# Formula for price movement percentage



## rowes (19 April 2007)

Hi,

Hope someone can help me with this, i can never seem to get percentages right!  

What would be the formula to get a percentage of price movement.
for instance if the open price was 31.03 and the closing price was 34.34 how would you work out what would be the percentage moved.

What would be + percentage and alternatively if the price closed lower than the open what would be - percentage.

Hope this makes sense!


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## stoxclimber (19 April 2007)

Percentage = (Current Price - Last Price)/Last Price


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## rowes (19 April 2007)

Thanks for the reply stoxclimber

I want to use open price and close price but using the formula you showed I cant get it to give me what I need.


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## stoxclimber (19 April 2007)

If you are using my formula, then current price=close and last price=open

Most sites will quote the %age return as the current price today compared to YESTERDAYS closing price...


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## rowes (19 April 2007)

Thanks, that does work fine, from my example price i get 11%

much appreciated!


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## Snagglepuss (19 April 2007)

stoxclimber said:


> Percentage = (Current Price - Last Price)/Last Price




Strictly speaking, you need to multiply the result by 100 to give a percentage.

Or, rearrange to give:

Percentage = ( CurrentPrice / PriorPrice - 1) * 100

This is often easier in practice, since you only need to divide one number into the other - no need to calculate the difference first, prior to dividing by the PriorPrice. In your original example, 

CurrentPrice / PriorPrice = 34.34 / 31.03 = 1.1067

So, subracting one and multiplying by 100 gives 10.67%.


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## rowes (20 April 2007)

Yeah that would be right snagglepuss

at open 31.03 and close of 34.34

mypercentage: Format(([close]-[open])/[open],"#.0000")*100

this gives me 10.67%

Cool


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## guywhotrades (11 July 2017)

Hi all ... im new here and just wondering if this would be the best formula to use to find cup and handle chart patterns? I love these patterns and dont mind the step patterns either. Im yet to purchase meatstock but its tax time and definitely going to get onboard as soon as the $$$ come in


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## Boggo (11 July 2017)

guywhotrades said:


> Hi all ... im new here and just wondering if this would be the best formula to use to find cup and handle chart patterns? I love these patterns and dont mind the step patterns either. *Im yet to purchase meatstock* but its tax time and definitely going to get onboard as soon as the $$$ come in




Guessing you mean Metastock, don't bother if you are starting to program stuff. They got greedy with the latest versions of Metastock, limited data etc now although they are trying to regain lost ground in that area with version 15.
Go to Amibroker, much cheaper, more functional and much easier to program and back test etc.


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## guywhotrades (11 July 2017)

Boggo said:


> Guessing you mean Metastock, don't bother if you are starting to program stuff. They got greedy with the latest versions of Metastock, limited data etc now.
> Go to Amibroker, cheaper, more functional and much easier to program and back test etc.



Thanks Boggo Ill take a look at it right now


Boggo said:


> Guessing you mean Metastock, don't bother if you are starting to program stuff. They got greedy with the latest versions of Metastock, limited data etc now although they are trying to regain lost ground in that area with version 15.
> Go to Amibroker, much cheaper, more functional and much easier to program and back test etc.


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## guywhotrades (11 July 2017)

So would the % formula be the best to use in Amibroker or is there something better? Finding long flat patterns would be good too.


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## Boggo (11 July 2017)

guywhotrades said:


> So would the % formula be the best to use in Amibroker or is there something better? Finding long flat patterns would be good too.




Down the left side of this link is about 20% of the list of indicators that are available.
http://www.incrediblecharts.com/
None of them on their own will make you a better trader just like having a hammer doesn't make you a chippy. Don't use any indicator or function until you are sufficiently familiar with it that you can explain it fully to someone who has never seen it.
Try to get some consistent idea of what you are looking for, then you may be able to start making use of the tools (indicators) to assist you.

There is a wealth of knowledge on this site and a lot of very experienced people, use the search function every time you have an idea or thought and I would be surprised if you don't find the answer or some valuable info that will speed up the learning process.

Cheers


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## guywhotrades (12 July 2017)

thanks boggo ive traded quite often in the past not for a while tho... I guess im what im really looking for is some help to set up some scan tool settings that will help me take a lot of the painstaking hrs of looking through charts just to identify the couple of patterns ive mentioned. Little bit rusty but its coming back.


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## Boggo (12 July 2017)

guywhotrades said:


> thanks boggo ive traded quite often in the past not for a while tho... I guess im what im really looking for is some help to set up some scan tool settings that will help me take a lot of the painstaking hrs of looking through charts just to identify the couple of patterns ive mentioned. Little bit rusty but its coming back.




That's the trick I think, have a particular pattern/behaviour that you want to work with and then develop a method of finding them taking into account liquidity etc.
In my opinion any more than 5% of any any list popping up in a scan is too many.
A quick glance then at the charts that do come up and you will find that you will narrow the list down to just a few, sometimes none.

One of the areas that we see often is the lack of an exit point when it goes wrong, something to always consider when you glance at a chart. Too much focus on the entry.
I mainly trade on weekly charts but I still have a quick look at the daily, if you are trading daily I think it is worth a look at the weekly to see if you are going against a trend.

Have a look at what peter2, tech/a and others that post charts in their threads put up and read the commentary.

Only you can decide what suits you, then find a way of programming it, that's where Amibroker is so good and there are so many formula's available that you can modify to suit.


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## Triathlete (12 July 2017)

Boggo said:


> One of the areas that we see often is the lack of an exit point when it goes wrong, something to always consider when you glance at a chart. Too much focus on the entry.
> I mainly trade on weekly charts but I still have a quick look at the daily, *if you are trading daily I think it is worth a look at the weekly to see if you are going against a trend*.




I agree also with these two points above, while the second point may stop you from entering too early and missing out on potential returns it has been my experience that it will save you much more.

"It is one of the rules I use in my own trading never trade against the direction of the next highest timeframe"


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