Cival Auction Structure — Install Guide

Version 1.0.0 · file Cival.AuctionStructure.dll · name in ATAS: Cival Auction Structure

Cival Auction Structure is a compiled ATAS plugin. This guide takes you from the downloaded zip to a verified, working indicator. The full list of settings is in 02-Settings-Reference.md.

1. Requirements

Item What you need
Platform ATAS Platform 8.0.15 or newer. The plugin runs on the .NET 10 runtime that ATAS ships; you install nothing else.
Footprint data Strongly recommended. With bid/ask rows the TPO profile uses the prices that actually traded in each bar. Without them each bar is treated as if it visited every row between its low and its high; the profile is then labelled APPROXIMATE and no completed-session levels or failed-auction marks are published from it.
Bar length Bars should be no longer than the TPO bracket (default 30 minutes) and should fit evenly inside it: 1, 5, 10, 15 and 30 minute bars fit a 30-minute bracket. A 60-minute bar spans two brackets and makes the profile approximate.
History At least one complete earlier session on the chart before you expect levels (the default session is one calendar day), and preferably several. The indicator processes at most the last Maximum bars back bars (default 10,000).
Instrument A tick size known to ATAS. The TPO row size is entered in ticks.
Windows You can write to %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators.

2. Install with the included script

  1. Close ATAS completely (check the Windows task manager that no ATAS process is left; a running ATAS locks the DLL).
  2. Extract Cival-Auction-Structure-v1.0.0.zip to a normal folder and open PowerShell in it.
  3. Run:

powershell .\ATAS\Install.ps1

The script copies Cival.AuctionStructure.dll to %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators, keeps a backup of any DLL with the same name that was already there, and verifies the SHA-256 of the copied file against the value recorded in the package. If it reports a mismatch, stop and download the product again. 4. If Windows blocks the script because of the execution policy, run it for this session only:

powershell powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\ATAS\Install.ps1 5. Start ATAS.

3. Manual install

  1. Close ATAS.
  2. Check the file: Get-FileHash .\ATAS\Cival.AuctionStructure.dll -Algorithm SHA256 and compare the value with the Cival.AuctionStructure.dll line in SHA256SUMS.txt.
  3. If %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators\Cival.AuctionStructure.dll already exists, copy it somewhere safe first.
  4. Copy ATAS\Cival.AuctionStructure.dll into %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators.
  5. Start ATAS. ATAS only loads the new DLL when it starts.

4. First load

  1. Open a chart of the market you study, on a timeframe that is not longer than your TPO bracket (a 5- or 15-minute chart is typical for the default 30-minute bracket). Load several days of history.
  2. Open the indicator catalog, search for Cival Auction Structure and add it.
  3. Wait for the historical calculation to finish.
  4. Check the session clock. The default session is one calendar day starting at midnight in chart time (Session start (minutes after midnight) = 0, Session timezone blank). For a market with another day boundary, change those two settings (see section 5).
  5. The panel appears at the top-left of the chart, about 50 pixels below the top edge. A small histogram appears along the right edge of the chart.

What the first panel lines mean

What you see Meaning
Cival Auction Structure / Waiting for closed candles / historical calculation No closed bar has been delivered yet. Normal for a moment after loading.
Cival Auction Structure — developing The current session's profile is being built, bar by bar.
TPOC <price> VA <low>–<high> Time-based value center and value area of the developing session. By default ATAS shows TPOC spelled out as Time value center.
Tick size unavailable ATAS did not report a tick size. Nothing is built until it does.
No eligible TPO profile; check rows and tick size A session has no usable rows (for example no bars yet in the session, or the row size is unusable).
APPROXIMATE: candle range fallback Some bar had no footprint rows, or a bar was longer than a bracket, so the profile is an estimate.
COARSE: bar spans multiple brackets The current bar is longer than the bracket minutes.
PARTIAL: session starts before history The chart history starts after the session start, or bars or footprint data are missing inside the session.

You will see only three lines at first. With the default Compact panel (title + two lines) switched on, ATAS shows only the title, the TPOC… line and the shape line. The data-quality lines above are further down the panel and are hidden. Untick Compact panel (title + two lines) in the Information panel group to see all eight lines; do this at least while you check that your data is good.

On the chart. The histogram on the right edge shows, for the current session, how many brackets visited each price row (gold rows were visited by exactly one bracket). Horizontal lines for the time value center and the value area edges of completed sessions appear from the second session onward. Small ▲/▼ marks with the label FA prior TPO low/high appear when a bar probes beyond the previous session's profile and closes back inside it.

5. Settings to touch first

  1. Session start (minutes after midnight) (for example 570 means 09:30) and Session timezone (blank = chart; otherwise input UTC). Blank timezone means the session day is cut at midnight (plus your offset) of the clock the chart shows. If you type a Windows time-zone name (for example UTC or Eastern Standard Time), the indicator treats the chart's candle times as UTC and converts them. An unknown name is rejected. If you use this, make sure your chart is displaying UTC.
  2. TPO row size (ticks) (default 4) and TPO bracket minutes (default 30).
  3. Maximum visible zones (default 12) if the chart gets crowded.
  4. Compact panel (title + two lines): untick while you check data quality.

6. Verify it works — checklist

Tick each item.

  1. Get-FileHash of %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators\Cival.AuctionStructure.dll matches the SHA256SUMS.txt line.
  2. After restarting ATAS, Cival Auction Structure appears in the indicator catalog.
  3. Added to a chart, the panel title reads Cival Auction Structure — developing and the second line begins with the time value center (TPOC or Time value center) and VA.
  4. A histogram is drawn along the right edge; rows visited by a single bracket are gold, others steel blue. Turning Show TPO histogram off removes it.
  5. With Compact panel (title + two lines) unticked, the panel shows eight lines and the last two read Visited prices from real footprint rows and Bracket counts; not volume counts when your footprint data is complete.
  6. After scrolling back to a day that has a complete earlier day before it, three lines labelled with the earlier date (time value center, time value low, time value high) start at that day's first bar. (If the earlier day was PARTIAL or APPROXIMATE, no lines are drawn by design.)
  7. Changing TPO row size (ticks) changes the histogram resolution and the Effective row line.
  8. With a CSV export folder set, AuctionStructure-signals.csv and AuctionStructure-zones.csv exist after the calculation finishes.

7. Updating

  1. Close ATAS completely.
  2. Extract the new zip and run its .\ATAS\Install.ps1. The previous same-named DLL is backed up automatically.
  3. Start ATAS and re-add or reload the indicator on your charts.
  4. Before updating, save a chart template and note your session settings and row/bracket sizes. If a new version renames or removes a setting, ATAS may fall back to the default for that one setting.
  5. Keep the old zip so that you can return to an older version (close ATAS and copy the older DLL back).

8. Uninstalling

  1. Remove Cival Auction Structure from your charts and templates.
  2. Close ATAS.
  3. Run .\ATAS\Uninstall.ps1 from the extracted folder, or delete %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators\Cival.AuctionStructure.dll yourself.
  4. Exported CSV files stay where you wrote them.

9. Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause What to do
Cival Auction Structure is not in the indicator list ATAS was open during install or not restarted; wrong folder; installer blocked Close ATAS fully, check the DLL is in %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators, start ATAS, search for Cival. Use the -ExecutionPolicy Bypass form if the script was blocked.
Panel shows only three lines Compact panel (title + two lines) is on (default) Untick it.
APPROXIMATE: candle range fallback Some bars have no footprint rows, or bars are longer than the bracket Load footprint history for the period; use a shorter chart timeframe; or raise TPO bracket minutes. The flag stays for the rest of that session.
COARSE: bar spans multiple brackets Bar duration is longer than TPO bracket minutes Use a shorter timeframe or a longer bracket.
PARTIAL: session starts before history History begins mid-session, or bars or footprint rows are missing inside the session Load more history; check for data gaps; check the session start setting.
No lines for earlier sessions Only complete, non-approximate, non-partial sessions publish levels; touched levels are hidden; only the nearest Maximum visible zones are drawn; or too little history is loaded Fix the data flags above; check the loaded history, symbol and timeframe; tick Show touched levels to see tested ones; raise Maximum visible zones. Missing levels are not a measured zero: they mean the data did not qualify.
A row's count looks lower than the number of candles that visited it The count is the number of different time brackets, not candles and not volume. Repeated visits inside one bracket count once. This is intended: ten candles visiting a price inside one bracket plus one candle in a second bracket give a count of 2, not 11. For volume at price use a volume profile.
The settings do not match this guide A saved chart or template carries its own values and overrides the defaults Open the indicator settings and compare each value with 02-Settings-Reference.md; reset any you do not recognise.
No failed-auction marks They need a complete, exact previous session, and a bar that exceeds its extreme and closes back inside Check the flags; marks may legitimately be rare.
Sessions start at the wrong time Session start or Session timezone does not match your market, or the chart is not showing UTC while a time zone is typed Adjust Session start (minutes after midnight); clear the timezone if unsure.
No histogram on the right Show TPO histogram is off, or the panel/chart area is very small Tick it.
DLL is locked during install or update An ATAS process is still running Close ATAS, end leftover processes, run the installer again.
Settings reset after an update A setting was renamed or changed in the new version Re-enter your settings from your notes; load your saved template.
CSV files do not appear Folder blank or not writable; calculation not finished Set a writable folder; check for a CSV export failed: line in the panel.
Values changed after reloading the chart The history is recalculated when a setting changes or a closed bar is revised, and a different history length changes which sessions are complete Note history range and settings with any screenshot you keep.

Still stuck? Email support@civalsystems.com with the product version (1.0.0), your ATAS version, a screenshot with the panel expanded and what you expected to see.