MACD

This page describes how margin trading works with the MACD 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.

Long / Buy

A long position is opened when MACD crosses up the signal line.

Short / Sell

A short position is opened when MACD crosses down the signal line.

Close

A position is closed when the desired ROE is reached.

Stop

A position is closed at loss when its stop is reached.

Strategy parameters

Following settings options are available for MACD 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 MACD. 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 MACD as buy and/or sell method.

ROE

Description

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

Values: numerical – represent a percentage.

Default value: 1

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Strategy buy
	Strategy sell
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: ROE

PND

Description

Use "PND" logic to close trades. This mode tries to not close a position before a pump or dump has fully played out - usually beats ROE trailing performance.

Respects the minimum ROE set.

Values

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Strategy buy
	Strategy sell
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: PND

PND protection

Description

Threshold to close a position when it drops below ROE again.

A value of 1.5 means that if ROE reached 1.5x the minimum target, the position will get closed immediately if the trend turns.

Values

Values: numerical

Default value: 1.5

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Strategy buy
	Strategy sell
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: PND_PROTECTION

Leverage

Description

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

On Binance Futures you must set leverage per pair on the exchange itself.

Values

Values: numerical

Default value: 0

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy buy	RT buy
Strategy sell	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Close
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: LEVERAGE

Stop Buy

Description

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.

This setting is exclusive to Bitmex

Values

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy buy	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Close
	Strategy sell
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: STOP_BUY

Stop Sell

Description

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.

This setting is exclusive to Bitmex

Values

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	Close
	Strategy buy
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: STOP_SELL

ROE Trailing

Description

Use this to enable tssl-style trailing for ROE.

Trailing limit is set with ROE_LIMIT.

Values

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Strategy sell
	Stop limit
	Close
	Strategy buy
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: ROE_TRAILING

ROE Scalper

Description

Use this to enable an alternate trailing mechanism for closing positions.

Trailing limit is set with ROE_LIMIT. Additionally ROE_TRAILING must be enabled.

Values

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Strategy sell
	Stop limit
	Close
	Strategy buy
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: ROE_SCALPER

ROE Limit

Description

This sets the range for ROE trailing.

ROE trailing:

Range is a percentage of current ROE. Setting a ROE_LIMIT of 5 at a ROE target of 1 would set an initial range between 0.95 and 1.05.

ROE scalper:

Range is an absolute ROE value. Setting a ROE_LIMIT of 5 at a ROE target of 10 means that the trailing stop is initially set at ROE 5 (ROE minus ROE_LIMIT).

Both:

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

Values: numerical – represent a trailing range.

Default value: 1

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Strategy sell
	Stop limit
	Close
	Strategy buy
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: ROE_LIMIT

Pre Order

Description

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

Values: true or false

Default value: false

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Close	RT buy
Strategy sell	RT buyback
Strategy buy	RT sell
	Stop limit
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: PRE_ORDER

Pre Order Gap

Description

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

Values: numerical - represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
Strategy buy	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Stop limit
	DCA buy
	Close

Name

Parameter name in config.js: PRE_ORDER_GAP

Buy settings

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

Buy enabled

Description

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

Values

Values: true or false

Default value: true

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy buy	Strategy sell
DCA buy	Stop limit
RT buy	Close
RT buyback	RT sell

Name

Parameter name in config.js: BUY_ENABLED

NBA

Description

"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

Values: numerical, represents a percentage.

Default value: 0

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy buy	Strategy sell
	Stop limit
	Close
	RT sell
	DCA buy
	RT buy
	RT buyback

Name

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 MACD as sell method.

Sell enabled

Description

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

Values

Values: true or false

Default value: true

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	Strategy buy
Stop limit	RT buy
RT sell	RT buyback
	Close
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: SELL_ENABLED

Indicator settings

Relevant indicators for trading with EMA spread.

These settings have a direct effect on trading with MACD.

Period

Description

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

Values: numerical– represents candlestick size in minutes.

Default value: 15

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
Strategy buy	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: PERIOD

MACD Short

Description

The number of periods used for calculating the short-term moving average for MACD.

Values

Values: numerical, represents a number of periods.

Default value: 5

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
Strategy buy	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: MACD_SHORT

MACD Long

Description

The number of periods used for calculating the long-term moving average for MACD.

Values

Values: numerical, represents a number of periods.

Default value: 20

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
Strategy buy	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: MACD_LONG

MACD Signal

Description

The number of periods used for calculating the MACD signal line.

Values

Values: numerical, represents a number of periods.

Default value: 10

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
Strategy sell	RT buy
Strategy buy	RT buyback
	RT sell
	Close
	Stop limit
	DCA buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: MACD_SIGNAL

Balance settings

Balance settings

Confirming indicators + advanced indicator settings

Confirming indicators

Misc settings

Misc settings

Dollar cost avg settings

DCA Method

Description

When set to TENKAN Gunbot will place DCA orders in exactly the same way as in the Tenkan strategy. Each DCA order is in size of TRADING_LIMIT.

Values

Values: NATIVE / TENKAN

Default value: TENKAN Setting NATIVE effectively disables DCA in this strategy

Order types

Affects	Does not affect
DCA	Strategy buy
	Strategy sell
	Close
	RT sell
	Stop limit
	RT buyback
	RT buy

Name

Parameter name in config.js: DCA_METHOD

Reversal trading settings

RT is not intented to be used for margin trading.

TrailMe settings

TrailMe is not intended to be used with this strategy.

Placeholders

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

Parameter	Description
ATRX	Placeholder.
ATR_PERIOD	Placeholder.
BUYLVL1	Placeholder.
BUYLVL2	Placeholder.
BUYLVL3	Placeholder.
BUYLVL	Placeholder.
BUY_LEVEL	Placeholder.
BUY_RANGE	Placeholder.
DISPLACEMENT	Placeholder.
DOUBLE_CHECK_GAIN	Placeholder.
FAST_SMA	Placeholder.
GAIN	Placeholder.
HIGH_BB	Placeholder.
ICHIMOKU_PROTECTION	Placeholder.
KIJUN_BUY	Placeholder.
KIJUN_CLOSE	Placeholder.
KIJUN_PERIOD	Placeholder.
KIJUN_SELL	Placeholder.
KIJUN_STOP	Placeholder.
KUMO_BUY	Placeholder.
KUMO_CLOSE	Placeholder.
KUMO_SELL	Placeholder.
KUMO_SENTIMENTS	Placeholder.
KUMO_STOP	Placeholder.
LONG_LEVEL	Placeholder.
LOW_BB	Placeholder.
MEAN_REVERSION	Placeholder.
PP_BUY	Placeholder.
PP_SELL	Placeholder.
RENKO_ATR	Placeholder.
RENKO_BRICK_SIZE	Placeholder.
RENKO_PERIOD	Placeholder.
SELLLVL1	Placeholder.
SELLLVL2	Placeholder.
SELLLVL3	Placeholder.
SELLLVL	Placeholder.
SELL_RANGE	Placeholder.
SENKOUSPAN_PERIOD	Placeholder.
SHORT_LEVEL	Placeholder.
SLOW_SMA	Placeholder.
TAKE_BUY	Placeholder.
TBUY_RANGE	Placeholder.
TENKAN_BUY	Placeholder.
TENKAN_CLOSE	Placeholder.
TENKAN_PERIOD	Placeholder.
TENKAN_SELL	Placeholder.
TENKAN_STOP	Placeholder.
TP_PROFIT_ONLY	Placeholder.
TP_RANGE	Placeholder.
TSSL_TARGET_ONLY	Placeholder.
USE_RENKO	Placeholder.