Scanning charts for patterns - Where?

How do you go about scanning stock charts for patterns?

Is there a service that I can use that scans charts that can find patterns for me such as triangles, flags, anything that can signal a potential break out.. ?

How does everyone do their scanning?


-Frank

Good question. I am interested too. And I guess each pattern is indicating something different.

Frankieplus said:

How do you go about scanning stock charts for patterns?

Is there a service that I can use that scans charts that can find patterns for me such as triangles, flags, anything that can signal a potential break out.. ?

How does everyone do their scanning?


-Frank

Click to expand...

3 options/

1) write your own
2) get someone to write one for you
3) Use existing scanners - some are free, others subscription

You're making an assumption that buying breakouts is a good idea. Being able to backtest your idea is important, and for you that might mean option number 2.

@Frankieplus I have progressed from

1. Protrader which has some really good inbuilt scans https://www.protrader.com.au/

2. Amibroker which is more advanced and requires a fair of amount of education and if you enjoy learning some basic coding ( or as @Gringotts Bank suggests get someone to code for you) then is a great tool.

Frankieplus said:

How does everyone do their scanning?

Click to expand...

As @Trav. said above, Amibroker is a great tool to use for chart pattern recognition.

I use it to alert me to chart patterns and setups in real-time futures trading.

Take the time to learn how to code. There's so much flawed code floating around you need to understand how to build code and systems from scratch.

The first step in automating the process for anything is to have the process itself working as it should.

First you need a profitable system - there's no point automating one that isn't.

The second step which is key to automation is that you understand exactly what's going on that makes your system work. Fully dissecting a process being run by humans is an exercise in itself that can easily go wrong if things are assumed or overlooked. Plenty of examples in the broader world from business administration to civil construction where someone documenting a process failed to understand the fine details of it and thus produced documentation which failed to produce the desired results when someone else simply followed the instructions precisely.

Once you've got those bits sorted well then automation is somewhat straightforward - make sure your automated system does exactly what the manually implemented version does and it should work.

Smurf1976 said:

The second step which is key to automation is that you understand exactly what's going on that makes your system work.

Click to expand...

+1

All my trading is automated nowadays, from intraday futures trading to longer term share trading systems. Understanding the underlying code is vital.

Another link for @Frankieplus if you're interested in digging deeper into pattern trading and testing pattern setups is Thomas Bulkowski's patternsite.

http://thepatternsite.com/

There's pattern scanning software for download Tom has developed. I haven't used it as I've done all my testing in Amibroker in the past but it may be worth a look.

http://thepatternsite.com/PatternzNew.html