The TD AmeriTrade platform has been our mainstay for Technical Analysis. Since there is a change in policy with regard to their Singapore operation since the takeover of TD Ameritrade by Charles Schwab, we will be unable to access their platform starting 23 October 2023. So the charting system will be unavailable to us unless we are able to fund new Charles Schwab account to the tune of USD 25,000.
QTiTTs QTiTTs is the favourite trading system that was developed using ToS. The Thinkscript codes for the indicators are not shown here but we have provided some screen captures of how the QTiTTS look on the screen.
QTiTTs stands for Quadrant Trend-In-Trend Trading System. It is designed to be a visual trading system represented by the colours of the candles for UpTrend (Green) or DownTrend (Red). It is also represented by multi lines of coloured dots of Upward (Green) or Downward (White) momentum against a black background chart.
Chart 1: QTiTTs or Quadrant Trend-In-Trend Trading System – Daily chart of /RTY on 22 Oct 2023
What makes QTiTTs so popular is that we have very practical definition of UpTrend and DownTrend bias. If a candle closes above its 55 SMA and also its 21 EMA or 8 EMA, it has an UpTrend bias. Also if 8 EMA crosses above 21 EMA, then it also has an upTrend bias. Usually, the candle close will be above the 55 SMA and also it is above the 8 EMA and 21 EMA when the crossing occurred. That would be a confirmation, The converse is true as well.
In order to simplify what constitutes an UpTrend, we would like to see the 8 EMA to be above the 21 EMA and also the candle close to be above the 55 SMA. Nothing could be simpler than that.
Volatility One of the biggest issues in technical trading is how volatility is handled. In QTiTTs, we use the ATR TrailingStop to measure the volatility. In an Uptrending stock (or Futures security), we would like to see the ATR TrailingStop below the candle close. In a strong trending stock, the whole candle will be above the ATR TrailingStop and also is moving average lines.
Chart 2: QTiTTs 1-min chart of the /RTY on the 2 Oct 2023. The vertical lines shows the 8 EMA crossing above or below the 21 EMA. The chart also shows the moving average lines which are providing resistances.
Trending or Non-Trending In a strong UpTrending market, we are likely to see the candle is located up its moving averages of 8 EMA, 21 EMA, 34 EMA, 55 SMA, 89 SMA, 144 SMA. It is also preferable that the candle is above the 233 SMA. The issue that most traders have problems with is when a stock (or futures securities) are not yet trending. In this situation, we have the DonChian channel band to give us an indicationof whether a stock is just range trading or it has broken upward and is trending.
Chart 3: QTiTTs 1-min chart on the 2 Oct 2023 showing the DonChian channel and also the ATR TrailingStop. In a DownTrend, we look at the DonChian lower band and the ATR TrailingStop above the candle. In an UpTrend, we look at the DonChian Upper band and the ATR Trailing StopLoss below the candles.
What market can it be used? QTiTTs are used for trading both Stocks, Options and Futures market.
Chart 4: QTiTTs 1-min chart on the 2 Oct 2023. Closeup of the DonChian Upper and Lower bands and also the ATR Trailing Stop line.
