TD Sequential Ultimate
TD Sequential Ultimate MetaTrader indicator shows all parts of the TD Sequential method developed by the legendary technical analyst, Tom DeMark. TD Sequential Ultimate displays Buy and Sell Setups, including the Setup Perfection arrows, Buy and Sell Countdowns, including the failed count 13 attempts, and TDST Support and Resistance levels. Unlike many other implementations of the TD Sequential method, this indicator offers multiple improvements:
- Recalculates only those candles that require recalculation, which makes it work faster, especially on lower timeframes.
- The distance from candlestick highs and lows to count values is recalculated using pixel-to-price ratios depending on the chart scale and font size, ensuring consistent non-overlapping indicator output across all kinds of trading instruments.
- Everything is calculated according to the original TD Sequential rules. For example, Countdown candles can be non-consequential, while Setup Perfection can come any number of candles after Count 9 is printed.
- All output is available as indicator buffers for easy integration into other indicators or expert advisors via
iCustom()
function. - Alerts on multiple conditions and via multiple media are built into the indicator.
This indicator is available for MetaTrader version 4 and 5 and doesn't use any other indicators in its code.
What is TD Sequential?
TD Sequential is a system developed by Tom DeMark to provide quantitative measure of a budding reversal in a trend. It is based on three main concepts: Buy/Sell Setup, which signals at least a partial trend exhaustion, Buy/Sell Setup Perfection, which signals a high likelihood of trend at least stagnating, and Buy/Sell Countdown, which provides an indication that the initial trend's momentum is drained.
TD Sequential Ultimate indicator adds another technique of Tom DeMark's authorship to the mix — TDST Support/Resistance levels. They are based on the Buy/Sell Setup candles and provide, unsurprisingly, powerful levels of support and resistance. Those can be used alone or in combination with the rest of the TD Sequential system.
If you want to learn how TD Sequential works and how you can trade currency pairs using this technical indicator, please refer to the following resources:
- An old article from Currency Trader magazine written by Tom DeMark and Rocke DeMark
- A presentation by Jason Perl on DeMark Indicators
Input parameters
Calculation
- MaxBars (default = 1000) — how many bars to calculate TD Sequential for. Zero value means that the indicator will calculate its counts for all available bars. The higher the number the slower the indicator will work.
Display
- BuySetupColor (default = clrLime) — color of the Buy Setup counts and Perfection arrows.
- SellSetupColor (default = clrRed) — color of the Sell Setup counts and Perfection arrows.
- CountdownColor (default = clrOrange) — color of the Countdown values.
- FontFace (default = "Verdana") — font face to use for counts.
- FontSize (default = 12) — font size to use for counts.
- ArrowWidth (default = 2) — arrow size for Setup Perfection.
- PixelDistance (default = 3) — vertical distance between count objects in pixels.
- Prefix (default = "TDS_") — text prefix for naming chart objects.
Alerts
- AlertOnSetup (default = false) — trigger alert when Buy/Sell Setup is finished (count #9 is printed).
- AlertOnPerfecting (default = false) — trigger alert when Buy/Sell Setup is perfected (an arrow appears).
- AlertOnCount13 (default = false) — trigger alert when Countdown candle #13 appears.
- AlertOnSupportResistance (default = false) — trigger alert when a candle closes above resistance or below support.
- AlertNative (default = false) — if true, then a native popup alert will be issued each time an alert event occurs.
- AlertEmail (default = false) — if true, alerts will be sent via email. Email should be properly configured in MetaTrader via Tools->Options->Email.
- AlertNotification (default = false) — if true, alerts will be sent via push-notifications to your mobile device. You need to set up MetaQuotes ID in MetaTrader via Tools->Options->Notifications for this to work properly.
Usage
There are multiple ways to trade based on TD Sequential technique. The main point is that the whole framework was developed by Tom DeMark to find potential reversals in trends. For example, the Countdown mark 13 is believed to coincide often with the trend's top or bottom. Another method to work with TD Sequential is to buy/sell following a perfected Setup that was close to a support/resistance, but none of the candles closed below/above that support/resistance.
My own observations of the indicator on Forex pairs suggest that support and resistance levels printed by TD Sequential offer quite good levels for entering and exiting trades. Closing below a support or above a resistance line can be used to go short or long, respectively.
However, this indicator system doesn't seem to be providing any sustainable edge without applying confirmations from additional technical indicators or fundamental signals.
Indicator buffers
If you would like to use TD Sequential outputs in your own custom indicator or expert advisor, you can access them via indicator buffers:
- Buffer #0 — TDST Resistance: actual price level. EMPTY_VALUE on empty value.
- Buffer #1 — TDST Support: actual price level. EMPTY_VALUE on empty value.
- Buffer #2 — Setup: candle number - positive for Buy Setup, negative for Sell Setup. 0 on empty value.
- Buffer #3 — Countdown: candle number - positive for Buy Countdown, negative for Sell Countdown. 0 on empty value.
- Buffer #4 — Setup Perfection: 1.0 for Buy Setup Perfection, -1.0 for Sell Setup Perfection. 0 on empty value.
Download (ver. 1.03, 2021-04-05)
TD Sequential Ultimate for MetaTader 4 in .zip TD Sequential Ultimate for MetaTader 4 in .mq4 TD Sequential Ultimate for MetaTader 5 in .zip TD Sequential Ultimate for MetaTader 5 in .mq5TD Sequential Ultimate is being developed via a dedicated GitHub repository. You can actively participate in the improvement of this indicator by submitting your own features via pull-requests and by reviewing existing suggestions, changes, fixes, and so on.
Discussion
Warning! If you do not know how to install this indicator, please read the MetaTrader Indicators Tutorial.
Do you have any suggestions or questions regarding this indicator? You can always discuss TD Sequential Ultimate with the other FX traders and MQL programmers on the indicators forums.
Changelog
1.03 — 2021-04-05
- Fixed error that caused even valid completed Countdowns being removed from the chart.
1.02 — 2021-03-30
- Added an input parameter (MaxBars) to control the number of bars to calculate the counts on.
- Fixed leftover failed Sell Setup counts not being removed from the chart. The error was only present in the MT4 version.
- Fixed leftover failed Countdown counts not being removed from the chart.
- Fixed Countdown not starting in some cases.
- Fixed support and resistance lines to be based on the preceding close for Buy and Sell Setups when that close is lower than the min of the Buy Setup or higher than the max of the Sell Setup.
- Changed the way support and resistance lines are drawn. They are now based on a dot arrow plot to remove the vertical connecting lines.
1.01 — 2020-12-02
- Fixed Countdown counts not incrementing or canceling prematurely in some cases.
- Fixed sequential Buy Setups or Sell Setups not appearing when Countdown is already in progress.
1.00 — 2020-09-08
- Initial release of the TD Sequential Ultimate indicator.