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Strategy Properties

From MultiCharts

Strategy properties are separate from the individual signals' settings, affect all the signals applied to a chart, and regulate the actions of a group of signals as a whole.

Strategy properties include Costs/Capitalization, Position limits, and Trade size sections.

Setting Costs/Capitalization

Cost/Capitalization section includes Commission, Slippage, and Initial Capital and Interest Rate settings.

Strategy properties are set from the Properties tab of the Strategy Properties window:

  1. Open the Strategy Properties window.
    To open the Strategy Properties window:
    1. Open the Format Objects window.
      To open the Format Objects window, right-click on an empty area of the chart and then click Format Signals.

      The Format Objects window can also be opened by one of the following methods:
        - Select Format in the main menu and click Signal.
        - Double-click any one of the signal's labels on the chart.
        - Position the mouse pointer over any one of the signal's labels on the chart; once the Pointer changes into a Hand , right-click the label and then click Format Signals.
    2. Select the Signals tab.
    3. Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
  2. Select the Properties tab.
  3. In the Costs/Capitalization section, in the Commission Rule list, select the Commission Rule;
    • Click Manage Rules... to change existing rules or add a new one. Click here to learn how to operate Commission Rules Manager.
  4. In the Slippage box, enter the slippage;
    • Click per Trade to select slippage per trade.
    • Click per Share/Contract to select slippage per share/contract.
  5. In the Initial Capital box, enter the Initial Capital, and in the Interest Rate box, enter the interest rate to be used in the performance ratio calculations.

Setting Base Currency

By default None is selected in Base Currency. It means that the currency of the Strategy Performance Report that is based on the current chart = the currency configured in the exchange of the symbol in QuoteManager.

In QuoteManager by default the currency of the CME exchange is USD. ESZ26 symbol in QuoteManager has CME exchange. It means the currency of the ESZ26 symbol is USD. If the Base Currency in Strategy Properties is set to None there is no currency conversion for output values in Strategy Performance Report that is based on the ESZ26 chart, the currency of the report will be USD.

If a specific currency is selected in Base Currency, this currency will be used as the currency of the Strategy Performance Report that is based on the current chart. Report values will be converted from the currency set for the symbol in QuoteManager into the specified currency according to historical conversion rates.

In QuoteManager by default the currency of the CME exchange is USD. ESZ26 symbol in QuoteManager has CME exchange. It means the currency of the ESZ26 symbol is USD. If the Base Currency in Strategy Properties is set to EUR the output values in Strategy Performance Report that is based on the ESZ26 chart will be converted into EUR according to historical conversion rates, the currency of the report will be EUR.

Setting Maximum Bars Back

All signals based on past data use a certain number of bars for their calculations. The number of bars is called Maximum number of bars a study will reference, or Maximum Bars Back.

Maximum Bars Back value is set from the Properties tab of the Strategy Properties window:

  1. Open the Strategy Properties window.
    To open the Strategy Properties window:
    1. Open the Format Objects window.
      To open the Format Objects window, right-click on an empty area of the chart and then click Format Signals.

      The Format Objects window can also be opened by one of the following methods:
        - Select Format in the main menu and click Signal.
        - Double-click any one of the signal's labels on the chart.
        - Position the mouse pointer over any one of the signal's labels on the chart; once the Pointer changes into a Hand , right-click the label and then click Format Signals.
    2. Select the Signals tab.
    3. Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
  2. Select the Properties tab.
  3. In the Maximum Bars Back box enter the maximum number of bars the signals will reference.
The Maximum Bars Back value cannot be smaller than 1 and cannot be greater than actual number of bars on the chart. This value shows how many bars a study requires to be calculated before it can place first order on the chart. It means that there can be no orders or any other visual output on the X number of bars at the beginning of the chart, where X = MaxBarsBack or Maximum number of bars a study will reference.

Setting Position Limits

Position limits section allows setting the maximum number of same-direction entry orders and maximum number of shares/contracts per position.

Strategy properties are set from the Properties tab of the Strategy Properties window:

  1. Open the Strategy Properties window.
    To open the Strategy Properties window:
    1. Open the Format Objects window.
      To open the Format Objects window, right-click on an empty area of the chart and then click Format Signals.

      The Format Objects window can also be opened by one of the following methods:
        - Select Format in the main menu and click Signal.
        - Double-click any one of the signal's labels on the chart.
        - Position the mouse pointer over any one of the signal's labels on the chart; once the Pointer changes into a Hand , right-click the label and then click Format Signals.
    2. Select the Signals tab.
    3. Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
  2. Select the Properties tab.
  3. In the Position limits section:
    • To allow multiple same-direction entry orders (known as pyramiding):
    1. Check the Allow up to N entry orders in the same direction as the currently held position checkbox.
    2. Enter the maximum number of entries into the entry orders box.
    3. Select when the order is generated by a different entry order to limit entries to one per each entry order, or select regardless of the entry that generated the order to allow multiple entries by the same entry order.
    • To prevent multiple same-direction entry orders, clear the Allow up to N entry orders in the same direction as the currently held position checkbox.
  4. In the Maximum shares/contracts per position box, enter the maximum position limit.
In autotrading it’s only possible to send one market order per one strategy calculation. To have several market orders sent as one use the Optimize Order Flow function (see Example 3).

Setting Trade Size

Trade size settings set the size of each trade, either by the number shares/contracts or by currency value.

Trade size settings select the number shares/contracts or the currency value per each trade.

These settings are ignored if trade size is specified by the signal. Signal code overrides the position size specified in the settings.

Trade size settings are set from the Properties tab of the Strategy Properties window:

  1. Open the Strategy Properties window.

    To open the Strategy Properties window:
    1. Open the Format Objects window.
      To open the Format Objects window, right-click on an empty area of the chart and then click Format Signals.

      The Format Objects window can also be opened by one of the following methods:
        - Select Format in the main menu and click Signal.
        - Double-click any one of the signal's labels on the chart.
        - Position the mouse pointer over any one of the signal's labels on the chart; once the Pointer changes into a Hand , right-click the label and then click Format Signals.
    2. Select the Signals tab.
    3. Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
  2. Select the Properties tab.
  3. In the Trade size section:
    • Select Fixed Shares/Contracts to specify the trade size by number of shares or contracts, and enter the number of shares or contracts into the box, or:
    • Select Cash per Trade to specify the trade size by currency value of the transaction, and enter the currency value in to the box.
      To round the number of shares or contracts down to the nearest number of lots of certain size, enter the lot size in the Round down to nearest shares/contracts box.
      To specify a minimum number of shares/contracts (lot) to trade, enter the lot size in the Minimum number shares/contracts box.
      If the amount entered in Cash per Trade box is not sufficient to trade the minimum number of shares/contracts, the trade will not be executed.

To use current strategy properties settings for all new charts of, check the Use as Default check box.