Searching for patterns

In order to search for new patterns, click on the New toolbar button . This will bring up a search dialog in which you can specify your search criteria.

You can search for patterns on a specific exchange, specific symbols or on a predefined category of instruments. There Autochartist service will return a maximum of 100 results independent of the period that is specified.

Search by Category

A Category of symbols is merely a predefined logical group of symbols. For example, a category called Forex Intraday would contain all pattern occurrences on the Forex market that had been identified on intra-day time data interval.

To search for patterns by category, select the Search by Category radio button and select the group you want to search in the drop-down menu.

Search by Exchange

To search for patterns on an exchange, select the Search by Exchange radio button and select the exchange on which you want to search. Furthermore, it is necessary to select the time interval on which you want to search for patterns. For example, selecting NYSE, 30min, will search for pattern occurrences on shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange using 30 minute intra-day data.

Search By Symbol

To search for signals on a specific symbol, select the Search by Symbol radio button and enter the details of the symbol you want to look for. Autochartist does not verify the validity of the symbols entered - if an incorrect symbol is entered then no patterns will be returned.

Advanced Criteria

Once you have entered which symbols, exchanges or groups to search, you can adjust the more advanced search criteria by switching between different tabs on the search window.

Pattern Characteristics

On the pattern characteristics page you can select the direction of the signals you want (bullish / bearish / both), the trend change of the signals (continuation / reversal / both), the length of the pattern in bars, as well as how far back you want to search the history of pattern.

Pattern Quality

Autochartist provides quality indicators for all patterns that have been identified. The search facility allows one to specify the minimum quality of the patterns that are displayed.

One is tempted to set all the quality indicators to maximum values, but this results in very few opportunities - it is very rare to find “perfect” patterns. With time you will start to get a feel for the importance of the different quality indicators and how they interact with your existing trading strategy.

The meaning of each of the different quality indicators is provided here.

Patterns

One may select the patterns by which one wants to search by editing the list of patterns found under the Patterns tab in the search screen. Unselect the patterns that you do not wish to search for. The different pattern types are explained here.