The Swing Chart takes the element of time out of the Bar Chart and represents only the movement of price. The figures at each end of a swing are the date of the change in the swing, the number of bars that make up the swing, and the price that the swing turned. The number in the middle of the swing is the range of the swing.
Day Types
There are four day types all with respect to the previous day –
- Up day = higher high and higher low.
- Down day = lower low and lower high.
- Outside day = higher high and lower low.
- Inside day = lower high and higher low.
The Gann Swing Chart moves to the high for the period on an up day and keeps moving higher until a reversal is recorded. A reversal would come in the form of a down day (or an outside day). On a 3 day Swing Chart, if the market has three up days in a row, it will be displayed as one vertical line covering the range to the high and then a horizontal swing line.
The swing line swings to the low on a down day, and continues until the next reversal. In this case, an up day or possibly an outside day, depending on when the low was made.
Kagi, Percent and Point Swing Charts are all available in Market Analyst. These charts are similar to Gann Swings, however use different information to generate the swings.
This example displays how a Gann Swing Chart would be displayed if overlayed onto a Bar Chart.
A Gann Swing Overlay tool is available in Market Analyst, with the ability to display as a point to point line, or as a boxed Swing Chart.
- The Educated Analyst Article: Getting into the Swing
- The Educated Analyst Article: Gann Swing Charts
Gann Swing Chart Actions
Export Data to Text
Clicking this action allows you to save the raw Open / High / Low / Close / Volume information to a CSV file.
Copy Data to Clipboard
Clicking this action allows you to copy the raw Open / High / Low / Close / Volume information to your computer’s memory. Once copied you can paste the data into other programs such as MS Excel or Notepad.
Change Data File
Allows you to change the data source file for the selected chart.
Save Settings As Default
If alterations have been made to the properties of the Gann Swing Chart (colour for example), and you want these settings used for all new charts, click this action.
Restore Default Settings
If you have previously altered the default settings for the Gann Swing Chart, clicking this action will revert the properties back to default settings.
Bring to Front
Brings the Gann Swing Chart to the highest focus point, with all other tools / charts displaying under the selected chart.
Send to Back
Sends the Gann Swing Chart to the lowest focus point, with all other tools / charts displaying under the selected chart.
Clear Cache to this Bar
This option is for real-time charts only and allows you to clear data loaded from the data servers, and reload a fresh set of information.
History on W.D. Gann
W.D. Gann was a pioneer in the field of technical analysis. Understanding that hard work was a key ingredient of success, Gann spent nine months working day and night in the Astor Library in New York and in the British Museum in London. He studied stock market data going back to 1820 and wheat data going back hundreds of years. He also studied in Egypt and in India.
Gann is often given the credit for inventing swing charts. He did not invent them, however he did popularise them and used them as the basis of his mechanical trading system - a very effective system for trading strongly trending markets.
W.D. Gann made other discoveries - some rather esoteric. These include the Square of Nine and his other spiral calculators such as the Square of Four, the 360 Degree Circle Chart and the Hexagon Chart. These calculators can sometimes be used to forecast sequences of tops and bottoms in an impressive manner - but they are no holy grail!
"The man who is right six times out of ten will make a fortune."
Gann is a trader who, without any attempt to make a showing, for he did not know the results were to be published, established a record of over ninety-two percent profitable trades.
James R. Koene
The Ticker and Investment Digest
(later became the Wall Street Journal) December 1909
Gann Swing Chart Properties
Swing Count
Sets how many time periods (bars) must take place in the same direction for the swing to turn. For example, if set to three, there would need to be three successive higher bars before a down swing could turn up.
Outside Bar Calc
Sets how outside bars are treated in the swing calculation. Click the drop down arrow to select the Use Outside Bar or Use Next Bar option.
This picture displays 2 Gann Swing overlay charts applied to the SPI 200. The red line indicates the swings of a chart not using outside bars in its calculation, the blue line indicates the swings of a chart which is using outside bars in its calculation.
Use Inside
Sets how inside bars (or days) are treated in the swing calculation. Check the box to use inside bars in the swing calculation. Uncheck to ignore inside bars.
Use Breakout
This option takes large price movements into consideration if the high or low of a swing is broken before the set number of bars have occurred. This can only be used on a swing chart using more than two bars.
For example, you have a 3 bar swing, however an extreme low occurs on the second day. Normally this would not be considered until the 3rd bar had formed to make a complete swing, whereas the Breakout rule takes this extreme price movement into consideration straight away.
Show 50% Line
This option allows you to display two 50% horizontal lines on the last two swings of the chart.
Show Labels
If this box is checked, then details regarding the swings will be displayed on the Chart.
Show Unconfirmed
Check this box to see when an up or down swing was confirmed. A change in colour distinguishes the swing confirmation. When this option is selected, the Unconfirmed Colour field will automatically appear.
Up Swing, Down Swing, Show Unconfirmed
Allows you to select a colour for each part of the Swing Chart.
Chart Style
Allows you to change the Gann Swing Chart to another chart style (such as Line Chart).
Time Frame
Allows you to change the chart’s time frame (for example, changing from a 1 day Gann Swing Chart to a 1 week Gann Swing Chart).
Data to Load
This setting allows you to choose how much historical data is displayed on the chart. By default all data contained in the data file is displayed. However you can also choose one of the following options –
- Last Day
- Last Two Days
- Last Week
- Last Fortnight
- Last Month
- Last Quarter (3 Months)
- Last Year
- Five Years
- Decade
Data File Properties
This field can be expanded to display information on the data file being used to generate the chart. Items such as the Data File’s name, Exchange, physical location on your system are all displayed here. Generally this information is only required for trouble shooting purposes and is not something you will use on a regular basis.
Transparency
This slider bar is used to adjust the transparency of the chart itself. Moving the slider to the left will increase the transparency of the swings. Moving the slider to the right will increase the opacity of the swings.
Visible
Unticking the checkbox will hide the swings of the chart.
