Quick but curious

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Hi I'm going through an old EA I found on a post from some years back, I've come to this and don't understand what logic is behind it.


extern string entrylogics="Entry Logics";

extern int timeframe=0;
extern int period=5;
extern int shift=2;                      // bar in the past to take in consideration for the signal

 

   if(iHighest(NULL,timeframe,MODE_HIGH,period,0)==shift)
   {
   if(reversesignals)sell=true;else buy=true;
   }
   if(iLowest(NULL,timeframe,MODE_LOW,period,0)==shift)
   {
   if(reversesignals)buy=true;else sell=true;
   }

  I don't understand why == shift is used.. as shift is 2 how can iLowest/Highest be 2 when the data for highest and lowest is always a double of considerably less value than 2..

 

It's probably me missing something but anyone who can explain this to me will be appreciated! 

 
Check the documentation of iLowest/iHighest and what value is returned.
 
Alain Verleyen:
Check the documentation of iLowest/iHighest and what value is returned.

ah so it is an integer, why then would it be set to 2?

 
xanderhinds:

ah so it is an integer, why then would it be set to 2?

Why not ? :-)
 
Alain Verleyen:
Why not ? :-)
Hahaha.. I feel that its the simplest gaps of knowledge that cause most bewilderment.
 
xanderhinds:

how can iLowest/Highest be 2 when the data for highest and lowest is always a double of considerably less value than 2..

xanderhinds:

ah so it is an integer

It is indeed an integer. A very common misconception is that iHighest and iLowest return the highest and lowest values respectively. They don't. They return the bar index that contains the highest/lowest values.

If the highest value is 1.10045 and it occurred on the previous bar, iHighest returns 1 (not 1.10045)

 
xanderhinds: ah so it is an integer, why then would it be set to 2?
  1. Do you know what a fractal is? Two lower highs on the left (bars 3 and 4,) two lower highs on the right (bars 0 and 1,) highest high in the middle (bar 2.)
  2. Can't use iFractals because it won't ever indicate a fractal on bar 2, only bar 3 (fully formed bars.)
 
whroeder1:
  1. Do you know what a fractal is? Two lower highs on the left (bars 3 and 4,) two lower highs on the right (bars 0 and 1,) highest high in the middle (bar 2.)

Being very, very pedantic... the built-in MT4 definition is very slightly different. It allows one or more equal highs with two lower highs before and after. A valid fractal is therefore not necessarily a 5-bar sequence.

For example, there is a six-bar fractal sequence at 13:31/13:32 today on EURUSD M1 in the MetaQuotes demo server price feed; equal highs at 1.06689. Screenshot attached.

Files:
6-bar-fractal.png  1 kb
 
JC:

Being very, very pedantic... the built-in MT4 definition is very slightly different. It allows one or more equal highs with two lower highs before and after. A valid fractal is therefore not necessarily a 5-bar sequence.

For example, there is a six-bar fractal sequence at 13:31/13:32 today on EURUSD M1 in the MetaQuotes demo server price feed; equal highs at 1.06689. Screenshot attached.

Anyway this topic is not about fractals.
 
Thanks for all the responses. It helps a lot to understand that iHighest/lowest returns the bar index as opposed to the bar value, I'll do some reading into fractals to uncover more! Thanks again!
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