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Technical Analysis Using Python:

Detecting EMA Crosses
imwatsi (67) (/@imwatsi)in #utopian-io (/trending/utopian-io) • last
year

Detecting Exponential Moving Average (EMA) crosses using Python

Repository With Sample Code

https://github.com/imwatsi/crypto-market-samples
Find the complete Python script on GitHub: ta_ema_cross.py

My Profile On GitHub
You can nd code used in this tutorial as well as other tools and examples
in the GitHub repositories under my pro le:

https://github.com/imwatsi

What Will I Learn

Calculate Exponential Moving Average using the bfxhfindicators
Access previous EMA values using the EMA indicator's prev() function
Use primary and secondary EMA periods to detect crosses in both
directions

Requirements
Python 3.6+
Dependencies:
/
 requests
bfxhfindicators
An active internet connection

Di iculty
Intermediate

Definitions of Terms
Here are a few de nitions of technical terms used in this tutorial:

Exponential Moving Average (EMA): a type of moving average (MA)

that places a greater weight and signi cance on the most recent data
points
EMA period: the number of data points used to calculate EMA, e.g.
EMA(50) for 50-day moving average when using 1 day data points
Candles: a representation of the price range for a particular period of
time, in the format OHLC (open, high, low, close); sometimes volume
is included to make OHLCV.

/
Tutorial Content
In this tutorial, we will use the bfxfhindicators technical analysis library
to calculate EMA values for two periods (10 and 20) and then use a
historical window of 10 periods to detect markets in which an EMA cross
has occured. 10-period EMA will be the primary dataset and 20-period
EMA will be the secondary dataset.

To get market data, we will use the HitBTC exchange API and extract 15
minute candle data for 20 USD symbols (BTCUSD, ETHUSD, etc...). Let's
begin!

Install dependencies
Before we start writing code, let's make sure we have the necessary
modules installed. Only two external dependencies need to be installed,
the rest are already included as part of the standard Python library.

Install requests
On Linux, run the following command:

pip3 install requests

If you're on Windows or MacOS, the command is:

pip install requests

Install bfxhfindicators
For technical analysis, We will use bfxhfindicators , an open source
module developed by Bit nex. You can download the module from
Bit nex's GitHub Repository .

A er downloading it, to install, you can either:

1. Extract the contents, "cd" into the directory on a terminal and run
python3 setup.py install --user on Linux or just python setup.py
install --user if on Windows or MacOS.
/
 2. Extract the contents and copy the folder "bfxh ndicators" folder to
your project's working directory.

Import the modules

The modules needed for our script to work can be imported like so:

import requests
import json
import time
from bfxhfindicators import EMA
from threading import Thread

requests is used to access HitBTC's REST API to get market data

json is used to parse JSON responses received from HitBTC

time is used to create time delays

bfxhfindicators contains the technical analysis library

threading is used to perform tasks synchronous to speed requests up

Define variables and constants

A er the imports, we can de ne a few global objects that we will need:

BASE_URL = 'https://api.hitbtc.com'

historic_window = 10
symbols = []
candles = {}
ema_values = {}
ema_periods = [10,20]
go_on = False

/
 historic_window : the number of historic EMA values to include when
detecting EMA crosses

symbols and candles store the market data (market symbols and 15m
candles, respectively)

ema_values stores the EMA values, by period and symbol

ema_periods is where we set the primary and secondary EMA periods

to use

go_on boolean is used to create a delay till all candle data for all
symbols is loaded

Function to get candles

Next, we de ne a function that will be used to extract candle data from
HitBTC. Later on, we will write code to call it in a new thread for each
symbol, to speed things up.

/
def import_candles(symbol):
global candles
# get candles
resp = requests.get(BASE_URL + '/api/2/public/candles/%s?period=M
%(symbol))
raw_candles = json.loads(resp.content)
# parse candles and save to memory
parsed_candles = []
for raw_c in raw_candles:
new_candle = {
'timestamp': raw_c['timestamp'],
'close': float(raw_c['close']),
'low': float(raw_c['min']),
'high': float(raw_c['max'])
}
parsed_candles.append(new_candle)
candles[symbol] = parsed_candles[:]

We declare candles as global to save data to the global variables we

de ned above. A request is made for 15min candles for the symbol in
parameters, and the result is parsed and save in a format that's easy to
work with.

Separate function to show progress

Next we de ne a function that will show us the progress of loading
candles, for all symbols. It will also run in its own thread later on,
checking the number of symbols loaded with the total, until all are
complete.

/
def show_progress():
global go_on
#wait for symbols to load
while True:
time.sleep(0.2)
print('Importing candles: %s/%s symbols loaded'
%(len(candles), len(symbols)), end='\r')
if len(candles) == len(symbols): # break when equal
break
go_on = True

Initial code
Next we write code that will execute rst when the script is run. The rst
thing we need to do is get the 20 symbols from the exchange.

# get 20 USD symbols

print('Retrieving the first 20 USD symbols')
resp = requests.get(BASE_URL + '/api/2/public/symbol')
all_sym = json.loads(resp.content)
for x in all_sym:
if 'USD' in x['id']:
symbols.append(x['id'])
if len(symbols) == 20:
break
print('Found (%s) symbols.' %(len(symbols)))

A GET request is used to retrieve details of all symbols on the exchange,

and a loop goes through each one, adding it to the list if it has USD as quote
currency. A break in the loop is performed when the length of symbols is
equal to 20: if len(symbols) == 20: .

Import candles for all symbols

/
Once we have the list of symbols, we can begin importing candle data for
all of them. The code for this should create a new thread for each symbol,
to make the process synchronous.

# import candles for each symbol

Thread(target=show_progress).start() # show progress
for sym in symbols:
Thread(target=import_candles, args=(sym,)).start()

To stop the script from executing the next sections until all candle data has
been loaded, we put a loop that waits for the boolean go_on to be True.

# wait until all candles are loaded

while go_on == False:
time.sleep(1)
print('\nAll candles loaded.')

Calculate EMA values

The next step is to get the script to calculate EMA values for all symbols, in
the two periods we want. Two for statements achieve this. One for the
symbols and one for the EMA periods within each symbol.

/
# calculate EMA values
print('Calculating EMA values and scanning for crosses...', end='', f
for sym in symbols:
for period in ema_periods:
iEMA = EMA([period]) # define EMA object
for candle in candles[sym]:
iEMA.add(candle['close']) # add all close prices
lst_ema = []
lst_ema.append(iEMA.v()) # add current EMA value
for i in range(historic_window):
# add historic EMA values
lst_ema.append(iEMA.prev(i+1))
if sym not in ema_values: # add symbol key to dictionary
ema_values[sym] = {}
ema_values[sym][period] = lst_ema # save EMA values

All EMA values are saved in the ema_values variable, with symbol and EMA
period as keys for the dictionary.

Identify EMA crosses

This is where all the logic needs to be perfect for this script to serve its
purpose.

For each market symbol, check to see what kind of cross we are
looking for. By taking the oldest EMA values for both EMA periods and
comparing them, we can determine whether we are looking for
moments when the primary EMA crosses downwards to go below the
secondary EMA, or vice versa.

When the primary EMA is initially above the secondary, we are looking
for a cross when the primary eventually reverses the situation and goes
below the secondary, and vice versa for the other scenario.

Scan all historic EMA values and lter out the symbols that meet the
criteria for an EMA cross.
/
Save the symbols in memory, according to the type of EMA cross
detected.

/
# identify EMA crosses
ema_results = {
'cross-downs': [],
'cross-ups': []
}
for sym in symbols:
# get primary and secondary EMA lists, and reverse for oldest fir
ema_first = ema_values[sym][ema_periods[0]][:]
ema_second = ema_values[sym][ema_periods[1]][:]
ema_first.reverse()
ema_second.reverse()

# determine type of cross to look for

if ema_first[0] > ema_second[0]:
look_for = 'cross-down'
elif ema_first[0] < ema_second[0]:
look_for = 'cross-up'

# filter out symbols that meet criteria

for i in range(1, historic_window + 1):
if look_for == 'cross-down':
if ema_first[i] < ema_second[i]:
# primary EMA has gone below secondary
tmp = ema_results['cross-downs']
if sym not in tmp:
tmp.append(sym) # update list
ema_results['cross-downs'] = tmp # save list
del tmp
elif look_for == 'cross-up':
if ema_first[i] > ema_second[i]:
# primary EMA has gone above secondary
tmp = ema_results['cross-ups']
if sym not in tmp:
tmp.append(sym) # update list
ema_results['cross-ups'] = tmp # save list

/
 del tmp
print('done')

Print out the results

Once the process is complete for all symbols, it should then print out the
results, categorized by type of EMA cross. To achieve this, we loop through
ema_results and print the symbols found in each key. A combination of
print statements and a little string manipulation will do the trick.

# print results
print('Primary EMA Period: %s' %(ema_periods[0]))
print('Secondary EMA Period: %s\n' %(ema_periods[1]))
print('EMA(%s) cross below EMA(%s):\n' %(ema_periods[0], ema_periods[
for x_down in ema_results['cross-downs']:
print(x_down)
print('\nEMA(%s) cross above EMA(%s):\n' %(ema_periods[0], ema_period
for x_up in ema_results['cross-ups']:
print(x_up)

And that's it! When you run the script, it should produce output similar to
the one shown below. Di erent market conditions will produce di erent
results.

/
 Find the complete Python script on GitHub: ta_ema_cross.py

Other Tutorials In The Series

Technical Analysis Using Python: Stochastic Oscillator (Basic)
(https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@imwatsi/technical-analysis-using-
python-stochastic-oscillator-basic)

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portugalcoin (72) (/@portugalcoin) last year (/utopian-io/@portugalcoin/re-imwatsi-technical- [-]
analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t210817354z#@portugalcoin/re-imwatsi-technical-
analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t210817354z) 
Thank you for your contribution @imwatsi (/@imwatsi)
A er reviewing your contribution, we suggest you following points:

Excellent tutorial, but we were waiting to see more features in your tutorial. In the next we thank you for
developing more features.
The final GIF with running the script looks great to show the results.

Looking forward to your upcoming tutorials.

Your contribution has been evaluated according to Utopian policies and guidelines , as well as a predefined set
of questions pertaining to the category.

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$6.23 26 votes Reply

utopian-io (71) (/@utopian-io) last year (/utopian-io/@portugalcoin/re-imwatsi-technical- [-]

analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t210817354z#@utopian-io/re-re-imwatsi-
technical-analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t210817354z-20190512t213303z) 
Thank you for your review, @portugalcoin (/@portugalcoin)! Keep up the good work!

$0.00 1 vote Reply

imwatsi (67) (/@imwatsi) last year (/utopian-io/@portugalcoin/re-imwatsi-technical- [-]

analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t210817354z#@imwatsi/re-portugalcoin-re-
imwatsi-technical-analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-crosses-20190511t152327214z) 
Thanks for the review. I will include more features in my next tutorials.
$0.00 Reply

steem-ua (64) (/@steem-ua) last year (/utopian-io/@steem-ua/re-technical-analysis-using-python- [-]

detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t214802z#@steem-ua/re-technical-analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-
crosses-20190510t214802z) 

Hi @imwatsi (/@imwatsi)!
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utopian-io (71) (/@utopian-io) last year (/utopian-io/@utopian-io/re-technical-analysis-using-python- [ - ]

detecting-ema-crosses-20190510t233350z#@utopian-io/re-technical-analysis-using-python-detecting-ema-
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