Indicators  |  JUL 2009

The Pivot Detector Oscillator, Simplified by Giorgos Siligardos

The Pivot Detector Oscillator, Simplified by Giorgos Siligardos See how you can use a simplified version of the Pid oscillator to improve your timing by leaps and bounds. A coherent unification model for trend indicators and oscillators is to technical analysis what a unification model of the microcosmos and the macrocosmos is to physics. Although both models may still be far from being constructed, there is nonetheless a way of using trend indicators and oscillators to derive virtually instantaneous signals. Here I will describe a simplified version of the pivot detector (Pid) oscillator and its signals, which were used in Daedalus, an add-on for MetaStock I created some years ago. THE DR. JEKYLL & MR. THE DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE RSI Among the various better-known oscillators, the relative strength index (Rsi) stands out. J. Welles Wilder introduced the Rsi in his book New Concepts In Technical Trading Systems, and it has been a standard tool for technical analysts ever since. By its construction, the Rsi takes on values between zero and 100, and Wilder proposed a 14-period parameter for it along with the 30 to 70 levels as oversold/overbought thresholds. The Rsi, however, does not differ from other classic technical oscillators in that it produces multiple erroneous signals during strong trending markets.

by Giorgos E. Siligardos, Ph.D.