Heikin-Ashi<\/strong> candles are a popular way to display price in TradingView, helping reduce market noise and make trend identification easier. Although these candles look similar to regular candlesticks, there is one very important difference:<\/p>\n The Open, High, Low, and Close values of Heikin-Ashi candles are not necessarily actual market prices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This distinction becomes especially important when developing indicators and, in particular, trading strategies and backtests<\/strong>. If a programmer uses Heikin-Ashi values in their code without taking this difference into account, the indicator or strategy may behave differently from what they expect.<\/p>\n In this tutorial, we first examine how Heikin-Ashi candles are calculated, then explain how to access this data in Pine Script, and finally discuss one of the most important topics: using Heikin-Ashi in trading strategies and backtesting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In a standard candlestick chart, each candle has four main values:<\/p>\n These values come directly from market data. So, for example, if the Open of a candle is $3,145, that represents the actual market price when that candle opened.<\/p>\n With Heikin-Ashi, however, things are different.<\/p>\n Heikin-Ashi is a type of non-standard price chart whose OHLC values are calculated using specific formulas based on actual market data and the Heikin-Ashi values of previous candles. Therefore, these values are synthetic prices<\/strong>, not prices at which the market necessarily traded. (TradingView<\/a>)<\/p>\n As a result, when we examine the same candle on a standard chart and a Heikin-Ashi chart, the Open, High, Low, and Close values may be different.<\/p>\n To properly understand how Heikin-Ashi behaves in Pine Script, it is useful to first understand how these candles are calculated.<\/p>\n We can represent the Heikin-Ashi values using The Heikin-Ashi closing price is calculated as the average of the four actual prices of the same candle:<\/p>\n Therefore, calculating The Open is calculated differently:<\/p>\n In other words, the Open of the current Heikin-Ashi candle is calculated from the average of the Open and Close of the previous Heikin-Ashi candle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Therefore, calculating the Open of each candle requires information from the previous candle.<\/p>\n This sequential dependency is an important consideration when implementing Heikin-Ashi in Pine Script.<\/p>\n The High is calculated as follows:<\/p>\n In other words, the highest value among:<\/p>\n is used as the High of the Heikin-Ashi candle.<\/p>\n Similarly:<\/p>\n The lowest value among the actual Low, Heikin-Ashi Open, and Heikin-Ashi Close is selected as the Low of the Heikin-Ashi candle.<\/p>\n Therefore, the formulas can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n Of course, for the first candle, there is no previous candle, so an initial value for As mentioned above, However, there is no previous candle when calculating the first candle.<\/p>\n Therefore, we need to define an initial value. There are several ways to do this. The important point is that once the calculation begins, the In Pine Script, we can use For example, the general concept can be implemented as follows:<\/p>\n Here, the average of the actual Open and Close of the first candle is used, and from the second candle onward, the standard Heikin-Ashi formula is applied.<\/p>\n An important point is that the initial value has only a very limited effect further along the series because After defining the four OHLC values, we can use The general structure can look like this:<\/p>\n With this approach, we can calculate the Heikin-Ashi candles ourselves in Pine Script and display them on a standard chart without changing the chart type to Heikin-Ashi.<\/p>\n This provides an important advantage: the main chart remains a Standard Candles chart, while our calculations can still be based on Heikin-Ashi data.<\/strong><\/p>\n We do not always need to implement the Heikin-Ashi formulas ourselves in Pine Script.<\/p>\n TradingView provides a built-in function for accessing Heikin-Ashi data:<\/p>\n This function creates a special ticker identifier for Heikin-Ashi data, which can then be passed to For example:<\/p>\n Here:<\/p>\n The Open, High, and Low can be retrieved in the same way.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n TradingView also allows all four OHLC values to be retrieved within a single Suppose that, in addition to Heikin-Ashi data, you also need data from several symbols and multiple timeframes. If you create several separate requests for each calculation, the number of required requests can quickly increase.<\/p>\n For example, if we use four separate requests to retrieve the OHLC values of Heikin-Ashi and repeat the same process for several symbols or timeframes, the total number of requests can increase significantly.<\/p>\n Therefore, if the goal is simply to calculate Heikin-Ashi using data from the same chart and timeframe, directly implementing the formulas at the beginning of the script can sometimes be a better choice.<\/p>\n On the other hand, when you actually need Heikin-Ashi data from another symbol or timeframe, One important consideration when using Heikin-Ashi is its effect on indicators.<\/p>\n Suppose we calculate a 9-period Moving Average using If the chart is using standard candles, However, if the chart is using Heikin-Ashi, As a result: SMA on Standard Candles <\/strong>\u2260 <\/strong>SMA on Heikin-Ashi<\/strong><\/p>\n Even if both indicators use exactly the same formula and period.<\/p>\n This is not limited to Moving Averages. Any indicator that uses OHLC data may produce different results when the chart type is changed from Standard Candles to Heikin-Ashi.<\/p>\n In many projects, we may want signals to be generated based on Heikin-Ashi, while entry and exit prices remain based on actual market prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n In such cases, it is generally better to keep the chart on standard candles and retrieve or calculate Heikin-Ashi data inside the script.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n This approach is particularly important for strategies.<\/p>\n TradingView also recommends exercising caution when backtesting on non-standard charts such as Heikin-Ashi, because the prices represented by these candles are not actual market prices, while real-world orders are executed at actual market prices. (TradingView<\/a>)<\/p>\n Suppose our strategy enters a long position whenever two Moving Averages cross upward.<\/p>\n If we run the strategy on a standard chart, the order is simulated using actual market prices.<\/p>\n However, if we switch the chart to Heikin-Ashi, the Open, High, Low, and Close values of the candles are no longer necessarily actual market prices.<\/p>\n As a result, the strategy may assume that a trade was executed at a price that was never actually traded in the market.<\/p>\n This can affect:<\/p>\n Therefore, a strategy may show very attractive performance on a Heikin-Ashi chart but fail to produce the same results when actually executed using real market prices.<\/p>\nRegular Candles vs. Heikin-Ashi<\/h3>\n
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\nHeikin-Ashi Calculation Formula<\/h2>\n
HA<\/code>. The formulas are as follows.<\/p>\nClose<\/h4>\n
HA Close = (Open + High + Low + Close) \/ 4<\/code><\/pre>\nHA Close<\/code> does not require data from the previous Heikin-Ashi candle.<\/p>\nOpen<\/h4>\n
HA Open = (HA Open[1] + HA Close[1]) \/ 2<\/code><\/pre>\nHigh<\/h4>\n
HA High = max(High, HA Open, HA Close)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n
Low<\/h4>\n
HA Low = min(Low, HA Open, HA Close)<\/code><\/pre>\nHA Open = (HA Open[1] + HA Close[1]) \/ 2\r\nHA High = max(High, HA Open, HA Close)\r\nHA Low = min(Low, HA Open, HA Close)\r\nHA Close = (Open + High + Low + Close) \/ 4<\/code><\/pre>\nHA Open<\/code> must be defined appropriately.<\/p>\n
\nThe First-Candle Problem in Heikin-Ashi Calculations<\/h2>\n
HA Open<\/code> depends on HA Open[1]<\/code> and HA Close[1]<\/code>.<\/p>\nHA Open<\/code> value of subsequent candles is calculated sequentially.<\/p>\nbarstate.isfirst<\/code> to identify the first candle or use a var<\/code> variable to initialize a value only once.<\/p>\nhaOpen = barstate.isfirst ? (open + close) \/ 2 : (haOpen[1] + haClose[1]) \/ 2<\/code><\/pre>\nHA Open<\/code> is continuously recalculated based on subsequent candles.<\/p>\n
\nImplementing Heikin-Ashi in Pine Script<\/h2>\n
plotcandle<\/code> to display the calculated candles on the chart.<\/p>\n\/\/@version=6\r\nindicator(\"Custom Heikin-Ashi\", overlay = true)\r\n\r\nhaClose = (open + high + low + close) \/ 4\r\n\r\nvar float haOpen = na\r\n\r\nhaOpen := barstate.isfirst ? (open + close) \/ 2 : \r\n (haOpen[1] + haClose[1]) \/ 2\r\n\r\nhaHigh = math.max(high, math.max(haOpen, haClose))\r\nhaLow = math.min(low, math.min(haOpen, haClose))\r\n\r\nhaColor = haClose >= haOpen ? color.green : color.red\r\n\r\nplotcandle(haOpen, haHigh, haLow, haClose, color = haColor)<\/code><\/pre>\n
\nUsing TradingView’s Built-in Functionality<\/h2>\n
ticker.heikinashi<\/code><\/pre>\nrequest.security<\/code> to retrieve Heikin-Ashi values. (TradingView<\/a>)<\/p>\nhaTicker = ticker.heikinashi(syminfo.tickerid)\r\n\r\nhaClose = request.security(haTicker, timeframe.period, close)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n
ticker.heikinashi<\/code> creates a Heikin-Ashi ticker identifier for the current symbol.<\/li>\nrequest.security<\/code> retrieves the corresponding data.<\/li>\nclose<\/code> returns the Heikin-Ashi Close value.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nhaOpen = request.security(haTicker, timeframe.period, open)\r\nhaHigh = request.security(haTicker, timeframe.period, high)\r\nhaLow = request.security(haTicker, timeframe.period, low)\r\nhaClose = request.security(haTicker, timeframe.period, close)<\/code><\/pre>\nrequest.security<\/code> call using a tuple. (TradingView<\/a>)<\/p>\n
\nWhy Isn’t
request.security<\/code> Always the Best Choice?<\/h2>\nrequest.security<\/code> is very useful, but in complex scripts, it is important to pay attention to the number of request<\/code> calls being made.<\/p>\nticker.heikinashi<\/code> together with request.security<\/code> is a suitable approach. request.security<\/code> is specifically designed to retrieve data from different symbol and timeframe contexts. (TradingView<\/a>)<\/p>\n
\nAn Important Point About Indicators<\/h2>\n
close<\/code>:<\/p>\nma = ta.sma(close, 9)<\/code><\/pre>\nclose<\/code> represents the actual market Close.<\/p>\nclose<\/code> represents the synthetic Heikin-Ashi Close.<\/p>\n
\nA Better Approach: Analyze with Heikin-Ashi, Execute at Actual Market Prices<\/h2>\n
Main chart \u2192 Standard Candles\r\n \u2193\r\nActual market price\r\n +\r\nHeikin-Ashi data\r\n \u2193\r\nIndicator calculations\r\n \u2193\r\nSignal generation\r\n \u2193\r\nEntry\/exit at real prices<\/code><\/pre>\n
\nWhy Can Direct Backtesting on Heikin-Ashi Be Problematic?<\/h2>\n
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