ComponentOne FinancialChart for WinForms
Analytics / Overlays / Zigzag
In This Topic
    Zigzag
    In This Topic

    Zigzag overlay helps you in identifying price trends. The primary purpose of zigzag overlay is to eliminate random price fluctuations and show trend changes. The zigzag lines are plotted only when there is a price change between a swing high and a swing low that is greater than a specified percentage. The default percentage value of the overlay is 5%, that means the zigzag overlay does not register any fluctuation in price value that is less than 5%.

    Every stock has its own trading patterns, therefore, you need to modify the overlay's percentage setting to view the best results. The zigzag overlay is not ideal for showing the future trends, however, it helps in identifying potential future areas of support and resistance from the swing highs and swing lows it plots.

    To use zigzag overlay in the FinancialChart, you need to create an instance of the ZigZag class and add it as the series to the financial chart to render the zigzag overlay. The overlay allows you to modify the percentage setting using the Distance property provided by the ZigZag class. Also, you can use the Style properties for applying different styles to the zigzag line.

    The following example considers stock data for a company Box Inc. over a period of time and plots zigzag overlay on the same financial chart, as shown in the image above. The example uses data from a JSON file, and DataService.cs class is created to access the JSON file.

    Make sure that Build Action property of the JSON file is set to Embedded Resource.

    Make sure to add the following references in DataService.cs:

    DataService.cs
    Copy Code
    public class DataService
        {
            public List<Quote> GetSymbolData(string symbol, int nitems = 0)
            {
                string path = string.Format("ZigZag.Resources.{0}.json", symbol);
                var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(path);
                var ser = new System.Runtime.Serialization.Json.DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Quote[]));
                var data = (Quote[])ser.ReadObject(stream);
                return data.ToList();
            }        
            static DataService _ds;
            public static DataService GetService()
            {
                if (_ds == null)
                    _ds = new DataService();
                return _ds;
            }
        }
        public class Quote
        {
            public string date { get; set; }
            public double high { get; set; }
            public double low { get; set; }
            public double open { get; set; }
            public double close { get; set; }
            public double volume { get; set; }
    
            public DateTime Date 
            {
                get { return DateTime.ParseExact(date.ToString(), "MM/dd/yy", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); }
            }
        }
        public class Company
        {
            public string Symbol {get; set;}
            public string Name {get; set;}
        }
    

    JSON Data

    [
        { "date": "01/23/15", "open": 20.2, "high": 24.73, "low": 20.16, "close": 23.23, "volume": 42593223 }, 
        { "date": "01/26/15", "open": 23.67, "high": 24.39, "low": 22.5, "close": 22.6, "volume": 8677164 }, 
        { "date": "01/27/15", "open": 22, "high": 22.47, "low": 21.17, "close": 21.3, "volume": 3272512 }, 
        { "date": "01/28/15", "open": 21.62, "high": 21.84, "low": 19.6, "close": 19.78, "volume": 5047364 }, 
        { "date": "01/29/15", "open": 19.9, "high": 19.95, "low": 18.51, "close": 18.8, "volume": 3419482 }, 
        { "date": "01/30/15", "open": 18.47, "high": 19.48, "low": 18.22, "close": 18.81, "volume": 2266439 }, 
        { "date": "02/02/15", "open": 19.18, "high": 19.3, "low": 18.01, "close": 18.02, "volume": 2071168 }, 
        { "date": "02/03/15", "open": 18.22, "high": 18.64, "low": 18.12, "close": 18.24, "volume": 1587435 }, 
        { "date": "02/04/15", "open": 18.2, "high": 18.35, "low": 17, "close": 17.1, "volume": 2912224 }, 
        { "date": "02/05/15", "open": 17.3, "high": 17.31, "low": 16.41, "close": 16.66, "volume": 2682187 }, 
        { "date": "02/06/15", "open": 17.39, "high": 18.88, "low": 17.21, "close": 18.12, "volume": 3929164 }, 
        { "date": "02/09/15", "open": 18.86, "high": 19.95, "low": 18.45, "close": 19.6, "volume": 3226650 }, 
        { "date": "02/10/15", "open": 20.5, "high": 21, "low": 19.63, "close": 20.99, "volume": 2804409 }, 
        { "date": "02/11/15", "open": 20.89, "high": 21, "low": 20.2, "close": 20.96, "volume": 1698365 }, 
        { "date": "02/12/15", "open": 20.66, "high": 20.85, "low": 19.75, "close": 20.17, "volume": 1370320 }, 
        { "date": "02/13/15", "open": 20.19, "high": 20.68, "low": 20, "close": 20.18, "volume": 711951 }, 
        { "date": "02/17/15", "open": 19.5, "high": 20.1, "low": 18.8, "close": 19.05, "volume": 2093602 }, 
        { "date": "02/18/15", "open": 18.31, "high": 18.5, "low": 17.96, "close": 18, "volume": 1849490 }, 
        { "date": "02/19/15", "open": 18.33, "high": 19.25, "low": 17.91, "close": 18.96, "volume": 1311518 }, 
        { "date": "02/20/15", "open": 18.68, "high": 19.3, "low": 18.65, "close": 18.85, "volume": 1001692 }, 
        { "date": "02/23/15", "open": 18.8, "high": 18.89, "low": 18.11, "close": 18.21, "volume": 670087 }, 
        { "date": "02/24/15", "open": 18.46, "high": 19, "low": 18.27, "close": 18.83, "volume": 759263 }, 
        { "date": "02/25/15", "open": 18.83, "high": 19.48, "low": 18.47, "close": 18.67, "volume": 915580 }, 
        { "date": "02/26/15", "open": 18.64, "high": 19.2, "low": 18.64, "close": 18.94, "volume": 461283 }, 
        { "date": "02/27/15", "open": 18.8, "high": 19.12, "low": 18.55, "close": 18.66, "volume": 617199 }, 
        { "date": "03/02/15", "open": 18.66, "high": 19.09, "low": 18.65, "close": 18.79, "volume": 519605 }, 
        { "date": "03/03/15", "open": 18.79, "high": 19.21, "low": 18.45, "close": 18.59, "volume": 832415 }, 
        { "date": "03/04/15", "open": 18.64, "high": 19.05, "low": 18.32, "close": 19, "volume": 539688 }, 
        { "date": "03/05/15", "open": 19.2, "high": 19.2, "low": 18.8, "close": 19.14, "volume": 486149 }, 
        { "date": "03/06/15", "open": 19.03, "high": 19.1, "low": 18.7, "close": 18.91, "volume": 685659 }, 
        { "date": "03/09/15", "open": 18.98, "high": 20.15, "low": 18.96, "close": 19.4, "volume": 1321363 }, 
        { "date": "03/10/15", "open": 19.3, "high": 19.8, "low": 18.85, "close": 19.64, "volume": 615743 }, 
        { "date": "03/11/15", "open": 20.08, "high": 20.65, "low": 19.24, "close": 20.53, "volume": 2167167 }, 
        { "date": "03/12/15", "open": 17.17, "high": 18.2, "low": 16.76, "close": 18.2, "volume": 6837638 }, 
        { "date": "03/13/15", "open": 18.05, "high": 18.05, "low": 17.3, "close": 17.88, "volume": 1715629 }, 
        { "date": "03/16/15", "open": 17.91, "high": 18, "low": 17.01, "close": 17.13, "volume": 1321313 }, 
        { "date": "03/17/15", "open": 17.28, "high": 17.37, "low": 16.6, "close": 17.12, "volume": 1272242 }, 
        { "date": "03/18/15", "open": 17.1, "high": 17.27, "low": 16.91, "close": 17.01, "volume": 530063 }, 
        { "date": "03/19/15", "open": 17, "high": 17.28, "low": 17, "close": 17.06, "volume": 536427 }, 
        { "date": "03/20/15", "open": 17.13, "high": 17.24, "low": 16.88, "close": 17.21, "volume": 1320237 }, 
        { "date": "03/23/15", "open": 17.21, "high": 17.23, "low": 17.01, "close": 17.11, "volume": 509798 }, 
        { "date": "03/24/15", "open": 17.02, "high": 17.18, "low": 16.82, "close": 17, "volume": 962149 }, 
        { "date": "03/25/15", "open": 16.92, "high": 16.99, "low": 16.82, "close": 16.97, "volume": 565673 }, 
        { "date": "03/26/15", "open": 16.83, "high": 17.56, "low": 16.83, "close": 17.54, "volume": 884523 }, 
        { "date": "03/27/15", "open": 17.58, "high": 18.3, "low": 17.11, "close": 18.3, "volume": 705626 }, 
        { "date": "03/30/15", "open": 18.5, "high": 19.4, "low": 18.4, "close": 19.05, "volume": 1151620 }, 
        { "date": "03/31/15", "open": 19.08, "high": 20.58, "low": 18.4, "close": 19.75, "volume": 2020679 }, 
        { "date": "04/01/15", "open": 19.69, "high": 19.69, "low": 18.55, "close": 18.65, "volume": 961078 }, 
        { "date": "04/02/15", "open": 18.56, "high": 18.66, "low": 17.85, "close": 17.9, "volume": 884233 }, 
        { "date": "04/06/15", "open": 17.78, "high": 17.94, "low": 17.51, "close": 17.66, "volume": 605252 }, 
        { "date": "04/07/15", "open": 17.62, "high": 17.9, "low": 17.53, "close": 17.61, "volume": 591988 }, 
        { "date": "04/08/15", "open": 17.64, "high": 17.85, "low": 17.32, "close": 17.36, "volume": 618855 }, 
        { "date": "04/09/15", "open": 17.33, "high": 17.54, "low": 17.1, "close": 17.1, "volume": 761855 }, 
        { "date": "04/10/15", "open": 17.08, "high": 17.36, "low": 17, "close": 17.05, "volume": 568373 }, 
        { "date": "04/13/15", "open": 17.24, "high": 17.26, "low": 16.81, "close": 17.1, "volume": 667142 }, 
        { "date": "04/14/15", "open": 17.1, "high": 17.89, "low": 17.02, "close": 17.52, "volume": 870138 }, 
        { "date": "04/15/15", "open": 17.6, "high": 17.99, "low": 17.5, "close": 17.69, "volume": 530456 }, 
        { "date": "04/16/15", "open": 17.95, "high": 18, "low": 17.6, "close": 17.82, "volume": 548730 }, 
        { "date": "04/17/15", "open": 17.75, "high": 17.79, "low": 17.5, "close": 17.79, "volume": 446373 }, 
        { "date": "04/20/15", "open": 17.63, "high": 17.98, "low": 17.52, "close": 17.93, "volume": 487017 }, 
        { "date": "04/21/15", "open": 17.96, "high": 17.98, "low": 17.71, "close": 17.92, "volume": 320302 }, 
        { "date": "04/22/15", "open": 17.88, "high": 18.33, "low": 17.57, "close": 18.29, "volume": 644812 }, 
        { "date": "04/23/15", "open": 18.29, "high": 18.61, "low": 18.18, "close": 18.28, "volume": 563879 }, 
        { "date": "04/24/15", "open": 18.5, "high": 18.5, "low": 17.61, "close": 17.75, "volume": 650762 }, 
        { "date": "04/27/15", "open": 17.97, "high": 18.05, "low": 17.45, "close": 17.57, "volume": 437294 }, 
        { "date": "04/28/15", "open": 17.65, "high": 17.79, "low": 17.39, "close": 17.5, "volume": 224519 }, 
        { "date": "04/29/15", "open": 17.68, "high": 17.68, "low": 17.1, "close": 17.21, "volume": 495706 }, 
        { "date": "04/30/15", "open": 17.22, "high": 17.3, "low": 17, "close": 17.11, "volume": 391040 }, 
        { "date": "05/01/15", "open": 17.11, "high": 17.55, "low": 16.85, "close": 17.5, "volume": 563075 }, 
        { "date": "05/04/15", "open": 17.56, "high": 17.85, "low": 17.3, "close": 17.4, "volume": 253138 }, 
        { "date": "05/05/15", "open": 17.68, "high": 17.68, "low": 17.09, "close": 17.43, "volume": 290935 }, 
        { "date": "05/06/15", "open": 17.48, "high": 17.48, "low": 17, "close": 17.04, "volume": 313662 }, 
        { "date": "05/07/15", "open": 17.05, "high": 17.19, "low": 16.92, "close": 17.04, "volume": 360284 }, 
        { "date": "05/08/15", "open": 17.13, "high": 17.21, "low": 16.91, "close": 17.1, "volume": 297653 }, 
        { "date": "05/11/15", "open": 17.16, "high": 17.44, "low": 17.13, "close": 17.31, "volume": 268504 }, 
        { "date": "05/12/15", "open": 17.28, "high": 17.44, "low": 16.99, "close": 17.24, "volume": 376961 }, 
        { "date": "05/13/15", "open": 17.24, "high": 17.3, "low": 17.06, "close": 17.2, "volume": 244617 }, 
        { "date": "05/14/15", "open": 17.24, "high": 17.25, "low": 17.02, "close": 17.08, "volume": 252526 }, 
        { "date": "05/15/15", "open": 17.06, "high": 17.16, "low": 16.95, "close": 16.95, "volume": 274783 }, 
        { "date": "05/18/15", "open": 16.95, "high": 17.01, "low": 16.76, "close": 16.87, "volume": 418513 }, 
        { "date": "05/19/15", "open": 16.93, "high": 16.94, "low": 16.6, "close": 16.83, "volume": 367660 }, 
        { "date": "05/20/15", "open": 16.8, "high": 16.9, "low": 16.65, "close": 16.86, "volume": 297914 }, 
        { "date": "05/21/15", "open": 16.9, "high": 17.08, "low": 16.79, "close": 16.88, "volume": 229346 }, 
        { "date": "05/22/15", "open": 16.9, "high": 17.05, "low": 16.85, "close": 17, "volume": 253279 }, 
        { "date": "05/26/15", "open": 17.03, "high": 17.08, "low": 16.86, "close": 17.01, "volume": 212640 }, 
        { "date": "05/27/15", "open": 17.01, "high": 17.99, "low": 16.87, "close": 17.75, "volume": 857109 }, 
        { "date": "05/28/15", "open": 17.77, "high": 17.77, "low": 17.44, "close": 17.62, "volume": 338482 }
                ]
    

    Copy Code
    public partial class Form1 : Form
        {
            public Form1()
            {
                InitializeComponent();
            }
            private void OnLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                DataService dataService = DataService.GetService();
                
                FinancialSeries fs = new FinancialSeries() { Name = "Box Inc." };
                fs.Visibility = C1.Chart.SeriesVisibility.Visible;
                
                financialChart1.Legend.Position = C1.Chart.Position.Right;
                financialChart1.ChartType = C1.Chart.Finance.FinancialChartType.Candlestick;
                financialChart1.DataSource = dataService.GetData();
                financialChart1.BindingX = "date";
                financialChart1.Binding = "high,low,open,close";
                financialChart1.Series.Add(fs);
            
                // Initialize ZigZag class
                ZigZag zig = new ZigZag() { Name = "ZigzagOverlay"};
                // Styling ZigZag line
                zig.Style.Stroke = Brushes.Blue;
                // Adding ZigZag overlay to the Financial Chart
                financialChart1.Series.Add(zig);            s
            }
        }