The seasonal markets are the commodities that began the futures industry. Wheat was the first commodity traded as a futures contact on the futures market. Commodities like Crude, Corn, Gold, Cattle, etc., have been around longer than financial commodities. Because they have been around longer, the seasonal commodities have more historical data. Being able to analyze that historical data gives you an advantage when you are trading a seasonal commodity.
The Seasonal Plug-In consists of three separate indicators:
The seasonal trend indicator represents the "normal" historical behavior of the market. The indicator is calculated on the specific contract month, showing you behavior of that specific chart. This is very important in agricultural markets with new and old crop contracts, such as Wheat or Corn.
The charts depict behavior on a relative basis; the actual prices are not forecasted, just the relative position of the market versus its contract high and low. On the seasonal charts, the high is depicted as 1.0, or 100%, while the low is depicted as 0.0, or 0%. All similar trading days are lined up for X number of years (the defaults in Track 'n Trade 5.0 are 10 years for Trend 1, and 15 years for Trend 2) and are analyzed in terms of where each day falls as a percentage of the highest and lowest price of either the last 12 months or the life of the contract for each specific contract. These prices are then averaged and depicted in the indicator window. When the trend line is at 100% or 1.0, it indicates where the contract has, on average, been at its highest value for a specified time range and scale period.
When the trend line is at 0% or 0.0, it indicates where the contract has, on average, been at its lowest value for the specified time range and scale period. The averages use data from all previous years and are not affected by the current year's trend.
Click on the SEAS button located in your Indicators toolbar.
Right-click on the SEAS button in your Indicator toolbar and select SEAS Settings. The Preferences Tab will open in the Control Panel and the SEAS preferences will be displayed. (Once you click on the chart, the Preference tab will go back to chart settings.)
Restore Settings: TNT Default will change your settings back to the original software settings. My Default will change current settings to your personalized default settings. Apply To All Charts will apply your selected settings on all open charts. Save As My Default will save your current personal settings.
Trend 1,2: Select how many years you would like to view and what color, line thickness, and line style you would like the indicator to be. You can also choose Fill Background and choose the color and which trend you would like it to be applied to.
Show Gradient Color: Toggle off to remove gradient color shading within filled trend.
Scale: Decide if you would like the indicator to be based on the Entire Contract or the Last 12 Months.
Thresholds: View up to four thresholds at a value that you type in and a color that you choose.
The historic Market Probability indicator shows the cumulative number of times the market in question has settled higher, lower, or the same on a specific date compared to the previous trading day's settlement price.
For example, if you are looking at a five year market probability indicator with a reading of +1, then the market in question may have historically settled higher three times and lower two times on this trading day than the previous trading day, or settled higher twice, lower once, and the same twice. The +1 reading is derived by subtracting the number of negative settlements from positive settlements, resulting in a net number of positive (+) or (-) settles. In other words, the +1 reading in these examples would be indicative of a market which has settled higher one more time than it has settled lower. If the market settled at the same price as the previous day, the total is not changed.
Click on the PROB button located in your Indicators toolbar.
Open the Preference tab from the Control Panel on the left of your screen. Select the Market Probability from the Indicators toolbar. The preferences will appear in the Control Panel. (Once you click on the chart, the Preference tab will go back to chart settings.)
Restore Settings: TNT Default will change your settings back to the original software settings. My Default will change current settings to your personalized default settings. Apply To All Charts will apply your selected settings on all open charts. Save As My Default will save your current personal settings.
Market Probability: Select how many years you would like to view and what color you would like the indicator to be.
Color: Choose the color of your histogram
Show Gradient Color: Toggle gradient color shading on or off for your histogram
Thresholds: View up to four thresholds at a value that you type in and a color that you choose.
The Historical Average indicator is very similar to a Moving Average indicator, except that it is based on the average price of the specific contract lined up by date. The charts are made for specific contract months, so that the trader can see the behavior of the specific contract they are looking at. This detail is important in a market with new and old crop contracts, such as the agricultural commodities.
Unlike the seasonal average prices, the Historic Average lines depicted in this feature are based on price, not a relative basis. In essence, what this feature does is give you the average price on a specific day. This chart will have the same basic feel and theme as the seasonal chart, except instead of prices being scaled on a relative basis (0 to 100%) they are the average historical price for that day.
This feature helps traders to quickly see how current prices compare versus average historical prices over a given time period and also shows seasonal trends over the given historical years chosen. By simply checking the Average 1 and/or Average 2 check box(s) on within the Historical Averages chart overlay properties, it displays the average line(s) within the main chart window. You may also change the number of years, the color, and line style in which the indicator is displayed. The weighted box can be selected to provide more significance to the latter years than the earlier years. The un-weighted is a simple average, giving equal significance to each year included in the study.
Open the Preference tab from the Control Panel on the left of your screen. Select the Historical Average line on your screen. The preferences will appear in the Control Panel. (Once you click on the chart, the Preference tab will go back to chart settings.)
Restore Settings: TNT Default will change your settings back to the original software settings. My Default will change current settings to your personalized default settings. Apply To All Charts will apply your selected settings on all open charts. Save As My Default will save your current personal settings.
Historical Averages: Select which averages you would like to view, if you would like them Weighted, and how many years you would like to see. Choose the color, line style, and line thickness of your indicator line.