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TrendFollow

TrendFollow is a built-in TypeScript strategy from @tradejs/strategies.

It researches continuation-style trend setups, using a trailing stop line and strategy-specific deterministic guardrails.

Entry Logic​

  1. Replays candles through createTrendFollowEngine(...).
  2. Reads runtimeState.signal and runtimeState.snapshot.
  3. Skips until a bullish or bearish trend signal exists.
  4. Selects LONG or SHORT side config from signal direction.
  5. Uses signal.trailStop as the stop-loss reference.
  6. Computes target from TRENDFOLLOW_TARGET_R_MULT.
  7. Sizes quantity from MAX_LOSS_VALUE / riskDistance, with FEE_PERCENT buffer.
  8. Returns entry with trend-follow figures and trendFollowContext.

Entry codes:

  • TRENDFOLLOW_BULL_TREND
  • TRENDFOLLOW_BEAR_TREND

Exits​

When a position exists:

  • TRENDFOLLOW_TRAIL_STOP_EXIT when TRENDFOLLOW_EXIT_ON_TRAIL_STOP=true and price crosses the active trailing stop.
  • TRENDFOLLOW_OPPOSITE_SIGNAL_EXIT when TRENDFOLLOW_EXIT_ON_OPPOSITE_SIGNAL=true and the engine emits an opposite trend signal.
  • otherwise POSITION_EXISTS.

Config Parameters​

Trend model:

  • TRENDFOLLOW_PIVOT_LENGTH
  • TRENDFOLLOW_MIN_BARS_BETWEEN_SIGNALS
  • TRENDFOLLOW_ATR_LENGTH
  • TRENDFOLLOW_ATR_MULT
  • TRENDFOLLOW_SIGNAL_OFFSET_ATR
  • TRENDFOLLOW_TARGET_R_MULT
  • TRENDFOLLOW_EXIT_ON_TRAIL_STOP
  • TRENDFOLLOW_EXIT_ON_OPPOSITE_SIGNAL
  • TRENDFOLLOW_MAX_FIGURE_POINTS

Shared groups:

  • runtime: ENV, INTERVAL, MAKE_ORDERS, BACKTEST_PRICE_MODE
  • AI/ML: AI_ENABLED, AI_MODE, MIN_AI_QUALITY, ML_ENABLED, ML_THRESHOLD
  • risk: FEE_PERCENT, MAX_LOSS_VALUE, LONG.*, SHORT.*
  • shared indicators: MA, OBV, ATR, BB, MACD fields

Signal Payload​

The strategy stores:

  • additionalIndicators.trendFollowContext
  • trend and trailing-stop figures from buildTrendFollowFigures(...)
  • stop at signal.trailStop
  • one take-profit at the computed target

Common Skip Reasons​

  • NO_TREND_FOLLOW_SIGNAL
  • POSITION_EXISTS
  • DEV_TRADE_COOLDOWN
  • STRATEGY_DISABLED
  • INVALID_STOP
  • INVALID_QTY
  • RISK_RATIO:<value>

Validation Notes​

Trend-following experiments are very sensitive to stop distance, warmup length, and market regime. Treat guardrail behavior as implementation detail to validate with your own tickers and timeframes.

Related: