bar

bar(vars Open, vars High, vars Low, vars Close, vars Price, DATE Start, DATE Time): int

User-supplied function for defining a bar; used to create special bar types such as Renko Bars or Range Bars, or to replace the mean price by a different algorithm. The function is called whenever a new price quote arrives or a price tick is read from a historical file. It can modify the candle and determine when the bar ends.

Parameters:

Open, High, Low, Close, Price	Series with two elements of the corresponding price; f.i. Close[1] is the close price of the previous bar, and Close[0] is the most recent price. The prices of the current bar can be modified by the bar function. Price is the mean price and can be omitted when not used in the function.
Start	Optional start time of the bar in the OLE DATE format. Can be omitted when not used in the function.
Time	Optional time of the most recent tick or price quote. Can be omitted when not used in the function.

Returns:

0 - close the bar at the normal end of the BarPeriod.
1 - close the bar now.
4 - keep the bar open until closed by returning 1, and call the bar function at every price tick.
8 - call the bar function only once at the end of every bar.

Remarks:

The bar function is called during the history building process and has only access to the current and previous candle. Indicators, series, price, or trade functions can not be called from inside a bar function.
If prices are not otherwise modified by the bar function, they are set up as for a normal candle, i.e. Open[0] is the first price of the bar, High[0] is the highest price so far, Low[0] the lowest price and Price[0] the current mean price of the bar.
Modified prices affect the corresponding price functions (priceOpen, priceHigh, priceLow, priceClose, price) and price-dependent indicators. They also affect simulated trade results and can cause data-snooping f.i. when trades open or close intra-bar and the bar open price is modified by the close price. For realistic results, set the TICKS flag; trades are then opened and closed on real historical price ticks and unaffected by modified bars.
User-defined bar lengths can normally be used with single-asset strategies only, as different assets would produce different bars. For a portfolio system, user-defined bars had to be simulated with the TimeFrame mechanism or with a tick function.
When using special bar types, the StartDate can deviate because the lookback period has no fixed duration anymore. It is recommended to set BarPeriod to the approximate average duration of a bar, for making sure that a similar time period is covered and enough ticks are read from the historical data files or the price server to fill the lookback period. The average bar duration is displayed in the performance report. Bar zones and bar offsets must not be set when using special bar types.
Renko bars are described slightly differently on different websites - the examples below contain 3 variants.

Examples:

var BarRange = 0.0030; // 0.3 cents bar range

// Range Bars
int bar(vars Open,vars High,vars Low,vars Close)
{
  if(Open[0] != Close[1]) {
    High[0] = max(Open[0],Close[1]);
    Low[0] = min(Open[0],Close[1]);
    Open[0] = Close[1];
  }
  if(High[0]-Low[0] >= BarRange)
    return 1;
  return 4;
}

// Renko Bars, variant 1 
int bar(vars Open,vars High,vars Low,vars Close)
{
  Open[0] = round(Close[1],BarRange);
  if(Close[0]-Open[0] >= BarRange) {
    Close[0] = Open[0]+BarRange;
    High[0] = Close[0];
    Low[0] = Open[0];
    return 1;
  }
  if(Open[0]-Close[0] >= BarRange) {
    Close[0] = Open[0]-BarRange;
    High[0] = Open[0];
    Low[0] = Close[0];
    return 1;
  }
  return 4;
}

// Renko Bars, variant 2 
int bar(vars Open, vars High, vars Low, vars Close)
{
  var OpenDiff = abs(Close[0]-Open[1]);
  var CloseDiff = abs(Close[0]-Close[1]);
  if(OpenDiff < CloseDiff) // we have a valley or peak
     Open[0] = Open[1];
  else  // we are moving with the trend
     Open[0] = round(Close[1],BarRange);
  if(Close[0]-Open[0] >= BarRange) {  // going up
    Close[0] = Open[0]+BarRange;
    High[0] = Close[0];
    Low[0] = Open[0];
    return 1;
  }
  if(Open[0]-Close[0] >= BarRange) { // going down
    Close[0] = Open[0]-BarRange;
    High[0] = Open[0];
    Low[0] = Close[0];
    return 1;
  }
  return 4;
}

// Mean Renko Bars
int bar(vars Open, vars High, vars Low, vars Close)
{
	Open[0] = 0.5*(Close[1]+Open[1]);
	if(Close[0] <= Open[0] - BarRange) {
		Close[0] = Open[0] - BarRange;
		return 1;
	} else if(Close[0] >= Open[0] + BarRange) {
		Close[0] = Open[0] + BarRange;
		return 1;
	}
	return 4;
}


// Haiken Ashi Bars
int bar(vars Open,vars High,vars Low,vars Close)
{
  Close[0] = (Open[0]+High[0]+Low[0]+Close[0])/4;
  Open[0] = (Open[1]+Close[1])/2;
  High[0] = max(High[0],max(Open[0],Close[0]));
  Low[0] = min(Low[0],min(Open[0],Close[0]));
  return 8;
}

// Point-and-Figure Bars
int bar(vars Open,vars High,vars Low,vars Close)
{
  static int direction = 0;
  if(direction == 1 && High[0]-Close[0] >= BarRange) {
    Open[0] = round(Low[0],BarRange);
    Close[0] = round(High[0],BarRange);
    Low[0] = Open[0];
    High[0] = Close[0];
    direction = 0;
    return 1;
  }
  if(direction == 0 && Close[0]-Low[0] >= BarRange) {
    Open[0] = round(High[0],BarRange);
    Close[0] = round(Low[0],BarRange);
    High[0] = Open[0];
    Low[0] = Close[0];
    direction = 1;
    return 1;
  }
  return 4;
}

bar(vars Open, vars High, vars Low, vars Close, vars Price, DATE Start, DATE Time): int

Parameters:

Returns:

Remarks:

Examples:

See also: