Objective Logic for Swing Highs and Swing Lows
Updated
█ OVERVIEW
This is an introduction to my idea of objective swing highs and swing lows. The objective logic for swing highs and swing lows I hope will form somewhat of a foundational building block for traders, researchers and developers alike. Not only does it facilitate the objective study of swing highs and swing lows it also facilitates that of ranges, trends, double trends, multi-part trends and patterns. The logic can also be used for objective anchor points. Concepts I will introduce and develop further in future publications.
█ CONCEPTS
Green and Red Candles
• A green candle is one that closes with a high price equal to or above the price it opened.
• A red candle is one that closes with a low price that is lower than the price it opened.
Swing Highs and Swing Lows
• A swing high is a green candle or series of green candles followed by a single red candle to complete the swing.
• A swing high is a green candle or series of consecutive green candles followed by a single red candle to complete the swing and form the peak.
• A swing low is a red candle or series of consecutive red candles followed by a single green candle to complete the swing and form the trough.
Peak and Trough Prices (Basic)
• The peak price of a complete swing high is the high price of either the red candle that completes the swing high or the high price of the preceding green candle, depending on which is higher.
• The trough price of a complete swing low is the low price of either the green candle that completes the swing low or the low price of the preceding red candle, depending on which is lower.
Peak and Trough Prices (Advanced)
• The advanced peak price of a complete swing high is the high price of either the red candle that completes the swing high or the high price of the highest preceding green candle high price, depending on which is higher.
• The advanced trough price of a complete swing low is the low price of either the green candle that completes the swing low or the low price of the lowest preceding red candle low price, depending on which is lower.
Green and Red Peaks
• A green peak is one that derives its price from the green candle/s that constitute the swing high.
• A red peak is one that derives its price from the red candle that completes the swing high.
• A green trough is one that derives its price from the green candle that completes the swing low.
• A red trough is one that derives its price from the red candle/s that constitute the swing low.
Historic Peaks and Troughs
The current, or most recent, peak and trough occurrences are referred to as occurrence zero. Previous peak and trough occurrences are referred to as historic and ordered numerically from right to left, with the most recent historic peak and trough occurrences being occurrence one.
Upper Trends
• A return line uptrend is formed when the current peak price is higher than the preceding peak price.
• A downtrend is formed when the current peak price is lower than the preceding peak price.
• A double-top is formed when the current peak price is equal to the preceding peak price.
Lower Trends
• An uptrend is formed when the current trough price is higher than the preceding trough price.
• A return line downtrend is formed when the current trough price is lower than the preceding trough price.
• A double-bottom is formed when the current trough price is equal to the preceding trough price.
█ SWING COUNTER INDICATOR
Alongside this publication I have also released an open-source indicator that counts the number of swing high and swing low scenarios on any given candlestick chart and displays the statistics in a table. As can be seen in the example picture above.
I have added plots as a visual aid to the swing scenarios listed in the table. Green up-arrows with ‘HP’ denote higher peaks, while green up-arrows with ‘HT’ denote higher troughs. Red down-arrows with ‘LP’ denote higher peaks, while red down-arrows with ‘LT’ denote lower troughs. Similarly, blue diamonds with ‘DT’ denote double-top peaks and blue diamonds with ‘DB’ denote double-bottom troughs. These plots can be hidden via indicator settings.
I have also added green and red trendlines as a further visual aid to the swing scenarios listed in the table. Green lines denote return line uptrends (higher peaks) and uptrends (higher troughs), while red lines denote downtrends (lower peaks) and return line downtrends (lower troughs). These lines can be hidden via indicator settings.
What I find most fascinating about this logic, is that the number of swing highs and swing lows will always find equilibrium on each new complete wave cycle. If for example the chart begins with a swing high and ends with a swing low there will be an equal number of swing highs to swing lows. If the chart starts with a swing high and ends with a swing high there will be a difference of one between the two total values until another swing low is formed to complete the wave cycle sequence that began at start of the chart. Almost as if it was a fundamental truth of price action, although quite common sensical in many respects. As they say, what goes up must come down.
Don't just take my word for it. You can find my indicator on my profile page under scripts, or by searching for Swing Counter in community scripts!
█ LIMITATIONS
Some higher timeframe candles on tickers with larger lookbacks such as the DXY , do not actually contain all the open, high, low and close (OHLC) data at the beginning of the chart. Instead, they use the close price for open, high and low prices. So, while we can determine whether the close price is higher or lower than the preceding close price, there is no way of knowing what actually happened intra-bar for these candles. And by default candles that close at the same price as the open price, will be counted as green. You can avoid this problem by utilising the sample period filter.
The green and red candle calculations are based solely on differences between open and close prices, as such I have made no attempt to account for green candles that gap lower and close below the close price of the preceding candle, or red candles that gap higher and close above the close price of the preceding candle. I can only recommend using 24-hour markets, if and where possible, as there are far fewer gaps and, generally, more data to work with.
█ NOTES
I feel it important to address the mention of advanced peak and trough price logic. While I have introduced the concept, I have not included the logic in my scripts for a number of reasons. The most pertinent of which being the amount of extra work I would have to do to include it in a public release versus the actual difference it would make to the statistics or outcomes. Based on my experience, there are actually only a small number of cases where the advanced peak and trough prices are different from the basic peak and trough prices. And with adequate multi-timeframe analysis any high or low prices that are not captured using basic peak and trough price logic on any given time frame, will no doubt be captured on a higher timeframe. See the example below on the 1H
USDJPY chart (Figure 1), where the basic peak price logic denoted by the indicator plot does not capture what would be the advanced peak price, but on the 2H USDJPY chart (Figure 2), the basic peak logic does capture the advanced peak price from the 1H timeframe.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
█ RAMBLINGS
“Never was there an age that placed economic interests higher than does our own. Never was the need of a scientific foundation for economic affairs felt more generally or more acutely. And never was the ability of practical men to utilize the achievements of science, in all fields of human activity, greater than in our day. If practical men, therefore, rely wholly on their own experience, and disregard our science in its present state of development, it cannot be due to a lack of serious interest or ability on their part. Nor can their disregard be the result of a haughty rejection of the deeper insight a true science would give into the circumstances and relationships determining the outcome of their activity. The cause of such remarkable indifference must not be sought elsewhere than in the present state of our science itself, in the sterility of all past endeavours to find its empirical foundations.” (Menger, 1871, p.45).
█ BIBLIOGRAPHY
Menger, C. (1871) Principles of Economics. Reprint, Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig Von Mises Institute: 2007.
This is an introduction to my idea of objective swing highs and swing lows. The objective logic for swing highs and swing lows I hope will form somewhat of a foundational building block for traders, researchers and developers alike. Not only does it facilitate the objective study of swing highs and swing lows it also facilitates that of ranges, trends, double trends, multi-part trends and patterns. The logic can also be used for objective anchor points. Concepts I will introduce and develop further in future publications.
█ CONCEPTS
Green and Red Candles
• A green candle is one that closes with a high price equal to or above the price it opened.
• A red candle is one that closes with a low price that is lower than the price it opened.
Swing Highs and Swing Lows
• A swing high is a green candle or series of green candles followed by a single red candle to complete the swing.
• A swing high is a green candle or series of consecutive green candles followed by a single red candle to complete the swing and form the peak.
• A swing low is a red candle or series of consecutive red candles followed by a single green candle to complete the swing and form the trough.
Peak and Trough Prices (Basic)
• The peak price of a complete swing high is the high price of either the red candle that completes the swing high or the high price of the preceding green candle, depending on which is higher.
• The trough price of a complete swing low is the low price of either the green candle that completes the swing low or the low price of the preceding red candle, depending on which is lower.
Peak and Trough Prices (Advanced)
• The advanced peak price of a complete swing high is the high price of either the red candle that completes the swing high or the high price of the highest preceding green candle high price, depending on which is higher.
• The advanced trough price of a complete swing low is the low price of either the green candle that completes the swing low or the low price of the lowest preceding red candle low price, depending on which is lower.
Green and Red Peaks
• A green peak is one that derives its price from the green candle/s that constitute the swing high.
• A red peak is one that derives its price from the red candle that completes the swing high.
• A green trough is one that derives its price from the green candle that completes the swing low.
• A red trough is one that derives its price from the red candle/s that constitute the swing low.
Historic Peaks and Troughs
The current, or most recent, peak and trough occurrences are referred to as occurrence zero. Previous peak and trough occurrences are referred to as historic and ordered numerically from right to left, with the most recent historic peak and trough occurrences being occurrence one.
Upper Trends
• A return line uptrend is formed when the current peak price is higher than the preceding peak price.
• A downtrend is formed when the current peak price is lower than the preceding peak price.
• A double-top is formed when the current peak price is equal to the preceding peak price.
Lower Trends
• An uptrend is formed when the current trough price is higher than the preceding trough price.
• A return line downtrend is formed when the current trough price is lower than the preceding trough price.
• A double-bottom is formed when the current trough price is equal to the preceding trough price.
█ SWING COUNTER INDICATOR
Alongside this publication I have also released an open-source indicator that counts the number of swing high and swing low scenarios on any given candlestick chart and displays the statistics in a table. As can be seen in the example picture above.
I have added plots as a visual aid to the swing scenarios listed in the table. Green up-arrows with ‘HP’ denote higher peaks, while green up-arrows with ‘HT’ denote higher troughs. Red down-arrows with ‘LP’ denote higher peaks, while red down-arrows with ‘LT’ denote lower troughs. Similarly, blue diamonds with ‘DT’ denote double-top peaks and blue diamonds with ‘DB’ denote double-bottom troughs. These plots can be hidden via indicator settings.
I have also added green and red trendlines as a further visual aid to the swing scenarios listed in the table. Green lines denote return line uptrends (higher peaks) and uptrends (higher troughs), while red lines denote downtrends (lower peaks) and return line downtrends (lower troughs). These lines can be hidden via indicator settings.
What I find most fascinating about this logic, is that the number of swing highs and swing lows will always find equilibrium on each new complete wave cycle. If for example the chart begins with a swing high and ends with a swing low there will be an equal number of swing highs to swing lows. If the chart starts with a swing high and ends with a swing high there will be a difference of one between the two total values until another swing low is formed to complete the wave cycle sequence that began at start of the chart. Almost as if it was a fundamental truth of price action, although quite common sensical in many respects. As they say, what goes up must come down.
Don't just take my word for it. You can find my indicator on my profile page under scripts, or by searching for Swing Counter in community scripts!
█ LIMITATIONS
Some higher timeframe candles on tickers with larger lookbacks such as the DXY , do not actually contain all the open, high, low and close (OHLC) data at the beginning of the chart. Instead, they use the close price for open, high and low prices. So, while we can determine whether the close price is higher or lower than the preceding close price, there is no way of knowing what actually happened intra-bar for these candles. And by default candles that close at the same price as the open price, will be counted as green. You can avoid this problem by utilising the sample period filter.
The green and red candle calculations are based solely on differences between open and close prices, as such I have made no attempt to account for green candles that gap lower and close below the close price of the preceding candle, or red candles that gap higher and close above the close price of the preceding candle. I can only recommend using 24-hour markets, if and where possible, as there are far fewer gaps and, generally, more data to work with.
█ NOTES
I feel it important to address the mention of advanced peak and trough price logic. While I have introduced the concept, I have not included the logic in my scripts for a number of reasons. The most pertinent of which being the amount of extra work I would have to do to include it in a public release versus the actual difference it would make to the statistics or outcomes. Based on my experience, there are actually only a small number of cases where the advanced peak and trough prices are different from the basic peak and trough prices. And with adequate multi-timeframe analysis any high or low prices that are not captured using basic peak and trough price logic on any given time frame, will no doubt be captured on a higher timeframe. See the example below on the 1H
USDJPY chart (Figure 1), where the basic peak price logic denoted by the indicator plot does not capture what would be the advanced peak price, but on the 2H USDJPY chart (Figure 2), the basic peak logic does capture the advanced peak price from the 1H timeframe. Figure 1.
Figure 2.
█ RAMBLINGS
“Never was there an age that placed economic interests higher than does our own. Never was the need of a scientific foundation for economic affairs felt more generally or more acutely. And never was the ability of practical men to utilize the achievements of science, in all fields of human activity, greater than in our day. If practical men, therefore, rely wholly on their own experience, and disregard our science in its present state of development, it cannot be due to a lack of serious interest or ability on their part. Nor can their disregard be the result of a haughty rejection of the deeper insight a true science would give into the circumstances and relationships determining the outcome of their activity. The cause of such remarkable indifference must not be sought elsewhere than in the present state of our science itself, in the sterility of all past endeavours to find its empirical foundations.” (Menger, 1871, p.45).
█ BIBLIOGRAPHY
Menger, C. (1871) Principles of Economics. Reprint, Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig Von Mises Institute: 2007.
Note
I just wanted to address a couple of typos in the Concepts section. The Swing Highs and Swing Lows ¬sub-section should read as follows:
Swing Highs and Swing Lows
• A swing high is a green candle or series of consecutive green candles followed by a single red candle to complete the swing and form the peak.
• A swing low is a red candle or series of consecutive red candles followed by a single green candle to complete the swing and form the trough.
And the Green and Red Peaks sub-section title should read as follows:
Green and Red Peaks and Troughs
Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Disclaimer
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