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TR�DINGTIPS. Issue

09

How to visualize forward curves to maximize information.

UNLEASH THEFORWARD CURVE.

Philipp is the Senior Quant Analyst at Intalus. He was born in Austria

and studied electrical engineering before joining a large German bank

where he developed fully automated trading strategies for the

proprietary trading department. His book about designing successful

trading strategies has been among the top sellers in Germany for the

last two years. Currently at Intalus, he is responsible for the in-house

training of institutional traders and the development of custom-made

algorithmic trading strategies.

You may contact Philipp at

philipp.kahler@intalus.com

UNLEASH THE FORWARD CURVE.

by Philipp Kahler

TR�DING TIPS. Issue 09UNLEASH THE FORWARD CURVE.

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UNLEASH THE FORWARD CURVE.How to visualize forward curves to maximize information.

Futures traders are definitely familiar with a forward curve chart.

It shows the prices of the next contracts and sometimes gives an

indication where the market might be headed in the longer term.

To display a forward curve in Tradesignal:

01 Click the Forward Curve icon in the ribbon bar

02 Enter the instrument code, for example a RIC like ‘CL’ for Light Crude Oil

if you are using Thomson Reuters data or ‘CL1’ if you are a Bloomberg customer.

Instead of entering an instrument code you may also select an instrument

from one of your instrument lists, right-click and choose “open as forward curve”

03 Finally press Next and Finish.

A new chart opens up and it shows you the forward curve of the

selected contract.

The above chart depicts today’s price of each contract traded. As you

can see from the scale, the chart starts with March 2013 contract and

ends with the mid 2019 contract.

You can combine this type of forward curve chart with a “normal”

futures chart with Tradesignal. Hence, you are able to display the

current and historic prices of the current futures contract and also see

the prices of the upcoming contracts in one chart (contango or

backwardation for your futures contract).

TR�DING TIPS. Issue 09UNLEASH THE FORWARD CURVE.

Fig. 1: The standard Forward Curve; created by using Thomson Reuters historical data.

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Open up a chart of any futures contract. This can be a continuous

contract or a dedicated contract. In my case I use CLc1, a RIC from

Thomson Reuters.

01 Go to your list of indicators and look for the “forward curve” indicator;

02 Drag and drop this indicator onto the chart. Now Tradesignal will take

some time to process all contracts of these futures and derive the relevant

forward curve.

03 When you see the forward curve – simply drag and drop it from its sub-chart

to the main chart window respectively drag and drop it on the same axis

where your futures is. This gives you the following graph:

As you can see both charts – the “normal” Crude Oil chart and the

corresponding Forward Curve – are now seamlessly integrated.

Now it’s easier to recognize where prices come from and where they

might go.

Take care, take profit,

Philipp Kahler

Senior Quantitative Analyst at Intalus

Watch video to see how you

can create Forward Curves and

more in Tradesignal®.

TR�DING TIPS. Issue 09UNLEASH THE FORWARD CURVE.

Fig. 2, Tradesignal’s Forward Curve applied to a “normal” chart.

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© 2013 Intalus – www.intalus.com

Distribution allowed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Tradesignal® is a registered trademark of Tradesignal GmbH.

Unauthorized use or misuse is specifically prohibited.

SCAN FOR THE BEST.

How to find the best performers out

of hundreds of stocks in seconds.

SPEED UP YOUR DECISIONS.

How to creat your own

equity basket.

AUTO-ADJUST

POSITION SIZE.

How to create and trade an

optimal portfolio.

HIGHLY EFFICIENT

SHORTING.

How to identify and profit well

from a short trade.

RULE-BASED TRENDLINES.

How to use point & figure trend lines

in candlestick charts.

PROFIT FROM

GAP TRADING.

A simple, but effective strategy.

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How to find the best performers out of hundreds of stocks in seconds.

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01 SCAN FOR CANDLE PATTERNS.

How to find best performing

stocks and the best risk/reward

opportunities by identifying

promising candlestick patterns.

INDICATORS

ON INDICATORS.

Simple steps to advanced analysis.

A publication of

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07

How to find the best risk/ reward opportunities based on candlestick patterns.

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SCAN FOR CANDLE PATTERNS.

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How to create your own equity basket.

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SPEED UP YOURDECISIONS.

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02

TR�DINGTIPS. Issue

08

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Simple steps to advanced analysis.

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INDICATORSON INDICATORS.

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How to create and trade an optimal portfolio.

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CONTROL YOUR RISK.AUTO-ADJUST POSITION SIZE.

TR�DINGTIPS. Issue

03

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How to identify and profit well from a short trade.

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HIGHLYEFFICIENTSHORTING.

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04

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How to use point & figure trend lines in candlestick charts.

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RULE-BASEDTRENDLINES IMPROVEDISCIPLINE.

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