Custom Formula Collection

The Breadth Thrust indicator is a market momentum indicator developed by Dr. Martin Zweig. The Breadth Thrust is calculated by taking a 10-day exponential moving average of the advancing issues divided by the advancing plus declining issues.

According to Dr. Zweig a Breadth Thrust occurs when, during a 10-day period, the Breadth Thrust indicator rises from below 40 percent to above 61.5 percent. A "Thrust" indicates that the stock market has rapidly changed from an oversold condition to one of strength, but has not yet become overbought.

Dr. Zweig also points out that there have only been 14 Breadth Thrusts since 1945. The average gain following these 14 Thrusts was 24.6 percent in an average time frame of 11 months. Dr. Zweig also points out that most bull markets begin with a Breadth Thrust.

To plot the Market Breadth in MetaStock^TM for Windows you will need to:

• Create a composite security of the Advancing Issues + Declining Issues in The DownLoader^TM.
   
• In MetaStock open a chart of the composite and a chart of the Advancing Issues.
   
• Tile the charts so you can see both of them on the screen.
   
• Drag the plot of the composite into the chart of the Advancing Issues.
   
• Create the custom indicator: mov( C / P, 10, E ), then plot it on top of the plot of the composite (the composite's plot will turn a purplish color ). If you get a flat line then it was not plotted directly on top of the composite's plot.
   
• You can then right-click on the Breadth Thrust, select Breadth Thrust Properties, go to the Horizontal Lines page and add horizontal lines at 40 and 60.

To plot it in MetaStock for DOS:

• Create a composite security of the Advancing Issues + Declining Issues.
   
• Open a chart of the composite and plot the custom indicator "C" on the composite.
   
• Press Ctrl B and select Save to Indicator Buffer
   
• Open the chart of the Advancing Issues
   
• Press Ctrl B and select Restore from Indicator Buffer
   
• Create the custom indicator: mov( C / P, 10, E ) and plot it.