Dollar Trailing (Strategy)
DisclaimerThe Dollar Trailing strategy a built-in EasyLanguage stop to place an order to exit all shares or contracts in all positions, once the position has retraced a specified dollar amount of the position' s highest profit value. The retracement or trailing amount can be specified on a total position basis, or a one contract or one share basis. Whether the profit target amount is based on a position or per share/contract basis is determined by the input parameter.
Once applied, a stop exit order is generated at the highest position profit value minus the trailing amount. All stop orders are stop market orders. If the price falls back to the trailing amount, a market order is generated and sent into the market.
The Dollar Trailing strategy can exit with a profit or loss on the trade.
Normally strategies generate orders on the close of the bar for execution on the next bar, Dollar Trailing allows you to generate orders and exit on the same bar as the bar of entry, this is especially useful when working with longer during bars, (e.g. 30-min, 60-min, daily, weekly, monthly).
The calculation for this strategy does not take commission or slippage into account.
Input Parameters
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
| PositionBasis | True/False | False | True/False switch allowing you to calculate the trailing amount either on a position or per share basis. To calculate profit per position, enter True. |
| Amount | Numeric | 1 | The trailing amount in dollars of the maximum position profit at which point the position will be closed. |
Example
Stocks:
When the PositionBasis parameter is set to TRUE, the Amount parameter sets the Trailing Amount as a dollar amount of the highest position equity based on the total number of shares or contracts in the current open position. (if you held 500 shares of MSFT and specified $200 trailing amount, you would exit $200 below the highest position profit. )
When the PositionBasis parameter is set to FALSE, the Amount parameter sets the Trailing Amount as a dollar amount of the highest position equity based on a one share or one contract amount. (if you held 500 shares of MSFT and specified $0.60 trailing amount, you would exit .60 from the highest position profit based on 1 share).
Electronic Futures:
When calculating the trailing amount in dollars for electronic futures, EasyLanguage looks at the dollar value of each contract. For example, the e-mini S&P has a $50.00 value for each $1.00 move in the price.
When the PositionBasis parameter is set to TRUE, and you held 5 contracts of the S&P e-mini and specified $250 trailing amount, you would exit $250 below the highest position profit.
When the PositionBasis parameter is set to FALSE, and you held 5 contracts of the S&P e-mini and specified $250 trailing amount, you would exit $1250 below the highest position profit. (.250 * 5 contracts)
Order Name
$ Trailing Stop
Related Strategies
Profit Target, stop loss, Percent Trailing
Related Functions