Haha I see 'family time' is a euphemism for writing your nuts off where you come from Great intro for the month.
Do a search on "Spydertrader" and 20 MA or 20 SMA. Throughout the journal Spyder has made LOTS of explanations, references and examples on the utilities of 20ma. (if you are deep in the trenches and found yourself disoriented, this might be the missing bit in your map.)
By widen the tape I guess you mean put on volatility expansion lines? I do this (I think this is the the preferred method). However I also 'fan' lines with a steeper slope, I do this quite freely when pace increases. As you say a stall can give yet another set of lines that is between the steep and shallow. If this senario is a RTL BO (often the case) the shallow set (that has been expanded) is often a good guide for the main channel until you get a PT3. I keep them and often they just need a little nudge to make them the new main channel. In any case the expanded tape is now more like a channel. If my understanding is correct tapes should be quite 'tight' containers interacting with a good portion of bars H's & L's. I have clean ups once pace has settled down (some people leave everything on I understand) and delete anything that no longer 'makes sense'. (i.e. is unlikely to interact with or 'guide' price or where price is better described by a subsequent line). Anyway that's how I actually go about the process itself. I should point out that I have drawn channels for years and later integrated Jacks stuff. Be warned I may have some 'bad habits' compared to the 'orthodox method'! I don't think so (except perhaps taking some things for granted). (hehe I wonder if Jack would get a kick out of his methodology been referred to as the orthodox method?) I think probably the most important think is that you go about the process absolutely consistantly. Having gone about things programatically you must have considered the process in some depth! Cheers.
are you guys sidelined in this low volume right now? It's pretty whippy and volume is not telling the story properly it seems.... RT