Entry App User Guide

 

 

The Entry App allows a user to set a number of profit taking limit levels between 1 and 10. The functionality of the App is always identical, the difference being that more or less profit taking limit levels and corresponding partial positions sizes are used.

Stop Trailing is an optional feature of the App.

FIFO accounts are currently not supported. If you are interested in an App for FIFO accounts, write an email to smarttradingapps@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You are strongly recommended to learn to correctly use this App on a demo account first! It is the user’s sole responsibility to use this App on a real account, which implies the risk to lose the entire equity of the account according to the chosen parameters, see also the risk and software disclaimers at the bottom of this document.

The terms “App” and “Strategy” designate the same program structure in below description.

 

Importing the App

To import the App, you need to save it in a suitable directory on your computer or on the Desktop for easy access.

The App has to be imported into the Trading Station II program. This is done under “Charts” -> “Alerts and Trading Automation” -> “Import Extensions”.

In the following menu, browse the App to locate it in the directory where you saved it before. When you have selected the App, which is called “EntryApp.bin”, click in the following window on “Install”.

It is also possible to import the App under the “ManageExtension” option seen in the menu above.

 

Executing the App

After a successful Import of the App, you are ready to use it. You need three steps to do this.

Under “Charts” -> “Alerts and Trading Automation” -> “New Strategy and Alert” will open up a list to select a strategy:

 

 

 

 

 

Your App should be in this strategy list now:

 

 

You need to select the App which is called “EntryApp” and click on “OK”.

This will open up the User Menu of the App.

NOTE: Upon purchase of a life-time license, you can define the default values of all parameters to your preferred choice, such that you only have to select the instrument and the direction of the position to use the App in an easy way.

 The App User Menu looks like this:

The following parameters have to be selected (unless you are fine with the default values):

Symbol: The instrument to trade and open a position thereof.

User Parameters:

EntryType: “Market Entry Order” to immediately open a new position by a market entry order, “Stop Entry Order” to place a Stop Entry Order (using EntryPrice parameter below), or  “Limit Entry Order” to place a Limit Entry Order (using EntryPrice parameter below).

Direction: “Buy” to open a long position, “Sell” to open a short position.

EntryPrice: The desired Entry Price Level of the Stop Entry Order or the Limit Entry Order. This parameter has no meaning for a Market Entry Order.

Stop Entry Order: For a long position to open, the Entry Price level has to be greater than the current Ask Price. For a short position to open, the Entry Price level has to be lower than the current Bid Price.

Limit Entry Order: For a long position to open, the Entry Price level has to be lower than the current Ask Price. For a short position to open, the Entry Price level has to be greater than the current Bid Price.

Market Entry Order: Don’t care.

DateTimeLimit: The date and time to delete a pending Stop Entry Order or Limit Entry Order if not yet executed, i.e. if it is still pending. The format of this input must be DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM, whereas HH:MM is optional. This is LOCAL TIME, not the server time! It is best practice to always specify a date / time limit which helps to prevent re-entries after network connection failures of the Trading Station platform.

For a Market Entry Order, this parameter specifies the date and time by when the market entry order must have been successfully executed. For Market Entry Order, it is good practice to place a date / time limit e.g. 5 minutes to ahead of the current time, which will prevent re-entries after network connection failures of the Trading Station platform.

ClosePositionAtWeekend: If “Yes” is selected, a position still open at 16:45 NYT on a Friday will be automatically closed (this is 15 minutes before Forex instruments’ market closing). If “No” is selected, an open position is left open over the weekend.

License: Input your license string.

UserID: Optional string to assign a unique position name. This is necessary if you run multiple instances of the App on the same instrument and time frame.

Backtest: Set to “No” to trade live. Set to “Yes” to perform a backtest with the Strategy Backtester.

General Parameters:

ContextReloadMaxTimeDifference: Maximum time difference between a Position Storage and Position Reloading. The time difference is to be input in the OLE format, default value is 7 days.

The App automatically stores position data of an open position in a database file when stopping the App. When starting up the App, it automatically checks whether it finds stored position data in the database file which is not older than defined by the parameter. If it finds valid position data, it continues to execute the exit management of this position, provided it is still alive in the account (i.e. it has not been closed in the meantime). If there is no valid position data, the App will open a new position.

This allows performing position exit management over very long time periods, even over weekends, and also covers Trading Station II platform network losses and re-connects.

AllowTrade: Always set to “Yes” to allow the App to trade. If set to “No”, the App cannot execute any order command.

AccountID: Select an Account from the account list which a position is to be managed for.

UseOutputMessaging: Set to “Yes” if you want to receive E-Mail messages regarding the position management, e.g. when reaching a profit taking limit or detecting a position exit triggered by hitting the StopLoss price level.

Email: The E-Mail address to receive the App messages.

NOTE: You need to have an E-Mail account configured to have TradeStation II send E-Mails for the account selected. Use the E-Mail configurator to do this, which is available at http://www.fxcodebase.com/code/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23349

SendStatusMail: Additionally to the position management E-Mail messages,  you can have the App send every hour a status E-Mail indicating that the App is running and informing about price movements. Select “Yes” to enable this option, or “No” if you do not want receive hourly status messages.

MovingLimitDistance_in_PIPS: Set the number of PIPS distance of a protective limit bracket order for the entire position size, which is above the real next profit taking limit level to be closed out for long positions and below the real next profit taking limit level to be closed out for short positions. It is recommended to use a value in the range of 25 - 50 for volatile market conditions.

 

If the protective limit bracket order is beyond the very last Limit level (the second level in this case), the very last Limit level is chosen instead.

This protective limit bracket order shall ensure that a profit can be realized for the position left at any point in time in case that the network connection is lost or Trading Station II stops working.

Please note that the Limit level of the protective limit bracket order is visible in the Trading Station window of Open Positions. Unless the Limit order shown there is for the last profit taking limit stage of the position, it may thus be at a level which is NOT the next profit taking limit level you expect.

Multi-Stage Position Parameters:

NumberOfLimits: Set the number of limit exit stages. You can select a number between 1 and 10.

DynamicRiskManagement: Set to “Yes” if you want to determine the entire position size by a risk percentage of your account size below. Set to “No”, If you want to define the entire position size by a number of lots below. In both cases, the entire position size takes into account the initial StopLoss PIPS distance selected below.

Risk_per_trade_in_PERCENT: If DynamicRiskManagement is set to “Yes”, the percentage of the account size depending on RiskMode below determines the size of the entire position.

RiskMode:  Select “Equity” for the risk percentage of the Account Equity, select “Balance” for the risk percentage of the Account Balance, or select “Margin” for the risk percentage of the Account Margin to define the entire position size.

The option “BalanceDiscounted” will calculate the risk percentage of the Account Balance minus the sum of maximum possible losses of all open positions of any instrument of the selected account. This is helpful as to obtain a true maximum worst case scenario for traders who have many open positions running at a time.

Example: DynamicRiskManagement is set to “Yes”, Risk_per_trade_in_PERCENT percentage is set to “1.0”, and RiskMode is set to “Equity”. In this configuration, the entire position site is set such that when hitting the initial StopLoss PIPS distance, one percent of the available account equity will be lost.

NOTE: There will always be rounding effects of the entire position size since an integer number of lots must be used. The lot size depends on your account type.

NumberOfLots: If DynamicRiskManagement is set to “No”, an integer number of lots has to be input which determines the size of the entire position.

Limit1_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the first profit taking limit level.

Limit2_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the second profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 2, this value is ignored.

Limit3_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the third profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 3, this value is ignored.

Limit4_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the fourth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 4, this value is ignored.

Limit5_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the fifth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 5, this value is ignored.

Limit6_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the sixth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 6, this value is ignored.

Limit7_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the seventh profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 7, this value is ignored.

Limit8_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the eighth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 8, this value is ignored.

Limit9_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the ninth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 9, this value is ignored.

Limit10_TradePercentage: The percentage of the position size for the tenth profit taking limit level. If the parameter NumberOfLimits is lower than 10, this value is ignored.

NOTES:

The percentages of above parameters must add up to 100%. Otherwise, an error message is generated. Ignored parameter values do not count.

Example: NumberOfLimits is set to 3. The sum of Limit1_TradePercentage + Limit2_TradePercentage + Limit3_TradePercentage must be 100.

Due to rounding effects using lots, the actual partial position sizes corresponding to individual profit taking limit levels will deviate from the theoretical value.

If the risk percentage of the chosen account size is not sufficient to fill all the partial position sizes with the desired number of lots, the uppermost profit taking limit levels will remain unfilled, having the consequence that the App will execute less profit taking limit levels than expected for a successful trade.

StopLoss_in_PIPS: Initial Stop Loss Level defined as a PIPS distance from the entry price.

BreakEvenLevel_in_PIPS: Profit Level defined as a PIPS distance from the entry price which triggers to move the initial StopLoss level to Break-Even, independent of reaching any of the profit taking limit levels.

Set this parameter to a positive integer number lower than Limit1_in_PIPS if you want a Break-Even protection before reaching the first profit taking limit level.

Otherwise, set to zero to disable the early Break-Even feature.

BreakEvenOffset_in_PIPS: Defines a PIPS offset around the entry price as the Break-Even Stop level, i.e. the Stop level is moved to the price level of (Entry Price + BreakEvenOffset_in_PIPS) for a long position and (Entry Price - BreakEvenOffset_in_PIPS) for a short position.

A positive number will result in a profit, a negative number in a loss, a setting of zero will define the entry price level as the Break-Even Stop level.

Limit1_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the first profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the first profit taking limit level will move the initial StopLoss level to Break-Even, if not yet done by having set BreakEvenLevel_in_PIPS to a smaller value.

The position will be closed if NumberOfLimits is equal to 1. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 1 the Limit price level will be moved to Limit2_in_PIPS.

Limit2_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the second profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the second profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 2. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 2, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit3_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit1_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit3_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the third profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the third profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 3. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 3, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit4_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit2_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit4_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the fourth profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the fourth profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 4. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 4, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit5_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit3_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit5_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the fifth profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the fifth profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 5. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 5, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit6_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit4_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit6_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the sixth profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the sixth profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 6. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 6, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit7_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit5_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit7_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the seventh profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the seventh profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 7. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 7, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit8_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit6_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit8_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the second profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the eighth profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 8. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 8, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit9_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit7_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit9_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the ninth profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the second ninth taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 9. If NumberOfLimits is greater than 9, the Limit price level will be moved to Limit10_in_PIPS and the Stop price level will be moved to Limit8_in_PIPS to secure a profit.

Limit10_in_PIPS: The PIPS distance between the entry price and the tenth profit taking limit level.

NOTE: Reaching the tenth profit taking limit level will close the position if NumberOfLimits is equal to 10.

StopLossSlippageControl: If disabled, the StopLoss distance is left untouched, regardless of entry price slippage.

 If enabled, the StopLoss distance is increased by the difference between the real position entry price and the desired entry price (i.e. the slippage).

NOTES:

This slippage compensation will slightly increase the risk of the position but will protect the position with a StopLoss level which is consistent with the distance to the desired entry price.

Slippage compensation is not performed if the real entry price is more favourable than the real entry price (i.e. for negative slippage).

LimitSlippageControl: If disabled, the Limit distances are left untouched, regardless of entry price slippage.

If enabled, all the Limit distances are decreased by the difference between the real position entry price and the desired entry price (i.e. the slippage).

NOTES:

This slippage compensation will slightly reduce the profit of the each partial position but will close out each partial position at a Limit price level which is consistent with the distance to the desired entry price.

Slippage compensation is not performed if the real entry price is more favourable than the real entry price (i.e. for negative slippage).

 

 

 

Stop Trailing Options

Stop Trailing leaves the last profit taking limit level open. This means that for a single-stage Stop Entry App (i.e. NumberOfLimits = 1), there is no Limit level defined at all, it will just trail the Stop level of the position according to the user configuration. The App will ignore the value of first Limit PIPS distance (Limit1_in_PIPS).

If you use e.g. a double-stage Stop Entry App (i.e. NumberOfLimits = 2), there is one profit taking limit level defined and the second Limit level is left open. The App will ignore the value of second Limit PIPS distance (Limit2_in_PIPS).

Hence, the last profit taking limit level is ignored if you enable Stop Trailing.

Do note that the Stop Trailing is still executed in addition with the Stop Movements taking place along multiple profit taking limit levels. This means that you can define to start Stop Trailing after having reached the second profit taking limit level (which probably represents the default case), but is also possible to start Stop Trailing earlier depending on the setting of the parameter TrailingStopTriggerLevel_in_PIPS below.

With the following parameter, you can define whether to use Stop Trailing or not, and if so, which method of Stop Trailing will be applied.

TrailingMethod: Stop Trailing Methods. The options are:

"NONE": No Stop Trailing is used.

"BestPrice": This method adjusts the Stop price level according to a Fixed Distance from the best price.

"Retracement": This method adjusts the Stop price level according to fixed Retracement Percentage from the best price.

"ATR": This method adjusts the Stop price level according to the ATR indicator’s distance from the best price.

"P-SAR": This method adjusts the Stop price level according to Parabolic-SAR  indicator’s price level.

"Fractals": This method adjusts the Stop price level according to a fixed Distance from best price fractal.

 

All Stop Trailing methods have two parameters in common:

TimeFrame: The time frame of the price series which the Stop Trailing Indicator or Price Level will be derived from, depending on the chosen Stop Trailing Method.

TrailingStopTriggerLevel_in_PIPS: Profit level in PIPS distance from the Position Entry Price which needs to be reached to start off the Stop Trailing execution.

NOTE: Long positions derive prices and indicator from the Bid price series. Short positions derive them from Ask price series.

 

The Stop Trailing method dependent parameters are:

Fixed Distance from Best Price:

TrailingStopDistance_in_PIPS: PIPS distance between Stop Level and best price.

TrailingStopDistance_PriceSeries: High, Low, Open, Close to determine the best price

Fixed Retracement Percentage from Best Price:

TrailingStopRetracementPercentage: Percentage of retracement from best price.

TrailingStopDistance_PriceSeries: High, Low, Open, Close to determine the best price

ATR Distance from Best Price:

ATR_Multiplier: Multiplier of ATR value to determine PIPS distance of Stop Level of Best Price

ATR_PriceSeries: High, Low, Open, Close to determine the Best Price

ATR_Length: Length of ATR Indicator

Parabolic-SAR:

SAR_Step: Parabolic SAR Indicator Step Size

SAR_Max: Parabolic SAR Indicator Sensitivity

Fixed Distance from Best Fractals:

TrailingStopFractalsOffset_in_PIPS: PIPS distance from Best Fractal
 

Risk Disclaimer

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