Intramarket Difference Index StrategyHi Traders !!
The IDI Strategy:
In layman’s terms this strategy compares two indicators across markets and exploits their differences.
note: it is best the two markets are correlated as then we know we are trading a short to long term deviation from both markets' general trend with the assumption both markets will trend again sometime in the future thereby exhausting our trading opportunity.
📍 Import Notes:
This Strategy calculates trade position size independently (i.e. risk per trade is controlled in the user inputs tab), this means that the ‘Order size’ input in the ‘Properties’ tab will have no effect on the strategy. Why ? because this allows us to define custom position size algorithms which we can use to improve our risk management and equity growth over time. Here we have the option to have fixed quantity or fixed percentage of equity ATR (Average True Range) based stops in addition to the turtle trading position size algorithm.
‘Pyramiding’ does not work for this strategy’, similar to the order size input togeling this input will have no effect on the strategy as the strategy explicitly defines the maximum order size to be 1.
This strategy is not perfect, and as of writing of this post I have not traded this algo.
Always take your time to backtests and debug the strategy.
🔷 The IDI Strategy:
By default this strategy pulls data from your current TV chart and then compares it to the base market, be default BINANCE:BTCUSD . The strategy pulls SMA and RSI data from either market (we call this the difference data), standardizes the data (solving the different unit problem across markets) such that it is comparable and then differentiates the data, calling the result of this transformation and difference the Intramarket Difference (ID). The formula for the the ID is
ID = market1_diff_data - market2_diff_data (1)
Where
market(i)_diff_data = diff_data / ATR(j)_market(i)^0.5,
where i = {1, 2} and j = the natural numbers excluding 0
Formula (1) interpretation is the following
When ID > 0: this means the current market outperforms the base market
When ID = 0: Markets are at long run equilibrium
When ID < 0: this means the current market underperforms the base market
To form the strategy we define one of two strategy type’s which are Trend and Mean Revesion respectively.
🔸 Trend Case:
Given the ‘‘Strategy Type’’ is equal to TREND we define a threshold for which if the ID crosses over we go long and if the ID crosses under the negative of the threshold we go short.
The motivating idea is that the ID is an indicator of the two symbols being out of sync, and given we know volatility clustering, momentum and mean reversion of anomalies to be a stylised fact of financial data we can construct a trading premise. Let's first talk more about this premise.
For some markets (cryptocurrency markets - synthetic symbols in TV) the stylised fact of momentum is true, this means that higher momentum is followed by higher momentum, and given we know momentum to be a vector quantity (with magnitude and direction) this momentum can be both positive and negative i.e. when the ID crosses above some threshold we make an assumption it will continue in that direction for some time before executing back to its long run equilibrium of 0 which is a reasonable assumption to make if the market are correlated. For example for the BTCUSD - ETHUSD pair, if the ID > +threshold (inputs for MA and RSI based ID thresholds are found under the ‘‘INTRAMARKET DIFFERENCE INDEX’’ group’), ETHUSD outperforms BTCUSD, we assume the momentum to continue so we go long ETHUSD.
In the standard case we would exit the market when the IDI returns to its long run equilibrium of 0 (for the positive case the ID may return to 0 because ETH’s difference data may have decreased or BTC’s difference data may have increased). However in this strategy we will not define this as our exit condition, why ?
This is because we want to ‘‘let our winners run’’, to achieve this we define a trailing Donchian Channel stop loss (along with a fixed ATR based stop as our volatility proxy). If we were too use the 0 exit the strategy may print a buy signal (ID > +threshold in the simple case, market regimes may be used), return to 0 and then print another buy signal, and this process can loop may times, this high trade frequency means we fail capture the entire market move lowering our profit, furthermore on lower time frames this high trade frequencies mean we pay more transaction costs (due to price slippage, commission and big-ask spread) which means less profit.
By capturing the sum of many momentum moves we are essentially following the trend hence the trend following strategy type.
Here we also print the IDI (with default strategy settings with the MA difference type), we can see that by letting our winners run we may catch many valid momentum moves, that results in a larger final pnl that if we would otherwise exit based on the equilibrium condition(Valid trades are denoted by solid green and red arrows respectively and all other valid trades which occur within the original signal are light green and red small arrows).
another example...
Note: if you would like to plot the IDI separately copy and paste the following code in a new Pine Script indicator template.
indicator("IDI")
// INTRAMARKET INDEX
var string g_idi = "intramarket diffirence index"
ui_index_1 = input.symbol("BINANCE:BTCUSD", title = "Base market", group = g_idi)
// ui_index_2 = input.symbol("BINANCE:ETHUSD", title = "Quote Market", group = g_idi)
type = input.string("MA", title = "Differrencing Series", options = , group = g_idi)
ui_ma_lkb = input.int(24, title = "lookback of ma and volatility scaling constant", group = g_idi)
ui_rsi_lkb = input.int(14, title = "Lookback of RSI", group = g_idi)
ui_atr_lkb = input.int(300, title = "ATR lookback - Normalising value", group = g_idi)
ui_ma_threshold = input.float(5, title = "Threshold of Upward/Downward Trend (MA)", group = g_idi)
ui_rsi_threshold = input.float(20, title = "Threshold of Upward/Downward Trend (RSI)", group = g_idi)
//>>+----------------------------------------------------------------+}
// CUSTOM FUNCTIONS |
//<<+----------------------------------------------------------------+{
// construct UDT (User defined type) containing the IDI (Intramarket Difference Index) source values
// UDT will hold many variables / functions grouped under the UDT
type functions
float Close // close price
float ma // ma of symbol
float rsi // rsi of the asset
float atr // atr of the asset
// the security data
getUDTdata(symbol, malookback, rsilookback, atrlookback) =>
indexHighTF = barstate.isrealtime ? 1 : 0
= request.security(symbol, timeframe = timeframe.period,
expression = [close , // Instentiate UDT variables
ta.sma(close, malookback) ,
ta.rsi(close, rsilookback) ,
ta.atr(atrlookback) ])
data = functions.new(close_, ma_, rsi_, atr_)
data
// Intramerket Difference Index
idi(type, symbol1, malookback, rsilookback, atrlookback, mathreshold, rsithreshold) =>
threshold = float(na)
index1 = getUDTdata(symbol1, malookback, rsilookback, atrlookback)
index2 = getUDTdata(syminfo.tickerid, malookback, rsilookback, atrlookback)
// declare difference variables for both base and quote symbols, conditional on which difference type is selected
var diffindex1 = 0.0, var diffindex2 = 0.0,
// declare Intramarket Difference Index based on series type, note
// if > 0, index 2 outpreforms index 1, buy index 2 (momentum based) until equalibrium
// if < 0, index 2 underpreforms index 1, sell index 1 (momentum based) until equalibrium
// for idi to be valid both series must be stationary and normalised so both series hae he same scale
intramarket_difference = 0.0
if type == "MA"
threshold := mathreshold
diffindex1 := (index1.Close - index1.ma) / math.pow(index1.atr*malookback, 0.5)
diffindex2 := (index2.Close - index2.ma) / math.pow(index2.atr*malookback, 0.5)
intramarket_difference := diffindex2 - diffindex1
else if type == "RSI"
threshold := rsilookback
diffindex1 := index1.rsi
diffindex2 := index2.rsi
intramarket_difference := diffindex2 - diffindex1
//>>+----------------------------------------------------------------+}
// STRATEGY FUNCTIONS CALLS |
//<<+----------------------------------------------------------------+{
// plot the intramarket difference
= idi(type,
ui_index_1,
ui_ma_lkb,
ui_rsi_lkb,
ui_atr_lkb,
ui_ma_threshold,
ui_rsi_threshold)
//>>+----------------------------------------------------------------+}
plot(intramarket_difference, color = color.orange)
hline(type == "MA" ? ui_ma_threshold : ui_rsi_threshold, color = color.green)
hline(type == "MA" ? -ui_ma_threshold : -ui_rsi_threshold, color = color.red)
hline(0)
Note it is possible that after printing a buy the strategy then prints many sell signals before returning to a buy, which again has the same implication (less profit. Potentially because we exit early only for price to continue upwards hence missing the larger "trend"). The image below showcases this cenario and again, by allowing our winner to run we may capture more profit (theoretically).
This should be clear...
🔸 Mean Reversion Case:
We stated prior that mean reversion of anomalies is an standerdies fact of financial data, how can we exploit this ?
We exploit this by normalizing the ID by applying the Ehlers fisher transformation. The transformed data is then assumed to be approximately normally distributed. To form the strategy we employ the same logic as for the z score, if the FT normalized ID > 2.5 (< -2.5) we buy (short). Our exit conditions remain unchanged (fixed ATR stop and trailing Donchian Trailing stop)
🔷 Position Sizing:
If ‘‘Fixed Risk From Initial Balance’’ is toggled true this means we risk a fixed percentage of our initial balance, if false we risk a fixed percentage of our equity (current balance).
Note we also employ a volatility adjusted position sizing formula, the turtle training method which is defined as follows.
Turtle position size = (1/ r * ATR * DV) * C
Where,
r = risk factor coefficient (default is 20)
ATR(j) = risk proxy, over j times steps
DV = Dollar Volatility, where DV = (1/Asset Price) * Capital at Risk
🔷 Risk Management:
Correct money management means we can limit risk and increase reward (theoretically). Here we employ
Max loss and gain per day
Max loss per trade
Max number of consecutive losing trades until trade skip
To read more see the tooltips (info circle).
🔷 Take Profit:
By defualt the script uses a Donchain Channel as a trailing stop and take profit, In addition to this the script defines a fixed ATR stop losses (by defualt, this covers cases where the DC range may be to wide making a fixed ATR stop usefull), ATR take profits however are defined but optional.
ATR SL and TP defined for all trades
🔷 Hurst Regime (Regime Filter):
The Hurst Exponent (H) aims to segment the market into three different states, Trending (H > 0.5), Random Geometric Brownian Motion (H = 0.5) and Mean Reverting / Contrarian (H < 0.5). In my interpretation this can be used as a trend filter that eliminates market noise.
We utilize the trending and mean reverting based states, as extra conditions required for valid trades for both strategy types respectively, in the process increasing our trade entry quality.
🔷 Example model Architecture:
Here is an example of one configuration of this strategy, combining all aspects discussed in this post.
Future Updates
- Automation integration (next update)
Relative-strength-index
XPloRR S&P500 Stock Market Crash Detection Strategy v2XPloRR S&P500 Stock Market Crash Detection Strategy v2
Long-Term Trailing-Stop strategy detecting S&P500 Stock Market Crashes/Corrections and showing Volatility as warning signal for upcoming crashes
Detecting or avoiding stock market crashes seems to be the 'Holy Grail' of strategies.
Since none of the strategies that I tested can beat the long term Buy&Hold strategy, the purpose was to detect a stock market crash on the S&P500 and step out in time to minimize losses and beat the Buy&Hold strategy. So beat the Buy&Hold strategy with around 10 trades. 100% capitalize sold trade into new trade.
With the default parameters the strategy generates 10262% profit (starting at 01/01/1962 until release date), with 10 closed trades, 100% profitable, while the Buy&Hold strategy only generates 3633% profit, so this strategy beats the Buy&Hold strategy by 2.82 times !
Also the strategy detects all major S&P500 stock market crashes and corrections since 1962 depending on the Trailing Stop Smoothness parameter, and steps out in time to cut losses and steps in again after the bottom has been reached. The 5 major crashes/corrections of 1987, 1990, 2001, 2008 and 2010 were successfully detected with the default parameters.
The script was first released on November 03 2019 and detected the Corona Crash on March 04 2020 with a Volatility crash-alert and a Sell crash-alert.
I have also created an Alerter Study Script based on the engine of this script, which generates Buy, Sell and Volatility signals.
If you are interested in this Alerter version script, please drop me a mail.
The script shows a lot of graphical information:
the Close value is shown in light-green. When the Close value is temporarily lower than the Buy value, the Close value is shown in light-red. This way it is possible to evaluate the virtual losses during the current trade.
the Trailing Stop value is shown in dark-green. When the Sell value is lower than the Buy value, the last color of the trade will be red (best viewed when zoomed)
the EMA and SMA values for both Buy and Sell signals are shown as colored graphs
the Buy signals are labeled in blue and the Sell signals are labeled in purple
the Volatility is shown below in green and red. The Alert Threshold (red) is default set to 2 (see Volatility Threshold parameter below)
How to use this Strategy?
Select the SPX (S&P500) graph and add this script to the graph.
Look in the strategy tester overview to optimize the values Percent Profitable and Net Profit (using the strategy settings icon, you can increase/decrease the parameters), then keep using these parameters for future Buy/Sell signals on the S&P500.
More trades don't necessarily generate more overall profit. It is important to detect only the major crashes and avoid closing trades on the smaller corrections. Bearing the smaller corrections generates a higher profit.
Watch out for the Volatility Alerts generated at the bottom (red). The Threshold can by changed by the Volatility Threshold parameter (default=2% ATR). In almost all crashes/corrections there is an alert ahead of the crash.
Although the signal doesn't predict the exact timing of the crash/correction, it is a clear warning signal that bearish times are ahead!
The correction in December 2018 was not a major crash but there was already a red Volatility warning alert. If the Volatility Alert repeats the next weeks/months, chances are higher that a bigger crash or correction is near. As can be seen in the graphic, the deeper the crash is, the higher and wider the red Volatility signal goes. So keep an eye on the red flag!
Here are the parameters:
Fast MA Buy: buy trigger when Fast MA Buy crosses over the Slow MA Buy value (use values between 10-20)
Slow MA Buy: buy trigger when Fast MA Buy crosses over the Slow MA Buy value (use values between 21-50)
Minimum Buy Strength: minimum upward trend value of the Fast MA Buy value (directional coefficient)(use values between 10-100)
Fast MA Sell: sell trigger when Fast MA Sell crosses under the Slow MA Sell value (use values between 10-20)
Slow MA Sell: sell trigger when Fast MA Sell crosses under the Slow MA Sell value (use values between 21-50)
Minimum Sell Strength: minimum downward trend value of the Fast MA Sell value (directional coefficient)(use values between 10-100)
Trailing Stop ATR: trailing stop % distance from the smoothed Close value (use values between 2-20)
Trailing Stop Smoothness: MA value for smoothing out the Trailing Stop close value
Buy On Start Date: force Buy on start date even without Buy signal (default: true)
Sell On End Date: force Sell on end date even without Sell signal (default: true)
Volatility EMA Period: MA value of the Volatility value (default 15)
Volatility Threshold: Threshold value to change volatility graph to red (default 2)
Volatility Graph Scaler: Scaling of the volatility graph (default 5)
Important : optimizing and using these parameters is no guarantee for future winning trades!
[STRATEGY] Jurik RSXA private strategy from the Profitable Jurik RSX preview for backtesting purposes.
