[Sextan] Backtesting with L2 Reversal Labels as an input source

14 Jan 2022

Level: 1

NOTE: This is ONLY an EXAMPLE on HOW-TO produce a customized "{Sextan} PINEv4 Sextans Backtest Framework" intput signal with "(blackcat) L2 Reversal Labels", and you can define your own indicator in the highlighted area in compliance with the uniform format, which guarantee when you use "Indicator on Indicator" function, it would not produce any error.

I use two simple moving average crossings to produce long and short entry signal with SMA3 and SMA8 in the example.

Background
Backtesting of technical indicators and strategies is the most common way to understand a quantitative strategy. However, the complicated configuration and adaptation work of backtesting many quantitative tools makes many traders who do not understand the code daunted. Moreover, although I have written a lot of strategies, I am still not very satisfied with the backtest configuration and writing efficiency. Therefore, I have been thinking about how to build a backtesting framework that can quickly and easily evaluate the backtesting performance of any indicator with a "long/short entry" indicator, that is, a "simple backtesting tool for dummies". The performance requirements should be stable, and the operation should be simple and convenient. It is best to "copy", "paste", and "a few mouse clicks" to complete the quick backtest and evaluation of a new indicator.

Luckily, I recently realized that TradingView provides an "Indicator on Indicator" feature, which is the perfect foundation for doing "hot swap" backtesting. My basic idea is to use a two-layer design. The first layer is the technical indicator signal source that needs to be embedded, which is only used to provide buy and sell signals of custom strategies; the second layer is the trading system, which is used to receive the output signals of the first layer, and filter the signals according to the agreed specifications. , Take Profit, Stop Loss, draw buy and sell signals and cost lines, define and send custom buy and sell alert messages to mobile phones, social software or trading interfaces. In general, this two-layer design is a flexible combination of "death and alive", which can meet the needs of most traders to quickly evaluate the performance of a certain technical indicator. The first layer here is flexible. Users can insert their own strategy codes according to my template, and they can draw buy and sell signals and output them to the second layer. The second layer is fixed, and the overall framework is solidified to ensure the stability and unity of the trading system. It is convenient to compare different or similar strategies under the same conditions. Finally, all trading signals are drawn on the chart, and the output strategy returns. test report.

The main function:

The first layer: "{Sextan} Your Indicator Source", the script provides a template for personalized strategy input, and the signal and definition interfaces ensure full compatibility with the second layer. Backtesting is performed stably in the backtesting framework of the layer. The first layer of this script is also relatively simple: enter your script in the highlighted custom script area, and after ensuring the final buy and sell signals long = bool condition, short = bool condition, the design of the first layer is considered complete. Input it into the PINE script editor of TradingView, save it and add it to the chart, you can see the pulse sequence in yellow (buy) and purple (sell) on the sub-picture, corresponding to the main picture, you can subjectively judge that the quality of the trading point of the strategy is good Bad.

The second layer: "{Sextan} PINEv4 Sextans Backtest Framework". This script is the standardized trading system strategy execution and alarm, used to generate the final report of the strategy backtest and some key indicators that I have customized that I find useful, such as: winning rate , Odds, Winning Surface, Kelly Ratio, Take Profit and Stop Loss Thresholds, Trading Frequency, etc. are evaluated according to the Kelly formula. To use the second layer, first load it into the TrainingView chart, no markers will appear on the chart, since you have not specified any strategy source signals, click on the gear-shaped setting next to the "{Sextan} PINEv4 Sextans BTFW" header button, you can open the backtest settings, the first item is to select your custom strategy source. Because we have added the strategy source to the chart in the previous step, you can easily find an option "{Sextan} Your Indicator Source: Signal" at the bottom of the list, this is the strategy source input we need, select and confirm , you can see various markers on the main graph, and quickly generate a backtesting profit graph and a list of backtesting reports. You can generate files and download the backtesting reports locally. You can also click the gear on the backtest chart interface to customize some conditions of the backtest, including: initial capital amount, currency type, percentage of each order placed, amount of pyramid additions, commission fees, slippage, etc. configuration. Note: The configuration in the interface dialog overrides the same configuration implemented by the code in the backtest script.


How to output charts:

The first layer: "{Sextan} Your Indicator Source", the output of this script is the pulse value of yellow and purple, yellow +1 means buy, purple -1 means sell.
The second layer: PINEv4 Sextans Backtest Framework". The output of this script is a bit complicated. After all, it is the entire trading system with a lot of information:
1. Blue and red arrows. The blue upward arrow indicates long position, the red downward arrow indicates short position, and the horizontal bar at the end of the purple arrow indicates take profit or stop loss exit.
2. Red and green lines. This is the holding cost line of the strategy, green represents the cost of holding a long position, and red represents the cost of holding a short position. The cost line is a continuous solid line and the price action is relatively close.
3. Green and yellow long take profit and stop loss area and green and yellow long take profit and stop loss fork. Once a long position is held, there is a conditional order for take profit and stop loss. The green horizontal line is the long take profit ratio line, and the yellow is the long stop loss ratio line; the green cross indicates the long take profit price, and the yellow cross indicates the long position. Stop loss price. It's worth noting that the prongs and wires don't necessarily go together. Because of the optimization of the algorithm, for a strong market, the take profit will occur after breaking the take profit line, and the profit will not be taken until the price falls.
4. The purple and red short take profit and stop loss area and the purple red short stop loss fork. Once a short position is held, there will be a take profit and stop loss conditional order, the red is the short take profit ratio line, and the purple is the short stop loss ratio line; the red cross indicates the short take profit price, and the purple cross indicates the short stop loss price.
5. In addition to the above signs, there are also text and numbers indicating the profit and loss values ​​of long and short positions. "L" means long; "S" means short; "XL" means close long; "XS" means close short.

TradingView Strategy Tester Panel:
The overview graph is an intuitive graph that plots the blue (gain) and red (loss) curves of all backtest periods together, and notes: the absolute value and percentage of net profit, the number of all closed positions, the winning percentage, the profit factor, The maximum trading loss, the absolute value and ratio of the average trading profit and loss, and the average number of K-lines held in all trades.
Another is the performance summary. This is to display all long and short statistical indicators of backtesting in the form of a list, such as: net profit, gross profit, Sharpe ratio, maximum position, commission, times of profit and loss, etc.
Finally, the transaction list is a table indexed by the transaction serial number, showing the signal direction, date and time, price, profit and loss, accumulated profit and loss, maximum transaction profit, transaction loss and other values.


Remarks

Finally, I will explain that this is just the beginning of this model. I will continue to optimize the trading system of the second layer. Various optimization feedback and suggestions are welcome. For valuable feedback, I am willing to provide some L4/L5 technical indicators as rewards for free subscription rights.