StockFinder® may be my new favorite tool, but its not without quirks. While creating custom indicators, scans and layouts for BackTesting Report subscribers, I came across its shortcomings with the MACD.   The screenshot above shows a StockFinder layout with 2 MACD of different parameter settings.  The candlesticks on the price chart are color-coded green for buy signals, red for sell signals by one MACD strategy, and blue for a different MACD strategy’s sell signals.

The two main problems with StockFinder’s built-in MACDs are:

1. When you insert a MACD or MACD Histogram, they come up with simple moving averages by default instead of the standard exponential moving averages.  You need to click on them and on the right of the edit menu, change from simple to exponential moving averages. 

2.  If you change the parameter settings, say from 12-26-9 to 19-39-9, the MACD signal line still does a 9-bar moving average of the default 12-26 MACD line.   You need to delete the signal line and recreate it as a 9-bar exponential moving average of the current MACD line.

StockFinder also takes a few extra clicks to get the MACD lines and MACD Histogram in the same pane.  They need to be added individually and take up too much space if left in separate panes.

StockFinder doesn’t come with Appel’s Histogram but I found it very easy to add as a custom indicator in StockFinder’s Real Code.   For example see the StockFinder screenshot below, which shows Appel’s Histogram in an implementation of a MACD strategy excerpt from Gerald Appel’s Technical Analysis Power Tools for Active Investors.

In conclusion, StockFinder can do useful and powerful things but be sure to tweak the settings if you put a MACD on its charts.

Tags: Appels Histogram, MACD, MACD Histogram, Stockfinder