Kinds of market let you say what a trending market, a range or a quiet sideways market looks like to you. Backtest then shows how your rules did in each one, and you can choose when a strategy stays out.
Say what each kind means to you
On your results, under By kind of market, choose Add kinds of market. Tick the kinds you look for and fill in the gaps in each sentence. Every gap starts empty. Nothing is filled in for you.
- Trending up: price is above the ___-candle simple average on the ___ chart, and that average is rising.
- Trending down: price is below the ___-candle simple average on the ___ chart, and that average is falling.
- Pulling back in a trend: on the ___ chart, price has come back at least ___ points from the high of the last ___ candles while above a rising ___-candle simple average, or the same from the low while below a falling one.
- In a range: price is between yesterday's high and low.
- Breaking out: a candle closes above the high or below the low of the last ___ candles on the ___ chart.
- Consolidating: the last ___ candles on the ___ chart fit inside ___ points from top to bottom.
- Turning round: the ___-candle simple average on the ___ chart changed direction in the last ___ candles.
An average here is a simple moving average of that many candles.
Or pick examples on your chart and the gaps are measured from them.
Your kinds are yours, not one strategy's. Every strategy you test reads them the same way.
In your own words
Choose Describe your own, give it a name, describe it the way you see it, and choose Read my words. Wildflower builds it from the indicator conditions it has, such as an average or the RSI, and shows each line in plain words. All of them must be true at once.
It only uses what you wrote. A number your words don't give is left empty: fill it in, or pick examples. Remove any line you don't want, then choose Add this kind. If part of your words can't be built yet, the page says so and sends it to us as your request, and we'll email you if we add it. Your own kinds are checked after the ready ones.
The order matters
If the market fits more than one of your sentences at once, the one highest on your list is used. Any time none of them fits is Everything else.
By kind of market
Your next test shows, for each of your kinds, how many trades your rules took in it and what they made or lost, before and after fees. Each trade is labelled with the kind of market it started in. This is your own run only.
When should it stay out?
On the Your rules step, each of your kinds and Everything else has two buttons: Trade and Stay out. A strategy with no choice yet starts on Trade for every kind, which is what it does today. A kind you add later starts with neither chosen. A strategy that stays out of a kind takes no new trade while the market is that kind. A trade already open carries on as your rules say.
Your choice is saved with the strategy as a new version, with a copy of your kinds as they are then, so a result always says which choices it tested. If you change your kinds later, a strategy keeps its copy until you choose again. When you put that version on an account, the Bot reads the kind of market on your own computer, from the same candles and in the same way as Backtest, so it stays out at the same times.
When the market can't be named yet, for example straight after the Bot starts and before your averages have enough candles, a strategy with a stay-out choice takes no new trades. It never guesses.