PDF Smoothed Moving Average [BackQuant]PDF Smoothed Moving Average
Introducing BackQuant’s PDF Smoothed Moving Average (PDF-MA) — an innovative trading indicator that applies Probability Density Function (PDF) weighting to moving averages, creating a unique, trend-following tool that offers adaptive smoothing to price movements. This advanced indicator gives traders an edge by blending PDF-weighted values with conventional moving averages, helping to capture trend shifts with enhanced clarity.
Core Concept: Probability Density Function (PDF) Smoothing
The Probability Density Function (PDF) provides a mathematical approach to applying adaptive weighting to data points based on a specified variance and mean. In the PDF-MA indicator, the PDF function is used to weight price data, adding a layer of probabilistic smoothing that enhances the detection of trend strength while reducing noise.
The PDF weights are controlled by two key parameters:
Variance: Determines the spread of the weights, where higher values spread out the weighting effect, providing broader smoothing.
Mean : Centers the weights around a particular price value, influencing the trend’s directionality and sensitivity.
These PDF weights are applied to each price point over the chosen period, creating an adaptive and smooth moving average that more closely reflects the underlying price trend.
Blending PDF with Standard Moving Averages
To further improve the PDF-MA, this indicator combines the PDF-weighted average with a traditional moving average, selected by the user as either an Exponential Moving Average (EMA) or Simple Moving Average (SMA). This blended approach leverages the strengths of each method: the responsiveness of PDF smoothing and the robustness of conventional moving averages.
Smoothing Method: Traders can choose between EMA and SMA for the additional moving average layer. The EMA is more responsive to recent prices, while the SMA provides a consistent average across the selected period.
Smoothing Period: Controls the length of the lookback period, affecting how sensitive the average is to price changes.
The result is a PDF-MA that provides a reliable trend line, reflecting both the PDF weighting and traditional moving average values, ideal for use in trend-following and momentum-based strategies.
Trend Detection and Candle Coloring
The PDF-MA includes a built-in trend detection feature that dynamically colors candles based on the direction of the smoothed moving average:
Uptrend: When the PDF-MA value is increasing, the trend is considered bullish, and candles are colored green, indicating potential buying conditions.
Downtrend: When the PDF-MA value is decreasing, the trend is considered bearish, and candles are colored red, signaling potential selling or shorting conditions.
These color-coded candles provide a quick visual reference for the trend direction, helping traders make real-time decisions based on the current market trend.
Customization and Visualization Options
This indicator offers a range of customization options, allowing traders to tailor it to their specific preferences and trading environment:
Price Source : Choose the price data for calculation, with options like close, open, high, low, or HLC3.
Variance and Mean : Fine-tune the PDF weighting parameters to control the indicator’s sensitivity and responsiveness to price data.
Smoothing Method : Select either EMA or SMA to customize the conventional moving average layer used in conjunction with the PDF.
Smoothing Period : Set the lookback period for the moving average, with a longer period providing more stability and a shorter period offering greater sensitivity.
Candle Coloring : Enable or disable candle coloring based on trend direction, providing additional clarity in identifying bullish and bearish phases.
Trading Applications
The PDF Smoothed Moving Average can be applied across various trading strategies and timeframes:
Trend Following : By smoothing price data with PDF weighting, this indicator helps traders identify long-term trends while filtering out short-term noise.
Reversal Trading : The PDF-MA’s trend coloring feature can help pinpoint potential reversal points by showing shifts in the trend direction, allowing traders to enter or exit positions at optimal moments.
Swing Trading : The PDF-MA provides a clear trend line that swing traders can use to capture intermediate price moves, following the trend direction until it shifts.
Final Thoughts
The PDF Smoothed Moving Average is a highly adaptable indicator that combines probabilistic smoothing with traditional moving averages, providing a nuanced view of market trends. By integrating PDF-based weighting with the flexibility of EMA or SMA smoothing, this indicator offers traders an advanced tool for trend analysis that adapts to changing market conditions with reduced lag and increased accuracy.
Whether you’re trading trends, reversals, or swings, the PDF-MA offers valuable insights into the direction and strength of price movements, making it a versatile addition to any trading strategy.
Likelihood of Winning - Probability Density FunctionIn developing the "Likelihood of Winning - Probability Density Function (PDF)" indicator, my aim was to offer traders a statistical tool to quantify the probability of reaching target prices. This indicator, grounded in risk assessment principles, enables users to analyze potential outcomes based on the normal distribution, providing insights into market dynamics.
The tool's flexibility allows for customization of the data series, lookback periods, and target settings for both long and short scenarios. It features a color-coded visualization to easily distinguish between probabilities of hitting specified targets, enhancing decision-making in trading strategies.
I'm excited to share this indicator with the trading community, hoping it will enhance data-driven decision-making and offer a deeper understanding of market risks and opportunities. My goal is to continuously improve this tool based on user feedback and market evolution, contributing to more informed trading practices.
This indicator leverages the "NormalDistributionFunctions" library, enabling easy integration into other indicators or strategies. Users can readily embed advanced statistical analysis into their trading tools, fostering innovation within the Pine Script community.
PDFMA Awesome Oscillator [Loxx]Theory:
Bill Williams's Awesome Oscillator Technical Indicator (AO) is a 34-period simple moving average, plotted through the bars midpoints (H+L)/2, which is subtracted from the 5-period simple moving average, built across the bars midpoints (H+L)/2. It shows us quite clearly what’s happening to the market driving force at the present moment.
This version uses PdfMA (Probability Density Function weighted Moving Average) instead of SMA (Simple Moving Average). This is a deviation from the original AO since in the AO since there is no parameter that you can change, but with this version, you can change the variance part of the PdfMA calculation. That way you can get different values for the AO even without changing periods of calculation (the general rule of thumb is: the greater the variance, the smoother the result)
Usage:
You can use color changes (mainly on zero cross) for trend change signals
ATR-Stepped PDF MA [Loxx]ATR-Stepped PDF MA is and ATR-stepped moving average that uses a probability density function moving average.
What is Probability Density Function?
Probability density function based MA is a sort of weighted moving average that uses probability density function to calculate the weights.
Included:
-Toggle on/off bar coloring
-Toggle on/off signals
-Alerts long/short
Probability Density Function based MA MACD [Loxx]Probability Density Function based MA MACD is a MACD indicator using a type of weighted moving average.
What is Probability Density Function based MA MACD?
Probability density function based MA is a sort of weighted moving average that uses probability density function to calculate the weights.
Included:
-Toggle on/off bar coloring
MathProbabilityDistributionLibrary "MathProbabilityDistribution"
Probability Distribution Functions.
name(idx) Indexed names helper function.
Parameters:
idx : int, position in the range (0, 6).
Returns: string, distribution name.
usage:
.name(1)
Notes:
(0) => 'StdNormal'
(1) => 'Normal'
(2) => 'Skew Normal'
(3) => 'Student T'
(4) => 'Skew Student T'
(5) => 'GED'
(6) => 'Skew GED'
zscore(position, mean, deviation) Z-score helper function for x calculation.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
mean : float, mean.
deviation : float, standard deviation.
Returns: float, z-score.
usage:
.zscore(1.5, 2.0, 1.0)
std_normal(position) Standard Normal Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
Returns: float, probability density.
usage:
.std_normal(0.6)
normal(position, mean, scale) Normal Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position in the distribution.
mean : float, mean of the distribution, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale of the distribution, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability density.
usage:
.normal(0.6)
skew_normal(position, skew, mean, scale) Skew Normal Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position in the distribution.
skew : float, skewness of the distribution.
mean : float, mean of the distribution, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale of the distribution, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability density.
usage:
.skew_normal(0.8, -2.0)
ged(position, shape, mean, scale) Generalized Error Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
shape : float, shape.
mean : float, mean, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability.
usage:
.ged(0.8, -2.0)
skew_ged(position, shape, skew, mean, scale) Skew Generalized Error Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
shape : float, shape.
skew : float, skew.
mean : float, mean, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability.
usage:
.skew_ged(0.8, 2.0, 1.0)
student_t(position, shape, mean, scale) Student-T Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
shape : float, shape.
mean : float, mean, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability.
usage:
.student_t(0.8, 2.0, 1.0)
skew_student_t(position, shape, skew, mean, scale) Skew Student-T Distribution.
Parameters:
position : float, position.
shape : float, shape.
skew : float, skew.
mean : float, mean, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
Returns: float, probability.
usage:
.skew_student_t(0.8, 2.0, 1.0)
select(distribution, position, mean, scale, shape, skew, log) Conditional Distribution.
Parameters:
distribution : string, distribution name.
position : float, position.
mean : float, mean, default=0.0 for standard distribution.
scale : float, scale, default=1.0 for standard distribution.
shape : float, shape.
skew : float, skew.
log : bool, if true apply log() to the result.
Returns: float, probability.
usage:
.select('StdNormal', __CYCLE4F__, log=true)
Mobility Oscillator [CC]The Mobility Oscillator was created by Mel Widner (Stocks and Commodities Feb 1996) and this is another of my ongoing series of undiscovered gems. I would say this is probably the most complicated script I have written for an indicator. It is extremely complicated to calculate comparing to other indicators but this is essentially an overbought and oversold indicator that uses a very unique technique to calculate overbought and oversold levels and overall upward or downward momentum there is in the underlying stock. It uses a price distribution function to determine how often the current prices fall within the current trend which tells us how strong the momentum for the current trend actually is. I had to customize this indicator a bit to give clear buy and sell readings so I had to introduce a lag in exchange for clearer signals. This indicator ranges between +100 and -100 and when it stays at the +100 level for example then this means a sustained uptrend and vice versa. I have included strong buy and sell signals in addition to normal ones so strong signals are darker in color and normal signals are lighter in color. Buy when the line turns green and sell when it turns red.
Let me know if there are any other scripts or indicators you would like to see me publish!
Probability Distribution HistogramProbability Distribution Histogram
During data exploration it is often useful to plot the distribution of the data one is exploring. This indicator plots the distribution of data between different bins.
Essentially, what we do is we look at the min and max of the entire data set to determine its range. When we have the range of the data, we decide how many bins we want to divide this range into, so that the more bins we get, the smaller the range (a.k.a. width) for each bin becomes. We then place each data point in its corresponding bin, to see how many of the data points end up in each bin. For instance, if we have a data set where the smallest number is 5 and the biggest number is 105, we get a range of 100. If we then decide on 20 bins, each bin will have a width of 5. So the left-most bin would therefore correspond to values between 5 and 10, and the bin to the right would correspond to values between 10 and 15, and so on.
Once we have distributed all the data points into their corresponding bins, we compare the count in each bin to the total number of data points, to get a percentage of the total for each bin. So if we have 100 data points, and the left-most bin has 2 data points in it, that would equal 2%. This is also known as probability mass (or well, an approximation of it at least, since we're dealing with a bin, and not an exact number).
Usage
This is not an indicator that will give you any trading signals. This indicator is made to help you examine data. It can take any input you give it and plot how that data is distributed.
The indicator can transform the data in a few ways to help you get the most out of your data exploration. For instance, it is usually more accurate to use logarithmic data than raw data, so there is an option to transform the data using the natural logarithmic function. There is also an option to transform the data into %-Change form or by using data differencing.
Another option that the indicator has is the ability to trim data from the data set before plotting the distribution. This can help if you know there are outliers that are made up of corrupted data or data that is not relevant to your research.
I also included the option to plot the normal distribution as well, for comparison. This can be useful when the data is made up of residuals from a prediction model, to see if the residuals seem to be normally distributed or not.
