firemyst
10 Apr 2019, 08:35

RE:

Anka Software said:

Adding a Positions.Modified event handler, causes the robot to hang in backtester.

Just for clarification, would you be able to post the sample of your code that adds the handler so the rest of us can see how you're doing it?

Ex:

 protected override void OnStart()
        {
            //Events
            Positions.Opened += Positions_Opened;
            Positions.Closed += Positions_Closed;
            //blah blah blah
        }

firemyst
09 Apr 2019, 04:04

Have you tried debugging using Visual Studio? You can put breakpoints and go line-by-line to see where the code is going and why values are being set.

If not, how about posting code with Print statements in every single "if" block?

For example, instead of this:

if (TradingHour())
            {
                //Open Long Position
                if (!BuyFlag && (Positions.Count(x => x.SymbolCode == Symbol.Code) == 0) && BuyPatternOne())
                {
                    BuyFlag = true;
                    StopLossPoint = Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.Last(1), MediumSeries.Low.Last(2));
                }
                if (MediumSeries.Close.Last(1) < StopLossPoint)
                {
                    BuyFlag = false;
                }
                if (BuyFlag && PriceCrossSMAUpward())
                {
                    StopLossPoint = Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.LastValue, Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.Last(1), MediumSeries.Low.Last(2)));
                    StopLoss = Math.Round((SmallSeries.Close.Last(1) - StopLossPoint) / Symbol.PipSize, 1);
                    lot = VolumeCal(StopLoss);
                    ExecuteMarketOrder(TradeType.Buy, Symbol, Symbol.NormalizeVolumeInUnits(Symbol.QuantityToVolumeInUnits(lot), RoundingMode.Down), "Nasser" + Symbol.Code, StopLoss + 4, null, 0.5);
                    TP1Flag = false;
                    BuyFlag = false;
                    //                    TP2Flag = false;
                }
            }

Have you tried this and seeing what the output is in the log:

            if (TradingHour())
            {
                Print("Inside TradingHour()");
                //Open Long Position
                if (!BuyFlag && (Positions.Count(x => x.SymbolCode == Symbol.Code) == 0) && BuyPatternOne())
                {
                    BuyFlag = true;
                    StopLossPoint = Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.Last(1), MediumSeries.Low.Last(2));
                    Print("1");
                }
                if (MediumSeries.Close.Last(1) < StopLossPoint)
                {
                    BuyFlag = false;
                    Print("2");
                }
                if (BuyFlag && PriceCrossSMAUpward())
                {
                    StopLossPoint = Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.LastValue, Math.Min(MediumSeries.Low.Last(1), MediumSeries.Low.Last(2)));
                    StopLoss = Math.Round((SmallSeries.Close.Last(1) - StopLossPoint) / Symbol.PipSize, 1);
                    lot = VolumeCal(StopLoss);
                    ExecuteMarketOrder(TradeType.Buy, Symbol, Symbol.NormalizeVolumeInUnits(Symbol.QuantityToVolumeInUnits(lot), RoundingMode.Down), "Nasser" + Symbol.Code, StopLoss + 4, null, 0.5);
                    TP1Flag = false;
                    BuyFlag = false;
                    //                    TP2Flag = false;
                    Print("3");
                }
            }

etc etc.

Put the Print statements in every block so you can trace through the code and see what's happening if you can't use Visual Studio debugging.

firemyst
09 Apr 2019, 03:56

The answer to this question is Positions.Count == 1.

I ran the following test bot code to see what happens. I opened two FOREX positions with two instances of the same bot - one EURUSD and another AUDUSD. 

The first instance opened EURUSD. 

I stopped the bot and restarted with the ExecuteMarketOrder line commented out. It found 1 position.

Then I created a second instance of the bot running against AUDUSD. It opened a position.

I stopped both bots, exited out of cTrader, and then logged back in.

I started both bot instances and both recognized 2 opened positions.

Then I closed all the positions. 

Code below.

Thank you.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using cAlgo.API;
using cAlgo.API.Indicators;
using cAlgo.API.Internals;
using cAlgo.Indicators;

namespace cAlgo.Robots
{
    [Robot(TimeZone = TimeZones.UTC, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class TestBot : Robot
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0.0)]
        public double Parameter { get; set; }

        protected override void OnStart()
        {
            // Put your initialization logic here
            //Uncomment this line to place an order with different symbols when bot starts
            //ExecuteMarketOrder(TradeType.Buy, Symbol, 1000, "My " + Symbol.Code + " test", null, 10);

            Print("Positions.Count: \"{0}\"", Positions.Count);
            foreach (Position p in Positions)
            {
                Print("Symbol: \"{0}\"; Entry time: \"{1}\"", p.SymbolCode, p.EntryTime);
            }
        }

        protected override void OnTick()
        {
            // Put your core logic here
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            // Put your deinitialization logic here

            //Uncomment these lines to close the positions after a few have been opened.
            //foreach (Position p in Positions)
            //{
            //    ClosePosition(p);
            //}
        }
    }
}

firemyst
09 Apr 2019, 03:06

RE:

Panagiotis Charalampous said:

Hi lw3010996,

VS 2019 is not officially supported yet. You might want to try this workaround proposed in the past for unsupported versions.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

That's good to know! I was literally thinking of downloading the free version just last week.

Any ideas on when VS 2019 will be officially supported?

Thank you.

firemyst
09 Apr 2019, 03:03 ( Updated at: 21 Dec 2023, 09:21 )

RE: RE: RE:

wisegprs said:

Yeah that makes sense, I reckon if you really wanted to nerd it out a bit maybe you could find relation between historical volatility and your stop loss/ profit distances :)

Would you mind sharing your backtest profit graph from 2011? that would motivate me more perhaps!

Thanks

Here are two graphs. Dates are in the capture.

I never backtest more than a year though. I only care about now because as I said, all symbols have their own 'personality' which changes through the years (like right now the GBP will probably change because of Brexit). 

The graphs below are of EURUSD. All I did in my strategy was change the value (I have set up as a parameter) from a 6 to a 3 between the two runs. Today and thus far this year, using a value of 6 works perfectly; but as you can see, 8 years ago using a value of 3 for my strategy worked better as the 6 returned disasterous results.

Same code, same overall logic, just tweaked parameters, with up to a year's backtesting performed monthly to make sure the parameters are still good for the current persona of the symbol. :-)

What I actually found most interesting about this exercise though, is even though I'm using the same demo account for this back test with the same time frame, the candles are different with their open/close. 

This is with IC Markets. Not sure why that would be yet as I said, same code, same symbol, same time frame, just different parameter which shouldn't affect candle opens/close.

firemyst
08 Apr 2019, 10:18

RE:

wisegprs said:

Just posting this here make you guys aware that even 1000-3000 sample size may not be enough. test your algos in multiple symbols to confirm it works. Generally I don't think there should be a difference in settings between symbols. if it works in 1 symbol but dosen't work in 4 other symbols propably means this sim out of 10000+ you ran propably got lucky gambling at these paricular market conditions.

...

Let me know what you guys think.

My algos have generally been successful, but they need 'tweaks' between symbols because every symbol has its own 'personality' if you will. 

For instance, in one algo I set a trailing stop loss using the ATR. For one Forex pair that tends to fluctuate a lot, I have this set to a higher number (21); for another Forex pair that doesn't move much, I have to keep it at a lower number (around 8). If I were to set the latter pair to a higher number (like 21 instead of 8), backtesting shows I incur HUGE losses; keeping it low keeps me in profit over the longer run.

However, the algos aren't fool-proof.

Every month I run through back-testing to see that they're stil performing relatively the same, or if the symbol's 'personality' has changed, adjusting the settings accordingly.

firemyst
04 Apr 2019, 17:19

RE:

Panagiotis Charalampous said:

Hi FireMyst,

This is by design. Notifications are not sent during backtesting.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

Thank you for the information. That's great to know. 

But, would you mind updating the API documentation with that information? We've been trying for days to get it to work, and nowhere can we find on the website API does it say it doesn't work in backtesting mode:

https://ctrader.com/api/reference/internals/inotifications/sendemail

And previous threads didn't have this information either. 

It would be great if there was a section in the documentation somewhere that listed all the functionality that's disabled for backtesting. Or if there is, could you point me to it please? 

Thank you! :-)

firemyst
03 Apr 2019, 10:42

RE:

ClickAlgo said:

Try this FRAMA indicator.

https://clickalgo.com/ctrader-fractal-adaptive-moving-average-indicator

Paul Hayes
Sales & Marketing
Email: contact@clickalgo.com
Phone: (44) 203 289 6573
Website: https://clickalgo.com

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | YouTube | Pinterest | LinkedIn

Thank you for the suggestion! After having had a look at it, it doesn't quite do the same thing or what I'm looking for from the Ninja Trader MAMA indicator.

So still hoping some of the brilliant minds on here are able to answer my questions?

firemyst
03 Apr 2019, 03:39

RE:

Panagiotis Charalampous said:

Hi FireMyst,

They are displayed in the Positions tab.

Best Regarrds,

Panagiotis

Thank you for your reply.

It would be a nice feature to have the "Comments column" on the "History" or "Events" tab too because it would be nice to see comments we had against positions from x-weeks or x-months ago.

Otherwise, the only way to view any past comments, a user has to scroll back through the entire log history (if they actually wrote comments to the "Log" tab), which appears to be the only way to do it, correct?

If so, it's kind of pointless from a usability perspective that we can only see comments we made while a position is open. :-)

Thank you.

firemyst
03 Apr 2019, 02:57

RE:

Panagiotis Charalampous said:

Hi FireMyst.

No it does not. You need to close them programmaticaly if you wish to do so.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

Thank you for the confirmation. :-)

firemyst
02 Apr 2019, 09:20

RE:

Spotware said:

You can specify label and comment in ExecuteMarketOrder, PlaceLimitOrder and PlaceStopOrder methods. If you would like to modify label and comment after that please post your idea to vote.spotware.com.

Hi there:

Are "comments" displayed anywhere? They don't appear in our "History" or "Events" tabs when backtesting.

Can you confirm if they are only displayed in the "Log" tab when we do the following:

Position p = Positions.Find(myLabel);
Print(p.Comment);

??? Or somewhere else?

Thank you

firemyst
02 Apr 2019, 09:03

Does stopping a bot close all open positions?

Hi everyone:

Reading this thread and for clarification -- does stopping a bot close all open positions and pending orders?

Or (most likely) do they have to be programmatically closed in the OnStop method since the orders/positions are on the server?

Thank you

firemyst
01 Apr 2019, 07:36

RE:

a.fernandez.martinez said:

Hello,

 

I have a doubt on the api to open a new position.

I don't understand the pending order, if I want to open a position I just use ExecuteMarketOrder right ?

Does that create a pending order that I have to wait to get accepted by the server ?

 

Thanks,

As far as I know and understand, the ExecuteMarketOrder creates a new "position", not an "order". 

Then you have to test to see if it was successful. Eg, TradeResult r; if r.IsSuccessful then ... 

If the result is successful, it was accepted by the server. 

firemyst
28 Mar 2019, 01:39

RE:

Panagiotis Charalampous said:

Hi FireMyst,

Try changing your cBot and indicator access rights e.g. try AccessRights = AccessRights.FullAccess.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

Thank you! That was the issue exactly. Except, in this case, I only had to change the access rights on the bot, and not the indicator.

Funnily enough, after your response, I found the reference and guide online for access rights. Here it currently is for everyone else's reference:

https://ctrader.com/api/guides/access_rights

firemyst
26 Mar 2019, 16:02

Thank you for your reply, but that's not what I meant. :-)

In the "OnTick" method, after I place an order:

ExecuteMarketOrder(TradeType.Buy, Symbol, PositionSize, MyLabel, StopLossInPips, null, null, null, true);

I had an area of code that gets run through if I have at least 1 open position:

if (Positions.Count > 0)
                    {
                        Position position = Positions[0];
                        Print("Stoploss: {0},", position.StopLoss);
                    }

The value of position.StopLoss never seemed to change, even though I can see the trailing stop loss move on the chart in backtest mode.

However, I've since managed ot figure out my issue - I wasn't looking at the correct times in the log. Doh! :-) 

Anyway, I appreciate your response :-)