Market Generated Data

CISCO Futures
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New Market Analysis - Home Study Course

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Market Profile
3. Liquidity Data Bank (LDB)
4. Overlay Demand Curves
5. Trader Control Package
6. Legend of the Visual Graphic
7. Getting Visual Graphics from the internet



1. Introduction

Market Generated Data (MGD) is the market’s transactional data organized so that price and price-over-time (or volume) are displayed. The market variables are thus price, volume and time. Price and volume are well understood; price-over-time measures value. MGD is the source of the reference points developed by the Trader Control Package. When one plots price against volume it is clear which prices are most traded, i.e. are most popular and valued.

Generally, a day’s trading will show light volume near the tops and bottoms, with the heaviest trading at the middle prices. The plot of price (vertical) against volume (horizontal) will usually describe a bell shaped curve, similar to the familiar ‘normal’ statistical distribution. One day’s trading displayed this way is called a Market Profile (tm). The similarity with the bell curve helps in conceptualizing, in understanding the profile. Adding the additional information of which of the four member types is active at each price makes a Liquidity Data Bank (LDB) report. Combining a number of days or half-hour periods is called an Overlay Demand Curve. Profiles, LDB's and Overlays are the three principal types of MGD.

Transactional data from the trading floor of the exchange is in the form of ‘ticks’. A tick is created at each price change. Trading at a given price will not generate a tick. A tick carries two pieces of information, price and time when it occurred. Throughout the trading day, there is a steady stream of ticks. The simplest way to present tick action is in a bar chart with equidistant times or in a point figure chart. Neither are ‘market generated data’ because MGD must display price, time and volume.

 

2. Market Profile (tm); Identifies Day Market Structure

The earliest form of market generated data is the Market Profile; essentially a half-hour bar chart of a day collapsed onto the vertical price axis, with frequency of occurrence (volume) on the horizontal. It shows that day’s market 'structure' Price is on the vertical axis, volume (frequency of occurrence) is on the horizontal axis.

A typical Market Profile is bell-shaped with low activity at the top and bottom prices and heavy activity in the middle. Market Profiles can be built in real (or delayed) time from a live ticker.

The idealized Market Profile below, with the bar chart, shows the bell shaped curve for a day with 6 half-hour trading sessions. On this day, the first half-hour, A (8 to 8:30 AM), set the range for the day. As the day wore on, trading was confined to narrower and narrower ranges. The profile shows the characteristic bell shape. Each x signifies that that price was traded at least once in the specified half-hour. An x is called a TPO (Time Price Opportunity, or That Price Occurred). No matter how many times a particular price trades in a specified half-hour period, only one TPO is recorded for the period at that price.

(In the Profile below, the price 99.31 traded at 8:05, 8:12, 8:21, 8:29 and 8:32. There were four trades or ticks, in A period and only one in B period. However, there was one TPO recorded at 99.31 in A period and one TPO in B period. Thus the Profile is merely registering that some trading occurred in a price-time period. What is important is the number of periods that price returns to a certain level' i.e. the popularity of that price. Popularity => acceptance.

          Profile      Half-hour bars
                      A  B  C  D  E  F
 100:00    A          x
  99:31    AB         x  x
  99.30    ABC        x  x  x
  99:29    ABCD       x  x  x  x
  99:28    ABCDE      x  x  x  x  x
  99:27    ABCDEF     x  x  x  x  x  x
  99:26    ABCDEF     x  x  x  x  x  x
  99:25    ABCDEF     x  x  x  x  x  x
  99:24    ABCDE      x  x  x  x  x
  99:23    ABCD       x  x  x  x
  99:22    ABC        x  x  x
  99:21    AB         x  x
  99:20    A          x

Commentary on the idealized profile

Note that the prices 100 and 99.20 traded only once (in 'A' period). These prices were not accepted by the market. The prices 99.25, 99.26 and 99.27 traded in every period. These prices were well accepted by the market. They were most popular, winners of the daily popularity contest; the center of the day's value.

On this day, the trading range continued to narrow throughout the day. The market was 'shutting down'. TPO volume was falling. Traders were leaving this pit for others where there was more opportunity. Uncertainty was high. If the pros have little interest in a market, you should have a very good reason if you want to trade there.

3. Liquidity Data Bank: Identifies Who is doing What at Which Prices

The Liquidity Data Bank (tm) (LDB) is 'market generated data' that displays actual trading volume in addition to the frequency of occurrence that marks the Market Profile. The Liquidity Data Bank further breaks down the volume-at-price by type of floor participant (Cti1 = floor traders, Cti2 = commercials, Cti3 = off floor members and Cti4 is the public). Each LDB report also includes a Market profile.

LDB data are included in the Trader Control Database. The profile for the day is used in the Overlays. Commercial activity is measured (following the techniques in the book Value Based Power Trading, starting at page 33). Volume appears on the day Market Review as one of the reference points.

You will not be called on to translate the LDB Reports into reference points in the Home Study course, that is done for you. However, the Liquidity Data Bank report is the most valuable database extant in the futures literature. You should be aware of it’s existence. There is also an hourly LDB report that lags real-time. As the clearing process continues to improve, the lag decreases. Soon, current volume-at-price data will be a reality. In the meantime, the hourly is still valuable for tracking a trade. In any case, we have the prospect of improved continuation analysis (discussed in the last months of the course) prior to the close.

The CBOT LDB Report for September 1996 T-bonds for July 25, 1996.

CBOT VOLUME REPORT TRADING DATE: 07 25 96 SEP 96 T-BOND (CBOT) DAY
CONTRACT: TRADING BEGINS 0720 (CST); CLOSES 1405; TPO SYMBOLS ARE Z$ABCDEFGHIJKLM
FIRST PERIOD IS 10 MINS; SUBSEQUENT PERIODS ARE ALL 30 MINS

PRICE      VOL   %V   %C1   %C2   %C3   %C4   BRACKETS(*)
10830      944  0.2   50.4  12.7  1.5   35.4   D <== Comml action
10829     4746  0.8   54.3   3.1  6.6   36.0   DF
10828    30064  4.9   53.4  10.1  2.1   34.3   DEF
10827    25774  4.2   56.6  11.5  3.9   28.0   DEF
10826    14968  2.5   50.9   9.5  5.1   34.5   DEF
10825    18208  3.0   54.3   6.5  1.9   37.4   DEFGH
10824    23446  3.8   55.3   9.9  2.3   32.6   DFGH
10823    20260  3.3   49.4  10.3  3.8   36.6   CDFGH
10822    20716  3.4   56.1   5.3  1.7   36.9   ABCDFGH <= Public start
10821    17906  2.9   64.7   8.4  2.1   24.8   ABCDGH  buying D period
10820    28984  4.8   59.9   9.2  2.6   28.4   ABCDH   (note unusually
10819    29990  4.9   64.1   9.6  1.8   24.5   ABCDH   high Cti4
10818    25342  4.2   60.8   9.6  2.2   27.4   ABCH    volumes)
10817    31254  5.1   61.4  10.8  2.6   25.1   ABCHJ
10816    35758  5.9   60.6   9.3  2.2   27.9   ZABCHIJK
10815    28534  4.7   57.6   5.7  1.5   35.2   Z$ABHIJKLM
10814    36032  5.9   58.0   4.7  3.0   34.3   Z$ABHIJKLM
10813    35282  5.8   58.0   6.7  3.0   32.3   Z$ABIJKLM <= Close
10812    28740  4.7   60.8   9.7  3.3   26.3   Z$IJKLM
10811    27388  4.5   61.8   7.2  2.8   28.2   Z$IJKL
10810    34562  5.7   57.3   8.0  2.5   32.1   Z$IJKL
10809    34660  5.7   60.6   6.8  2.5   30.0   Z$IJKL
10808    27978  4.6   57.0   7.9  4.5   30.7   Z$IJKL
10807    16204  2.7   60.6   5.6  2.6   31.2   Z$IJL
10806     8468  1.4   54.1   6.1  0.4   39.4   ZIJL
10805     2538  0.4   54.1  10.8  0.5   34.6   ZI
10804      630  0.1    7.1  15.9  0.0   77.0   Z

                                                                                                                                                                 %CTI1  %CTI2  %CTI3  %CTI4
VOLUME FOR SEP 96 T-BOND (CBOT) DAY  609376   58.3    8.2    2.7   30.8
VOLUME FOR ALL T-BOND (CBOT) DAY     610160   58.3    8.2    2.7   30.9

70%   VOLUME   SUMMARY
PRICE   VOLUME   %VOL   %CTI1   %CTI2   %CTI3   %CTI4   BRACKETS
10822   443126   72.7    59.8     7.9     2.6    29.7   Z$ABCDFGHIJKLM
10808

This (bold) section added by CISCO to LDB Reports

O/H/L/C SUMMARY

        PRICE   VOL     %V    %C1    %C2    %C3    %C4     BRACKETS(*)
OPEN    10804   55818   9.2   56.9   7.1    3.1    32.9    Z$IJKL
        10808

HIGH    10830     944   0.2   50.4  12.7    1.5    35.4    D

LOW     10804     630   0.1    7.1  15.9    0.0    77.0    Z

CLOSE   10812  128588  21.1   58.5   6.6    2.7    32.1    Z$ABHIJKLM
        10815

QUADRANTS

        PRICE    VOL    %V    %C1    %C2    %C3    %C4     BRACKETS(*)
QD 1    10830  159126  26.1   53.9   9.0    3.0    34.1    ABCDEFGH
        10822

QD 2    10821  169234  27.8   61.7   9.6    2.3    26.5    ZABCDGHIJK
        10816

QD 3    10815  190538  31.3   58.8   6.9    2.7    31.6    Z$ABHIJKLM
        10810

QD 4    10809   90478  14.8   58.3   7.0    2.9    31.8    Z$IJKL 
        10804

TPO ANALYSIS FOR CURRENT DAY :

VALUE AREA FROM TPOS
     UPPER   10820
     LOWER   10806
     CONTROL 10815

         ALL    Z    $    A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M
TPO-UPR   65    0   10    8   23   26   24   32   19   22   25   25   57   57   65   65 
TPO-LWR   61    0    6   12   12   16   24   24   46   47   55   69   49   57   58   61 
TPO-TOT  138   13   22   32   42   50   62   66   74   79   91  103  115  124  134  138 
PRC-TKS   27   13   13   19   19   20   27   27   27   27   27   27   27   27   27   27 
TF-FAC   5.1  1.0  1.7  1.7  2.2  2.5  2.3  2.4  2.7  2.9  3.4  3.8  4.4  4.6  5.0  5.1

*The MARKET PROFILE is a registered trademark of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago 1984. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Reading the LDB Report

The LDB Report above illustrates a number of interesting elements of the LDB data and it’s analysis. The bulk of the volume (70%) came between 10822 and 10808. This is the value area, the region in which commercial traders (Cti2) do most of their company business.

The Initial Balance (IB), the first hour or so of trading (symbols Z, $, A (Z is 10 minutes)) is controlled by the floor traders (CTI1), seeking a balance region for two-sided trade. The IB was breached by one tick in C period (9 - 9:30 AM). In D period (9:30 to 10 AM), a run of seven ticks ($218) that ended at 10830 was driven by the public (CTI4) traders. How do we know the public was driving? Because their volume near the top (around 36%) was higher than the day's average (30.8%).

Then the commercials stepped in and buffered the market rise (heavy CTI2 selling volume at 10830, 10828 and 10827). This knocked price back down. The public came back buying in F period (10:30 to 11 AM), running price back up to 10829, and the commercials sold again, with price ultimately settling at 10813.

Altogether, we see the floor traders (CTI1) control the first hour, the public (CTI4) seize control for a time in D and F periods and the commercials (CTI2) come in to quell the public (CTI4) uprising as needed. The market started and ended the day in balance. One sees clearly that the price 10830 was rejected on low volume (and only a single TPO, Z) while prices throughout the entire value area (10822 to 10808) were well accepted, trading at each price in many periods.

LDB reports have same-day volume. LDB volume is pure volume with no spreads or out-trades. LDB's are the only source of same-day volume and are thus a rich fountain of reference points. The most important LDB reference points are incorporated into the Trader Control Database, the primary database used in New Market Analysis.

O/H/L/C SUMMARY. This table shows the distribution of trading at the high and low and around the open and close. It offers a way to estimate the strength of the market at those points. In this case, the closing range of 10812 - 10815 was in a very popular price region (9 of the day TPO's occurred there, and three of the evening trading (PQR)).

QUADRANTS. A way to estimate the upside versus downside strength of a market is via the distribution of trading, the volume, throughout the day's trading range. This day, things were pretty well balanced: the upper quadrant had 26.1% of the activity, quadrant 2 had 27.8%, quadrant 3 was 31.3% and the lowest quadrant had 14.8%.

TPO ANALYSIS FOR CURRENT DAY: The Value Area is the central 70% of the volume and is the range 10822 to 10808. A check is the Value Area calculated from 70% of the TPO's, which is 10820 to 10806. These two usually are pretty close; so the TPO method can be used during the trading day before the actual volumes are computed by the clearing house. This half-hourly Value Area from the TPO's is available during the day. In the table below the control price from the Value Area calculation, the distributions of the TPO's throughout the day, in half-hour periods are listed, along with the price-tick range and trade facilitation factor through out the day.

4. Overlay Demand Curves (tm): Identification of Market Condition

Overlay Demand Curve graphics and the Market Profile are similar, except that the Market Profile is for a single day, while the Overlays include as many days, or periods, as desired. Also, the Overlays do not identify time periods because the time frame is normally several days and individual day rotations are no longer significant in the analysis. For ease of comparison, CISCO standardized on Overlays of 5, 10, 15 and 20 days. (You can make your own Overlays of from 2 days to over 500 days on the CISCO BBS.)

The Overlay tm) derives from half-hour bars by merely summing the number of occurrences of trading at each price, over the time frame chosen (say five days). Just below is an idealized series of five days of half-hour bars for an idealized market of 1.5 trading hours per day, (where A is the first, B is second and C is the third half hour). Each x is a TPO.

           Day 1       Day 2    Day 3     Day 4     Day 5

          A  B  C    A  B  C   A  B  C   A  B  C    A  B  C  
100:00    x
 99:31    x  x
 99:30    x  x  x
 99:29    x  x  x    x
 99:28    x  x  x    x     x
 99:27    x  x  x    x  x  x
 99:26    x  x  x    x  x  x   x
 99:25    x  x  x    x  x  x   x  x
 99:24    x  x  x    x  x  x   x  x      x
 99:23    x  x  x    x  x  x   x  x      x          x
 99:22    x  x       x     x   x  x  x   x  x       x     
 99:21    x          x         x  x  x   x  x       x  x  
 99:20    x          x         x  x  x   x  x       x  x  
 99:19               x            x  x   x  x       x  x  
 99:18                            x  x   x  x       x  x  x
 99:17                                   x  x  x    x  x  x       
 99:16                                      x  x    x  x  x 
 99:15                                         x    x  x  x
 99:14                                         x    x     x
 99:13                                         x          x
 99:12                                                    x                                                     

A graphic like the one above, shows relative price popularity. Over the five days covered, the price 99:12 got only one vote, one TPO, while 99:16 was traded in five different half hour time periods. The market accepted 99:16 as a measure of 'fair value' five times as often as for 99:12.

If you add across the five days of half hour bars, you will get the idealized Overlay distribution shown below, termed 'TPO Volume' (see Glossary for definition of ‘TPO’).

Sample, Idealized, Overlay Demand Curve ;  with Reference Points

TPO Volume
  100:00   x
   99:31   xx Tdg above the upper limit alerts to start of up-trend
   99:30   xxx <== Upper bracket limit: Breakout point.
   99:29   xxxx
   99:28   xxxxx <== Octant: One-eighth of bracket range.
   99:27   xxxxxx
   99:26   xxxxxxx (<== Quadrant: One-quarter of bracket range.)
   99:25   xxxxxxxx
   99:24   xxxxxxxxx
   99:23   xxxxxxxxxx
   99:22   xxxxxxxxxxx (<== Middle of distribution.)
   99:21   xxxxxxxxxx
   99:20   xxxxxxxxx
   99:19   xxxxxxxx
   99:18   xxxxxxx (<== Quadrant: One-quarter of bracket range.)
   99:17   xxxxxx
   99:16   xxxxx <== Octant: One-eighth of bracket range.
   99:15   xxxx
   99:14   xxx <== Lower bracket limit: Breakout point.
   99:13   xx Tdg below the lower limit alerts to start of down-trend
   99:12   x


The Overlay Demand Curve displays the market condition. Markets can be either (1) balanced or bracketing, (2) testing the bracket for breakout, (3) trending, or (4) ending a trend. These four conditions comprise the market cycle.

A balanced condition is the starting point for understanding the market generated data; i.e. for providing the answer to 'who is doing what, where, and when they are doing it', the reference points. Note that market generated data incorporates any news that drives the market, so you have the effect of the news without the uncertainty of trying to forecast, or second guess reports.

5. Trader Control Package (TCP): A Source of Trading Reference Points

The Trader Control Database (TCP) is heavily used for New Market Analysis trading. It contains the reference points from the Overlay Demand Curve, as well as nearly two dozen more from profiles, LDB's and other market sources.

The TCP report is generated as a text based report of several pages. A compact and popular form of the TCP report is the Visual Graphic (VG). The VG contains most of the salient information of the TCP. A Visual Graphic of the balanced market of December 18, 1992, T-bonds, is below. An explanation and the reference points are listed in the Legend below the report.

 Visual Graphic of Mar 1993 T-bonds  December 18, 1992 

6. Legend of the Visual Graphic: Column Identification

The first line of the graphic gives the contract and the date of the data.
For example U206 05/19/98 is the June (06) T-bonds (day) (U2) contract
for the trading date May 19th 1998 (05/19/98).

The Visual Graphic is in two parts: UPPER graphics and  LOWER tables.

The upper part of the VG consists of 6 graphics with a common price strip on the 
extreme left.

From left to right, the 6 graphics are:

(U1) Last 20 day Rotation profile  'Rotprof'
       symbols a thru t represent the prices traded during each day
       a=20 days ago; k=10 days ago; p=5 days ago; t=current day
       this is like a market profile with each period equal to one day

(U2) '20 day Overlay'
       the histogram represents the # of TPOS's at each price
       dashes enclose a distribution/bracket
       
       RotProf symbols: a = 20 days back, t = latest day
       a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t

(U3) '10 day Overlay'
       the histogram represents the # of TPOS's at each price
       dashes enclose a distribution/bracket
       
       RotProf symbols: k = 10 days back, t = latest day
       k l m n o p q r s t

(U4)  '5 day Overlay'
       the histogram represents the # of TPOS's at each price
       horizontal dashes pairs enclose a distribution/bracket
       
       RotProf symbols: p = 5 days back, t = latest day
       p q r s t

     All three Overlay histograms have the same horizontal scale.

     Note: (Balance defn: Single distribution, close inside dist.)
     A balance starts in some day as a congestion. It grows day-by-day.  We 
     only list 5, 10, 15 and 20 day Overlays on the TCP (5, 10 and 20 on 
     the VG). Clearly there can be a 6 day balance or a 19 day balance, etc.
     A rule: If the latest 6 days are in balance, a 10 day Overlay will
     report a balance, ignoring the old four days of the previous 
     distribution.  15 day Overlays must have at least the latest 11 days
     in balance, 20 day Overlays must have at least the latest 16 days
     in balance.  5 day Overlays must have 5 days in balance. However, 
     you can eyeball the 5 day display to find shorter balances.
     Using RotProf, you can tell exactly how many days are in balance.

(U5) Last 10 day Commercial Analysis  'cti2' for CBOT and CME only
       high-low dashed vertical line bars cover the last 10 days
       latest day is on right
       * indicates commercial action at high and/or low
       the single horizontal dashes on the vertical bars are the closes

(U6) 30 minute high-low bars for latest day '30m bars'
       last period on right

(U7) Also, between the Rotation Profile and the 20 day Overlay:
        Current day close 'cl'
        Commercial action at current day high (if any) 'uc' for CBOT and CME only
        Commercial action at current day low  (if any) 'lc' for CBOT and CME only

(U8) Trading Units:
        Markets are initiated by exchanges to serve a particular 'trade' or
        area of commerce. Trading units selected are those in use by that trade.
        While many units are decimal fractions, some are not, such as grains
        which are traded in pennies and eighths per bushel. A price of 2406 for
        corn means 240 and 6/8 cents for a bushel. Other exceptions are the
        30 year bond in the Visual Graphic display, which trades in 32nds, 10 
        year notes and 5 year notes, in 64ths, and 2 year notes in 128ths.
        Any questions can be resolved by visiting the exchange's Contract
        Specifications.

        Example: The 5 day Overlay limits are 12020 to 11930. Range in 32nds
        is: 11930 - 11931 - 11200 - 11201 - 11202 ....... 112020 or 23 32nds.
        Rounding off to 24 32nds, an octant is 3 32nds. 

The LOWER (tabular) PART consists of 5 tables of data.

From left to right, these 5 tables are:

(L1) Below the Rotation Profile:

      (L1.1 )'O' is the Open  for latest and previous trading day* 
      (L1.2 )'H' is the High  for latest and previous trading day* 
      (L1.3 )'L' is the Low   for latest and previous trading day* 
      (L1.4 )'C' is the Close for latest and previous trading day* 

      (L1.5 )'Tf' is the Trade Facilitation Factor for latest and previous trading day*
                         Smaller TF implies better trade.
      (L1.6 )'Vo' is the Price Tick Volatility for latest and previous trading day* 
                         Very Low Volatility implies lack of interest
                         Very High Volatility implies overheating
      (L1.7 )'Sf' is the Shape Factor for latest and previous trading day* 
                         Smaller is better.
      (L1.8 )'HL' for the two front months, gives the % of the current close from the 60 day low 
                  also gives the days (in last 10 days) when new highs ('NH') or new lows ('NL')were established 
                  * is a separator
                  e.g. 81* NH 3 4 means there was a new 60 day high established 3 (and 4 days) back
                               and close today is 81% of 60 day range (from 60 day low)

      (L1.9 )'Tv' is the Total Contract Volume for latest and previous trading day* 
      (L1.10)'Cv' is the Commercial Contract Volume for latest and previous trading day* 
      (L1.11)'Pv' is the Public Contract Volume for latest and previous trading day* 

      (L1.12)'CUL' is the Commercial Action and Type for latest/previous trading day
         First is the action at the current days high for each measure
         Separating the high and low actions is  a ':'
         Second is the action at the current days low for each measure
         Separating the current day from the previous day is a '/'
         Third is the action at the previous days high for each measure
         Separating the high and low actions is  a ':'
         Fourth is the action at the previous days low for each measure
         Types: Q=quadrant measure, A=value-area measure, V=volume/price measure
         For example: Q--:-A-/QAV:--- means:
                     Q--  commercial activity at latest days high with Q measure
                        :        seperates activity at high from low 
                     -A-  commercial activity at latest days low  with A measure
                     /    separates current from previous day
                     QAV  commercial activity at previous days high with QAV measures
                        :        seperates activity at high from low 
                     ---  NO commercial activity at previous day low

      The Commercial, Public and Total Contract Volume and the Commercial Action 
      analysis is derived from the Liquidity Data Bank which is released 
      by the CBOT and CME exchanges only. It is same day cleared trading volume
      and excludes spreads. 

(L2) Below the 20 day Overlay is bracket/distribution info for this Overlay
(L3)      "     "  10 day   
(L4)      "      "   5 day

 If the Overlay IS bracketing:
   'U '  is the upper limit
   'UO' is the upper octant price; the number to the right is the $ gain for
               a responsive short going from the octant to the center M
   'UQ' is the upper quadrant price; the number to the right is the $ gain for
               a responsive short going from the quadrant to the center M
   'M '  is the bracket center
   'LQ' is the lower quadrant price; the number to the right is the $ gain for
               a responsive long going from the qudrant to the center M
   'LO' is the lower octant price; the number to the right is the $ gain for
                a responsive long going from the octant to the center M
   'L '  is the lower limit
 
   Below the U-UO-UQ-M-LQ-LO-L lines are the responsive trade gains (again) and
                 the $ risk of the responsive trades.  The risk/reward ratio is 1 to 3 
                 for the octant.  The $ risk on the responsive trade is the same as the
                 $ risk for a breakout trade (octant is the stop).
   Below is the $ gain and $ loss for the quadrant (The risk/reward ratio is 1 to 1.)


   If the Overlay does NOT show bracketing:
     The number of distributions is listed ('distr'; max 4 shown), with:
     The Upper ('U') and Lower ('L') Prices for each distribution

(L5) Below the commercial analysis vertical dashed (if any) and 30 minute solid bars

   (L5.1 )'VA U' is the Value Area high price for current and previous day*
   (L5.2 )'VA C' is the Value Area center price for current and previous day (POC)*
   (L5.3 )'VA L' is the Value Area low price for current and previous day*
   (L5.4 )'VA R' is the Value Area range for current and previous day*

   (L5.5 )'TPOT' is the # of TPO's total            for current and previous day*
   (L5.6 )'TPOA' is the # of TPO's above maximum TPO line for current/previous day* 
   (L5.7 )'TPOB' is the # of TPO's below maximum TPO line for current/previous day* 
                        In a totally balanced market TPOA will equal TPOB

         The TPO counts in a perfectly balanced market would be symmetrical, a perfect
         bell shaped curve. There would be as many TPOs above the center as below.

         If the market is just coming into balance the symmetry will not yet be there.
         So long as the market stays in balance you would expect the TPO counts to
         approach symmetry. If TPOA is greater than TPOB you would expect more trading
         in the lower region to add TPOs.

         For non-balanced markets, the TPO counts add little information.


   (L5.8 )'Att Dir' is the attempted direction for current and previous day* 
    The possible values are: n for none, U for Up or D for Down. A rule of thumb for
    Att Dir, after the close, measures F% (the close - POC distance) as a fraction of the day's
    range. If F% is 20% or more above POC Att Dir = U, 20% below POC and Att Dir = D.

   (L5.9 )'IB' is the high and low price of the Initial Balance for current day 
    The Initial Balance is the first two 30 minute trading periods
   (L5.10)'IBR%C' is for the current trading day. It consists of:
      'IBR' is the Initial Balance range
      '%'   is the Initial Balance range as a % of total range
      'C'   is Location of close relative to Initial Balance: ABV, BLO, INS
              ABV when the close is above the Initial Balance
              BLO when the close is below the Initial Balance
              INS when the close is inside the Initial Balance 

   (L5.11)'RiQc' is todays Rotation Index/Quadrant of Close using last 4 and 8 days
     For example: 0.67/1  .7/4  means Rotation Index for last 4 days is .67
                                      Quadrant of Close for last 4 days is 1
                                      Rotation Index for last 8 days is .7
                                      Quadrant of Close for last 8 days is 4 

   (L5.12)'VADir' is the Value Area Direction for current day vs the previous day
     The possible values are H, A, Z, L or n 
      'H '= higher
      'A' = overlapping higher
      'Z' = overlapping lower
      'L' = lower
      'n' = none (inside or outside)
      Preferred direction is up if close above Overlay midpoint, down if below.

   (L5.13)'ITDir' is the Internal Trend Direction based on RiQC for last 4 & 8 days.
     The possible values are n for none, U for Up or D for Down    
     This is not in the text version of the TCP data- only on Visual Graphic

* The previous day data value is to the right of the '/'


7. Getting Visual Graphic Information from the Internet

1).   Go to the CISCO home page http://www.cisco-futures.com

2).   Go down to "'Swing Trader Package (TCP)' and click on it

3).   Go down to 'End-of-Day Visual Graphics'

4).   Click on "Download Data".

5).   Enter your username (e.g. 499mmm) and password (e.g. genie).
        Select your first commodity from the "Select One Commodity" box.
        Click on "Send".
        Click on the "Select delivery" box for the delivery month.
        Click on "Send".
         Jot down your trading parameters in your trading journal.
        Print the graphic you have chosen. You may want to make notes on it.

6).   Go back to the page with your log-in information.
       Select your next commodity from the "Select One Commodity" box.
       Click on "Send".
       Click on the "Select delivery" box for the delivery month.
       Click on "Send".
       Jot down your trading parameters in your trading journal.
       Print the graphic you have chosen.
       Go through the 6). process for all futures you selected.

7).   When finished, exit.

 

CISCO Futures

1-303 306 1521  1-800 800 7227  Fax 1-303 306 1572

Internet http//www.cisco-futures.com

Email dljones@cisco-futures.com