DCA Bot Strategy

Author: ChaoZhang, Date: 2023-09-26 17:28:27
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Overview

This is a backtesting strategy on the dollar cost averaging (DCA) mechanism to scale into positions after initial entry. It can add to the position based on preset price deviation percentage and pyramiding rules. The strategy also includes take profit and trailing take profit functions.

Strategy Logic

The strategy first opens a long position at the close price once it is above 0 within the backtest timeframe. This entry price is recorded as the base price bo_level. It then places all possible exit orders on the current candle if no safety orders (so) exist. Specifically, the safety order price is calculated based on the last safety order price latest_so_level and the safety order step scale safe_order_step_scale. This loops until the max safety order count max_safe_order is reached.

During holding positions, if position size is greater than 0, the take profit price take_profit_level is calculated based on the base price and target take profit percentage. If trailing take profit is disabled, this fixed take profit price is used. Otherwise, the highest price ttp_max is updated based on candle high to trail the take profit price for trailing take profit.

Advantage Analysis

  • Utilizes DCA mechanism to average down cost basis when price drops, hedging systemic risks.

  • Supports customizable parameters for flexible configuration of entry rules and take profit strategy for different assets and trading styles.

  • Has built-in trailing take profit functions to automatically adjust take profit based on price action, avoiding premature take profit trigger.

  • Flexible backtest parameter settings make testing different timeframe data easy to evaluate strategy performance.

  • Can directly configure live bots on 3commas using backtest results without extra coding.

Risk Analysis

  • DCA risks further increasing positions and losses if market continues downward. Reasonable pyramiding rules needed.

  • Fixed percentage take profit unable to adjust to market volatility, risks premature or late exit. Trailing take profit needed.

  • Backtest overfit risk, live performance affected by transaction costs etc. Proper evaluation required.

  • Platform stability risks failed execution. Monitoring required.

Optimization Directions

  • Dynamically adjust price deviation based on different assets’ volatility to optimize pyramiding rules.

  • Incorporate volatility indicators to determine more scientific take profit percentage.

  • Set reasonable backtest timeframe based on trading sessions of specific assets.

  • Introduce stop loss for cutting losses when position down significantly.

  • Utilize machine learning to dynamically optimize parameters.

Conclusion

Overall this is a very practical DCA backtester. It supports great customization for entry and take profit rules. The trailing take profit also complements the fixed take profit well. Flexible backtest parameters allow testing different assets and timeframes. With proper parameter tuning, this strategy can yield excellent results for high opportunity assets by hedging systemic risks with DCA. But risks like pyramiding and take profit should be watched for in live trading, along with platform stability. Further optimizations like dynamic parameters, stop loss can make this an extremely powerful DCA trading bot.


/*backtest
start: 2023-09-18 00:00:00
end: 2023-09-25 00:00:00
period: 15h
basePeriod: 15m
exchanges: [{"eid":"Futures_Binance","currency":"BTC_USDT"}]
*/

// This source code is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License 2.0 at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/
// © rouxam

// Author: rouxam
// Inspired by the original work of ericlin0122

//@version=4
// strategy("Backtesting 3commas DCA Bot", overlay=true, pyramiding=99, process_orders_on_close=true, commission_type=strategy.commission.percent, commission_value=0.1)

// Strategy Inputs
price_deviation         = input(1.0, type=input.float,  title='Price deviation to open safety orders (%)', minval=0.0, step=0.1)/100
take_profit             = input(1.0, type=input.float,  title='Target Take Profit (%)', minval=0.0, step=0.1)/100
ttp                     = input(0.5, type=input.float,  title='Trailing Take Profit (%) [0 = Disabled]', minval=0.0, step=0.1)/100
base_order              = input(10.0, type=input.float, title='base order') 
safe_order              = input(20.0, type=input.float, title='safe order') 
safe_order_volume_scale = input(2.0, type=input.float,  title='Safety order volume scale', step=0.1) 
safe_order_step_scale   = input(1.5, type=input.float,  title='Safety order step scale', step=0.1) 
max_safe_order          = input(5,                      title='Max safe order', minval=1, maxval=99, step=1) 

// Date Inputs
from_month = input(defval = 1, title = "From Month", minval = 1, maxval = 12)
from_day   = input(defval = 1, title = "From Day", minval = 1, maxval = 31)
from_year  = input(defval = 2021, title = "From Year")
to_month   = input(defval = 1, title = "To Month", minval = 1, maxval = 12)
to_day     = input(defval = 1, title = "To Day", minval = 1, maxval = 31)
to_year    = input(defval = 9999, title = "To Year")
start  = timestamp(from_year, from_month, from_day, 00, 00)  // backtest start window
finish = timestamp(to_year, to_month, to_day, 23, 59)        // backtest finish window
window = time >= start and time <= finish ? true : false // create function "within window of time"

var bo_level = 0.0
var latest_so_level = 0.0
var next_so_level = 0.0
var ttp_active = false
var ttp_max = 0.0
var ttp_level = 0.0
var take_profit_level = 0.0

if strategy.position_size <= 0.0
    ttp_max := 0.0
    ttp_active := false


// First Position
if(strategy.opentrades == 0 and window and close > 0)
    // Place Buy Order ASAP
    bo_level := open
    strategy.entry("BO", limit=bo_level, long=strategy.long, qty=base_order/bo_level)
    latest_so_level := open

// Dollar Cost Averaging
place_safety_orders = latest_so_level == bo_level
if place_safety_orders
    // Placing all possible exit orders on that candle
    for i = 1 to max_safe_order
        next_so_level := latest_so_level * (1 - price_deviation * pow(safe_order_step_scale,  i - 1))
        so_name = "SO" + tostring(i) 
        strategy.entry(so_name, long=strategy.long, limit=next_so_level, qty=safe_order * pow(safe_order_volume_scale, i - 1)/next_so_level)
        latest_so_level := next_so_level

// Take Profit
if strategy.position_size > 0
    take_profit_level := strategy.position_avg_price * (1 + take_profit)
    if ttp <= 0.0
        // No trailing take profit
        strategy.exit(id="TP", limit=take_profit_level)
    else
        // Trailing take profit
        if take_profit_level <= close
            ttp_max := max(high, ttp_max)
            ttp_active := true
        if ttp_active 
            // Update exit order
            ttp_level := ttp_max * (1 - ttp)
            strategy.exit(id="TTP", stop=ttp_level)


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