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Very useful and amazing indicator "DevStop" (statware concept) definitely needs to be corrected code.
When downloading large of number of days on a chart, it causes a strong deceleration and may eventually cause a memory overflow error. Almost impossible to use it realtime (CalculateOnBaeClose must be "true").
I'm no expert in programming, but I is associated with the use cycles of the source code.
I think there need a little correction. Please do it who can !
(2) It then calculates the n-period standard deviation of the 2-period ranges. This is a measure for the dispersion of volatility.
(3) It then defines a trend by using the crossover of two simple moving averages and plots volatility envelopes below price in an uptrend and above price in a downtrend.
(4) The volatility envelopes are based on the high - multiple of volatility - multiple of volatility dispersion for uptrends and on the low + multiple of volatility + multiple of volatility dispersion for downtrends.
Appreciation of the indicator
To characterize this indicator, I will compare it with the Supertrend M1 indicator because they are quite similar. Both indicators use volatility - essentially the average true range - to calculate bands that can be used to trail a stop loss or to enter a position. These are the differences:
(1) The DevStop Indicator uses the highs of the last n bars as the reference in uptrends, and the lows of the last n bars as a reference in downtrends. The Supertrend indicator uses the median of the last n bars for both uptrends and downtrends. This is not so much of a difference, but the median should be more stable.
(2) To calculate the width of the bands the DevStop indicator uses both volatility and volatility dispersion, that is the standard deviation of volatility. The Supertrend indicator only uses volatility. The volatility measure of the DevStop indicator is somewhat complicated. Instead of using a SMA of a 2-period range, a SMA of a 1-period range, or directly the average true range could have been used, if need by applying a multiplier.
(3)The DevStop indicator plots 4 envelopes, one of them only uses volatility, three others use volatility and volatility dispersion with different multipliers. This is really over-sophistication which does not lead anywhere. Better to scrap volatility dispersion and just use volatility with two different multipliers.
(4) The DevStop indicator uses an additional trendfilter via a SMA cross, the Supertrend autogenerates the trend change, when price closes below or above the stopline, which is clearly a more elegant approach.
The Supertrend Indicator is a better solution
I admit that I am biased, as I have coded a version of the Supertrend indicator, so take my judgment with precaution. But if I compare the two indicators, I find a similar concept. But nobody needs four different lines on a chart. The volatility dispersion does not add any value. Also there is no reason to replace the n-period average true range with the n-period SMA of a 2-period range. Better stay with the average true range and use different multiples to plot two bands.
However, there is one interesting difference. The DevStop calculates the lower bands from the highs of the bars (uptrend), and the upper bands from the lows of the bars (downtrend). This idea can be further explored.
This is what I read from the indicator code of DevStop. If DevStop2 is completely different I will come back with a separate post.
Extremely detailed and qualitative research!
I have studied with great interest and agree with all except one - in my opinion there is no indicator of better or worse then any other indicator.
I have found that measuring the dispersion of volatility gives a clearer view especially in the pullback, it gives at least 3 measurement choices, which increases stability in the open position. "Supertrend" gives only one option when the price approaches the stop line, and we expect the breakdown of the stop line or bounce - usually it line 2 in devstop and is close to a 50/50 probability, without more detailed analysis. At the same time "devstop" gives us a choice as a last line of third standard deviations which in most cases is a real line of support or resistance. I think this may facilitate trade.
Calculating standard deviations for different lookback periods is what might cause the CPU load. I think you will get a similar result, if you replace the standard deviation by a fixed multiplier to get the bands. This will also take into account the dispersion of volatility, but not adapt to variations in the dispersion, which are probably minor effects. If you use bands with a fixed multiplier this is equal to a dual or triple SuperTrend indicator.
It depends what you look for. It is true that I prefer Keltner Channels to Bollinger Bands, but that is a personal choice.
By the way the DevStop uses both of them. It uses a complication of the average true range to plot the first line, and then adds further bands by using the standard deviation of volatility.
Just installed DevStop and tried to apply it to a chart. It crashed my whole machine by causing an out-of-memory exception.
This indicator is unusable and has serious bugs. It builds up data of several GBytes in the RAM until it explodes. This even happens when not connected.
Also the formulas are overcomplicated and do probably not reflect the original concept of Cynthia Kase.
So let us build this thing from scratch, it should not be difficult to do it. we can then compare it to the SuperTrend. I am sure that the indicator is not useless.
