Momentum in EasyLanguage — TradeStation & MultiCharts

Momentum in EasyLanguage is a one-liner via the built-in Momentum function (or the raw subtraction). See the explainer for the concept.

What you’ll need

• TradeStation or MultiCharts
• The EasyLanguage / PowerLanguage Editor, new Indicator

The source

{ AlgoGen Momentum — TradeStation / MultiCharts }
inputs:
    Length( 10 );

variables:
    MomVal( 0 );

MomVal = Momentum( Close, Length );   { = Close - Close[Length] }

Plot1( MomVal, "Momentum" );
Plot2( 0, "Zero" );

if MomVal >= 0 then SetPlotColor( 1, Green ) else SetPlotColor( 1, Red );

Momentum( Close, Length ) is the difference form (Close − Close[Length]), oscillating around zero — the histogram from the output chart. You can also write it by hand: Close - Close[Length].

A trend-filtered strategy

{ AlgoGen Momentum Cross — Strategy }
inputs: Length( 10 ), TrendLen( 200 );
variables: MomVal( 0 );
MomVal = Momentum( Close, Length );

{ Only take the zero-cross with the longer trend }
if MomVal crosses over 0 and Close > Average( Close, TrendLen ) then
    Buy next bar at market;
if MomVal crosses under 0 then
    Sell next bar at market;

Because Momentum has no fixed levels, pairing the zero-cross with a trend filter is the sensible test — the Strategy Performance Report shows if it helps.

Gotchas

• Difference form. EasyLanguage’s Momentum returns the absolute point change; for a percentage use RateOfChange (see the ROC post).
• No fixed extremes. Don’t hard-code overbought/oversold; judge relative to recent range.
• Add smoothing (Average( MomVal, 3 )) if the raw line is too jumpy for your signals.
• Ratio form. For the 100-centered version, use 100 * Close / Close[Length] instead of Momentum(...) — some traders prefer reading it around 100.
• RadarScreen ranking. Momentum makes a natural RadarScreen column for ranking a watchlist by recent strength — the retail echo of the cross-sectional “momentum factor” from the history.

Same indicator elsewhere: Python, MQL5, Pine Script, NinjaScript. Then backtest it in AlgoGen.

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This post is educational, not financial advice. Indicators describe the past; they don’t predict the future. Backtest anything before you risk real money on it.