A bug/glitch inside the MotiveWave

Vitali

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Hello!

I’ve discovered a bug in the MotiveWave app. I think it is present in both free and paid versions. It has been in MotiveWave for several years now. This bug affects Trend Line, Horizontal Line, Retracement and Extension drawing tools. It's possible that other drawing tools might be affected by the bug.

When I open a Trend Line Tool and draw a trend line with it, by default it snaps to the top or bottom of the nearest bar. This behavior is very annoying (to me at least). I want to be able to draw objects where I want to draw them and not have software tell me where I can and I can’t draw them. I’ve tried multiple charting software packages and none of them have Trend Lines that snap to objects, without giving you at least an option to turn snap feature off. The owner’s manual of MotiveWave says you can temporarily disable the snap feature by holding an Alt button on the keyboard while moving/dragging a trend line. This does work when I move an existing (previously drawn trend line) and avoids snap to bar behavior. But when I’m drawing a new trend line and holding an Alt button at the same time, a bug appears. Snap to bar behavior does indeed gets disabled, but as soon as I release the left mouse button to complete the end point of the trend line drawing, suddenly an infinite extension appears on the right side of the trend line. Like this:

1674099226232.png

I don’t want extensions on my trend lines. So, every time I draw a trend line with a snap off using the Alt button, I have to do a couple of extra steps to remove this infinite Extension to the right. I draw hundreds of trend lines each day, and for this extra step I waste a lot of time. It’s very annoying to do so.

Here's another part of the bug. Just to make my point clear, Trend Lines and Horizontal Lines have a start point and an end point. Holding an Alt button is supposed to disable Snap to Bar mode temporarily for both the start point and an end point of the trend line. But in reality it only disables Snap to Bar for the end point of the Trend Line (albeit with a bug that gives you a unwanted infinite extension after the end point). In other words, Alt button trick only disables Snap to Bar for the end point of the trend line. The start point of the trend line still snaps to the nearest bar even as you are holding the Alt button.

There is a separate keyboard shortcut to Extend a Trend line. It’s Ctrl + E. Then why does the extension appear when I use the Alt button to disable Snap mode?

I even tried to create a trend line template without an extension. I remove the extension, set the color, width of a trend line, and set it as a default so that next time I draw a trend line, it appears exactly as I want it to be. But no luck. The next trend line I draw using Alt, it shows up again with an infinite extension to the right side.

When comparing Trend line behavior with another drawing tool in MotiveWave such as an Arrow Line for example, you can clearly see that it is a bug indeed. When drawing an Arrow object, by default it also snaps to the nearest bar’s high or low. To disable snap temporarily, I press and hold Alt button. Snapping gets disabled and I can freely draw the Arrow object anywhere. When I am done drawing an Arrow object and release the left mouse button, the end point of Arrow stays where I drew it without creating an infinite extension. In other words, this bug doesn’t affect the Arrow object and doesn’t create an extension to the right infinitely.

This bug also affects Horizontal Trend Lines and Retracement drawing tool the same way as regular Trend Lines.

1674099306858.png

Please look into this issue. Thank you for creating one of the best Software apps.

Vitali
 
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ScottyA

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When I open a Diagonal Trendline Tool

To be clear, you mean a Trend Line or an Extended Trend Line? I have MW Ultimate Edition and cannot find a Diagonal Trendline Tool.

But when I’m drawing a new trendline and holding an Alt button at the same time, a bug appears. Snapping behavior does indeed gets disabled, but as soon as I release the left mouse button to complete the trendline drawing, suddenly an infinite extension appears on the right side of the trendline.

Yeah, that's got to be annoying.

I cannot reproduce your issue when using a Trend Line or a Horizontal Line.

My computer is running macOS Ventura 13.1. Can you share more about your setup?
 

Vitali

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Hello ScottyA!

Thank you for replying. Yes, that's exactly what I was referring to, Trend Line and an Extended Trend Line tools. I want to emprasize that the bug is only visible when I draw a new Trend Line (that wasn't there before) while holding Alt button. When I move an existing Trend Line while holding Alt button, everything works as it should. Have you tried drawing a new Trend Line while holding Alt until drawing is completed?

My computer specifications are: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Build 10240, Intel Core i3-7100 CPU at 3.90 GHZ, 8 GB RAM. I'm using version 6.6.12 Community Edition of MotiveWave.

I have an idea for a better, more efficient implementation of a snap mode. Instead of holding Alt every time you want to disable Snap mode, why not have a Global Settings toggle that turns snap mode on and off with a check mark. As an alternative, a toggle could also be placed in the properties of Trend Line and Horizontal Line tools. It would make life a whole lot easier.

Vitali
 
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ScottyA

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Yes, that's exactly what I was referring to, Trend Line and an Extended Trend Line tools.

👍

I want to emprasize that the bug is only visible when I draw a new Trend Line (that wasn't there before) while holding Alt button. When I move an existing Trend Line while holding Alt button, everything works as it should. Have you tried drawing a new Trend Line while holding Alt until drawing is completed?

I am now able to reproduce the issue with both Horizontal and Trend Lines. I see what you mean now. I use Horizontal Lines often, so because I draw my lines differently I wasn't able to see it initially.

The global snap mode toggle seems reasonable. I WANT my lines to snap. Be sure to add this to the Suggestions and Feedback forum.
 

Vitali

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Hello ScottyA!

Thanks for the reply. I took your advice and created a post with my suggestion in the Suggestions and Feedback forum.

Now that this bug is confirmed by more than one person, it is clear that the bug does exist. If you have an opportunity to chat with the developers of MotiveWave, please let them know of this bug. Thank you!

Vitali
 
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Vitali

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I forgot to mention that the Retracement and Extension drawing tools are also affected by the same bug. When using an Alt button to disable Snap Mode while drawing a new Retracement object, you end up with an infinite Extension. Even though to add an Extension to a Retracement, the default keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + E, you still get an infinite Extension with an Alt button.
 
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ScottyA

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I forgot to mention that the Retracement and Extension drawing tools are also affected by the same bug. When using an Alt button to disable Snap Mode while drawing a new Retracement object, you end up with an infinite Extension. Even though to add an Extension to a Retracement, the default keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + E, you still get an infinite Extension with an Alt button.

Before you brought this up, I had never seen this bug. I use these tools (Horizontal Lines, Retracement, Extensions, etc.) every day, so your discovery must be related to how you're using the tools.

Why is it that you don't want things like Retracements and Extensions to not Snap To Bar? I can make a reasonable guess about why you don't want Trend and Horizontal Lines to Snap to Bar, but I don't understand why the former.
 

Vitali

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Why is it that you don't want things like Retracements and Extensions to not Snap To Bar?
These tools don't bother me that they snap to bar. The only reason why I mentioned them is because I want the developers to know the extent of the bug.
But the trend lines snap to bar mode really bothers me. What bothers me even more is that it cannot be turned off. People, including myself, are attracted to MotiveWave because it's highly customizable. I just can't understand why developers decided to omit a simple toggle to turn snap to bar off, especially considering that in this industry the vast majority of competitor's charting apps don't use snap to bar mode.
 
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ScottyA

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I just can't understand why developers decided to omit a simple toggle to turn snap to bar off

Probably because you can simply move the mouse a short distance to the L or R and avoid the Snap to Bar, while still drawing the same line.
 

Vitali

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Probably because you can simply move the mouse a short distance to the L or R and avoid the Snap to Bar, while still drawing the same line.
I didn't understand your method of avoiding the snap to bar. Can you explain this again please?
 

Vitali

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Another part of the bug I forgot to mention.

Just to make my point clear, Trend Lines and Horizontal Lines have a start point and an end point. Holding an Alt button is supposed to disable Snap to Bar mode temporarily for both the start point and the end point of the trend line. But in reality it only disables Snap to Bar for the end point of the Trend Line (albeit with a bug that gives you a unwanted infinite extension after the end point). In other words, Alt button trick only disables Snap to Bar for the end point of the trend line. The start point of the trend line still snaps to the nearest bar even as you are holding the Alt button. So, I hope I've made it clear that the Alt trick has not been realized fully and correctly by the developers of this program.
 
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ScottyA

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I didn't understand your method of avoiding the snap to bar. Can you explain this again please?

Just start drawing your lines 1-2 bars earlier, rather than on top of an area where the line will snap to a bar.
 

Vitali

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Just start drawing your lines 1-2 bars earlier, rather than on top of an area where the line will snap to a bar.
Thanks for the advice. If it were that easy, I wouldn't bother making a lengthy post about the bug. Unfortunately your workaround doesn't work for me. I use Trend Lines and Horizontal lines to indicate specific areas on a chart, like trend changes, entry/exit points, etc. They are like markers for me. Each marker needs to be placed at an exact point. If I start or end the lines 1-2 bars earlier or later, then this messes up, defeats the intended purpose of them.
 

Vitali

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I started this thread to illuminate the bug that creates unwanted Extension when using Alt. It would probably be best to not mix up another bug within this thread. So, to make things more organized and less confusing, I should create a new thread about the Alt not affecting both start and end points of the Trend Line.
 
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