Stepgain

This page describes how margin trading on Bitmex works with the Stepgain strategy. The triggers for trades are slightly different than in the same strategy for regular trading.

How to work with this strategy

Expected behavior for margin trading

Gunbot will open one position, either long or short, and close this position when the target is reached. When the stop is hit before profitably closing a trade, Gunbot will place a stop order at loss. After closing a position, Gunbot will again look to open a new long or short position. Gunbot will not add to existing open positions.

Please don't manually add to or reduce positions opened by Gunbot, unless you stop running Gunbot on this trading pair until you've closed this position.

Using stepgain (margin) is only meaningful with MEAN_REVERSION enabled.

The info below assumes you have set this.

Long / Buy

A long position is opened when price is between your stepgain buy levels and changes direction while being below LONG_LEVEL.

Short / Sell

A short position is opened when price is between your stepgain sell levels and changes direction while being above SHORT_LEVEL.

Close

A position is closed when the desired ROE is reached.

Stop

A position is closed at loss when STOP_BUY or STOP_SELL is reached.

Strategy parameters

Following settings options are available for stepgain and can be set in the strategy configurator of the GUI or the strategies section of the config.js file.

These settings are global and apply to all pairs running this strategy. When you want a specific parameter to be different for one or more pairs, use an override at the pair level.

Using the BUY_METHOD and SELL_METHOD parameters you can combine different methods for buying and selling. This strategy page assumes both BUY_METHOD and SELL_METHOD are set to stepgain. Accepted values are all strategy names as listed here.

Margin settings

Margin settings control settings like leverage and the target for ROE. These parameters are relevant when using stepgain as buy and/or sell method.

Long Level

This sets the target for opening a long position at a percentage above the highest EMA.

When you set this to 1, buy orders will only be placed when the current price is at least 1% above the currently highest EMA.

Values: numerical – represent a percentage.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: LONG_LEVEL

Short Level

This sets the target for opening a short position at a percentage below the lowest EMA.

When you set this to 1, sell orders will only be placed when the current price is at least 1% below the currently lowest EMA.

Values: numerical – represent a percentage.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: SHORT_LEVEL

ROE

This sets the target for closing a position.

ROE is the Return On Equity for a position, the percentage profit and loss on your invested margin. This value is calculated in a similar way to how Bitmex calculates it, it does include leverage and does not include fees.

Examples: Long position, 1x leverage. When price moves 1% above the average entry price, 1% ROE is reached.

Long position, 100x leverage (or cross leverage). When price moves 1% above the average entry price, 100% ROE is reached.

Short position, 20x leverage When price moves 1% below the average entry price, 20% ROE is reached.

Values: numerical – represent a percentage.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: ROE

Leverage

Sets the leverage for opening any position. Setting 0 places the order with cross margin.

Values: numerical

Default value: 0

Parameter name in config.js: LEVERAGE

Stop Buy

Places a market stop order for a long position, at the same time as the position is opened.

When set to 1 and a long order is opened at a price of 100, a stop market order will be placed at 99.

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Parameter name in config.js: STOP_BUY

Stop Sell

Places a market stop order for a short position, at the same time as the position is opened.

When set to 1 and a short order is opened at a price of 100, a stop market order will be placed at 101.

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Parameter name in config.js: STOP_SELL

ROE Trailing

Use this to enable tssl-style trailing for ROE.

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Parameter name in config.js: ROE_TRAILING

ROE Limit

This sets the range for ROE trailing.

Setting a range of 5% at a ROE target of 1 would set an initial range between 0.95 and 1.05.

As long as ROE keeps increasing, the range moves along with ROE. As soon as ROE start decreasing, the lower range gets frozen. A close order is placed when ROE crosses the lower limit.

Values: numerical – represent a percentage of ROE.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: ROE_LIMIT

Pre Order

When set to true, limit orders will placed at a configurable rate beyond the best bid/ask price to get ahead of the order book.

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Parameter name in config.js: PRE_ORDER

Pre Order Gap

Sets the gap between the best bid/ask price in the orderbook and the rate at which a limit order gets placed. Long orders are placed at ask + gap. Short orders are placed at bid - gap.

It is possible to use negative values, this will increase the chance of receiving maker fees.

Example when set to 1 and a buy signal occurs at an ask price of 100: a limit order gets placed at a rate of 101. When set to -1 and a buy signal occurs at an ask price of 100: a limit order gets placed at a rate of 99.

Don't use a negative gap together with STOP_BUY and/or STOP_SELL, as these stops do not combine well with position that do not always fill. Instead use STOP_LIMIT.

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Parameter name in config.js: PRE_ORDER_GAP

Mean Reversion

When set to true, the strategy follows a mean reversion way of trading, instead of trend following.

This setting must be enabled to use stepgain as buy or sell method. When set to false, this strategy reverts to the same behavior as the gain strategy.

Long and short levels are reversed in this mode, long level is placed below EMA, short level is placed above EMA.

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Parameter name in config.js: MEAN_REVERSION

Buy settings

Buy settings are the primary trigger for opening long positions. These parameters control the execution of buy orders when using stepgain as buy method.

Buy enabled

Set this to false to prevent Gunbot from placing buy orders.

Values: true or false

Default value: true

Parameter name in config.js: BUY_ENABLED

Stepgain Buy Lvl

This sets which step should be considered for buying:

1: Buy when price drops below BUYLVL1 and the trend reverses or price hits BUYLVL2.

2: Buy when price drops below BUYLVL2 and the trend reverses or price hits BUYLVL3.

3: Buy when price drops below BUYLVL3 and the trend reverses.

Values: 1 / 2 / 3 – represents steps.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: BUYLVL

Stepgain Buy Lvl 1

Defines the first level below the lowest EMA to be considered for buying. Only used when BUYLVL is set to 1.

When set to 1, this means that the price needs to be at least 1 percent below the lowest EMA.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 0.6

Parameter name in config.js: BUYLVL1

Stepgain Buy Lvl 2

Defines the second level below the lowest EMA to be considered for buying. Used when BUYLVL is set to 1 or 2.

When set to 2, this means that the price needs to be at least 2 percent below the lowest EMA.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 2

Parameter name in config.js: BUYLVL2

Stepgain Buy Lvl 3

Defines the third level below the lowest EMA to be considered for buying. Used when BUYLVL is set to 2 or 3.

When set to 10, this means that the price needs to be at least 10 percent below the lowest EMA.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 70

Parameter name in config.js: BUYLVL3

NBA

"Never Buy Above". Use this to only allow buy orders below the last sell rate.

This sets the minimum percentage difference between the last sell order and the next buy. The default setting of 0 disables this option.

When set to 1, Gunbot will only place a buy order when the strategy buy criteria meet and price is at least 1% below the last sell price.

Values: numerical, represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Parameter name in config.js: NBA

Sell settings

Sell settings are the primary trigger for opening short positions. These parameters control the execution of sell orders when using stepgain as sell method.

Sell enabled

Set this to false to prevent Gunbot from placing sell orders.

Values: true or false

Default value: true

Parameter name in config.js: SELL_ENABLED

Stepgain Sell Lvl

This sets which step should be considered for selling:

1: Sell when price rises above SELLLVL1 and the trend reverses or price hits SELLLVL2.

2: Sell when price rises above SELLLVL2 and the trend reverses or price hits SELLLVL3.

3: Sell when price rises above SELLLVL3 and the trend reverses.

Values: 1 / 2 / 3 – represents steps.

Default value: 1

Parameter name in config.js: SELLLVL

Stepgain Sell Lvl 1

Defines the first level above the break-even point to be considered for selling. Only used when SELLLVL is set to 1.

When set to 1, this means that the price needs to be at least 1 percent above the average bought price.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 0.6

Parameter name in config.js: SELLLVL1

Stepgain Sell Lvl 2

Defines the second level above the break-even point to be considered for selling. Used when SELLLVL is set to 1 or 2.

When set to 2, this means that the price needs to be at least 2 percent above the average bought price.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 2

Parameter name in config.js: SELLLVL2

Stepgain Sell Lvl 3

Defines the third level above the break-even point to be considered for selling. Used when SELLLVL is set to 2 or 3.

When set to 10, this means that the price needs to be at least 10 percent above the average bought price.

Values: numerical – represents a percentage.

Default value: 70

Parameter name in config.js: SELLLVL3

Indicator settings

Relevant indicators for trading with stepgain.

These settings have a direct effect on trading with stepgain, this is where you configure the EMAs.

Period

This sets the candlestick period used for trading, this affects all indicators within the strategy.

Only use supported values.

Setting a short period allows you to trade on shorter trends, but be aware that these will be noisier than longer periods.

Values: numerical– represents candlestick size in minutes.

Default value: 15

Parameter name in config.js: PERIOD

Slow EMA

Set this to the amount of candlesticks you want to use for your slow EMA. The closing price for each candle is used in the slow EMA calculation.

For example: when you set PERIOD to 5, and want to use 2h for slow EMA – you need to set EMA1 to 24 (24 * 5 mins).

Values: numerical – represents a number of candlesticks.

Default value: 16

Parameter name in config.js: EMA1

Fast EMA

Set this to the amount of candlesticks you want to use for your fast EMA. The closing price for each candle is used in the fast EMA calculation.

For example: when you set PERIOD to 5, and want to use 1h for fast EMA – you need to set EMA2 to 12 (12 * 5 mins).

Values: numerical – represents a number of candlesticks.

Default value: 8

Parameter name in config.js: EMA2

Balance settings

Confirming indicators + advanced indicator settings

Misc settings

Dollar cost avg settings

DCA is not intented to be used for margin trading.

Reversal trading settings

RT is not intented to be used for margin trading.

TrailMe settings

With margin trading, additional trailing only works when MEAN_REVERSION is enabled.

Parameters to configure additional trailing for various types of orders. Trailing works just like it does for the TSSL strategy, the difference being the starting point of trailing.

Orders resulting from trailing are only placed when the main strategy criteria are met, and confirming indicators (if any) allow the order. All these conditions must occur in the same cycle.

Placeholders

The following parameters in config.js have no function for this strategy and act as placeholder.