I have two questions regarding PCF formulae for TSV.

First, on my charts, I have been using TSV with exponential average (Technitrader chart templates) and when I create a PCF condition e.g.  MAX(TSV18,10) I find that the charts of the scan results don’t necessarily agree with the condition. What I discovered is that the PCF condition is calculating TSV with Simple average while the chart depicts exponential. If I create a condition from the indicator on the chart, it does use the selected, i.e. exponential, average; but I can’t get the “personal” flavor of MIN/MAX etc.

Question 1 is, can we write a PCF for TSV with exponential average.

Question 2 is, can we make the exponential PCF for “z” days ago value rather than the current value (as we can in the simple average PCF : MAX(TSV18.z,10)?  

While I’m asking questions, is there a single source Manual available for PCF language which would reduce the sometimes tedious and time consuming (even though often enlightening) search through the discussions and if so, is it current with TC2000 version 12?

Finally, last question, I promise, has anyone published a definitive and tested set of PCFs for the major candle patterns Morning/evening star, bullish/bearish harami etc. etc.?

Thanks for your fantastic help with all our questions.

I'm don't know why the diacriticals, apostrophe '  and quotes " came out so weird in the above post. I think they were alright in the preview pane. Maybe because I typed in Word then pasted to the post thru the security box.

TSV18 is specifically an 18-Period Simple TSV.

You could create an Indicator Formula for an 18-Period Exponential TSV as:

XAVG(TSV,18)

But the MAX() function cannot accept other functions or formulas as arguments. So the following syntax is NOT valid:

MAX(XAVG(TSV,18), 10)

It is possible to use the techniques in the Min Max PCFs topic to create an Indicator Formula for the maximum value of the 18-Period Exponential TSV over the most recent 10-bars, but the formula is quite long. As a matter of fact, I created and tested it and the PCF ends up being too long and slow for me to even post in the forums. You are much better off clicking on the indicator and selecting Create Condition than trying to create a formula.

There isn't a Personal Criteria Formula Language manual, but the PCF Formula Descriptions topic has a fairly comprehensive list of the syntax which is valid in the PCF Language and the Handy PCF example formulas to help you learn the syntax of PCFs! topic contains basic examples.

The best available list of PCFs for candlestick patterns to which I could point you would be the Boolean PCFs for Candlestick Patterns topic. That said, I would not call it definitive.

Then again, I wouldn't call any list of candlestick patterns or definitions definitive. I'm not a candlestick guy, but I have read a lot about candlesticks in the course of answering questions about them. One thing I have found is that various candlestick websites and practitioners can't agree on terminology, let alone the exact definitions of specific candlestick patterns.

Thanks Bruce,   I found the PCF Formula Descriptions after I posted and am using it along with the Handy PCF doc to develop a spreadsheet to write the formulas based on input for the w, x and z criteria. As noted in the PCF Formula Descriptions I'll have to omit the possibility of the w criteria for MIN, MAX, AVG AND XAVG for formulas and functions.

The Boolean PCFs for candlesticks is exactly what I was hoping for.

A separate note, I found the full list of TC2007 training videos - which being short and very specific will be helpful as far as they apply to V12

Thanks again for your help.

You're welcome.