Description
The Monkey Bars study represents trading activity over a time period at specified price levels.
The Monkey Bars study is made up of Time-Price opportunities (TPOs), each one is represented by a digit. When the price falls into a specified interval within the first aggregation period, the interval is assigned digit "1". Once the first aggregation period is over, its price range is defined with a column split into equal intervals, each one marked with digit "1"; the study proceeds to find TPOs for the second aggregation period, assigning digit "2" to the TPOs. This procedure is repeated for each aggregation period within the time period; TPOs are assigned consequent numbers so that the study has a set of columns filled with numbers as a primary result.
Each column is then collapsed to the leftmost one. Note that if the number of aggregation periods exceeds 10, each following decade is represented by a sequence of digits starting with 1 and highlighted with a different color.
The longest row of Monkey Bars defines the price level which was the most frequent during the specified time period; this level is called Monkey Bar (MB). If there are several equally long rows that fit this description, the system chooses the closest to the price mid-range. Should the rows be equidistant from the mid-range, the system recognizes the lower one as the Monkey Bar. By default, the price range surrounding the Monkey Bar level where 70% of the trading activity took place for the specified time period is called The Playground (note that the percentage is customizable within the "the playground percent" input parameter).
You can also complement sections of Monkey Bars with Volume Profile histograms and Initial Balance brackets. See the Input Parameters section to learn how to customize display properties of these features.
Input Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
price per row height mode
|
Defines the height setting mode for each row of the histogram. "AUTOMATIC" splits the trading range of the time period into 50 equal intervals. "TICKSIZE" defines the height of each row equal to the tick size of the charted symbol, and "CUSTOM" allows you to manually set the height of each row. |
custom row height
|
Defines the price interval to set the height of rows when "CUSTOM" mode is selected within the "price per row height mode" input. |
aggregation period
|
Defines the time period upon which the TPOs are accumulated. |
time per profile
|
Defines the Monkey Bars time period. Setting this parameter to "CHART" involves the entire price plot into calculation. Values "BAR", "MINUTE", "HOUR", "DAY", "WEEK", "MONTH", and "OPT EXP" allow you to set aggregation manually, specifying number of these periods within the "multiplier" input. |
multiplier
|
Defines the number of periods to calculate Monkey Bars. Note that this setting is ignored if "time per Profile" input is set to "CHART". |
on expansion
|
Defines whether or not to show Monkey Bars on the expansion area of the chart. For more information on the subgraph expansion, refer to the Time Axis Settings article. |
profiles
|
Defines the number of profiles to be displayed if "on expansion" input is set to "No". If "on expansion" input is set to "Yes" then "profiles" setting is ignored and only one profile is shown. |
show monkey bar
|
Defines whether or not to highlight the histogram row containing the Monkey Bar price level. |
show the playground
|
Defines visibility of The Playground. |
the playground percent
|
Defines the percentage of the trading activity for which The Playground is determined. |
opacity
|
Defines the degree of histogram opacity, in percent. |
emphasize first digit
|
Defines whether or not to highlight the opening digit of each period in bold. |
mark open price
|
Defines whether or not to mark the Monkey Bars' Open price with a square. |
mark close price
|
Defines whether or not to mark the Monkey Bars' Close price with an arrow. |
volume show style
|
Defines which Monkey Bars sections will be complemented with Volume Profile histogram. Choosing ALL will add the histogram to each section, choosing LAST, to the last one, and NONE will not display the histograms. |
show volume va
|
Defines whether or not to highlight the Value Area for Volume Profiles. |
show volume poc
|
Defines whether or not to highlight longest rows of Volume Profiles. |
the volume percent
|
Defines the percentage of the trading activity for which the Value Area is determined for Volume profile. |
show initial balance
|
Defines whether or not to mark Initial Balance with a bracket. Initial Balance is a High-Low range of first several bars. |
initial balance range
|
Defines the number of bars for which the Initial Balance is marked if show initial balance is set to "Yes".
|
Plots
| Plot | Description |
|---|---|
MB
|
The Monkey Bar price level. |
ProfileHigh
|
The highest price level reached within the specified time interval. |
ProfileLow
|
The lowest price level reached within the specified time interval. |
PGHigh
|
The highest price level of The Playground. |
PGLow
|
The lowest price level of The Playground. |
Example*
*For illustrative purposes only. Not a recommendation of a specific security or investment strategy.