I learned some new things this past week with bitwise operators. They are like dip switches I think, and those could be great for lots of things!
Anyways, I'm a n00b scripter but wanted to share these functions I wrote. I am building a toolbox to help with rapid development of new bots for my legion. Once I get a good handful of polished tools, I plan to extract them into an include-able set that will be easy to tack onto new bots.
As part of my process, I first identify a working trade logic (ie, "the edge") and somewhere further in that process, I can use optimizer to test these combinations of open/close times.
I've done a lot of thinking about whether or not controlling the time for executing trades would be considered "curve fitting". My current belief is that it is not, or maybe "not much", because I am simply filtering days or time segments that the logic is known to work best. This seems reasonable, as discretionary traders do it all the time. These functions do not alter trade logic, they only filter it at some level (hopefully reducing poor performance windows and improving cream-of-the-crop windows).
Any improvements or contributions are welcome!
function fridayClose(int fridayclose)
{
//allows Friday trading up until NYSE 3pm; close trades and don't allow after this
if(fridayclose && dow() == FRIDAY && lhour(ET) >= 15)
{
exitLong("*");
exitShort("*");
return 1; //condition met; indicate no further trades
}
return 0; //condition not met; safe to take new trades
}
function todayOpenCombo(var dayopencombo)
{
//allows optimizer to specify the best combo of days for opens
//bit position 0 = Monday
//bit position 1 = Tuesday
//bit position 3 = Wednesday
//bit position 4 = Thursday
//bit position 5 = Friday
//bit position 6 = Sunday
//given a combination #, the function will return whether
//current dow() is in the combination
int dayopencombobits = dayopencombo+.5; //truncate to rounded int
int today = dow() - 1; //Mon is 0
if (today == 6) today = 5; //bump Sun to 5 (no Sat, keep binary range 0-63)
if (dayopencombobits & (1 << today)) return 1; //current dow() is in the combo
else return 0; //current dow() not in combo, do not allow trade opens
}
function todayCloseCombo(var dayclosecombo)
{
//allows optimizer to specify the best combo of days to close by NYSE 4pm
//bit position 0 = Monday
//bit position 1 = Tuesday
//bit position 3 = Wednesday
//bit position 4 = Thursday
//bit position 5 = Friday
//bit position 6 = Sunday
//given a combination #, the function will determine if we are beyond
//a combo close time, close all trades if necessary, and return 1
//if no further trades allowed today
int dayclosecombobits = dayclosecombo+.5; //truncate to rounded int
int today = dow() - 1; //Mon is 0
if (today == 6) today = 5; //bump Sun to 5 (no Sat, keep binary range 0-63)
if ((dayclosecombobits & (1 << today)) && lhour(ET) >= 16)
{
exitLong("*");
exitShort("*");
return 1; //current dow() is in the combo; indicate no further trades
}
else return 0; //current dow() not in combo, safe to take new trades
}
function marketOpenCombo(var marketopencombo)
{
//allows optimizer to specify best markets to initiate trades
//bit position 0 = New York 8am-5pm Eastern
//bit position 1 = Sydney 5pm-2am Eastern
//bit position 2 = Tokyo 7pm-4am Eastern
//bit position 3 = London 3am-12pm Eastern
//given a combination #, the function will determine if current time is within
//a market part of the combination (returns 1 to allow trading if true)
int marketcombobits = marketopencombo+.5; //truncate to rounded int
if ( (lhour(ET) >=8) && (lhour(ET) <17) && (marketcombobits & (1 << 0)) ) return 1; //inside New York
if ( (lhour(ET) >=17) || (lhour(ET) <2) && (marketcombobits & (1 << 1)) ) return 1; //inside Sydney
if ( (lhour(ET) >=19) || (lhour(ET) <4) && (marketcombobits & (1 << 2)) ) return 1; //inside Tokyo
if ( (lhour(ET) >=3) && (lhour(ET) <12) && (marketcombobits & (1 << 3)) ) return 1; //inside London
return 0; //default - current market not in combination, don't allow trade opens
}
function hourOpen(int hourblockstart, int hourblockend)
{
//blocks new open trades between selected hours
//uses NYSE time, including DST
if ( (lhour(ET) >= hourblockstart) && (lhour(ET) < hourblockend) )
return 0; //between blocked hours, do not allow trade opens
else
return 1; //no conditions met, allow trades by default
}
These are the flags I use in my logic section:
int fridayclose = 0; //enforce auto-close and no trades after NYSE 3pm Friday
int hourblockstart = 0; //block trade opens beginning at NY hour
int hourblockend = 0; //block trade opens ending at NY hour
int dayopencombo = 63; //optimize(22,1,63,1); //combo of days to open; 63=every day
int dayclosecombo = 0; //optimize(1,1,63,1); //combo of days to close after NYSE 4pm; 0=none; 63=every day
int marketopencombo = 15; //optimize(1,1,15,1); //combo of markets to allow trade opens; 15=every market
...
//check if ANY trade restrictions before evaluating for new signals
if ( (!fridayClose(fridayclose) //close NYSE 3pm on Friday
|| !todayCloseCombo(dayclosecombo) ) //close NYSE 4pm on selected days
&& todayOpenCombo(dayopencombo) //open on selected days only
&& marketOpenCombo(marketopencombo) //open during selected markets only
&& hourOpen(hourblockstart,hourblockend) ) //open during selected hours only
{
//OK to trade, let's evaluate signals then
PS: this page helps with thinking through the bit combinations:
http://ascii.cl/conversion.htm
I'll definitely let you know if I get some new stuff working.