Pring’s Special K on Gold

What it shows

A slow blue Special K line and an even slower orange signal wind around zero beneath the candles. Neither shows up until hundreds of candles in, because the longest part needs a lot of history.

How Pravex works it out

1. Take twelve rates of change of the source, over 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 65, 75, 100, 195, 265, 390 and 530 candles.
2. Smooth each with a simple average. The averages run over 10, 10, 10, 15, 50, 65, 75, 100, 130, 130, 130 and 195 candles.
3. Weight each smoothed part by 1, 2, 3 or 4 and add them. Special K is that sum.
4. The orange signal averages K over the signal’s first average length, then averages that result again over the second.
5. The twelve lengths and weights are fixed in the code. Only the source and the two signal lengths can be changed.
6. One part, with an invented value: a smoothed +2 at weight 3 adds +6 to the sum.

Settings

Setting	Default	What changing it does
Source	Close	The price the twelve rates of change are measured on.
Signal first average	100	Candles in the first average that builds the Signal line. A smaller number follows Special K more closely.
Signal second average	100	Candles in the second average applied on top of the first. A smaller number smooths the Signal line less.

How traders read it

Pring meant it as a long-cycle gauge, so its side of zero is the main read: above it, short and long momentum together lean up; below it, they lean down.

A cross of Special K over its Signal line says the blended momentum turned relative to its own long average. Both lines move slowly, so a cross is rare.

Because the weights favour the long rates of change, a short burst of price barely moves the line. Look for the slope of the line over many candles, not for a single day.

When it misleads

The longest part needs 530 candles plus a 195-candle average before it has a value, so on a 1-hour gold chart the line only appears after about 725 candles, about six weeks of weekday trading, and it will be missing on a short history. It lags by design. Gold’s weekend gap and its calmer hours do not distort it much, but a sharp reversal takes a long time to show.

Questions and answers

Who made the Special K and why?

Martin Pring, as a momentum line that adds twelve smoothed rates of change with different lengths and weights, so short and long momentum sit in one reading.

Why does the line start so late?

The longest rate of change looks back 530 candles and is then averaged over 195 more. Until that much history exists, there is no value.

Are the twelve Special K lengths fixed?

Yes, they are written into the code. The source and the two signal lengths are the only settings.

Special K vs Know Sure Thing: what is the difference?

Both add weighted, smoothed rates of change. The Know Sure Thing uses four and Special K uses twelve, which reaches much further back.

Related: Know Sure Thing, Coppock Curve, Price Momentum Oscillator, every indicator.