BloodHound - Adding Ichimoku Cloud as Trend Filter to any System & Copying Systems

Summary

The video script is a detailed tutorial on integrating the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter into an existing trading system using the Bloodhound platform. The presenter begins by referencing an older workshop and explains the process of adding customizations to it. They guide viewers through obtaining the Ichimoku indicator from the NinjaTrader's User App Share and demonstrate how to use the comparison solver to determine the cloud's direction. The presenter then illustrates how to connect the Ichimoku Cloud to the last 'AND' node in a trading system to act as a trend filter, emphasizing that this is a general rule of thumb. The tutorial concludes with a demonstration of the system generating signals during both uptrend and downtrend market conditions, providing a practical example of how the Ichimoku Cloud can be utilized as a filter in trading strategies.

Takeaways

• 📈 The primary question is about adding Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter to an existing trading system in Bloodhound version 2.
• 🔍 The presenter is enhancing a previous Bloodhound template from over two and a half years ago with the Ichimoku Cloud filter.
• 💻 The Ichimoku indicator used in the demonstration is from NinjaTrader's user app share and can be downloaded from there.
• 📋 The Bloodhound system from an older workshop is copied and pasted into the current workshop file to build upon it.
• 📋 Copy and paste functionality in Bloodhound version two allows for easy transfer of settings in XML format.
• 🔄 The presenter uses a secondary chart to work with the Swing indicator, which is not part of the main focus.
• 🔍 The presenter explores the Ichimoku indicator, starting with the Threshold Solver to understand the different plots it offers.
• 🔄 After realizing the Threshold Solver is not suitable, the presenter switches to a Comparison Solver to determine the cloud direction.
• ✅ The Comparison Solver is used to compare Span A to Span B to ascertain the trend direction, with Span A being the green line and Span B the red line.
• 📈 The presenter connects the output of the Comparison Solver to an AND node in the logic template to apply the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter.
• 📝 The general rule of thumb is to add a trend filter to the last AND node connected to the result node in a system, although it may vary based on specific logic details.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is about adding Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter in a trading system using Bloodhound version 2.

What is the purpose of using the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter?

The Ichimoku Cloud is used as a trend filter to identify the current trend direction in the market, which can help in making more informed trading decisions.

Where can the Ichimoku indicator be found for NinjaTrader?

The Ichimoku indicator can be found on the NinjaTrader's user app share section of their website.

What is the significance of the 'and node' in the Bloodhound system?

The 'and node' is typically the last part of the system where a trend filter like the Ichimoku Cloud is added to ensure that all conditions are met before a signal is generated.

How does the speaker plan to integrate the Ichimoku Cloud into the existing system?

The speaker plans to copy the settings from an older Bloodhound system, paste it into the current workshop file, and then add the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter to the existing logic.

What is the role of XML in the Bloodhound version two?

XML is used as a universal standard format to save the settings for the nodes in the Bloodhound system, allowing for easy copy and paste functionality.

What does the speaker mean by 'threshold solver'?

The threshold solver is a tool used to explore different plots of an indicator to find a specific output or setting. However, in this case, it was not suitable for determining the cloud direction.

How does the comparison solver help in determining the trend direction using the Ichimoku indicator?

The comparison solver compares the Span A plot to the Span B plot of the Ichimoku indicator. If Span A is above Span B, it indicates an uptrend, and if Span A is below Span B, it indicates a downtrend.

What is the general rule of thumb when adding a trend filter to a system with multiple 'and nodes'?

The general rule of thumb is to add the trend filter to the last 'and node' that is connected to the result node in the system.

Why might it sometimes be appropriate to add a trend filter to an 'and node' upstream in the logic?

Adding a trend filter upstream can be more appropriate in certain systems where earlier filtering may be necessary based on the specific logic and conditions of the trading strategy.

What is the final step in the process of adding the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter?

The final step is to connect the output of the comparison solver, which indicates the trend direction, to the appropriate 'and node' in the Bloodhound system to filter the trading signals.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Adding Ichimoku Cloud to Trend Analysis

The video script begins with an introduction to adding the Ichimoku cloud as a trend filter to an existing trading system. The speaker plans to expand on this by incorporating the Ichimoku cloud into a previous workshop question and updating an older Bloodhound template. The goal is to demonstrate how to integrate new customizations into a system, specifically using the Ichimoku cloud for trend analysis. The speaker also mentions the source of the Ichimoku indicator, which is available on NinjaTrader's user app share, and assures that a link to the indicator will be provided for viewers.

05:01

🔄 Copying and Pasting Settings in Bloodhound Version 2

The speaker proceeds to open an older Bloodhound system to copy its settings and then paste them into the current workshop file. This showcases a new feature in Bloodhound version 2, which allows for copy and paste functionality of settings in XML format. The speaker emphasizes the ease of transferring settings between different systems and how this feature enhances the customization process. The Bloodhound indicator is added to the chart, and the speaker copies the necessary components from the older workshop file, including specific signals.

10:02

🔍 Exploring the Ichimoku Indicator and Using a Comparison Solver

The speaker discusses the process of exploring the Ichimoku indicator and determining how to use it as a trend filter. Initially, a threshold solver is considered, but it is found unsuitable as it does not provide a specific output for the cloud direction. Instead, a comparison solver is used to compare the Span A and Span B plots of the Ichimoku indicator. By setting up the comparison solver to compare these two spans, the direction of the cloud can be determined, which in turn indicates the trend. The speaker demonstrates how to connect this analysis into the trading system to produce signals based on the trend identified by the Ichimoku cloud.

15:05

📌 Applying the Ichimoku Cloud Filter to Existing Logic

The speaker concludes by explaining the general rule of thumb for applying a trend filter in a trading system, which is typically connected to the last AND node before the result node. However, the speaker also notes that depending on the system's specifics, the trend filter might sometimes be more appropriately added to an AND node earlier in the logic. The Ichimoku cloud trend filter is then applied to a system with two AND nodes, demonstrating how it can be integrated into more complex logic. The video script ends with a mention of a follow-up Blackboard question for the next day.

Keywords

💡Ichimoku Cloud

The Ichimoku Cloud is a popular technical indicator used in stock and forex trading to identify trends and potential support and resistance levels. It consists of several components including the Tenkan-sen (conversion line), Kijun-sen (base line), Senkou Span A (leading span A), and Senkou Span B (leading span B). In the video, the Ichimoku Cloud is used as a trend filter to enhance a trading system, with the direction of the cloud indicating the trend's direction.

💡Bloodhound Version 2

Bloodhound Version 2 refers to an updated version of a software or trading tool that the speaker is using to demonstrate how to add the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter. The new version is highlighted for its improved capabilities, such as copy and paste functionality, which allows for easier customization and application of indicators like the Ichimoku Cloud within a trading strategy.

💡Trend Filter

A trend filter is a tool or method used in trading to identify the direction of a market trend. In the context of the video, the Ichimoku Cloud serves as a trend filter by comparing the positions of Senkou Span A and Senkou Span B to determine whether the market is in an uptrend or downtrend. This information is then used to filter trading signals, enhancing the strategy's effectiveness.

💡Threshold Solver

The Threshold Solver is a component within the Bloodhound tool that allows users to analyze and configure indicators. In the video, the speaker initially attempts to use the Threshold Solver to access the cloud direction from the Ichimoku indicator but finds it unsuitable for this purpose due to the lack of a specific output for the cloud direction.

💡Comparison Solver

The Comparison Solver is another tool within the Bloodhound system used to compare two different values or plots. In the video, the speaker uses the Comparison Solver to compare Senkou Span A to Senkou Span B from the Ichimoku indicator to determine the trend direction, which is a crucial step in implementing the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter.

💡XML

XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a standard format for storing and transporting data. In the context of the video, the speaker mentions that the settings for nodes within the Bloodhound system are saved in XML format, allowing for easy copying and pasting of settings between different parts of the system or into other text editors.

💡Senko Span A and B

Senko Span A and B are components of the Ichimoku Cloud indicator. Span A is typically a plot of conversions line values shifted forward in time, while Span B is a plot of base line values similarly shifted. In the video, the speaker uses the Comparison Solver to compare these two spans to determine the trend direction, which is a key part of using the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter.

💡AND Node

An AND node in the context of the Bloodhound system represents a logical operation where all conditions connected to it must be true for the signal to pass through. The speaker discusses adding the Ichimoku Cloud trend filter to the last AND node in a trading system, which is a common practice to ensure that all conditions, including the trend filter, are met for a trade signal to be generated.

💡

💡NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader is a trading platform that provides tools and features for traders, including the capability to share and use user-created apps like the Ichimoku indicator mentioned in the video. The speaker discusses obtaining the Ichimoku indicator from NinjaTrader's user app share, highlighting the platform's community-driven nature and its support for custom indicators.

💡CPU Resources

CPU resources refer to the processing power that a computer's central processing unit can allocate to various tasks or applications. In the video, the speaker clears unnecessary elements from the chart to avoid using up excessive CPU resources, emphasizing the importance of optimizing system performance, especially when running complex trading strategies and indicators.

💡Blackboard Question

A Blackboard question seems to be a type of query or topic for discussion in the context of the speaker's workshop. The speaker mentions a Blackboard question for the following day, suggesting that it is part of an ongoing series of educational or discussion sessions, possibly related to trading strategies and tools.

Highlights

The question involves adding Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter to an existing trading system.

The Ichimoku Cloud filter is being added to a Bloodhound template from over two and a half years ago.

The process includes copying settings from an older system and pasting them into a new Workshop file.

The Ichimoku indicator used is from NinjaTrader's User App Share.

The presenter demonstrates how to download the Ichimoku indicator directly from the NinjaTrader website.

Bloodhound version 2 introduces new capabilities, including copy and paste functionality for system settings.

Settings are saved in XML format, a universal standard, allowing for easy transfer between systems.

The presenter clears unnecessary CPU resources before proceeding with the demonstration.

The Ichimoku Cloud is added as a trend filter by comparing the Senkou Span A and Span B plots.

A Comparison Solver is used to determine the cloud direction and establish the trend.

The presenter explores the Ichimoku indicator, noting it's new to them and using the Threshold Solver to understand its plots.

The presenter discovers that the Threshold Solver is not suitable for determining the cloud direction and switches to the Comparison Solver.

The process of adding the Ichimoku Cloud as a trend filter is completed by connecting it to the last AND node in the system.

The general rule of thumb is to add trend filters to the last AND node connected to the result node in a system.

The presenter discusses the possibility of adding the trend filter to an AND node upstream in the logic under certain conditions.

The demonstration concludes with the Ichimoku Cloud successfully providing trend signals in both uptrend and downtrend scenarios.

The presenter emphasizes the importance of understanding the details when applying trend filters to trading systems.

A link to the Ichimoku download will be provided for future reference on the training workshops page.

Transcripts

foreign

should be pretty straightforward as to

what exactly the question is here which

is showing you know how to add that

ichimoku cloud as a trend filter however

I'm going to expand upon this question

here

um and kind of dive a little bit into

you know some of Bloodhound version 2's

new capabilities here which is so what

we're adding the ichimoku cloud

filter is we're adding it to a previous

Workshop question here so right so we're

going to take a the Bloodhound template

from right a couple years ago

um let's see well about just a little

over

two and a half years ago here right so

this is going to be kind of like a

two-part dual kind of question here

which is grabbing a system all right

from an older workshop and then adding

kind of like your own customizations to

it and so in this case the ichimoku now

as a trend filter here

so yeah so actually answering answering

the the direct question is the easy part

here all right so first thing I want to

do so I'm just kind of thinking ahead

here kind of thinking how I want to plan

this out all right so the first thing

I'm going to do is open up the uh right

the previous Bloodhound system here so

that way I can copy

um the system out of it and then add it

into today's Workshop file and then add

in the ichimoku cloud as a trend filter

here and just to kind of give us a look

a head here you know kind of like our

our goal here is to get something I

guess looking like this here

all right um sorry so one more thing

that we need to take care of before we

continue on is showing everybody how to

get a hold of the ichimoku indicator

that I'm using on my chart today all

right so this is coming from

ninjatraders user app share

um right so I'm actually on the direct

download page here but if you go to

ninjatraders ecosystem uh right they do

have a user app share on ninjatrader's

website probably shouldn't have to show

that but here is the actual indicator

and I think there might be another

ichimoku indicator on the user app share

but I could be mistaken you know um I

know on in back in ninjatrader 7 there

were a couple of ichimoku indicators on

there so um ninjatrader a you know there

may be maybe only be there this one

indicator on here so

um when the recording does get posted we

will have a link to this indicator so

for example in the future on the

training workshops page where right

where we do

post the recordings and we have this

list of all the workshop indicators

every once in a while you know for kind

of the uh for kind of these um I don't

want to say unusual because

the ichimoku is not an unusual but every

once in a while we do post the links you

know for these indicators

um and I'm trying to see if I can

find a link here just for just to give

an example

um wow yeah I guess it's been a while

since it's been necessary to post a link

here well

all right I don't want to spend too much

time on this but

sometimes you know up here

you know where we have the Bloodhound

links and the chart template links

sometimes there'll be an indicator link

here so so the point being is yeah we'll

we'll have a link to to

this specific ichimoku download here so

now we got that out of the way all right

Next Step or yeah the first step here is

to open up this older Bloodhound system

so that way I can copy it and then paste

it into today's Workshop file

so with that let's see here all right so

I have another chart

so I always have a secondary chart here

that I can work with you know the swing

indicator is not a part of this it's

probably just a a left over here from a

previous question here but I do need to

add

the Bloodhound indicator on here

all right

there we go so let me open up Bloodhound

and then I'm going to open up this older

Workshop file here

all right I'm gonna have to scroll down

a little bit

there we go

so that looks like the older Workshop

file and we want the Raco

higher low and lower high signals

um

so there we go all right pretty simple

straightforward so what I'm going to do

is Select everything I need

and then I can copy that to and that

copies that to the windows clipboard

here

um

so yeah I guess so tickle

quick moment here to kind of

explain this here right so again this is

a new

feature of Bloodhound version two so

this is really kind of yeah one of the

main key points here that kind of

separates Bloodhound version one from

version two is that we now have some

copy and paste functionality

um right so if I open up notepad or any

kind of text editor I can paste what we

just copied right and so basically this

is what we're copying is all the

settings

you know all the settings for these

nodes here

is saved in this kind of universal

standard format which is called XML so

let me let's keep moving on here so I

have that copied

so I can get rid of that

um and oh actually

going to yeah I'm just going to clear

that out here

so I'm going to clear that out

so that way

um

that way this chart is not using up any

other uh you know unnecessary CPU

resources here so I cleared that out and

let's just reload the chart there we go

so let's get rid of that chart and so

now I'm going back into today's

um Bloodhound file here

and let's see here so let's paste

those nodes that I just copied there we

go

um

and let me give this let me give this

question a name here or this logic

template a name so

all right so there we go

so that's what really this question is

all about

we're just taking the scenic route to

answer the question

all right so now that we have yeah the

um

previous system in here

we can now add the ichimoku cloud as the

trend filter here

and

so we're gonna I'm gonna have to also I

guess a a a another secondary

part of this question is

um exploring this ichimoku indicator so

kind of probing around here to see how

do we access the cloud Direction you

know as a trend filter here

um so I I when I'm kind of

um exploring

what a I don't want to say new but it's

new to me so this is kind of a new

indicator to me uh or at least this this

specific version of the ichimoku is new

to me so when I'm kind of probing around

on an indicator I will usually start

with the threshold solver

so

connect that up

and

and Shrink things up a little bit again

all right so the threshold solver

I'm going to load in this ichimuku

indicator

there we go

all right

and so now so once once I have this this

indicator

loaded into the

threshold solver I can now kind of take

a look at all the different plots here

all right

and I can see that there there's only

the traditional plots so the senko span

yeah plots are there so there actually

is no kind of specific output that tells

you the cloud Direction

so just double checking here

all right

so I can't use the threshold solver for

this

so I'm going to get rid of that solver

here let's get let's delete that

and so what I actually need is the

comparison solver

all right and so what we're comparing is

span a to span B and span a I believe is

the green line in Span B I believe is

the red line here and we'll figure that

out here we'll verify that in just a

moment

all right so I'll just kind of give

myself a little notation here for what

this comparison solver is doing so I'm

comparing the span a to the span B all

right so input a will be span a

there's our indicator

and let's put in

all the period settings

and also remember to

change the cloud displacement to zero

all right so first thing I want to

select is the span a

right so the senku span a

for input

a

right we want to select that for the

long and for a short output

next for input B

we're just doing the same thing over

again

all right so once again load in the

ichimoku indicator

set

our periods up

there we go

and then we're going to select span B

and let's see

if everything looks correct

all right yep so there we go so far so

good

yeah all right so there we have it so

for this particular

indicator

we had to use a comparison solver and we

just simply compared the

span a plot to the span B plot

all right so if span a is above span B

then the cloud is in an uptrend all

right and vice versa

so that's all it took

and then we can just connect that into

this and node

and that's that that was it

and let's see let's see I'm not getting

any signal all right let's disconnect

that and

let's see

oh there we go

all right so there's some signals yeah

so on this long uptrend there we go now

we're getting some signals

there we go now on this

pretty lengthy downtrend yeah there you

go there's some short signals

there

so now

um so this

um

higher high lower low system here that

we copied out of that older Workshop you

know it only had one and node

so you know so this looked very simple

right so I just took the ichimuku cloud

and connected into the only and node

there was so

uh but the general rule of thumb here

you know and of course there is no

single answer for every system but the

generalized rule of thumb here is that

when you're creating a signal filter

that that that signal filter or that

Trend filter

usually goes into the last and node in

the system here

so for example

right this previous question here

um all right the first question that we

answered in the workshop actually has

two and node

so if I wanted to apply this this

ichimuku cloud

Trend filter

to this system which has two end nodes

then

let's see here there we go let's

drop it in there

there we go so oh oops I added two

so

normally you would add a trend filter to

the last and node in the system

that is connected to the result node

right so in other words like that

that's the general rule of thumb

so but sometimes your

Trend filter or your filtering

every once in a while

you know it may be more appropriate to

add it to and and node some somewhere

Upstream to your logic here

but it all again it all comes down to

the details all right so that this is

the actual answer to Marco's question

about

adding an ichimoku Cloud as a trend

filter

and tomorrow

um yeah once again for tomorrow there

there is a Blackboard question so this

does have a secondary component to this

question here