remove. Click OK to confirm and the indicator should be unloaded from your chart.
