how can i create a scan for a list of stocks that move above or below the first 15 minute candle?  I understand how to select a watchlist.  is there a PCF for idenifing the first 15 minute candle after the opening bell.

I suppose the formula can be adjusted for 5 minute timeframes also.

Thank you

You can do this using RealCode in StockFinder, but I cannot think of an automated method of doing so using either version of TC2000. The Personal Criteria Formula Language does not have syntax for referencing the time of day or start of day in an intraday time frame.

thank you.  I no longer use Stockfinder.  I will seek another solution.  How about a scan for the last 2 15min or 5 min candles?

What specifically about the two most recent candles are you attempting to identify?

Given that he hasn't responded yet, I picked up on the thread because I too am interested in the first 15 minutes of the open. I'm sure that this is too vague to make an easy scan for, but I have a strategy in progress that would be helped by finding stocks where the first 15 minute candle can be searched for those that closed in the upper third, middle third or bottom third of it's opening 15 minute range. That would be three seperate searches, I imagine.

What I'm doing is using that 15 minute close position to draw Fibonacci extensions. Knowing where the close was in the candle would aid me in predicting the direction that the stock will probably extend to.

There are a multitude of opening 15 minute combinations that would be great to find, but these three would make a great start.

Steve Bukosky

That can't be done for the same reasons which precluded markinvests' original request.

Sorry for not replying sooner.  I just came back to the idea.  Basically, a trading strategy is that if price action is over or under the first 15min candle provides some direction for trading long or short.  Over the first 15min candle is long and under short.  I would like to create a column within a watchlist that identifies this condition. 

Basically, it would identify price action over or under the Prior 15 min candle. 

based on 15 min candle:

Close higher than prior candle

Price lows are higher than prior 15 min candle (would be nice to have % of candle held: above 50%, or 2/3s of prior 15 min candle).

The inverse of these would also be true for short positions.

--PCF continuously confuse me or I would try to figure it out.  :D

Note that all of the following relate to the prior or previous candle and not the first candle of the day.

Close being higher than the previous candle is a Boolean requirement that is either true or false:

C > C1

The same would be true of low being higher than the previous candle:

L > L1

So you could combine these into:

C > C1 AND L > L1

So the close being lower than the previous candle would be:

C < C1

And the high being lower than the previous candle would beQ:

H < H1

And combining these would result in:

C < C1 AND H < H1

I'm not quite sure what is meant by % of candle held, but the size of the previous candle would be:

H1 - L1

This allows us to represent various values as percentages of the size of the previous candle. For example, the difference between the current low and previous low as a percentage of the previous candle could be written as:

100 * (L - L1) / (H1 - L1 + .0000001)

Note that this values will spike significantly if the previous candle is very small or zero (but the addition of +.0000001 avoids actual division by zero errors).

Bruce - thank you.  I will give these pcf formulas a shot.  Regarding the %, the statement is probably better referenced as a true range (ex: a true range of a candle is $25 - $25.50 then 50% of that range is $25.25 - 50% being a fib number gives some importance)  The concept could be calculated for any % of a candle or range. 

Thank you again.

The True Range of the prior bar could be written as:

(H -L + ABS(H - C1) + ABS(C1 - L)) / 2

So expressing the current low minus the previous low as a percentage of the true range of the previous bar could be written as:

100 * (L - L1) / ((H -L + ABS(H1 - C2) + ABS(C2 - L1)) / 2 + .0000001)

You still have the possibility of a division by zero which is why there is the + .0000001 term in the formula. The value will also spike dramatically if the True Range is very small.