Strategy Properties
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:
- Open the Strategy Properties window.
To open the Strategy Properties window:- 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. - Select the Signals tab.
- Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
- Open the Format Objects window.
- Select the Properties tab.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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:
- Open the Strategy Properties window.
To open the Strategy Properties window:- 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. - Select the Signals tab.
- Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
- Open the Format Objects window.
- Select the Properties tab.
- In the Maximum Bars Back box enter the maximum number of bars the signals 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:
- Open the Strategy Properties window.
To open the Strategy Properties window:- 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. - Select the Signals tab.
- Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
- Open the Format Objects window.
- Select the Properties tab.
- In the Position limits section:
- To allow multiple same-direction entry orders (known as pyramiding):
- Check the Allow up to N entry orders in the same direction as the currently held position checkbox.
- Enter the maximum number of entries into the entry orders box.
- 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.
- In the Maximum shares/contracts per position box, enter the maximum position limit.
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.
Trade size settings are set from the Properties tab of the Strategy Properties window:
- Open the Strategy Properties window.
To open the Strategy Properties window:- 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. - Select the Signals tab.
- Click Properties to open the Strategy Properties window.
- Open the Format Objects window.
- Select the Properties tab.
- 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.