Multiple systems in MC

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
ppan
Posts: 106
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Has thanked: 2 times

Multiple systems in MC

Postby ppan » 15 Oct 2008

MC can trade multiple systems in autotrading, but I cannot put multiple systems in one chart. I should use one system per chart.
Can MC use multiple systems in one chart in the future? I think this is a very useful feature.

SUPER
Posts: 646
Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Has thanked: 106 times
Been thanked: 84 times

Postby SUPER » 15 Oct 2008

I use two system on same chart, one is normar entry-exit and another is for end of day exit-realtime and they both work perfectly.
Last edited by SUPER on 15 Oct 2008, edited 1 time in total.

ppan
Posts: 106
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Has thanked: 2 times

Postby ppan » 15 Oct 2008

I tried to put 2 different systems in one chart. The P/L for the 2 systems is not the same as the sum of the 2 systems seperately put in one chart.

khalaad
Posts: 323
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Location: Lahore, Pakistan
Has thanked: 64 times
Been thanked: 57 times

Postby khalaad » 15 Oct 2008

When two systems are put on a given chart at the same time they work in tandem; therefore, the P/L will be different if the same two systems are applied saperately to the same chart.

Khalid

glam_100
Posts: 157
Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 9 times

Postby glam_100 » 15 Oct 2008

I also think being able to put multiple strategies independently on the same chart is a very important feature.

The current way MC works is the same as how TS works - When system A has a Long position and then system B enters a short the net result will be a short position (ie. a reverse) instead of having both a long and a short position.

This arrangement has its advantage in that it is easy to combine entries and exits for simple backtesting but is very undesirable in multiple system testing and in real trading. For example in real trading multiple strategies in the same instrument requires multiple chart windows. This create a big problem as I remember one time my esignal connection went bad and I had to switch to another datafeed. Instead of updating one chart I had to update multiple charts in the middle of having multiple positions. This can be really stressful.

It would be really nice if we could have a choice to set our strategy to behave independently on a chart and thus making it possible to run multiple strategies in real trading within the same chart.

User avatar
Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

Postby Marina Pashkova » 22 Oct 2008

Hi glam_100,

Thank you for your suggestion. We'll consider the possibility to implement it in future versions.

Regards.

User avatar
furytrader
Posts: 354
Joined: 30 Jul 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Has thanked: 155 times
Been thanked: 217 times

Re: Multiple systems in MC

Postby furytrader » 10 Feb 2011

Does anyone know whether this feature (the ability to put multiple strategies on one chart without signal contamination) was ever implemented?

whammer
Posts: 33
Joined: 14 Aug 2010
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Multiple systems in MC

Postby whammer » 10 Feb 2011

I think you may be referring to what occurs when longs and shorts are used and , for example, the long is liquidated when the short signal triggers. This will cause the long strategy and the short strategy to not add up to equal when they are individually calculated. If this is the conceptual problem there is an easy way out.

User avatar
furytrader
Posts: 354
Joined: 30 Jul 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Has thanked: 155 times
Been thanked: 217 times

Re: Multiple systems in MC

Postby furytrader » 11 Feb 2011

Thanks for your response. I think we may be talking about the same thing. I'll try to illustrate with an example:

Let's imagine you have two strategies on a chart. They are both moving average crossover systems that are always in the market (i.e., they reverse position when a contra-signal is received) but they use different moving average lengths.

It's not difficult to conceive of a situation where one moving average system wants to be long and the other moving average system wants to be short.

From what I understand, if you use the "Buy" keyword to initiate a long position, MultiCharts (and TS) will automatically close out any existing short positions, irrespective of which strategy code generated it, and go long.

So, using our example above, let's imagine that at 9:00 am, your two strategies have the following position:

Strategy #1 - Short 1 Contract
Strategy #2 - Short 1 Contract
Net Position = Short 2 Contracts

Now, at 9:05 am, Strategy #1 generates a signal to reverse its short position and go long. Strategy #2, however, wants to remain short. What should happen, from a logical perspective, is as follows:

Strategy #1 - Long 1 Contract
Strategy #2 - Short 1 Contract
Net Position = Long 1 Contract, Short 1 Contract

However, what actually happens is that MultiCharts (and TS) will reverse position in Strategy #1, but automatically close out Strategy #2, so you end up with:

Strategy #1 - Long 1 Contract
Strategy #2 - Flat
Net Position = Long 1 Contract

I know that when you use commands like "BuyToCover" and "Sell", you can target pre-existing entries using signal labels and the "Total" keyword but these commands only allow you to reduce existing positions, not initiate new positions. In other words, it is my understanding that you cannot use "BuyToCover" to get long a market.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to overcome this limitation, I'd love to hear them.

whammer
Posts: 33
Joined: 14 Aug 2010
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Multiple systems in MC

Postby whammer » 11 Feb 2011

The way to do it is to use each strategy on a separate chart and if you are auto trading synchronize position at the broker. If you are long 200 shares ABC and get a "sell short 200 shares" signal only 200 shares will be sold, thus making you "flat", rather than sell 400 shares to get a short 200 shares position .


Return to “MultiCharts”