How to Create a Condition for Price Crossing a Channel Indicator (Bollinger Bands)

Plotted indicators can be used to create a variety of conditions (behaviors).  In this example price and Bollinger Bands are being used to create a crossover condition. The same steps will work for similar conditions on other indicators. Here are the steps.

1. Plot the channel indicator along with price in your chart window

 (In this example we will create a condition to find symbols where price is crossing up through the upper Bollinger Band.)

How to add an indicator to a chart template

2. Click on the label for the Price Plot at the top of the chart

2.  Click on the label for the Price Plot at the top of the chart.

3. Click Create Condition from the drop down menu.

Click Create Scan Condition.

4. Click on the Condition drop down field in the Scan Condition window

3.  In the Create Scan Condition window click on the Condition drop down.

5. Choose "Crossing up Bollinger Bands 20 2 Chan Top" from the list (in the Price History vs Bollinger Bands 20 2 section).

4.  In the Select Condition window choose Crossing up Bollinger Bands 20 2 Chan Top from the list (in the Price History vs Bollinger Bands 20 2 section).

6. Select the point at which the condition should occur

The true field will let you set parameters for when or how often the condition returned true.

  • Now = Condition is true for current bar
  • x bars ago = Condition was true specified number of bars ago
  • within last x bars = Condition was true at least once within the specified period of bars
  • x bars in a row = Condition has been true for the last specified number of bars

7. Apply the condition

Click the Copy to...button to choose how you want to immediately apply the condition.

  1. Window in Current Layout (opens target mode with option to choose any window)
  2. New Filtered WatchList (Opens new window with default WatchList and sorts by condition set)
  3. New Market Gauge (summary of scan results over time)
  4. New Market Indicator (historical scan plot)
  5. New True/False Column in WatchList (sortable T/F column in current active WatchList)
  6. New Data Grid (creates new Data Grid with the condition set as an entry)
  7. Color Price Plot (colors the price plot at the point where the indicator condition has occurred historically)
  8. Clipboard (copy conditions to computer clipboard for reuse)

For instructions to Save Conditions to the library click here.