Size and Timing

allocation type (required) this field will determine how many contracts the backtest opens with each new trade fixed quantity fixed/static number of contracts for every trade leverage amount leverage relative to the account value at entry this is calculated based on notional value of the position divided by account value example your backtest position is an spx put with a strike at 4000 this put has a notional value of $400,000 (4000 x 100) if your portfolio is $100,000, and you want to carry 4x leverage, then the backtest trade would use 1 contract this allocation will round (up or down) to the closest number of contracts at your target leverage percentage of portfolio percentage of the account to allocate based on total max risk if your portfolio is $100,000 and you want to commit 50% of your portfolio to this position, then each trade will size so that approximately $50,000 is at risk this allocation will always use your portfolio balance at the current time in your backtest not just always using the starting balance this will round (up or down) to the closest number of contracts at your target percentage of portfolio entry frequency (required) this determines how frequently to enter trades your choices are sequential enter a new trade as soon as the previous trade closes assuming the current underlying/market conditions meet your entry criteria daily enter once per day if entry criteria are met weekly enter a new trade once a week at a specific day and time of day monthly enter a new trade once a month on a specific day of the month number and time of day if the market is closed on this day of month, the backtest will enter a trade on the next day the market opens position trigger enter a new trade on this position based on the status of a different position you have a few different choices here has open trade this will allow entry when the other position has an open trade has no open trade this will allow entry when the other position does not have an open trade closes at profit this will allow entry when the other position closes a trade at a profit closes at a loss this will allow entry when the other position closes a trade at a loss any exit this will allow entry when the other position closes a trade no matter the type you select, entry will occur 1 minute after the other position exits and is only valid for the current market session while any other filters or market conditions are met, otherwise that entry is skipped for the day % notional reserved this is only displayed when your position type carries undefined risk (ie short call, short put, short straddle, short strangle) and allocation type is leverage amount or percentage of portfolio if so, this percentage will determine how much of the position's notional should be set aside for buying power and thus total capital at risk risk cannot exceed your account balance the backtester will never allow you to put on a trade with total risk exceeding the portfolio's balance at that time this limit is on a per trade basis and does not account for risk carried by existing positions enter second position (optional) this is only available if your entry frequency from above is sequential if you have sequential entry, you have the ability to double up your position by entering a second trade, with an existing trade already open this doubling up will occur at a designated days to expiration and time of day for the existing trade this feature can be used however your creativity allows, but one common use case is when holding a trade that is near expiration rather than spending brokerage fees and losing to slippage by closing the existing position, just hold onto it until expiration while entering a new trade with a future expiration days of week (optional for daily, sequential, and position trigger) daily, sequential, and position trigger can enter at different days and times of the day if you would like to restrict those to certain days of the week, you can do so with this field earliest time of day (optional) the earliest time of day to enter a new trade latest time of day (optional) the latest time of day to enter a new trade same day re entry (optional) this is only available if your entry frequency from above is sequential if you only want to enter a new trade based on the profit/loss result of the previous trade, you can specify that here this will restrict the backtest from subsequent entries each day only when the last trade closes at a profit or a loss (based on your choice) this filter is not analyzed for the first trade each day, so the bot will not go back and look at a trade closed on a prior day this is only used when cycling into new trades intraday max entries per day (optional) this is only available if your entry frequency from above is sequential sequential positions will open a new position when the prior one closes, assuming all entry conditions are met this can result in multiple positions per day if you'd like to limit the number of positions entered in a single day, you can use this setting