Like all ShareScope charts, it is possible to add an indicator panel below the Historical Graph. As well as the usual indicators offered by ShareScope for this panel, RuleTrader adds the ability to display an indicator graph that shows how the value or state of numeric, percentage or condition terms in your Trading Spec vary over time. The example below shows the number of open positions for the Example Trading Spec’s Value & Growth and Momentum positions over time

To create a Value Indicator in a RuleTrader Test or Live session, please follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Historical Chart and from the pop-up menu pick Add Indicator, then on the sub-menu pick ShareScript Indicator (bottom option in the left column)

2. The Add ShareScript Indicator dialog will then appear:

Click on RuleTrader Value Indicator and click Ok. The Overlay Settings dialog will then be shown. The checkmark at the top is a global setting that shows or hides all indicators defined here.

3. To add an indicator graph, in the Add Overlay group select from the Source drop-down list the term, trading rule, trading strategy, or list whose conditional state or value (or list length in the case of a strategy or benchmark list) you wish to display, as it varies over time. Then press the Add button.

4. You may add up to 8 indicator graphs, each of which will be listed in the Selected Overlay Styles group, as shown in the example above. Here you can:

• 1. use the left-hand checkmark to select one or more graphs, before then selecting an operation from the Overlay Operations drop-down list and then clicking Do It! to apply the operation to the selected graphs.
  2. hide or show an individual overlay graph using the Show checkmark next to the graph’s name
  3. define the style of the overlay and select its colours (see below)

5. Click Ok to add the overlays to the chart. Remember that no data will be displayed until a back-test has been run or until your live trading system has been running for a number of times. This is because overlay data is only gathered after the overlay has been defined. If you are changing the style of a pre-existing overlay, it may take a few seconds for ShareScope to update the overlay display. You can force the update to happen by clicking on another share  in the Share List window then clicking back on the share you’re interested in.

Simply right-click on the Indicator Panel, below the Chart, choose the option ‘Edit Displaying: …’, then follow steps 2, 3 and 4, above.

An overlay’s style options depend on the type of value or state represented:

Numeric or percentage values are represented with a line drawn across the indicator panel, which may be shaded in various ways:

• Line: a single coloured graph line
• Line (up/down): a single coloured line whose colour varies between the Colour and Alt. Colour settings depending on whether the graph line is trending up or down
• Line (+/-): a single coloured line whose colour varies between the Colour and Alt. Colour settings depending on whether the line value is positive or negative
• Axis Filled: the area under the line is filled with the primary Colour setting. If multiple graph lines are Axis Filled, then where their areas overlap the colours will be merged.
• Axis Filled (spaced): the area under the line is filled with the primary Colour setting and a thin vertical space is inserted between each time unit (as defined by the Chart bars). If an Axis Filled (spaced) graph’s area overlaps an Axis Filled graph’s area then the colours are NOT merged.
• All filled: Like Axis Filled except the area colouring is extended to the sides of the indicator panels, even if there is no data there
• Graded Background: The value is a shown as a solid block of colour whose intensity varies with the value. Colour settings are ignored

Condition terms, which represent true or false values, are represented either with bars or blocks:

• Bars (on/off, spaced): a solid bar is drawn with the Colour setting on each day that the condition is true, and a gap is left on the days it is false. If the condition is true on consecutive days then a small space is inserted between the bars on those days.
• Bars (on/off, no spaces): as ‘Bars (on/off, spaced)’ but a space is not inserted between consecutive days when the condition is true
• Bars (alternate, spaced): as ‘Bars (on/off, spaced)’ but instead of a gap when the condition is false, the bar is drawn in the Alt. Colour. A small space is inserted between consecutive days when the condition has the same state
• Bars (alternate, no spaces): as ‘Bars (alternate, spaced)’ but a space is not inserted between consecutive days when the condition has the same state
• Blocks (alternate): as ‘Bars (alternate, no spaces)’ but the bar is transformed into a block by extending it vertically for the entire height of the indicator panel