I recently switched to Sierra Charts. In doing so, I needed the bar types that I used on my previous platform. So, I ported BetterRenko bars to SC.
BetterRenko differs from classic Renko in two main fashions. First, it only uses/plots real data. So it does not split or insert dummy data in order to fill gaps. Second, it tracks and displays all data outside of the Renko bricks, which are displayed as wicks. With these changes, BetterRenko can be used in the classic sense of removing noise to better see price action, while also still maintaining back-testing integrity.
The code can be found on this SC thread, and it is included in the SC user contrib collection. To install, just grab the dll file and place in your SC data folder. The source is also there if you want to compile it yourself.
The implementation is a custom chart, which is how SC lets users create bar types. A custom chart is applied like an indicator/study, but uses the underlying bar/tick data to form a new set of bars, which are displayed in place of the base data. This has a couple of implications.
First, it is a study, so will lag slightly from base bars, but this can be minimized by setting your update interval to a reasonable value (I use 50 ms). This perceived lag is really only the screen updates.
Second, you need to set up the underlying data correctly. The SC BR implementation can be applied to bar data, but you will likely not get what you expect unless you are using a fairly large brick size. This is because there is no way to look inside of the bar, so it uses the OHLC and the brick size will be as close as possible. To get the renko bricks that most people expect, you need to apply it to a tick chart, so the bricks can be calculated correctly. To do this, requires that you are storing your data as ticks (see Intraday Data Storage Time Unit in Data/Trade Service Settings), and you set your chart interval to 1 tick in the chart settings (see attachment). Both of these actions come at a price, in that you will be storing more data to disk, and your initial load times for a chart are kind of long, especially if you load more than a few days of data. Once data is loaded in a chart, there is no issue.
To apply the study, go to Analysis -> Studies, then Add Custom Study, and select the BetterRenko from the BetterRenko dll.
The following are the inputs:
Brick Size: the size of the renko bricks, specified in number of ticks
Align to brick size: if true, bricks are aligned to the natural brick size at the start of each day (i.e. 5 tick brick on CL would align to prices of .05, and 4 tick brick on ES would align to 1.00 increments).
Show real open: If true, the open of the bar will be the actual open, so the candlesticks will look more like candles then classic Renko bricks (especially for reversal bars). If false, then the open of the bar is changed on the close of the bar to be a classic Renko open, so the candlestick bodies will look like Renko bricks. Note: when false, your back-testing integrity is compromised. There is an extra subgraph that carries the alternate Renko/True Open in case you need it for a study. This is a SC-only BR feature. Second chart shows example vs first chart.
Reverse multiplier: Normally, a classic Renko needs double the brick size in order to reverse and create a new bar in the opposite direction. By setting this to a value larger than 2, you can change the reversal behavior to be more like a three line break (3LB) type of chart. Of course the tradeoff is that your wicks are going to be potentially much larger as well. This is a SC-only BR feature. Last chart shows what this looks like.
Finally, the default display type is a CandleStick. You can change this to use any of the other bar types. For example, if you want to see a more classic Renko brick without the wicks, you can change to CandelStickBodyOnly (third chart).
The following 25 users say Thank You to aslan for this post:
Thank you for this amazing study. As a Sierra User, I really liked it. I used your better renko bar type in Ninjatrader for a long time.
I have a question about the study and its methodology. It works as a study ( indicator ) in sierra charts but it is bar type in Ninjatrader. I wonder if it can be done as a study in Ninjatrader too , is it possible in any way ?
The reason I am asking is because there is no renko based scanner,analyzer in this planet as far as I know.( at least intraday/Realtime basis )
This is my first post, so please forgive my ignorance.
I am about to go live (for the first time) after demo trading for six months.
I'm still weighing my options on which platform to use. I'm leaning towards Sierra Chart, or MultiChart, but it appears that neither supports Unirenko bars which apparently was coded for NinjaTTrader7 only.
From the graphics in this thread posted by Asian, it appears that "Better Renko" bars are very similar to Unirenko with tails/wicks which I like/need as I'm an intra-day small ball scalper. I trade price action with no indicators except what I gather about price from the Unirenko bars, so it's important that I have something pretty similar.
What seems like a contradiction is, on the Sierra Chart website, they state that they only offer a standard renko, or a flex renko. So, I'm wondering if this post to implement "Better Renko's" on Sierra Chart is still valid/current?
Any input any of you could offer is greatly appreciated whether it be in reference to my question, selection of platform, or any other advice on any subject (for a newbie) is greatly appreciated.
To mirror unirenko bars in Sierra charts, I have found you need to use universal renko bar. The numbers are in a different order than what you're used to in a unirenko bar from NT. In universal bars: The first number is the amount the bar will offset, the second number is the number of ticks for a new bar to paint, and the third number is the number of ticks necessary to draw a bar in the opposite direction or reverse. For example: I have mine set to 6-3-12. That means a new bar will paint every 3 ticks in the current direction, the new bar will be offset from 6 ticks of it's actual open, and in order to change direction, the bar would need to go 12 ticks against the prior bar close. I hope this helps.
The following 3 users say Thank You to luv2trade for this post:
I dont recommend triple filter.
For filtering out "noise" its sufficient if you change only Reversal bar lenght
and keep open offset to 1 tick and trend bar to 1 tick.
change settings like that :
2-1-0
3-2-0
4-3-0
5-4-0
6-5-0
