help with automated exits

July 2nd, 2013, 12:08 PM

hello there.

i have been using an automated strategy for tradestation for a couple of weeks now. it does ok, but i would like to improve the exits i have as of now. i will post these questions in the tradestation community forums too, but i could get some pointers here as there are accomplished easylanguage programmers in bmt too, and the ts forum is down as of now.

i would like my strategy to go with the trend; buy a stock when the price is above a simple moving average and other indicators are pointing upwards, and sell it when it is below the sma.

my code for long positions looks like this now:

if Price >= AverageFC( Price, Length ) and -another condition- then begin

Buy PSize Shares next bar at market ;

Avg = AverageFC( Price, Length ) ;

if Price < Avg then

Sell all shares next bar at market ;

end;

entries work ok, but i don't like how the exits behave right now. let's say it buys, it is all well, but it should drop the position as soon as the price is below the sma, yet i have seen my strategy hold onto positions that have crossed the sma down and only close them when it is opening a reverse position. it only closes a long position when it opens a short position and viceversa. i would like the strategy to hold positions only when they are outside the sma. how would code look like to achieve this?

and a second question, if i wanted a strategy to exit as soon as two consecutive bars have gone against my position, how would code look like to achieve this?

i tried:

If ( Price [2] > Price [1] and Price [1] > Price ) then

Sell all shares next bar at market ;

but seemingly it won't work.

any guidance will be appreciated, thanks, regards.

kevinkdog · July 2nd, 2013, 12:15 PM

maggtrading

and a second question, if i wanted a strategy to exit as soon as two consecutive bars have gone against my position, how would code look like to achieve this?

i tried:

If ( Price [2] > Price [1] and Price [1] > Price ) then

Sell all shares next bar at market ;

but seemingly it won't work.

any guidance will be appreciated, thanks, regards.

If close<close[1] and close[1]<close[2] then sell all shares next bar at market;

should work for 2 consecutive lower closes.

July 2nd, 2013, 12:21 PM

kevinkdog

If close<close[1] and close[1]<close[2] then sell all shares next bar at market;

should work for 2 consecutive lower closes.

thanks. let me try it out, in inputs i'm already using price on close but will check out your code.

July 2nd, 2013, 05:19 PM

solved.

removing the begin and end cycle, leaving the entries and exits like this:

if Price >= AverageFC( Price, Length ) and -another condition- then

Buy PSize Shares next bar at market ;

Avg = AverageFC( Price, Length ) ;

if Price < Avg then

Sell all shares next bar at market ;

the strategy now drops positions when the exit conditions are met. and, with these changes, the two consecutive lows also work.

help with automated exits

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help with automated exits