The Ichimoku Oscillator is a trading indicator designed to streamline the interpretation of Ichimoku clouds. It aims to refine and condense the complexities of the Chikou (the lag line), presenting its implications in real-time through an oscillator format, beneficial for those familiar with Ichimoku components but to have a new interpretation of their indicators.
The basics of an Ichimoku:
Conversion Line (Tenkan-Sen): It represents a midpoint of the highest and lowest prices over a specific period, usually 9 periods, reflecting short-term price movements.
Base Line (Kijun-Sen): It acts similarly to the Conversion Line but over a longer period, typically 26 periods, representing medium-term price movements.
Leading Span A & B (Kumo): Span A is the average of the Conversion Line and Base Line, and Span B is the midpoint of the highest and lowest prices over a usually longer period, typically 52 periods. Their interaction denotes trend direction, and the cloud color changes depending on whether Span A is above or below Span B, indicating bullish or bearish market conditions, respectively.
Lagging Span (Chikou Span): It is the current closing price plotted 26 periods behind, assisting in confirming the trend direction and potential momentum.
Advantage of an Oscillator: Utilizing the oscillator format allows traders to interpret market dynamics more efficiently by visualizing the momentum and trend strength in a bounded range, enabling quick assessments of overbought or oversold conditions. Creating this oscillator provides multiple advantageous; particularly in sideway markets, helping to identify potential reversal points and offering insights on market entries and exits. When building this oscillator we've put a focus on unique interpretations such as overbought and sold areas and divergences; otherwise not found in traditional Ichimoku techniques. It is important to note these divergences are naturally not 100% real time.
When the oscillator turns green; the market is in an uptrend, red for downtrend and yellow for a transitioning market. The center line and the inner most cloud represent a balanced market state.
Key Features & Input Parameters:
Signal Source: Allows the selection of the price data source for signal generation, such as closing prices, and it’s the foundational parameter upon which the oscillator functions.
Normalization Settings: Users can select the normalization mode (“All”, “Window”, or “Disabled”), influencing how the oscillator scales its values. When enabled, it will scale from 100 to -100, allowing the user to understand better the relative positioning of price data.
Smoothing: This indicator offers advanced smoothing features, with options for additional smoothing, allowing traders to adjust the signal's sensitivity to price movements.
Kumo & Chikou Visibility: Traders can customize the visibility settings of Kumo and Chikou, tailoring the display of each component to their preference, enabling a cleaner and more intuitive view of market conditions.
Color Coding: Each component and condition, like bullish or bearish states, can be color-coded, providing visual cues to enhance the interpretability of market trends and states.
Color on Conversion: The oscillator provides an option to color the signal based on the crossover of the conversion and base lines.
Divergence: The oscillator can detect and highlight regular and hidden bullish and bearish divergences between the signal and price, aiding traders in identifying potential trend reversals or continuations.
Alerts: The list of inbuilt alerts are provided below:
Inside Cloud: The signal line is inside the cloud.
Up Out of Cloud: The signal line crossed above the cloud.
Down Out of Cloud: The signal line crossed below the cloud.
Future Kumo Cross Bullish: The future Kumo lines have crossed in a bullish manner.
Future Kumo Cross Bearish: The future Kumo lines have crossed in a bearish manner.
Current Kumo Cross Bullish: The current Kumo lines have crossed in a bullish manner.
Current Kumo Cross Bearish: The current Kumo lines have crossed in a bearish manner.
Conversion Base Bullish: The conversion line crossed above the base line.
Conversion Base Bearish: The conversion line crossed below the base line.
Signal Bullish on Conversion Base: The signal line crossed above the maximum of conversion and base lines.
Signal Bearish on Conversion Base: The signal line crossed below the minimum of conversion and base lines.
Chikou Bullish: The Chikou line crossed above zero.
Chikou Bearish: The Chikou line crossed below zero.
Signal Over Max: The signal line crossed above the max level.
Signal Over High: The signal line crossed above the high level.
Signal Under Min: The signal line crossed below the min level.
Signal Under Low: The signal line crossed below the low level.
Chikou Over Max: The Chikou line crossed above the max level.
Chikou Over High: The Chikou line crossed above the high level.
Chikou Under Min: The Chikou line crossed below the min level.
Chikou Under Low: The Chikou line crossed below the low level.
Signal Crossover MA: The signal line crossed over the moving average.
Signal Crossunder MA: The signal line crossed under the moving average.
Bounce off of Kumo Up: Bullish Bounce off of Kumo.
Bounce off of Kumo Down: Bearish Bounce off of Kumo.
By providing a cohesive visualization of the Ichimoku elements and market momentum within a bounded range, this oscillator is a unique tool and insight into markets.