[ksungela]

I'm trying to create a simple strategy using EL using a trailing stop (actually reversal) based on the high(low) of the last bar. If I'm long, I want to exit and go short if price drops to 1 tick below the low of the last bar. If I'm short, I want to cover and go long if price rises to 1 tick above the high of the last bar. I'm applying this to futures and basically want to reverse position based on the break of the previous bar high or low. When applied to a chart, i get entries and exits, but not when they should be. The code skips many trades which should take place. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.


if Marketposition = 0 and date = 1110621 then begin
Buy ("long") 1 contract next bar at high[1] + 1 point stop;
Sell short ("short") 1 contract next bar at low[1] - 1 point stop;
end;

if Marketposition = -1 and last >= high[1] + 1 point then begin
Buy("Long") 1 contracts next bar at high[1] + 1 point stop;
end;

If marketposition = 1 and last <= low[1] -1 point then begin
Sell short("short") next bar at low[1] - 1 point stop;
end;

[Tams]

Originally Posted by ksungela »

I'm trying to create a simple strategy using EL using a trailing stop (actually reversal) based on the high(low) of the last bar. If I'm long, I want to exit and go short if price drops to 1 tick below the low of the last bar. If I'm short, I want to cover and go long if price rises to 1 tick above the high of the last bar. I'm applying this to futures and basically want to reverse position based on the break of the previous bar high or low. When applied to a chart, i get entries and exits, but not when they should be. The code skips many trades which should take place. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.


if Marketposition = 0 and date = 1110621 then begin
Buy ("long") 1 contract next bar at high[1] + 1 point stop;
Sell short ("short") 1 contract next bar at low[1] - 1 point stop;
end;

if Marketposition = -1 and last >= high[1] + 1 point then begin
Buy("Long") 1 contracts next bar at high[1] + 1 point stop;
end;

If marketposition = 1 and last <= low[1] -1 point then begin
Sell short("short") next bar at low[1] - 1 point stop;
end;

What you are describing is a very high level idea.
there are a lot of decisions and small operational steps in between the lines.
You should transfer your thoughts onto a flowchart first,
then fill in the blocks with detailed instructions.

[volumetrader]

sorry Ksungela, i shouldn't laugh, but Tams response is funny.

Hay Tam you really in Geelong? I'm in Geelong and I also use Multicharts.

[BlueHorseshoe]

Originally Posted by ksungela »

I'm trying to create a simple strategy using EL using a trailing stop (actually reversal) based on the high(low) of the last bar. If I'm long, I want to exit and go short if price drops to 1 tick below the low of the last bar. If I'm short, I want to cover and go long if price rises to 1 tick above the high of the last bar. I'm applying this to futures and basically want to reverse position based on the break of the previous bar high or low. When applied to a chart, i get entries and exits, but not when they should be. The code skips many trades which should take place. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.

There are a few problems here:

One is that on the current bar[0] you are issuing an instruction to buy/sell on the next bar[-1] based on the previous bar[1]. What you should be doing is issuing an instruction to buy/sell on the next bar based on the high/low of the current one.

Another problem may be that you're not specifying the point size - for instance in the @ES you have a 'big point value' (a point), and a 'small point value' (a tick, or quarter point).

The 'begin . . . end' bracket seems redundant.

I am not sure why you are bothering to specify the number of contracts in the code if it remains fixed throughout your strategy - just issue a buy/sell order and use the default settings on the strategy's formatting to determine the fixed number of contracts to trade.

I am guessing that something like the following would produce the result you want:

If Marketposition = 0 and date = 1110621 then
Buy next bar at high+1 stop;

If Marketposition = 0 and date = 1110621 then
Sellshort next bar at low-1 stop;

if Marketposition = -1 then
Buy next bar at high+1 point stop;

If marketposition = 1 then
Sellshort next bar at low-1 stop;

[UrmaBlume]

As you relate your stop to previous bars' extremes here is some simple code that will establish and move your stop:

If MasterBuyCondition1 = True and TimeCondition = True Then Begin
Buy TradeSize Contracts next bar at market;
SStop = Low[1] - StopF;
LongExitCondition = 0;
end;


If MarketPosition > 0 Then Begin
If Low[1] - StopF > SStop then SStop = Low[1] - StopF;
Sell CurrentShares Contracts Next Bar at SStop Stop;
end;

Cheers

UrmaBlume