What Is A Composite Symbol?

On TrendSpider, a composite symbol is a unique charting tool that lets you combine multiple assets’ symbols using a mathematical expression. It’s like creating a custom equation using various assets to generate a new kind of chart. Think of it as creating your own “mini-index” or ratio based on the specific metrics or assets you’re interested in.

How To Script Composite Symbols?

First and foremost, it’s important to note that all composite symbols begin with the ‘equals’ sign (=), for example, =SPY.CHG/QQQ.CHG

Supported Operations

Composite symbols currently support these basic operations: Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), Division (/), Parentheses (()), Percentages (%), and Power Of (^).

You can use up to 5 unique symbols in a composite expression and composites can involve any asset type that’s supported on the platform. Do note that if you’re using cryptos in your composites, then you must also specify the exchange name (see the Limitations section below).

Using Specific Data Points In Composites

While scripting, you can be specific about which data points from the asset’s chart to use.

• .O is used to define ‘Open Price’
• .H defines ‘High’
• .L defines ‘Low’
• .C defines ‘Close Price’
• .V defines ‘Volume’
• .CHG defines ‘Change Percentage’
• .ACHG defines ‘Absolute Change Percentage’

In addition, these specific data points can be intermingled per each unique composite symbol, for example, =SPY.C/QQQ.L

Composite Symbol Functionality

Composite charts are just as versatile as the price charts of individual assets. You can:

• Apply indicators and chart patterns
• Use them for backtesting
• Compare them using the Relative Strength indicators
• Set alerts on them

Example Charts Of Composite Symbols

Below are a few example charts of composite symbols. Please note that these don’t necessarily make sense from the standpoint of trading, they are just illustrations of what’s doable:

=SPY/QQQ is an OHLC chart illustrating prices of SPY divided by prices of QQQ, which compares the performance of SPY relative to that of the QQQ.

=(META+GOOG+AMZN+NFLX+AAPL)/5 is an average price for FAANG. Like a basic custom index.

=META.ACHG/SPY.ACHG is a ratio between Change, % of META, and Change, % of SPY. If applied to a Daily chart, this composite illustrates the relative strength of META against SPY. Any time this value is above 1, META is out-performing SPY (in terms of the percentage change in price on a given candle).

=(HG1! * JNK * AUSUSD * SOXX/SPY)^.02 is a ‘risk on’ index featuring Copper, High Yield Bonds, the Aussie Dollar, Semiconductors, and High Beta.

If you’re a TrendSpider user, feel free to download this example Composite Chart Watchlist!

Limitations

While composite symbols are powerful, they come with some restrictions:

• You can’t use more than 9 base symbols within a composite.
• In watchlists, the “last value” and “change%” of composite symbols are always displayed as zero.
• You cannot scan through a list of composite symbols.
• Composite symbols don’t have volume data.
• Cryptos in composites need the exchange name specified.
• Whitespace matters! =SPY/QQQ and =SPY / QQQ are treated differently.
• Real-time updates aren’t available for composite charts.
• Their trading session is set to “24/7, UTC time zone”.

Composite symbols in TrendSpider offer traders a versatile tool to further refine and customize their analysis. By understanding their potential and limitations, you can harness this feature to refine your trading strategies and gain unique insights into market dynamics. If you’d like to dig a little deeper into how this new functionality works, feel free to read through this article from our Knowledge Base.

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As always, we hope you find this new indicator helpful and, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us via the ‘Contact Us’ button in the bottom right-hand corner of your chart view.

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