Technical Analysis

Technical analysis is achieved using the SF_TECHNICAL() function. The function allows for the generation of a specified technical analysis layered over the historical price data of a stock, crypto or ETF. You are able to define a timeframe and apply the analysis with a specific period of that timeframe. For example, a 20-day SMA with daily data or a 20-minute SMA with minute-by-minute intra-day data.

=SF_TECHNICAL(symbol, type, timeframe, startDate, endDate, options)

• symbol is the ticker symbol of the financial asset (e.g., "AAPL"). You can use our Symbol Search to find the correct ticker symbol.

• type combines a positive period followed by the indicator, with optional display fields appended using the & operator. For example, 20sma is a Simple Moving Average (SMA) applied over 20 periods, 50ema is an Exponential Moving Average (EMA) applied over 50 periods, and 14rsi is an RSI applied over 14 periods. Some examples are "20sma&all", "50ema&date&close" and "100williams&date&high&low".

• timeframe defines the candle/bin/granularity size, for example "daily", "1min" or "30min". All timeframe options are outlined below.

• startDate is the starting date of the time series, written in ISO format YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. "2000-04-03"

• endDate is the ending date of the time series, written in ISO format YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. "2019-12-24"

• options adjusts the formatting of the output. There are two available options: "NH" for no header row and "-" to reverse the output order. You can combine options with the & operator, for example "NH&-".

The analysis options for type are:

• Simple Moving Average ("sma")

• Exponential Moving Average ("ema")

• Weighted Moving Average ("wma")

• Double Exponential Moving Average ("dema")

• Triple Exponential Moving Average ("tema")

• Williams %R ("williams")

• Relative Strength Index Indicator ("rsi")

• Average Directional Index ("adx")

• Standard Deviation ("standardDeviation")

The additional display options for type are:

• All ("all")

• Date ("date")

• Open ("open")

• High ("high")

• Low ("low")

• Close ("close")

• Volume ("volume")

The timeframe options are:

• Daily ("daily")

• 1 minute ("1min")

• 5 minutes ("5min")

• 15 minutes ("15min")

• 30 minutes ("30min")

• 1 hour ("1hour")

• 4 hour ("4hour")

How to use the type parameter correctly

All the magic happens in the type parameter of the SF_TECHNICAL() function. There are three key parts to it:

1. Period

2. Analysis type

3. Additional display items

These three items are combined as follows:

[Period][Analysis type]&[Additional display 1]&[Additional display item 2]...

For example if you want a Simple Moving Average (SMA) applied over 20 periods and you'd like to generate the time-series alongside the date and close price then your type parameter would be as follows:

20sma&date&close

If you want an Exponential Moving Average (EMA) applied over 100 periods and you'd like to generate all available display items then your type parameter would be as follows:

100ema&all

How output columns are ordered

The indicator always comes after the display fields you explicitly request, and date is only included when you ask for it.

• The indicator follows the display fields you explicitly request.

• Date is not returned unless you request it with "date" or "all".

• "NH" removes the header row; the data rows and the columns are unchanged.

• "-" reverses the row order without changing the columns.

Examples

Okay this all sounds a bit complex so here are some really easy examples to get you started.

Example 1 - 20 day SMA with all parameters

=SF_TECHNICAL("AAPL", "20sma&all", "daily", "2022-01-01", "2022-11-26")

Example 2 - 100 day EMA with only date and close

=SF_TECHNICAL("AAPL", "100ema&date&close", "daily", "2022-01-01", "2022-11-26")

Example 3 - 10 minute intra-day Williams %R with all parameters

=SF_TECHNICAL("AAPL", "10williams&all", "1min", "2022-01-01", "2022-11-26")

Example 4 - 4 hour intra-day TEMA with date and close, no headers

=SF_TECHNICAL("AAPL", "4tema&date&close", "1hour", "2022-01-01", "2022-11-26", "NH")