Frequently asked questions
1. General Usage
1.1. What is my username and password?
1.2. Can I use Autochartist on multiple computers?
1.3. Does Autochartist provide Buy / Sell signals?
1.4. What patterns does Autochartist identify?
1.5. How do I interpret the quality indicators?
1.6. What are some patterns identified as both Continuation and Reversal?
1.7. What do the yellow bars in the first column mean?
1.8. Why is the prediction region missing for emerging patterns?
2. Trading Strategies
2.1. General comments regarding Technical Chart Patterns
2.2. How do I trade emerging patterns?
2.3. Where should I set my limits and stops?
2.4. Does Autochartist provide risk/return ratios?
2.5. Can you provide history for the trading success of Autochartist?
3. Technical Issues
3.1. Error: "Server connection could not be established"
3.2. The patterns seem to be coming through too late
3.3. Can I get alerts via Email and SMS?
3.4. Why am I getting duplicates of tabs, or my search tab never disappears?
3.5. The application does not minimize when clicking the 'X' at the top of the screen
3.6. No results appear after logon
1.1. What is my username and password?
Your username / password will depend on which company provided you
with Autochartist. Below is a list of providers along with a helpful indication of
where to obtain your username / password:
Autochartist Direct - if you purchased Autochartist online directly
through the Autochartist website then your username and password should have been
emailed to you during the payment process. If you did not receive this email, please
check your bulk / spam email folder. Typically, your username would be your email
address and your password would be a 4 letter pin number that can subsequently be
changed.
FOREX.com - if you are an account holder with FOREX.com, use the
same username and password that you would normally use to log in to the FOREX.com website.
FXStreet.com - if you received Autochartist through FXStreet's
premium services, then use the same username and password that you would normally
use to access your Premium Services account.
INVESTools - if you are a graduate of the relevant INVESTools
course and have been granted access to the Autochartist web-based service, use the
username and password that you would normally use to gain access to the INVESTools
website.
MetaTraderTools - If you use the Meta Trader Plugin provided to you
by MetaTraderTools, then your username and password would have been emailed to you
once you made the purchase. Please check your bulk / spam email folder.
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1.2. Can I use Autochartist on multiple computers?
Autochartist can only be used on one computer at
any one time. You are welcome to install the software on numerous computers, but as
soon as you have connected from another computer your original connection will be
lost.
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1.3. Does Autochartist provide Buy / Sell signals?
Autochartist does not offer Buy or Sell signals,
however it does offer "prediction regions" that you can use as guidelines when trading.
These regions are drawn as grey areas for complete patterns and are based on the
attributes of the pattern together with the predicate of the underlying theory.
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1.4. What patterns does Autochartist identify?
Autochartist identifies the following patterns:
Triangles
Channels and Rectangles
Wedges
Head and Shoulders
For more detailed information refer to the online help
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1.5. How do I interpret the quality indicators?
The coloured columns are an indication of the quality of the pattern. They are provided
in order to give you an indication of how well formed the pattern is. The recognition
engine is lenient with regards to patterns it identifies (it would rather identify more
instances than risk missing one), so along with the pattern instance it tries to inform
the user of how strong it thinks the pattern is based on these different criteria.
Explanation of the columns can be found in the online help
For a visual explanation of the quality indicators, please see the features page.
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1.6. What are some patterns identified as both Continuation and Reversal?
The reason is that over different pattern lengths our recognition engine may
identify the preceding trend to be in two different directions. For example,
the initial trend in the bars just preceding the pattern may be bullish, but
looking a little further back and the direction may be bearish. This is not common,
but it happens mostly in patterns with a low initial trend quality.
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1.7. What do the yellow bars in the first column mean?
The yellow bars found in the left column are simply an indication of the latest patterns
that have been identified. They do not indicate which patterns are still valid. As a rule
of thumb, don't expect the pattern to predict movements any further than 1/3 to ½ of the
pattern length.
Yellow bars in the Emerging Patterns section mean that those emerging patterns have recently
been identified, or have been re-identified and are therefore still valid.
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1.8. Why is the prediction region missing for emerging patterns?
Only complete patterns have a prediction region. Emerging patterns do not have forecasts.
This is in accordance with chart pattern theory.
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2.1. General comments regarding Technical Chart Patterns
Almost all literature about technical analysis (both printed and online) has a chapter
about Technical Chart Patterns. Refer to this literature to learn how to make Autochartist
work for you.
As with any trading tool there is no 100% correct way to trade it; chart patterns are
notoriously subjective. In general, the longer patterns are more reliable, so trade the
60min, 240min and End-of-Day patterns - the 15min and 30min give a lot of noise. Adjust
the minimum quality indicators to insure that you only receive opportunities of the
highest quality.
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2.2. How do I trade emerging patterns?
Charting theory states that the pattern should only be traded once a breakout
has occurred; not prior to the breakout. The breakout is the confirmation of
the reversal or continuation of the preceding trend. If one follows the theory,
then the emerging patterns should only be used as a "watch list" - a list of
currency pairs to watch more closely for a breakout.
However, many users find that Autochartist is most useful when both complete
and emerging patterns are taken into account during the trading process.
You can think of emerging patterns in two ways:
1) As patterns that may break out in the near future.
2) As an indication of where the next turning point is going to be.
When trading them as (1) above, they provide an advanced alert of a breakout;
giving you ample time to watch the stock in your own trading / charting platform.
When trading them as (2) above, they can provide you an indication of when the
next turning point in the price can occur. Here are some tips for trading
"between the lines":
Trade when the pattern has been identified close to the previous turning point, for example:
Is NOT a good pattern to trade because there is little room for the price to move up to
the resistance line. Try to pick the ones that have recently turned and are headed to the
next support / resistance line (see example below).
Trade in the direction of the trend. For example, if you get a channel down, and
the imminent breakout is bearish, this is a good pattern to trade. Use a similar strategy
for upward sloping emerging patterns. For example, the following would be a very good
bearish signal (downward sloping pattern AND price has RECENTLY turned DOWNWARDS):
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2.3. Where should I set my limits and stops?
Autochartist is an automation of existing chart pattern technical analysis
techniques. Providing exact stops and limit levels is impossible because the
theory of charting does not cater for this. Chart pattern theory does
however provide expected range for the price to reach; this is displayed
visually on the Autochartist application via the grey block on the chart.
It is the responsibility of the user to decide whether the pattern is of a
high enough quality to enable it to reach the desired objective.
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2.4. Does Autochartist provide risk/return ratios?
Chart theory is not a trading system. It only provides and entry into the market
(either long or short), but no exact exit time is provided. Therefore, it is not
possible to calculate exact risk/reward ratios.
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2.5. Can you provide history for the trading success of Autochartist?
Unfortunately it is not possible to measure the trading success of Autochartist because
of the fact that it does not stipulate when to open and close trades. That is,
Autochartist is not a trading system, but rather an ideas or opportunities identifier.
The proof of the value of Autochartist lies in what you see. By showing you the
pattern on a price graph, it allows you see exactly what you get. It is not hidden
inside a "black box" that just gives signals.
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3.1. Error: "Server connection could not be established"
This error means one of three things:
(a) The computer from which you are trying to access the Autochartist service does
not have a working internet connection.
(b) Your network makes use of a proxy server. Please enter the proxy settings in
the Autochartist application under the Settings | Options menu item.
(c) The Autochartist service is temporarily unavailable.
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3.2. The patterns seem to be coming through too late.
Autochartist uses ET (Eastern Time) for its price data, not GMT.
Autochartist uses the start of the bar to represent the bar time. For example,
if your are looking at a pattern identified on 30 minute data, and the pattern
end time says "10:30", it means that that bar that broke through the line was
that 10:30 bar, with means that the bar completed at 11:00. You should get the
signal by 11:05 by the latest.
When you first connect to the server, the initial list of patterns that appears
is a list of the latest 50 patterns that have been identified. These patterns are
not necessarily still valid. The idea is to keep the application running and wait
for new alerts to come up throughout the trading day. You can minimize the
application by pressing the X on the top right of the window.
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3.3. Can I get alerts via Email and SMS?
Alerts are currently only sent via the windows application that you download
from our website. A small window pops up (similar to the notification that
MSN Messenger give when you receive email on your hotmail account) that
contains a link to the image in the application.
We are looking at providing a cell-phone portal in the future. If you would be
interested in such a service, please send an email stating your name and
country to techsupport@autochartist.com
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3.4. Why am I getting duplicates of tabs, or my search tab never disappears?
You will need to make changes to your windows registry. If you are not comfortable
with perfuming these changes, please ask a qualified windows engineer for help.
Please follow these steps EXACTLY:
1) Exit Autochartist: File | Exit
2) Start | Run
3) Type in regedit in the space provided, press the OK button
4) Please locate the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ChartPatterns\Searches
5) In there you will find a list of your searches
6) Please select the search you want to delete
7) Edit | Delete
8) Confirm the delete
9) Start Autochartist
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3.5. The application does not minimize when clicking the 'X' at the top of the screen.
You will need to make changes to your windows registry. If you are not comfortable
with perfuming these changes, please ask a qualified windows engineer for help.
Please follow these steps EXACTLY:
1) Close the Autochartist application (no need to uninstall)
2) Start | Run
3) Type in "regedit" in the space provided, press OK
4) The registry editor will appear. At the top of the tree, look for "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", open this branch
5) Open the "Software" branch
6) Select "ChartPatterns", right click it and select "Delete".
7) Press OK to the confirmation window that comes up.
8) Run the Autochartist application
9) Try to press the 'X' at the top of the application - it should minimize
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3.6. No results appear after logon.
There are two possible reasons for this problem:
(a) You are running content monitoring software such as CyberSitter or NetNanny that
is interfering with the communication to the Autochartist service. Please disable
such software and try to connect again.
(b) If the above is not a problem, please uninstall and reinstall the application
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