ProBuilder is a BASIC-type programming language that allows you to create

personalized technical indicators, trading systems and market scanning programs for
the ProRealTime platform.
Follow ProRealTime Programming on Google+ for updates about ProRealTime programming languages.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to ProBuilder__________________________________________1
Chapter I: Fundamentals___________________________________________2
Using ProBuilder...........................................................................................................2
Indicator creation quick tutorial......................................................................................................2
Programming window keyboard shortcuts....................................................................................5

Specificities of ProBuilder programming language.......................................................6

Financial constants........................................................................................................7
Price and volume constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart..............................................7
Daily price constants.....................................................................................................................8
Temporal constants.......................................................................................................................8
Constants derived from price.......................................................................................................12
The Undefined constant..............................................................................................................12

How to use pre-existing indicators?............................................................................12

Variables......................................................................................................................13

Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions________________15

Control Structures.......................................................................................................15
Conditional IF instruction.............................................................................................................15
One condition, one result (IF THEN ENDIF)...................................................................................15
One condition, two results (IF THEN ELSE ENDIF).......................................................................15
Sequential IF conditions................................................................................................................. 15
Multiple conditions (IF THEN ELSE ELSIF ENDIF)........................................................................16
Iterative FOR Loop......................................................................................................................17
Ascending (FOR, TO, DO, NEXT).................................................................................................. 17
Descending (FOR, DOWNTO, DO, NEXT).....................................................................................18
Conditional WHILE Loop.............................................................................................................19
BREAK.........................................................................................................................................20
With WHILE.................................................................................................................................... 20
With FOR........................................................................................................................................ 20
CONTINUE..................................................................................................................................21
With WHILE.................................................................................................................................... 21
With FOR........................................................................................................................................ 21
ONCE..........................................................................................................................................22

Mathematical Functions..............................................................................................23
Common unary and binary Functions.........................................................................................23
Common mathematical operators...............................................................................................23
Charting comparison functions....................................................................................................23
Summation functions...................................................................................................................24
Statistical functions......................................................................................................................24

Logical operators.........................................................................................................24

ProBuilder instructions................................................................................................24
RETURN......................................................................................................................................25
REM or //......................................................................................................................................25
CustomClose...............................................................................................................................25
CALL............................................................................................................................................26
AS................................................................................................................................................26
COLOURED................................................................................................................................26

Drawing instructions....................................................................................................28

Chapter III: Practical aspects_______________________________________31

Why and how to create binary or ternary indicators...................................................31
Creating stop indicators to follow a position................................................................32
StaticTake Profit STOP................................................................................................................33
Static STOP loss..........................................................................................................................33
Inactivity STOP............................................................................................................................34
Trailing Stop.................................................................................................................................35

Chapter IV: Exercises_____________________________________________36

Candlesticks patterns..................................................................................................36
Indicators.....................................................................................................................37

Glossary________________________________________________________39

Warning: ProRealTime does not provide investment advisory services. This document is not in any
case personal or financial advice nor a solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument. The
example codes shown in this manual are for learning purposes only. You are free to determine all
criteria for your own trading. Past performance is not indicative of futrure results. Any trading
system may expose you to a risk of loss greater than your initial investment.

Introduction to ProBuilder

Introduction to ProBuilder
ProBuilder is ProrealTime's programming language. It allows you to create personalized technical indicators,
trading strategies (ProBacktest) or screening programs (ProScreener). A specific manual exists for
ProBacktest and ProScreener due to some specifics of each of these modules.
ProBuilder is a BASIC-type programming language, very easy to handle and exhaustive in terms of available
possibilities.
You will be able to create your own programs using the quotes from any tool provided by ProRealTime.
Some basic available elements include:
Opening of each bar: Open
Closing of each bar: Close
Highest price of each bar: High
Lowest price of each bar: Low
Volume of each bar: Volume
Bars or candlesticks are the common charting representations of real time quotes. Of course, ProRealTime
offers you the possibility of personalizing the style of the chart. You can use Renko, Kagi, Haikin-Ashi and
many other styles.
ProBuilder evaluates the data of each price bar starting with the oldest one to the most recent one, and then
executes the formula developed in the language in order to determine the value of the indicators on the
current bar.
The indicators coded in ProBuilder can be displayed either in the price chart or in an individual one.
In this document, you will learn, step by step, how to use the available commands necessary to program in
this language thanks to a clear theoretical overview and concrete examples.
In the end of the manual, you will find a Glossary which will give you an overall view of all the ProBuilder
commands, pre-existing indicators and other functions completing what you would have learned after reading
the previous parts.
Users more confident in their programming skills can skip directly to chapter II or just refer to the Glossary to
quickly find the information they want.
For those who are less confident, we recommend watching our video video tutorial entitled "Programming
simple and dynamic indicators" and reading the whole manual.
We wish you success and hope you will enjoy the manual!

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Chapter I: Fundamentals
Using ProBuilder
Indicator creation quick tutorial
The programming zone of an indicator is available by clicking the button "Indicator/Backtest" which can be
found in the upper right corner of each chart of the ProRealTime platform.

The indicators management window will be displayed. You will then be able to:
Display a pre-existing indicator
Create a personalized indicator, which can be used afterwards on any security
If you choose the second possibility, click on "New indicator" to access the programming window.
At that time, you will be able to choose between:
Programming directly an indicator in the text zone designed for writing code or
Using the help function by clicking on "Insert Function". This will open a new window in which you can
find all the functions available. This library is separated in 7 categories, to give you constant assistance
while programming.

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Lets take for example the first specific ProBuilder element: the "RETURN" function (available in the
"Keywords" category (see the image below).

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Select the word "RETURN" and click on "Add". The command will be added to the programming zone.

RETURN allows you to display the result

Suppose we want to create an indicator displaying the Volume. If you have already inserted the function
"RETURN", then you just need to click one more time on "Insert function". Next, click on "Constants" in the
"Categories" section, then in the right side of the window, in the section named "Functions", click on
"Volume". Finally, click on "Add". Don't forget to add a space in between each command as shown below.

Before clicking on "Validate program", you need to enter the name of your indicator. Here, we named it
"Volume DAX". To finish, click on "Validate program" and you will see your indicator displayed below the
price chart.

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Programming window keyboard shortcuts

The programming window has a number of useful features that can be accessed by keyboard shortcuts
starting with ProRealTime version 10:
Select all (Ctrl + A): Select all text in the programming window
Copy (Ctrl + C): Copy the selected text
Paste (Ctrl + X): Paste copied text
Undo (Ctrl + Z): Undo the last action in the programming window
Redo (Ctrl + Y): Redo the last action in the programming window
Find / Replace (Ctrl + F): Find a text in the programming window / replace a text in the programming
window (this feature is case-sensitive)
Comment / Uncomment (Ctrl + R): Comment the selected code / Uncomment the selected code
(commented code will be preceded by "//" or "REM" and colored gray. It will not be taken into account
when the code is executed).
For Mac users, the same keyboard shortcuts can be accessed with the "Apple" key in place of the "Ctrl" key.
Most of these features can also be accessed by right-clicking in the programming window.

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Specificities of ProBuilder programming language

Specificities
The ProBuilder language allows you to use many classic commands as well as sophisticated tools which are
specific to technical analysis. These commands will be used to program from simple to very complex
indicators.
The main ideas to know in the ProBuilder language are:
It is not necessary to declare variables
It is not necessary to type variables
There is no difference between capital letters and small letters
We use the same symbol "=" for mathematic equality and to attribute a value to a variable
What does that mean ?
Declare a variable X means indicating its existence. In ProBuilder, you can directly use X without having
to declare it. Lets take an example:
With declaration: let be variable X, we attribute to X the value 5
Without declaration: We attribute to X the value 5 (therefore, implicitly, X exists and the value 5 is attributed
to it)
In ProBuilder you just need to write: X=5
Type a variable means defining its nature. For example: is the variable a natural number (ex: 3; 8; 21;
643; ), a whole number which can be negative or positive (ex: 3; 632; -37; ), a decimal number (ex:
1.76453534535), a boolean (RIGHT=1, WRONG=0),?
In ProBuilder, you can write your command with capital letters or small letters. For example, the group
of commands IF / THEN / ELSE / ENDIF can be written iF / tHeN / ELse / endIf (and many other
possibilities!)
Exception: When you decide to create a variable and re-use it later in the program, you must not contradict
the spelling you used during its creation. If you started to name your variable: "vARiaBLe" and wish to reuse it in your program, then you must refer to it as "vARiaBLe", not as variable not anything else.
Affect a value to a variable means give the variable a value. In order to understand this principle, you
must assimilate a variable with an empty box which you can fill with an expression (ex: a number). The
following diagram illustrate the Affectation Rule with the Volume value affected to the variable X:

Volume

As you can see, we must read from right to left: Volume is affected to X.
If you want to write it under ProBuilder, you just need to replace the arrow with an equal sign:

X = Volume
The same = symbol is used:
For the affectation of a variable (like the previous example)
As the mathematical comparison operator (1+ 1= 2 is equivalent to 2 = 1 + 1).

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Financial constants
Before coding your personal indicators, you must examine the elements you need to write your code such as
the opening price, the closing price, etc.
These are the "fundamentals" of technical analysis and the main things to know for coding indicators.
You will then be able to combine them in order to draw out some information provided by financial markets.
We can group them together in 5 categories:

Price and volume constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart

These are the "classical" constants and also the ones used the most. They report by default the value of the
current bar (whatever the timeframe used).
Open: Opening price of each bar
High: Highest price of each bar
Low: Lowest price of each bar
Close: Closing price of each bar
Volume: The number of securities or contracts exchanged at each bar
DECREASING CANDLESTICK

INCREASING CANDLESTICK

Example: Range of the current bar

a = High
b = Low
MyRange = a - b
RETURN MyRange

If you want to use the information of previous bars rather than the current bar, you just need to add between
square brackets the number of bars that you want to go back into the past.
Lets take for example the closing price constant:
Value of the closing price of the current bar:

Close

Value of the closing price preceding the current bar:

Close[1]

Value of the closing price preceding the nth bar preceding the current one:

Close [n]

This rule is valid for any constant. For example, the opening price of the 2nd bar preceding the current can
be expressed as: Open[2].
The reported value will depend on the displayed timeframe of the chart.
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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Daily price constants

Contrary to the constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart, the daily price constants refer to the value of
the day, regardless the timeframe of the chart.
Another difference between Daily price constants and constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart is that
the daily price constants use brackets and not square brackets to call the values of previous bars.
DOpen(n): Opening price of the nth day before the one of the current bar
DHigh(n): Highest price of the nth day before the one of the current bar
DLow(n): Lowest price of the nth day before the one of the current bar
DClose(n): Closing price of the nth day before the one of the current bar
Note: If "n" is equal to 0, "n" references the current day. As the maximum and minimum values are not
defined for n=0, we obtain a result for previous days but not for the current day.

The constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart use square brackets while the daily price
constants use brackets.
Close[3]

The closing price 3 periods ago

Dclose(3)

The closing price 3 days ago

Temporal constants
Time is often a neglected component of technical analysis. However traders know very well the importance
of some time periods in the day or dates in the year. It is possible in your programs to take into account time
and date and improve the efficiency of your indicators. The Temporal constants are described hereafter:
Date: indicates the date of the close of each bar in the format YearMonthDay (YYYYMMDD)
Temporal constants are considered by ProBuilder as whole numbers. The Date constant, for example, must
be used as one number made up of 8 figures.
Lets write down the program:
RETURN Date

Suppose today is July 4th, 2020. The program above will return the result 20200704.
The date can be read in the following way:
20200704 = 2020 years 07 months and 04 days.
Note that MM can never be greater than 12 and JJ can never be greater than 31.

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Time: indicates the hour of the closing price of each bar in the format HourMinuteSecond (HHMMSS)
Example:
RETURN Time

This indicator shows us the closing time of each bar in the format HHMMSS:

It is also possible to use Time and Date in the same indicator to do analysis or display results at a precise
moment. In the following example, we want to limit our indicator to the date of October 1st at precisely 9am
and 1 second:
a = (Date = 20081001)
b = (Time = 090001)
RETURN (a AND b)

The following constants work the same way:

Minute: Minute of the close of each bar (from 0 to 59): Only for intraday charts.
Hour: Hour of the close of each bar (from 0 to 23): Only for intraday charts.
Day: Day of the months of the closing price of each bar (from 1 to 28 or 29 or 30 or 31)
Month: Month of the closing price of each bar (from 1 to 12)
Year: Year of the closing price of each bar
DayOfWeek: Day of the Week of the close of each bar (does not use weekend days) (1=Monday,
2=Tuesday, 3=Wednesday, 4=Thursday, 5=Friday)
Example:
a = (Hour > 17)
b = (Day = 30)
RETURN (a AND b)

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

CurrentHour: Current Hour (of the local market)

CurrentMinute: Current Minute (of the local market)
CurrentMonth: Current Month (of the local market)
CurrentSecond: Current Second (of the local market)
Today: Current Date (of the local market)
CurrentTime: Current HourMinuteSecond (of the local market)
CurrentYear: Current Year (of the local market)
CurrentDayOfWeek: Current Day of the week with the market time zone as a reference
The difference between the "Current" constants and the "non-Current" constants presented above is the
"Current" aspect.
The following picture brings to light that difference (applied on the CurrentTime and Time constants). We can
highlight the fact that for "Current" constants, we must set aside the time axis and only take in consideration the
displayed value (the value of the current time is displayed over the whole history of the chart).

Time indicates the closing time of each bar.

CurrentTime indicates the current market time.

If you want to set up your indicators with counters (number of days passed, number of bars passed etc),
you can use the Days, BarIndex and IntradayBarIndex constants.
Days: Counter of days since 1900
This constant is quite useful when you want to know the number of days that have passed. It is particularly
relevant when you work with an (x) tick or (x) volume view.
The following example shows you the number of days passed since 1900.
RETURN Days

(Be careful not to confuse the constants "Day" and "Days").

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

BarIndex: Counter of bars since the beginning of the displayed historical data
The counter starts from left to right and counts each bar, including the current bar. The first bar loaded is
considered bar number 0. Most of the time, BarIndex is used with the IF instruction presented later in the
manual.
IntradayBarIndex: Counter of intraday bars
The counter displays the number of bars since the beginning of the day and then resets to zero at the
beginning of every new day. The first bar of the counter is considered bar number 0.
Lets compare the two counter constants with two separated indicators:
RETURN BarIndex

and
RETURN IntradayBarIndex

We can clearly see the difference between them: IntradayBarIndex reset itself to zero at the beginning of
every new day.

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Constants derived from price

These constants allows you to get more complete information compared to Open, High, Low and Close, since they
combine those prices so to emphasize some aspects of the financial market psychology shown on the current bar.
Range: difference between High and Low.
TypicalPrice: average between High, Low and Close
WeightedClose: weighted average of High (weight 1), Low (weight 1) and Close (weight 2)
MedianPrice: average between High and Low
TotalPrice: average between Open, High, Low and Close
Range shows the volatility of the current bar, which is an estimation of how nervous investors are.
You can create an indicator with one of the constants above only by creating a one-line indicator "RETURN
Range" for example or use the constants to create a more complicated indicator.
The WeightedClose focuses on the importance of the closing price bar (even more important when applied
to daily bars or weekly bars).
The TypicalPrice and TotalPrice emphasize intraday financial market psychology since they take 3 or 4
predominant prices of the current bar into account (see above).
MedianPrice uses the Median concept (the middle number) instead of the Average concept which is quite
useful when trying to create theoretical models that dont take investors psychology into account.
Range in %:
MyRange = Range
Calcul = (MyRange / MyRange[1] - 1) * 100
RETURN Calcul

The Undefined constant

The keyword Undefined allows you to indicate to the software not to display the value of the indicator.
Undefined: undefined data (equivalent to an empty box)
You can find an example later in the manual.

How to use pre-existing indicators?

Up until now, we have described you the possibilities offered by ProBuilder concerning constants and how to
call values of bars of the past using these constants. Pre-existing indicators (the ones already programmed
in ProRealTime) function the same way and so do the indicators you will code.
ProBuilder indicators are made up of three elements which syntax is:
NameOfFunction [calculated over n periods] (applied to which price or indicator)
When using the "Insert Function" button to look for a ProBuilder function and then enter it into your program,
default values are given for both the period and the price or indicator argument.

Average[20](Close)
The values can be modified. For example, we can replace the 20 bars defined by default with any number of
bars (ex: Average[10], Average[15], Average[30], , Average[n]). In the same way, we can replace "Close"
with "Open" or RSI (Relative strength index). This would give us for example:

Average[20](RSI[5])
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Chapter I: Fundamentals

Here are some sample programs:

Program calculating the exponential moving average over 20 periods applied to the closing price:
RETURN ExponentialAverage[20](Close)

Program calculating the weighted moving average over 20 bars applied to the typical price
mm = WeightedAverage[20](TypicalPrice)
RETURN mm

Program calculating the Wilder average over 100 candlesticks applied to the Volume
mm = WilderAverage[100](Volume)
RETURN mm

Program calculating the MACD (histogram) applied to the closing price. The MACD is built with the difference
between the 12-period exponential moving average (EMA) minus the 26-period EMA. Then, we make a
smoothing with an exponential moving average over 9 periods and applied to the MACD line to get the
Signal line. Finally, the MACD is the difference between the MACD line and the Signal line.
// Calculation of the MACD line
MACDLine = ExponentialAverage[12](Close) - ExponentialAverage[26](Close)
// Calculation of the MACD Signal line
MACDSignalLine = ExponentialAverage[9](MACDLine)
// Calculation of the difference between the MACD line and its Signal
MACDHistogramme = MACDLine - MACDSignalLine
RETURN MACDHistogramme

Variables
When you code an indicator, you may want to introduce variables. The variables option in the upper-right
corner of the window allows you to attribute a default value to an undefined variable and manipulate it in the
"settings" window of the indicator without modifying the code of your program.
Lets calculate a simple moving average on 20 periods:
RETURN Average[20](Close)

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Chapter I: Fundamentals

In order to modify the number of periods for the calculation directly from the indicator "Settings" interface,
replace 20 with the variable "n":
RETURN Average[n](Close)

Then, click on "Add" in "Variables" and another window named "Variable definition" will be displayed. Fill it in
as follows:

Click on the "OK" button. Then, in the "Settings" window (in this case "Settings MyMovingAverage") you will
see a new parameter which will allow you to modify the number of periods in the calculation of the moving
average:

Of course, it is possible to do the same with many variables giving you the possibility to manipulate multiple
parameters at the same time for the same indicator.

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Control Structures
Conditional IF instruction
The IF instruction is used to make a conditioned action, meaning executing the action if one or more
conditions is met.
The structure is made up of the instructions IF, THEN, ELSE, ELSIF, ENDIF, which are used depending on
the complexity of the conditions you defined.
One condition, one result (IF THEN ENDIF)
We can look for a condition and define an action if that condition is true. On the other hand, if the condition is
not valid, then nothing will happen (By default, Result = 0).
In this example, if current price is greater than the 20-period moving average, then we display: Result = 1
and display this on the chart.
Result = 0
Result is equal to 0.
IF Close > Average[20](Close) THEN
IF closing price > 20-period moving average
Result = 1
THEN Result = 1, otherwise Result =0
END OF CONDITION
ENDIF
RETURN Result

RETURN must always be followed with the storage variable containing the result in order to
display the result on the chart (in the last example we use the variable "Result").
One condition, two results (IF THEN ELSE ENDIF)
We can also define a different result if the condition is not true. Let us go back to the previous example: if the
price is greater than the moving average on 20 periods, then display 1, else, displays -1.
IF Close > Average[20](Close) THEN
Result = 1
ELSE
Result = -1
ENDIF
RETURN Result

NB: We have created a binary indicator. For more information, see the section on binary and ternary
indicators later in this manual.
Sequential IF conditions
You can create sub-conditions after the validation of the main condition, meaning conditions which must be
validated one after another. For that, you need to build a sequence of IF structures, one included in the other.
You should be careful to insert in the code as many ENDIF as IF. Example:
Double conditions on moving averages:
IF (Average[12](Close) - Average[20](Close) > 0) THEN
IF ExponentialAverage[12](Close) - ExponentialAverage[20](Close) > 0 THEN
Result = 1
ELSE
Result = -1
ENDIF
ENDIF
RETURN Result
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Multiple conditions (IF THEN ELSE ELSIF ENDIF)

You can define a specific result for a specific condition. The indicator reports many states: if Condition 1 is
valid then do Action1; else, if Condition 2 is valid, then do Action 2 if none of the previously mentioned
conditions are valid then do Action n.
This structure uses the following instructions: IF, THEN, ELSIF, THEN.... ELSE, ENDIF.
The syntax is:
IF (Condition1) THEN
(Action1)
ELSIF (Condition2) THEN
(Action2)
ELSIF (Condition3) THEN
(Action3)
...
...
...
ELSE
(Action n)
ENDIF

You can also replace ELSIF with ELSE IF but your program will take longer to write. Of course, you will have
to end the loop with as many instance of ENDIF as IF. If you want to make multiple conditions in your
program, we advise you to use ELSIF rather than ELSE IF for this reason.
Example: detection of bearish and bullish engulfing lines using the Elsif instruction
This indicator displays 1 if a bullish engulfing line is detected, -1 if a bearish engulfing line is detected, and 0
if neither of them is detected.
// Detection of a bullish engulfing line
Condition1 = Close[1] < Open[1]
Condition2 = Open < Close[1]
Condition3 = Close > Open[1]
Condition4 = Open < Close

// Detection of a bearish engulfing line

Condition5 = Close[1] > Open[1]
Condition6 = Close < Open
Condition7 = Open > Close[1]
Condition8 = Close < Open[1]
IF Condition1 AND Condition2 AND Condition3 AND Condition4 THEN
a = 1
ELSIF Condition5 AND Condition6 AND Condition7 AND Condition8 THEN
a = -1
ELSE
a = 0
ENDIF
RETURN a
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Example: Resistance Demarks pivot

IF DClose(1) > DOpen(1) THEN
Phigh = DHigh(1) + (DClose(1) - DLow(1)) / 2
Plow = (DClose(1) + DLow(1)) / 2
ELSIF DClose(1) < DOpen(1) THEN
Phigh = (DHigh(1) + DClose(1)) / 2
Plow = DLow(1) - (DHigh(1) - DClose(1)) / 2
ELSE
Phigh = DClose(1) + (DHigh(1) - DLow(1)) / 2
Plow = DClose(1) - (DHigh(1) - DLow(1)) / 2
ENDIF
RETURN Phigh , Plow

Example: BarIndex
In the chapter I of our manual, we presented BarIndex as a counter of bars loaded. BarIndex is often used
with IF. For example, if we want to know if the number of bars in your chart exceeds 23 bars, then we will
write:
IF BarIndex <= 23 THEN
a = 0
ELSIF BarIndex > 23 THEN
a = 1
ENDIF
RETURN a

Iterative FOR Loop

FOR is used when we want to exploit a finite series of elements. This series must be made up of whole
numbers (ex: 1, 2, 3, ..., 6, 7 or 7, 6, ..., 3, 2, 1) and ordered.
Its structure is formed of FOR, TO, DOWNTO, DO, NEXT. TO and DOWNTO are used depending on the
order of appearance in the series of the elements (ascending order or descending order). We also highlight
the fact that what is between FOR and DO are the extremities of the interval to scan.
Ascending (FOR, TO, DO, NEXT)
FOR (Variable = BeginningValueOfTheSeries) TO EndingValueOfTheSeries DO
(Action)
NEXT

Example: Smoothing of a 12-period moving average

Lets create a storage variable (Result) which will sum the 11, 12 and 13-period moving averages.
Result = 0
FOR Variable = 11 TO 13 DO
Result = Average[Variable](Close) + Result
NEXT
REM Lets create a storage variable (AverageResult) which will divide Result by 3 and
display average result. Average result is a smoothing of the 12-period moving average.
AverageResult = Result / 3
RETURN AverageResult

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Lets see step by step how the program does the calculation:
Mathematically, we want to calculate the average of the moving averages calculated on 11, 12 and 13 periods.
Variable will then get successively the values 11, 12 and 13 (FOR always works with whole numbers only).
Result = 0
When Period = 11: The new Result = the 11 - period moving average + the previous value of result (0).
The counter receives its next value
When Period = 12: The new Result = the 12 - period moving average + the previous value of result.
The counter receives its next value
When Period = 13: The new Result = the 13 - period moving average + the previous value of result.
13 is the last value of the counter.
We end the FOR loop with the NEXT instruction.
We then display AverageResult.
This code simply means the "Variable" will, first of all get the beginning value of the series, then variable will
receive the next one (previous + 1) and so on until variable is equal to or greater than the last number in the
series. Then the loop is over.
Example: Average of the highest price over the 20 last bars
SUMhigh = 0
IF BarIndex < 5 THEN
MAhigh = Undefined
ELSE
FOR i = 0 TO 4 DO
SUMhigh = High[i]+SUMhigh

If there are not yet 5 periods displayed

Then we attribute to MAhigh value "Undefined" (not displayed)
ELSE
FOR values of i between 1 to 5
We sum the 5 last "High" values

NEXT
ENDIF
MAhigh = SUMhigh / 5
RETURN MAhigh

We calculate the average for the last 5 periods and

store the result in MAhigh
We display MAhigh

Descending (FOR, DOWNTO, DO, NEXT)

The descending loop uses the following instructions: FOR, DOWNTO, DO, NEXT.
Its syntax is:
FOR (Variable = EndingValueOfTheSeries) DOWNTO BeginningValueOfTheSeries DO
(Action)
NEXT

Let us go back to the previous example (the 5-period moving average of "High"):
We can notice that we have just inverted the extremities of the scanned interval.
Mahigh = 0
SUMhigh = 0
IF BarIndex = 0 THEN
Mahigh = Undefined
ELSE
FOR i = 4 DOWNTO 0 DO
SUMhigh = High[i] + SUMhigh
NEXT
ENDIF
Mahigh = SUMhigh / 5
RETURN Mahigh
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Conditional WHILE Loop

WHILE is used to keep doing an action while a condition remains true. You will see that this instruction is
very similar to the simple conditional instruction IF/THEN/ENDIF.
This structure uses the following instructions: WHILE, (DO optional), WEND (end WHILE)
Its syntax is:
WHILE (Condition) DO
(Action 1)

(Action n)
WEND

This code lets you show the number of bars separating the current candlestick from a previous higher
candlestick within the limit of 30 periods.
i = 1
WHILE high > high [i] and i < 30 DO
i = i + 1
WEND
RETURN i

Example: indicator calculating the number of consecutive increases

Increase = (Close > Close[1])
Count = 0
WHILE Increase[Count] DO
Count = Count + 1
WEND
RETURN Count

General comment on the conditional instruction WHILE:

Similar to IF, the program will not process the conditional loop if the condition is unknown.
For example:
Count = 0
WHILE i <> 11 DO
i = i + 1
Count = Count + 1
WEND
RETURN Count

The WHILE instruction does not recognize the value of i. Therefore, it cannot test whether i is equal to 10 or
not and the loop will not be processed, hence the count is equal to 0.
The correct code would be:
i = 0
Count = 0
WHILE i <> 11 DO
i = i + 1
Count = Count + 1
WEND
RETURN Count

In this code, i is initialized. The loop will then work correctly since the condition for beginning the loop is valid.
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

BREAK
The BREAK instruction allows you to make a forced exit out of a WHILE loop or a FOR loop. Combinations
are possible with the IF command, inside a WHILE loop or a FOR loop.
With WHILE
When we want to exit a conditional WHILE loop, we use BREAK in the following way:
WHILE (Condition) DO
(Action)
IF (ConditionBreak)
BREAK
WEND

The use of BREAK in a WHILE loop is only interesting if we want to test an additional condition for which the
value can not be known while in the WHILE loop. For example, lets look at a stochastic which is only
calculated in a bullish trend:
line = 0
Increase = (Close - Close[1]) > 0
i = 0
WHILE Increase[i] DO
i = i + 1
// Si high - low, we exit the loop to avoid a division by zero.
IF (high-low) = 0 then
BREAK
ENDIF
osc = (close low) / (high low)
line = AVERAGE [i] (osc)
WEND
RETURN line

With FOR
When we try to get out of an iterative FOR loop, without reaching the last (or first) value of the series, we use
BREAK.
FOR (Variable = BeginningValueOfTheSeries) TO EndingValueOfTheSeries DO
(Action)
BREAK
NEXT

Lets take for example an indicator cumulating increases of the volume of the last 19 periods. This indicator
will be equal to 0 if the volume decreases.
Count = 0
FOR i = 0 TO 19 DO
IF (Volume[i] > Volume[i + 1]) THEN
Count = Count + 1
ELSE
BREAK
ENDIF
NEXT
RETURN Count

In this code, if BREAK werent used, the loop would have continued until 19 (last element of the series) even
if the condition count is not valid.
However, with BREAK, as soon as the condition is valid, the result becomes 0.
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

CONTINUE
The CONTINUE instruction allows you to resume the program reader at the line where WHILE or FOR is
written, thus without restarting completely the loop (any incremented counter will thus keep its value and not
be reset to 0). This command is often used with BREAK, either to leave the loop (BREAK) or to stay in the
loop (CONTINUE).
With WHILE
Lets create a program counting the number of candlesticks whose close and open are greater than those of
the candlestick preceding them. If the condition is not valid, then the counter will be reset to 0.
Increase = Close > Close[1]
Count = 0
WHILE Open < Open[1] DO
IF Increase[Count] THEN
Count = Count + 1
CONTINUE
ENDIF
BREAK
WEND
RETURN Count

When using CONTINUE, if the IF condition is not valid, then the WHILE loop is not ended. This allows us to
count the number of patterns detected with this condition. Without the CONTINUE instruction, the program
would leave the loop, even if the IF condition is validated. Then, we would not be able to continue counting
the number of patterns detected and the result would be binary (1, 0).
With FOR
Lets create a program counting the number of candlesticks whose close and open are greater than those of
the candlestick preceding them. If the condition is not valid, then the counter will be reset to 0.
Increase = Close > Close[1]
Count = 0
FOR i = 1 TO BarIndex DO
IF Increase[Count] THEN
Count = Count + 1
CONTINUE
ENDIF
BREAK
NEXT
RETURN Count

FOR gives you the possibility to test the condition over all the data loaded. When used with CONTINUE, if
the IF condition is validated, then we do not leave the FOR loop and resume it with the next value of i. This is
how we count the number of patterns detected by this condition.
Without CONTINUE, the program would leave the loop, even if the IF condition is validated. Then, we would
not be able to count the number of patterns detected and the result would be binary (1, 0).

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

ONCE
The ONCE instruction is used to initialize a variable at a certain value "only ONE TIME".
Knowing that for the whole program, the language will read the code for each bar displayed on the chart
before returning the result, you must then keep in mind that ONCE:
Is processed only one time by the program including the second reading.
During the second reading of the program, it will stock the values calculated in the previous reading.
To fully understand how this command works, you need to perceive how the language processes the
code, hence the usefulness of the next example.
These are two programs returning respectively 0 and 15 and which only difference is the ONCE command
added:
Program 1

Program 2

1 Count = 0

1 ONCE Count = 0

2 i = 0

2 ONCE i = 0

3 IF i <= 5 THEN

3 IF i <= 5 THEN

Count = Count + i

Count = Count + i

i = i + 1

i = i + 1

6 ENDIF

6 ENDIF

7 RETURN Count

7 RETURN Count

Lets see how the language read the code.

Program 1:
For the first bar, the language will read line 1 (L1: Count = 0; i = 0), then L2, L3, L4, L5 and L6 (Count = 0; i =
1). For the next bar, the program starts at the beginning and both i and count are set to 0, so count will
always return 0 for every bar.
Program 2:
For the first bar, the language will read L1 (Count = 0; i = 0), then L2, L3, L4, L5, L6 (Count = 0; i = 1). When
it arrives at the line "RETURN", it restarts the loop to calculate the value of the next bar starting from L3 (the
lines with ONCE are processed only one time), L4, L5, L6 (Count = 1; i = 2), then go back again (Count =
3; i = 3) and so forth to (Count = 15; i = 6). Arrived at this result, the IF loop is not processed anymore
because the condition is not valid anymore; the only line left to read is L7, hence the result is 15 for the
remaining bars loaded.

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Mathematical Functions
Common unary and binary Functions
Lets focus now on the Mathematical Functions. You will find in ProBuilder the main functions known in
mathematics. Please note that a and b are examples and can be numbers or any other variable in your
program.
MIN(a, b): calculate the minimum of a and b
MAX(a, b): calculate the maximum of a and b
ROUND(a): round a to the nearest whole number
ABS(a): calculate the absolute value of a
SGN(a): shows the sign of a (1 if positive, -1 if negative)
SQUARE(a): calculate a squared
SQRT(a): calculate the square root of a
LOG(a): calculate the Neperian logarithm of a
EXP(a): calculate the exponent of a
COS(a): calculate the cosine of a
SIN(a): calculate the sine of a
TAN(a): calculate the tangent of a
ATAN(a): calculate the arc-tangent of a
Lets code the example of the normal distribution in mathematics. Its interesting because it use the square
function, the square root function and the exponential function at the same time:
REM Normal Law applied to x = 10, StandardDeviation = 6 and MathExpectation = 8
REM Lets define the following variables in the variable option:
StandardDeviation = 6
MathExpectation = 8
x = 10
Indicator = EXP((1 / 2) * (SQUARE(x MathExpectation) / Ecarttype)) / (StandardDeviation
* SQRT(2 / 3.14))
RETURN Indicator

Common mathematical operators

a < b: a is strictly less than b
a <= b or a =< b: a is less than or equal to b
a > b: a is strictly greater than b
a >= b ou a => b: a is greater than or equal to b
a = b: a is equal to b (or b is attributed to a)
a <> b: a is different from b

Charting comparison functions

a CROSSES OVER b: the a curve crosses over the b curve
a CROSSES UNDER b: the a curve crosses under the b curve

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Summation functions
cumsum: Calculates the sum of a price or indicator over all bars loaded on the chart
The syntax of cumsum is:
cumsum (price or indicator)

Ex: cumsum(Close) calculates the sum of the close of all the bars loaded on the chart.
summation: Calculates the sum of a price or indicator over the last n bars
The sum is calculated starting from the most recent value (from right to left)
The syntax of summation is:
summation[number of bars]((price or indicator)

Ex: summation[20](Open) calculates the sum of the open of the last 20 bars.

Statistical functions
The syntax of all these functions is the same as the syntax for the Summation function, that is:
lowest[number of bars](price or indicator)

lowest: displays the lowest value of the price or indicator written between brackets, over the number of
periods defined
highest: displays the highest value of the price or indicator written between brackets, over the number
of periods defined
STD: displays the standard deviation of a price or indicator, over the number of periods defined
STE: displays the standard error of a price or indicator, over the number of periods defined

Logical operators
As any programming language, it is necessary to have at our disposal some Logical Operators to create
relevant indicators. These are the 4 Logical Operators of ProBuilder:
NOT(a): logical NO
a OR b: logical OR
a AND b: logical AND
a XOR b: exclusive OR
Calculation of the trend indicator: On Balance Volume (OBV):
IF NOT((Close > Close[1]) OR (Close = Close[1])) THEN
MyOBV = MyOBV - Volume
ELSE
MyOBV = MyOBV + Volume
ENDIF
RETURN MyOBV

ProBuilder instructions
RETURN: displays the result
CustomClose: displays a customizable price value; by default, this price is "Close"
CALL: calls another ProBuilder indicator to use in your current program
AS: names the result displayed
COLOURED: colors the displayed curve in with the color of your choice
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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

RETURN
We have already seen in chapter I how important the RETURN instruction was. It has some specific
properties we need to know to avoid programming errors.
The main points to keep in mind when using RETURN in order to write a program correctly are that Return is
used:
One and only one time in each ProBuilder program
Always at the last line of code
Optionally with other functions such as AS and COLOURED
To display many results; we write RETURN followed with what we want to display and separated with a
comma (example: RETURN a,b)

REM or //
REM allows you to write remarks or comments inside the code. They are mainly useful to remember how a
function you coded works. These remarks will be read but of course not processed by the program. Lets
illustrate the concept with the following example:
REM This program returns the simple moving average over 20 periods applied to the closing
price
RETURN Average[20](Close)

Dont use special characters (examples: ,,,) in ProBuilder. This does not apply in the REM
or // sections (comments).

CustomClose
CustomClose is a constant allowing you to display the Close, Open, High, Low constants and many
others, which can be customized in the Settings window of the indicator.
Its syntax is the same as the one of the constants adapted to the timeframe of the chart:
CustomClose[n]

Example:
// Displays the average over 20 periods applied to CustomClose
RETURN CustomClose[2]

By clicking on the wrench in the upper left corner of the chart, you will see that it is possible to customize the
prices used in the calculation.

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

CALL
CALL allows you to use a personal indicator you have coded before in the platform.
The quickest method is to click Insert Function then select the "User Indicators" category and then select
the name of the indicator you want to use and click "Add".
For example, imagine you have coded the Histogram MACD and named it HistoMACD.
Select your indicator and click on "Add". You will see in the programming zone:
myHistoMACD = CALL HistoMACD

The software gave the name "myHistoMACD" to the indicator "HistoMACD".

This means that for the rest of your program, if you want to use the HistoMACD indicator, you will have to call
it "myHistoMACD".

AS
The keyword AS allows you to name the different results displayed. This instruction is used with RETURN
and its syntax is:
RETURN Result1 AS "Curve Name", Result2 AS "Curve Name",

The advantage of this command is that it makes it easier to identify the different curves on your chart.
Example:
a = ExponentialAverage[200](Close)
b = WeightedAverage[200](Close)
c = Average[200](Close)
RETURN a AS "Exponential Average", b AS "Weighted Average", c AS "Arithmetical Average"

COLOURED
COLOURED is used after the RETURN command to color the curve displayed with the color of your choice,
defined with the RGB norm (red, green, blue). These are the main colors of this norm:
COLOR

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RGB VALUE
(RED, GREEN, BLUE)

ENGLISH

(0, 0, 0)

Black

(255, 255, 255)

White

(255, 0, 0)

Red

(0, 255, 0)

Green

(0, 0, 255)

Blue

(255, 255, 0)

Yellow

(0, 255, 255)

Cyan

(255, 0, 255)

Magenta

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

The syntax of the Coloured command is:

RETURN Indicator COLOURED(Red, Green, Blue)

The AS command can be associated with the COLOURED(. , . , .) command. This association must be used
in this order:
RETURN Indicator COLOURED(Red, Green, Blue) AS "Name Of The Curve"

Lets go back to the previous example and insert COLOURED in the "RETURN" line.
a = ExponentialAverage[200](Close)
b = WeightedAverage[200](Close)
c = Average[200](Close)
RETURN a COLOURED(255, 0, 0) AS "Exponential Moving Average", b COLOURED(0, 255, 0) AS
"WeightedMoving Average", c COLOURED(0, 0, 255) AS "Simple Moving Average"

This picture shows you the color customization of the result.

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

Drawing instructions
The following instructions were added in version 10.3 of the software. They are available to use from this version
onwards. These instructions let you draw objects on charts and also draw custom candles and bar charts.
BACKGROUNDCOLOR : Lets you color the background of the chart or specific bars (such as odd/even
days). The colored zone starts halfway between the previous bar and the next bar

Example: BACKGROUNDCOLOR (0, 127, 255, 25)

Its possible to use a variable for the colors if you want the background color to change based on your
conditions.
Example: BACKGROUNDCOLOR (0, color, 255, 25)

DRAWBARCHART : Draws a custom bar on the chart. Open, high, low and close can be constants or

variables.
Example: DRAWBARCHART (open, high, low, close) COLOURED (0, 255, 0)
DRAWCANDLE : Draws a custom candlestick on the chart. Open, high, low and close can be constants or

variables.
Example: DRAWCANDLE (open, high, low, close) COLOURED (0, 255, 0)

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

DRAWARROW : Draws an arrow pointing right. You need to define a point for the arrow (x and y axis). You
can also choose a color.

Example: DRAWARROW (x1, y1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWARROWUP : Draws an arrow pointing up. You need to define a point for the arrow (x and y axis). You
can also choose a color.

Example: DRAWARROWUP (x1, y1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

This is useful to add visual buy singals.
DRAWARROWDOWN : Draws an arrow pointing down. You need to define a point for the arrow (x and y
axis). You can also choose a color.

Example: DRAWARROWDOWN (x1, y1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

This is useful to add visual sell singals.

DRAWRECTANGLE : Draws a rectangle on the chart.

Example: DRAWRECTANGLE (x1, y1, x2, y2) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWELLIPSE : Draws an elipse on the chart.

Example: DRAWELLIPSE (x1, y1, x2, y2) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

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Chapter II: Math Functions and ProBuilder instructions

DRAWLINE : Draws a line on the chart.

Example: DRAWLINE (x1, y1, x2, y2) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWHLINE : Draws a horizontal line on the chart.

Example: DRAWHLINE (y1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWVLINE : Draws a vertical line on the chart.

Example: DRAWVLINE (x1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWSEGMENT : Draws a segment on the chart.

Example: DRAWSEGMENT (x1, y1, x2, y2) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

Example: DRAWSEGMENT (barindex, close, barindex[5], close[5])

DRAWTEXT : Adds a text field to the chart with the text of your choice at a specified location.

Example: DRAWTEXT ("your text", x1, y1) COLOURED (R, V, B, a)

DRAWONLASTBARONLY : Parameter that lets you draw drawn objects on the last bar only. This parameter
should always be used with "CALCULATEONLASTBARS" to optimize calculations.

Example: DEFPARAM DRAWONLASTBARONLY = true

CALCULATEONLASTBARS : This parameter lets you increase the speed at which indicators are calculated
by defining the number of bars to display the results, starting with the most recent bar.

Example: DEFPARAM CALCULATEONLASTBARS = 200

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Chapter III: Practical aspects

Chapter III: Practical aspects

Why and how to create binary or ternary indicators
A binary or ternary indicator is an indicator which returns only two or three possible results (usually 0, 1 or
-1). Its main purpose in a trading context is to identify very quickly the pattern or conditions you defined in
your indicator with a visual signal.
Purpose of a binary or ternary indicator:
Detect the main candlestick patterns (ex: Harami, Morning Stars, Hammers, )
Make it easier to read the chart when trying to identify specific conditions
Place simple 1-condition alerts on an indicator which includes several conditions
alerts at your disposal!

you will have more

Detect complex conditions on historical data loaded

Make it easier to create a backtest
Furthermore, you can find in the ProBacktest manual many examples of stops to be inserted in investment
strategies.
Binary or ternary indicators are built essentially with IF structures. We advise you to read the IF section
before continuing your reading.
Lets look at an example of a binary and ternary indicator:
Binary Indicator: hammer detection hammer
Hammer = Close>Open AND High = Close AND (Open-Low) >= 3*(Close-Open)
IF Hammer THEN
Result = 1
ELSE
Result = 0
ENDIF
RETURN Result AS "Hammer"

Ternary Indicator: Golden Cross and Death Cross detection

a = ExponentialAverage[10](Close)
b = ExponentialAverage[20](Close)
c = 0
// Golden Cross detection
IF a CROSSES OVER b THEN
c = 1
ENDIF
// Death Cross detection
IF a CROSSES UNDER b THEN
c = -1
ENDIF
RETURN c

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Chapter III: Practical aspects

Note: we have displayed the exponential moving average over 10 and 20 periods both applied to the close in
order to highlight the results of the indicator.
You can find other candlestick pattern indicators in the "Exercises" chapter later in this manual.

Creating stop indicators to follow a position

It is possible to create STOP indicators, meaning potential places to exit the market defined by personalized
parameters.
With the backtesting module ProBacktest, which is the subject of another programming manual, you can also
define the stop levels of a backtest. However, programming a stop as an indicator is interesting because:
It allows to visualize the stop as a line which updates in real-time on the chart (ex: trailing stop)
It is possible to place real-time alerts to be immediately informed of the situation
It is not necessary to create long or short orders (contrary to ProBacktest)
Programming Stops is also a means to master the commands you saw in the previous chapters.
These are the 4 categories of stop we will focus on:
StaticTake Profit STOP
Static STOP Loss
Inactivity STOP
Trailing STOP (trailing stop loss or trailing take profit)
The indicators presented in the following examples are possible codes to create stop indicators. You will
most probably personalize them using the instructions you learned in the previous chapters.

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Chapter III: Practical aspects

StaticTake Profit STOP

A Static Take-Profit designates a level that if price reaches it, we plan to close our position and exit with
gains. By definition, this STOP is a fixed level (horizontal line). The user of this kind of STOP will exit his
position and take his profit when this level is reached.
The indicator coded below indicates two levels and StartingTime is the moment you entered your position:
If you are a buyer, you will take into account the higher curve, representing a 10% profit (110% of the
price when you took your long position).
If you are a seller, you will take into account the lower curve, representing a10% profit (90% of the price
when you took your short position).
// We define in the variable option:
// StartingTime = 100000 (this is an example for 10 am; set this to the time you entered
your position)
// Price= Price when you took your position
// You can look at StopLONG if looking at a long position and StopShort if you are
looking at a short position. You can also remove StopLONG or StopSHORT if you only work
with long positions or only work with short positions.
// AmplitudeUp represents the variation rate of Price used to draw the Take Profit for
long position (default: 1.1)
// AmplitudeDown represents the variation rate of Price used to draw the Take Profit for
short position (default: 0.9)
IF Time = StartingTime THEN
StopLONG = AmplitudeUp * Price
StopSHORT = AmplitudeDown * Price
ENDIF
RETURN StopLONG COLOURED(0, 0, 0) AS "TakeProfit LONG 10%", StopSHORT COLOURED(0, 255, 0)
AS "TakeProfit SHORT 10%"

Static STOP loss

A Static STOP Loss is the contrary of a Static Take-Profit STOP, meaning if price reaches it, we plan to close
our position and exit with losses. This STOP is very useful when you are losing money and try exit the
market to limit your losses to the minimum. Just like the Static Take-Profit, this STOP defines a fixed level,
but this time, the user will exit his position and cut his losses when this level is reached.
The indicator coded below indicates two levels and StartingTime is the moment you entered your position:
If you are a buyer, you will take into account the lower curve, representing a 10% loss (90% of the price
when you took your long position).
If you are a seller, you will take into account the higher curve, representing a 10% loss (110% of the
price when you took your short position).
The code of this indicator is:
// We define in the variable option:
// StartingTime = 100000 (this is an example for 10 am; set this to the time you entered
your position)
// Price= Price when you took your position
// You can look at StopLONG if looking at a long position and StopShort if you are
looking at a short position. You can also remove StopLONG or StopSHORT if you only work
with long positions or only work with short positions.
// AmplitudeUp represents the variation rate of Price used to draw the Stop Loss for
short position (default: 0.9)
// AmplitudeDown represents the variation rate of Price used to draw the Tsop Loss for
long position (default: 1.1)
IF Time = StartingTime THEN
StopLONG = AmplitudeUp * Price
StopSHORT = AmplitudeDown * Price
ENDIF
RETURN StopLONG COLOURED(0, 0, 0) AS "StopLoss LONG 10%", StopSHORT COLOURED(0, 255, 0)
AS "StopLoss SHORT 10%"
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Chapter III: Practical aspects

Inactivity STOP
An inactivity STOP closes the position when the gains have not obtained a certain objective (defined in % or
in points) over a certain period (defined in number of bars).
Remember to define the variables in the "Variables" section.
Example of Inactivity Stop on Intraday Charts:
This stop must be used with those two indicators:
The first indicator juxtaposed to the curve of the price
The second indicator must be displayed in a separated chart
Indicator1
// We define in the variable option:
// MyVolatility = 0.01 represents variation rate between the each part of the range and
the close
IF IntradayBarIndex = 0 THEN
ShortTarget = (1 - MyVolatility) * Close
LongTarget = (1 + MyVolatility) * Close
ENDIF
RETURN ShortTarget AS "ShortTarget", LongTarget AS "LongTarget"

Indicator2
// We define in the variable option:
REM We supposed that you take an "On Market Price" position
// MyVolatility = 0.01 represents variation rate between the each part of the range and
the close
// NumberOfBars=20: the close can fluctuate within the range defined during a maximum of
NumberOfBars before the position is cut (Result = 1)
Result = 0
Cpt = 0
IF IntradayBarIndex = 0 THEN
ShortTarget = (1 - MyVolatility) * Close
LongTarget = (1 + MyVolatility) * Close
ENDIF
FOR i = IntradayBarIndex DOWNTO 1 DO
IF Close[i] >= ShortTarget AND Close[i] <= LongTarget THEN
Cpt = Cpt + 1
ELSE
Cpt = 0
ENDIF
IF Cpt = NumberOfBars THEN
Result = 1
ENDIF
NEXT
RETURN Result

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Chapter III: Practical aspects

Trailing Stop
A trailing STOP follows the evolution of the price dynamically and indicates when to close a position.
We suggest you two ways to code the trailing STOP, the first one representing a Dynamic Trailing Stop Loss,
and the other one a Dynamic Trailing Take Profit.
Dynamic Trailing STOP LOSS (to be used in intraday trading)
// Define the following variables in the variable section:
// StartingTime = 090000 (this is an example for 9 am; set this to the time you entered
your position)
REM We supposed that you take an "On Market Price" position
// Amplitude represents the variation rate of the "Cut" curve compared to the "Lowest"
curves (for example, we can take Amplitude = 0.95)
IF Time = StartingTime THEN
IF lowest[5](Close) < 1.2 * Low THEN
IF lowest[5](Close) >= Close THEN
Cut = Amplitude * lowest[5](Close)
ELSE
Cut = Amplitude * lowest[20](Close)
ENDIF
ELSE
Cut = Amplitude * lowest[20](Close)
ENDIF
ENDIF
RETURN Cut AS "Trailing Stop Loss"

Dynamic Trailing STOP Profit (to be used in intraday trading)

// Define the following variables in the variable section:
// StartingTime = 090000 (this is an example for 9 am; set this to the time you entered
your position)
REM You take an On Market Price position
// Amplitude represents the variation rate of the "Cut" curve compared to the "Lowest"
curves (for example, we can take Amplitude = 1.015)
IF Time = StartingTime THEN
StartingPrice = Close
ENDIF
Price = StartingPrice - AverageTrueRange[10]
TrailingStop = Amplitude * highest[15](Price)
RETURN TrailingStop COLOURED (255, 0, 0) AS "Trailing take profit"

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C h a p t e r I V: E x e r c i s e s

Chapter IV: Exercises

Candlesticks patterns
GAP UP or DOWN

The candlesticks can be either black or white

A gap is defined by these two conditions:
(the current low is strictly greater than the high of the previous bar) or (the current high is strictly lesser
than the low of the previous bar)
the absolute value of ((the current low the high of the previous bar)/the high of the previous bar) is
strictly greater than amplitude) or ((the current high the low of the previous bar)/the low of the previous
bar) is strictly greater than amplitude)
// Initialization of Amplitude
Amplitude = 0.001
// Initialization of detector
Detector = 0
// Gap Up
// 1st condition of the existence of a gap
IF Low > High[1] THEN
// 2nd condition of the existence of a gap
IF ABS((Low - High[1]) / High[1]) > Amplitude THEN
// Behavior of the detector
Detector = 1
ENDIF
ENDIF
// Gap Down
// 1st condition of the existence of a gap
IF High < Low[1] THEN
// 2nd condition of the existence of a gap
IF ABS((High - Low[1]) / Low[1]) > Amplitude THEN
// Behavior of the detector
Detector = -1
ENDIF
ENDIF
// Result display
RETURN Detector AS "Gap detection"

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C h a p t e r I V: E x e r c i s e s

Doji (flexible version)

In this code, we define a doji to be a candlestick with a range (High Close) is greater
than 5 times the absolute value of (Open Close).

Doji = Range > ABS(Open - Close) * 5

RETURN Doji AS "Doji"

Doji (strict version)

We define the doji with a Close equal to its Open.

Doji = (Open = Close)

RETURN Doji AS "Doji"

Indicators
BODY MOMENTUM
The Body Momentum is mathematically defined by:
BodyMomentum = 100 * BodyUp / (BodyUp + BodyDown)
BodyUp is a counter of bars for which close is greater than open during a certain number of periods.
BodyDown is a counter of bars for which open is greater than close during a certain number of periods.
Periods = 14
b = Close - Open
IF BarIndex > Periods THEN
Bup = 0
Bdn = 0
FOR i = 1 TO Periods
IF b[i] > 0 THEN
Bup = Bup + 1
ELSIF b[i] < 0 THEN
Bdn = Bdn + 1
ENDIF
NEXT
BM = (Bup / (Bup + Bdn)) * 100
ELSE
BM = Undefined
ENDIF
RETURN BM AS "Body Momentum"
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C h a p t e r I V: E x e r c i s e s

ELLIOT WAVE OSCILLATOR

The Elliot wave oscillator shows the difference between two moving averages.
Parameters:
a: short MA periods (5 by default)
b: long MA periods (35 by default)
This oscillator permits to distinguish between wave 3 and wave 5 using Elliot wave theory.
The short MA shows short-term price action whereas the long MA shows the longer term trend.
When the prices form wave 3, the prices climb strongly which shows a high value of the Elliot Wave
Oscillator.
In wave 5, the prices climb more slowly, and the oscillator will show a lower value.
RETURN Average[5](MedianPrice) - Average[35](MedianPrice) AS "Elliot Wave Oscillator"

Williams %R
This is an indicator very similar to the Stochastic oscillator. To draw it, we define 2 curves:
1) The curve of the highest of high over 14 periods
2) The curve of the lowest of low over 14 periods
The %R curve is defined by this formula: (Close Lowest Low ) / (Highest High Lowest Low) * 100
HighestH = highest[14](High)
LowestL = lowest[14](Low)
MyWilliams = (Close - LowestL) / (HighestH - LowestL) * 100
RETURN MyWilliams AS "Williams %R"

Bollinger Bands
The middle band is a simple 20-period moving average applied to close.
The upper band is the middle band plus 2 times the standard deviation over 20 periods applied to close.
The lower band is the middle band minus 2 times the standard deviation over 20 periods applied to close.
a = Average[20](Close)
// We define the standard deviation.
StdDeviation = STD[20](Close)
Bsup = a + 2 * StdDeviation
Binf = a - 2 * StdDeviation
RETURN a AS "Average", Bsup AS "Bollinger Up", Binf AS "Bollinger Down"

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Glossary

Glossary
A
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

ABS

ABS(a)

Mathematical function "Absolute Value" of a

AccumDistr

AccumDistr(price)

Classical Accumulation/Distribution indicator

ADX

ADX[N]

Indicator Average Directional Index or "ADX" of

n periods

ADXR

ADXR[N]

Indicator Average Directional Index Rate or

"ADXR" of n periods

AND

a AND b

Logical AND Operator

AroonDown

AroonDown[P]

Aroon Down indicator of n periods

AroonUp

AroonUp[P]

Aroon Up indicator of n periods

ATAN

ATAN(a)

Mathematical function "Arctangent" of a

AS

RETURN Result AS
"ResultName"

Instruction used to name a line or indicator

displayed on chart. Used with "RETURN"

Average

Average[N](price)

Simple Moving Average of n periods

AverageTrueRange

AverageTrueRange[N](price)

"Average True Range" - True Range smoothed

with the Wilder method

B
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

BACKGROUNDCOLOR

BACKGROUNDCOLOR(R,G,
B,a)

Sets the background color of the chart or a

specific bar

BarIndex

BarIndex

Number of bars since the beginning of data

loaded (in a chart in the case of a ProBuilder
indicator or for a trading system in the case of
ProBacktest or ProOrder)

BollingerBandWidth

BollingerBandWidth[N](price)

Bollinger Bandwidth indicator

BollingerDown

BollingerDown[N](price)

Lower Bollinger band

BollingerUp

BollingerUp[N](price)

Upper Bollinger band

BREAK

(FOR...DO...BREAK...NEXT) Instruction forcing the exit of FOR loop or

or
WHILE loop
(WHILE...DO...BREAK...WEND)

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Glossary

C
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

CALCULATEONLASTBARS

DEFPARAM
CalculateOnLastBars = 200

Lets you increase the speed at which indicators

are calculated by defining the number of bars to
display the results, starting with the most recent
bar.

CALL

myResult=CALL myFunction

Calls a user indicator to be used in the program

you are coding

CCI

CCI[N](price) or CCI[N]

Commodity Channel Index indicator

ChaikinOsc

ChaikinOsc[Ch1, Ch2](price)

Chaikin oscillator

Chandle

Chandle[N](price)

Chande Momentum Oscillator

ChandeKrollStopUp

ChandeKrollStopUp[Pp, Qq,
X]

Chande and Kroll Protection Stop on long

positions

ChandeKrollStopDown

ChandeKrollStopDown[Pp,
Qq, X]

Chande and Kroll Protection Stop on short

positions

Close

Close[N]

Closing price of the current bar or of the n-th

last bar

COLOURED

RETURN x
COLOURED(R,G,B)

Colors a curve with the color you defined using

the RGB convention

COS

COS(a)

Cosine Function

CROSSES OVER

a CROSSES OVER b

Boolean Operator checking whether a curve has

crossed over another one

CROSSES UNDER

a CROSSES UNDER b

Boolean Operator checking whether a curve has

crossed under another one

cumsum

cumsum(price)

Sums a certain price on the whole data loaded

CurrentDayOfWeek

CurrentDayOfWeek

Represents the current day of the week

CurrentHour

CurrentHour

Represents the current hour

CurrentMinute

CurrentMinute

Represents the current minute

CurrentMonth

CurrentMonth

Represents the current month

CurrentSecond

CurrentSecond

Represents the current second

CurrentTime

CurrentTime

Represents the current time (HHMMSS)

CurrentYear

CurrentYear

Represents the current year

CustomClose

CustomClose[N]

Constant which is customizable in the settings

window of the chart (default: Close)

Cycle

Cycle(price)

Cycle Indicator

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Glossary

D
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

Date

Date[N]

Reports the date of each bar loaded on the

chart

Day

Day[N]

Reports the day of each bar loaded in the chart

Days

Days[N]

Counter of days since 1900

DayOfWeek

DayOfWeek[N]

Day of the week of each bar

DClose

DClose(N)

Close of the n-th day before the current one

DEMA

DEMA[N](price)

Double Exponential Moving Average

DHigh

DHigh(N)

High of the n-th bar before the current bar

DI

DI[N](price)

Represents DI+ minus DI-

DIminus

DIminus[N](price)

Represents the DI- indicator

DIplus

DIplus[N](price)

Represents the DI+ indicator

DLow

DLow(N)

Low of the n-th day before the current one

DO

See FOR and WHILE

Optional instruction in FOR loop and WHILE

loop to define the loop action

DOpen

DOpen(N)

Open of the n-th day before the current one

DOWNTO

See FOR

Instruction used in FOR loop to process the loop

with a descending order

DPO

DPO[N](price)

Detrented Price Oscillator

DRAWARROW

DRAWARROW(x1,y1)

Draw an arrow pointing right at the selected

point. Note: all drawing instructions mentionned
hereafter are compatible with version 10.3 and
higher of the platform

DRAWARROWDOWN

DRAWARROWDOWN(x1,y1)

Draw a down at the selected point

DRAWARROWUP

DRAWARROWUP(x1,y1)

Draw an up arrow at the selected point

DRAWBARCHART

DRAWBARCHART(open,high, Draws a custom bar on the chart. Open, high,

low,close)
low, and close can be constants or variables

DRAWCANDLE

DRAWCANDLE(open,high,low Draws a custom candlestick. Open, high, low,

,close)
and close can be constants or variables

DRAWELLIPSE

DRAWELLIPSE(x1,y1,x2,y2)

Draws an ellipse on the chart

DRAWHLINE

DRAWHLINE(y1)

Draws a horizontal line on the chart at the

selected point

DRAWLINE

DRAWLINE(x1,y1,x2,y2)

Draws a line on the chart between the two

selected points

DRAWONLASTBARONLY

DEFPARAM
DrawOnLastBarOnly = true

Parameter that lets you draw drawn objects on

the last bar only

DRAWRECTANGLE

DRAWRECTANGLE(x1,y1,x2, Draws an rectangle on the chart

y2)

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Glossary

DRAWSEGMENT

DRAWSEGMENT(x1,y1,x2,y2) Draws a segment on the chart

DRAWTEXT

DRAWTEXT("your text", x1,

y1)

Adds a text box on the chart at at the selected

point with your text

DRAWVLINE

DRAWVLINE(x1)

Draws a vertical line on the chart

E
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

EaseOfMovement

EaseOfMovement[I]

Ease of Movement indicator

ELSE

See IF/THEN/ELSE/ENDIF

Instruction used to call the second condition of

If-conditional statements

ELSEIF

See
IF/THEN/ELSIF/ELSE/ENDIF

Stands for Else If (to be used inside of

conditional loop)

EMV

EMV[N]

Ease of Movement Value indicator

ENDIF

See IF/THEN/ELSE/ENDIF

Ending Instruction of IF-conditional statement

EndPointAverage

EndPointAverage[N](price)

End Point Moving Average of a

EXP

EXP(a)

Mathematical Function "Exponential"

ExponentialAverage

ExponentialAverage[N](price)

Exponential Moving Average

F-G
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

FOR/TO/NEXT

FOR i=a TO b DO a NEXT

FOR loop (processes all the values with an

ascending (TO) or a descending order
(DOWNTO))

ForceIndex

ForceIndex(price)

Force Index indicator (determines who controls

the market (buyer or seller)

H
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

High

High[N]

High of the current bar or of the n-th last bar

highest

highest[N](price)

Highest price over a number of bars to be

defined

HistoricVolatility

HistoricVolatility[N](price)

Historic Volatility (or statistic volatility)

Hour

Hour[N]

Represents the hour of each bar loaded in the

chart

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Glossary

I-J-K
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

IF/THEN/ENDIF

IF a THEN b ENDIF

Group of conditional instructions without second

instruction

IF/THEN/ELSE/ENDIF

IF a THEN b ELSE c ENDIF

Group of conditional instructions

IntradayBarIndex

IntradayBarIndex[N]

Counts how many bars are displayed in one day

on the whole data loaded

L
CODE

LinearRegression

SYNTAX

LinearRegression[N](price)

LinearRegressionSlope LinearRegressionSlope[N]

FUNCTION

Linear Regression inidcator

Slope of the Linear Regression inidcator

(price)
LOG

LOG(a)

Mathematical Function "Neperian logarithm" of a

Low

Low[N]

Low of the current bar or of the n-th last bar

lowest

lowest[N](price)

Lowest price over a number of bars to be

defined

M
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

MACD

MACD[S,L,Si](price)

Moving Average Convergence Divergence

(MACD) in histogram

MACDline

MACDLine[S,L,Si](price)

MACD line indicator

MassIndex

MassIndex[N]

Mass Index Indicator applied over N bars

MAX

MAX(a,b)

Mathematical Function "Maximum"

MedianPrice

MedianPrice

Average of the high and the low

MIN

MIN(a,b)

Mathematical Function "Minimum"

Minute

Minute

Represents the minute of each bar loaded in the

chart

MOD

a MOD b

Mathematical Function "remainder of the

division"

Momentum

Momentum[I]

Momentum indicator (close close of the n-th

last bar)

MoneyFlow

MoneyFlow[N](price)

MoneyFlow indicator (result between -1 and 1)

MoneyFlowIndex

MoneyFlowIndex[N]

MoneyFlow Index indicator

Month

Month[N]

Represents the month of each bar loaded in the

chart

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Glossary

N
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

NEXT

See FOR/TO/NEXT

Ending Instruction of FOR loop

NOT

Not A

Logical Operator NOT

O
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

OBV

OBV(price)

On-Balance-Volume indicator

ONCE

ONCE VariableName =
VariableValue

Introduces a definition statement which will be

processed only once

Open

Open[N]

Open of the current bar or of the n-th last bar

OR

a OR b

Logical Operator OR

P-Q
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

Pipsize

Pipsize

Size of a pip (forex)

PriceOscillator

PriceOscillator[S,L](price)

Percentage Price oscillator

PositiveVolumeIndex

PriceVolumeIndex(price)

Positive Volume Index indicator

PVT

PVT(price)

Price Volume Trend indicator

R
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

R2

R2[N](price)

R-Squared indicator (error rate of the linear

regression on price)

Range

Range[N]

calculates the Range (High minus Low)

REM

REM comment

Introduces a remark (not taken into account by

the code)

Repulse

Repulse[N](price)

Repulse indicator (measure the buyers and

sellers force for each candlestick)

RETURN

RETURN Result

Instruction returning the result

ROC

ROC[N](price)

Price Rate of Change indicator

ROUND

ROUND(a)

Mathematical Function "Round a to the nearest

whole number"

RSI

RSI[N](price)

Relative Strength Index indicator

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Glossary

S
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

SAR

SAR[At,St,Lim]

Parabolic SAR indicator

SARatdmf

SARatdmf[At,St,Lim](price)

Smoothed Parabolic SAR indicator

SIN

SIN(a)

Mathematical Function "Sine"

SGN

SGN(a)

Mathematical Function "Sign of" a (it is positive

or negative)

SMI

SMI[N,SS,DS](price)

Stochastic Momentum Index indicator

SmoothedStochastic

SmoothedStochastic[N,K]
(price)

Smoothed Stochastic

SQUARE

SQUARE(a)

Mathematical Function "a Squared"

SQRT

SQRT(a)

Mathematical Function "Squared Root" of a

STD

STD[N](price)

Statistical Function "Standard Deviation"

STE

STE[N](price)

Statistical Function "Standard Error"

Stochastic

Stochastic[N,K](price)

%K Line of the Stochastic indicator

summation

summation[N](price)

Sums a certain price over the N last candlesticks

Supertrend

Supertrend[STF,N]

Super Trend indicator

T
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

TAN

TAN(a)

Mathematical Function "Tangent" of a

TEMA

TEMA[N](price)

Triple Exponential Moving Average

THEN

See IF/THEN/ELSE/ENDIF

Instruction following the first condition of "IF"

Time

Time[N]

Represents the time of each bar loaded in the chart

TimeSeriesAverage

TimeSeriesAverage[N](price)

Temporal series moving average

TO

See FOR/TO/NEXT

Directional Instruction in the "FOR" loop

Today

YYYYMMDD

Today's date

TotalPrice

TotalPrice[N]

(Close + Open + High + Low) / 4

TR

TR(price)

True Range indicator

TriangularAverage

TriangularAverage[N](price)

Triangular Moving Average

TRIX

TRIX[N](price)

Triple Smoothed Exponential Moving Average

TypicalPrice

TypicalPrice[N]

Represents the Typical Price (Average of the

High, Low and Close)

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Glossary

U
CODE

Undefined

SYNTAX

a = Undefined

FUNCTION

Sets a the value of a variable to undefined

V
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

Variation

Variation(price)

Difference between the close of the last bar and

the close of the current bar in %

Volatility

Volatility[S, L]

Chaikin volatility

Volume

Volume[N]

Volume indicator

VolumeOscillator

VolumeOscillator[S,L]

Volume Oscillator

VolumeROC

VolumeROC[N]

Volume of the Price Rate Of Change

W
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

WeightedAverage

WeightedAverage[N](price)

Represents the Weighted Moving Average

WeightedClose

WeightedClose[N]

Average of (2 * Close), (1 * High) and (1 * Low)

WEND

See WHILE/DO/WEND

Ending Instruction of WHILE loop

WHILE/DO/WEND

WHILE (condition) DO (action) WHILE loop

WEND

WilderAverage

WilderAverage[N](price)

Represents Wilder Moving Average

Williams

Williams[N](close)

%R de Williams indicator

WilliamsAccumDistr

WilliamsAccumDistr(price)

Accumulation/Distribution of Williams Indicator

X
CODE

XOR

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SYNTAX

a XOR b

FUNCTION

Logical Operator eXclusive OR

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Glossary

Y
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

Year

Year[N]

Year of the bar n periods before the current bar

Yesterday

Yesterday[N]

Date of the day preceeding the bar n periods

before the current bar

Z
CODE

SYNTAX

FUNCTION

ZigZag

ZigZag[Zr](price)

Represents the Zig-Zag indicator introduced in

the Eliott waves theory

ZigZagPoint

ZigZagPoint[Zp](price)

Represents the Zig-Zag indicator in the Eliott

waves theory calculated on Zp points

Other
CODE

FUNCTION

CODE

FUNCTION

Addition Operator

<

Strict Inferiority Operator

Substraction Operator

>

Strict Superiority Operator

Multiplication Operator

<=

Inferiority Operator

Division Operator

>=

Superiority Operator

Equality Operator

//

Introduces a commentary line

<>

Difference Operator

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