Looking for help with exit strategy

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 02 Dec 2014

I'm trading directly from the chart, and have been attaching trailing stops to orders. This feature works in simple scenarios like this one:

Amount of Profit: 20 ticks
Stop Loss: 10 ticks

Works just like you'd expect, and as you'd expect I get stopped out of longer moves on minor pullbacks.

What I'm trying to do is this: set the Amount of Profit field to something reasonable, and have the stop-loss set to protect 50% of profits. Every time I try to do this, it fails.

I've tried using ticks in the Amount of profit field and percentages in the Stopp Loss field, and it never enters.

I've tried entering percentages in both fields, so the Amount of profit would be set to 0.1% and the Stop Loss to 50%, but that fails. On checking, it sets itself to 0% in the first field so this might be the problem. Of course, as a new trader I'm using 10 minute bars, and expecting something like the SPY to move one percent as the entry point for the trailing stop is a bit optimistic.

So what's the proper way to accomplish what I'm trying to do? After talking with someone on chat I started using a master strategy, but the trailing stops still aren't configured correctly, and I can't find an answer on the Wiki, on Youtube, or on other forums.

Help? I see percentages listed as an option so something similar to what I'm trying to accomplish should be possible.

TJ · Postby TJ » 02 Dec 2014

::
What I'm trying to do is this: set the Amount of Profit field to something reasonable, and have the stop-loss set to protect 50% of profits. Every time I try to do this, it fails.
::

Can you explain what do you mean by "it fails"?

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 02 Dec 2014

I'll try.

When I configure the settings to initiate the trailing stop at 10 ticks, and keep the stop/loss at 50% the dialog happily closes, but when I place an order it never appears on the chart at all. The strategy can't be attached to an active order either - no failure message - it just fails.

If I configure the trailing stop to start at 0.1% profit, and the stop/loss at 50%, then I'll see the greyed-out indicator of where it's supposed to activate, but when the price crosses the threshold the trailing stop disappears rather than triggering. In these cases, when I go back the 0.1% I indicated has been replaced by 0.0%.

Henry MultiСharts · Postby **Henry MultiСharts** » 03 Dec 2014

Hello gunguy,

Please tell me what exact version and build number of MultiCharts you are using so I can help you. Go to Help -> About MultiCharts to check that.
Which broker do you use?
Please attach screenshots demonstrating the exit strategy settings and the orders you have on the chart.
What is the "State" of the orders in File -> New -> Order and position tracker window->Orders tab?
Are there any error messages under the Logs tab after you place the orders?
Please replicate the issue and send us the logs for analysis, specify the Order ID for the orders you are having issue with.

You can also come to our live chat Monday-Friday 6:30 am - 1 pm EST to demonstrate this behavior remotely. We will do our best to help you.

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 03 Dec 2014

I can do all that, but can I make a simple request first?

Please tell me a setting that is known to work with the trailing stop strategy using percentages.

Is "0.1%" and "50%" a set of parameters that even makes sense? Should it be working? There's no documentation on this that I can find so I'm guessing based on web searches and how easylanguage handles those parameters.

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 03 Dec 2014

Maybe a clearer set of questions:

Is it possible to mix ticks in the left field with percentages in the right field, or do they need to be using the same units?
For "percentage" in the left-hand field, does that refer to profit on the position?
For the Stop loss, is that in reference to potential profits, or in relation to the entire position? So should I use 0.2% in the left with 0.1% in the right field to capture half of the profits with a trailing stop, or should I be getting the right result doing what I've been doing (0.1% and 50%, though the 0.1% deletes itself)?
Do percentages need to be presented in whole numbers, or can I use a fractional percentage in the left-hand "amount of profit" field?
Is there a document that explains all this? If so, I can't find it.

Thanks.

Henry MultiСharts · Postby **Henry MultiСharts** » 03 Dec 2014

Maybe a clearer set of questions:
Is it possible to mix ticks in the left field with percentages in the right field, or do they need to be using the same units?

For "percentage" in the left-hand field, does that refer to profit on the position?

For the Stop loss, is that in reference to potential profits, or in relation to the entire position? So should I use 0.2% in the left with 0.1% in the right field to capture half of the profits with a trailing stop, or should I be getting the right result doing what I've been doing (0.1% and 50%, though the 0.1% deletes itself)?

Do percentages need to be presented in whole numbers, or can I use a fractional percentage in the left-hand "amount of profit" field?

Is there a document that explains all this? If so, I can't find it.
Thanks.

Yes, you can mix ticks with percentages.
Yes, that is correct.
In relation to the entire position.
You can use fractional percentage, it works ok, but visually it is not stored in the strategy parameters window. We will have that fixed in the next version.
So you need to drag and drop the exit strategy icon onto the open position/entry order (or right click on it and select the exit strategy) and specify the amount in % you need, then click Place Strategy.
Manual trading - Exit Strategies:Description/Settings, Modes.

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 03 Dec 2014

Cool. So to verify my understanding:

Let's say I'm placing a buy order and I want to attach a trailing stop to it.

The stock is purchased at $100 even.

If I go into Strategy Parameters for the trailing stop loss and set:

Amount of profit to 25 ticks
Stop Loss to 0.5%

then the expected behavior is that as soon as the stock rises to $100.25 then my stop/loss order will disappear, to be replaced by a trailing stop that's initially placed at $99.75. When I go back in to modify the setting the Stop Loss field will say 0%, but it's still set to a half-percent.

Is that correct?

Henry MultiСharts · Postby **Henry MultiСharts** » 03 Dec 2014

gunguy, price calculation is correct. When you use Trailing Stop there is no Stop order active until the Trigger level is reached. As soon as the stock rises to $100.25 then the stop order at $99.75 becomes active.

gunguy · Postby **gunguy** » 03 Dec 2014

Thanks for the help. This feature makes more sense now, though I'm not sure it's possible to say "Hey, trailing stop, just try and keep half of the gain on this trade" so that might require manual intervention.

I appreciate the answers.

Looking for help with exit strategy

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