02 · References
What it maintains
Levels that stay correct when the calendar moves
A HUD is only worth screen space if what it shows is still true. The levels a session is
organised around change as the session, the week and the month roll over, and a level that
was right yesterday is not right today simply because nobody updated it.
MGI HUD X keeps that bookkeeping current. The higher-timeframe structure it tracks is
configurable — which references you want held is your decision, not a
fixed property of the tool.
What it needs loaded
A period reference can only be held if that period was seen from its start, so what MGI
HUD X can show you depends on how far your chart’s history reaches back.
- A period still developing
-
This week, this month. Needs one boundary inside your loaded history:
the moment it began.
- A period already closed
-
Last week, last month. Needs two — you have to have seen it begin
and end.
In practice that means partial output rather than a blank chart. Session and prior-day
references appear as soon as those sessions are in the data; the ones that go missing are
the long-horizon ones — last week, last month, and their value areas. Raise
Days to load in the chart’s
Data Series dialog: to see last-month references you need history
reaching back to the start of the month before last, so around 90 days is a
safe setting.
One case where more history is not the answer: futures contracts roll. A
recently rolled contract may not have ninety days of history, whatever you set
Days to load to. On a freshly rolled contract, month-scale references can be genuinely
unavailable until the contract has been trading long enough. That is not a fault, and there
is no setting that fixes it.
The references it holds
The full registry is 54 fixed references, plus up to eight initial-balance
projections, an anchored VWAP and as many levels of your own as you want. Published below is
the first group: the ones you see first on the chart. The rest follow.
Overnight high and low
What it is. The highest and lowest price traded during the overnight
session.
How it is computed. Tracked across the overnight window as it happens,
from the chart’s own price data. The window start is a setting — 18:00 Eastern
by default.
When it updates. Continuously while the window is open. Frozen when it
closes, and held for the rest of the day.
What it does not tell you. Anything directional. It
is the boundary of where trade happened overnight, not a claim that the boundary will hold
or break. A trader who reads «price is at the overnight high» as a sell has
added a meaning the level does not carry.
Overnight mid
What it is. The midpoint between the overnight high and low.
How it is computed. Pure arithmetic — the two extremes divided by
two.
When it updates. With its two parents.
What it does not tell you. That anything traded
there, or that it carries any special weight. It is a geometric midpoint, not an observed
level. No volume information is involved in it at all.
London and Asia highs and lows
What it is. The same as the overnight pair, for those sessions.
How it is computed, and when it updates. As above, each with its own
configurable window.
What it does not tell you. That the session was
significant. A quiet Asia session produces a narrow range that looks precise and means
very little.
Initial balance high and low
What it is. The range of the first part of the regular session —
by default the first sixty minutes after the RTH open.
How it is computed. Tracked from the session open for the configured
duration.
When it updates. Frozen the moment that duration elapses. It does not
change again for the rest of the day.
What it does not tell you. Anything about the rest of
the session. It is a time-boxed observation — here is where the first hour traded
— not a claim that the day will stay inside it or break out of it.
Initial balance mid
What it is. The midpoint of the initial balance.
What it does not tell you. Same caveat as the
overnight mid: arithmetic, not observed. Nothing necessarily traded there.
Initial balance projections — ±1x to ±4x
What it is. Prices at one, two, three and four multiples of the
initial-balance range, above it and below it.
How it is computed. Arithmetic projection: the IB high plus
k times the IB range, the IB low minus k times the IB range.
When it updates. Fixed once the initial balance is fixed.
What it does not tell you. Anything that has
happened. Nothing traded at these prices. They are extrapolations from a
one-hour range — a way of asking how far today has moved relative to its own first
hour. They are not support, they are not resistance, and they are not targets.
Asia and London initial balance
What it is. The same construction for those sessions, each with its own
duration.
What it does not tell you. The same as the RTH
initial balance: it describes the opening stretch of that session and nothing beyond
it.
How state is shown
This applies to every reference above. Each one is coloured by whether price has not yet
reached it, has touched it, or has traded through it. That is an observation of what
has already happened, not a prediction — and specifically, a level marked as
broken is a statement about the past, not a forecast that price will keep going.
The rest of the registry is still being written. Published above is the
first group; prior day, week, month and the VWAP family follow. Each one gets the same four
answers, and the fourth — what it does not tell you — is the one that
usually goes missing elsewhere. Until the rest is up, ask by email and the answer you get is
the one that ends up in the documentation.
