Tradestation trailing stop and exit strategy

Hi,

A couple of questions about entering orders and EasyLanguage in Tradestation 7....

What I want to do is place an order via the matrix order screen and when the trade is executed have a trailing stop loss automatically placed. I don't want to have to manually do this, I want to be able to place the trade and move on to look for the next opportunity and if the trade gets executed know that the trailing stop loss will have been applied. Is this possible?

Also, is it possible to write some kind of exit strategy (more sophisticated than just a plain stop loss) in EasyLanguage and have that applied to a trade which has been manually placed? I don't want to automate the entry to the trade as it is discretionary, but I would like to implement an automated exit strategy. Is this possible? I kind of want to associate an exit strategy with a stock and have it become automatically activated if a trade is executed.

Finally, I've been reading through the EasyLanguage manual and it makes reference to the fact that orders are sent at the close of the current bar or at the open of the next bar. Does this mean that it is impossible to send an order within the current bar?

Cheers,

Proxy

I cannot speak about TS7 specifically because I dont use it but it is possible to write an application in Easylanguage that would automate your exit. If you were Long all it would need to do this is have a Line in that says something like:

If marketposition = 1 and Loss >= 15 points then exitlong ("Ex L") this bar at close;

You would have a similar line for a Short position.

And you are right that the signal to close the trade is at the close of the current bar or open of the next bar unless this has changed but if so I am not aware of it.

There may be the ability to write an indicator that would exit your trade immediately but this is not possible in TS2000i as all orders are sent via a "Signal" and not an "Indicator"


Paul

You could write a general Easy Language exit strategy, including initial stop levels and trailing stops etc and once you are in a position you simply apply the exit strategy to the chart. This is not fully automated as you actually have to apply the strategy but it is the next best thing as it allows you to walk away from the screen and have your exit strategy implemented.

As far as exiting on the close of the bar is concerned, it is correct that all systems (as opposed to indicators) are implemented on the close of each bar. Of course if you are working a stop order this is acted on intrabar so if your exit strategy in TS8 for example was:

if MarketPosition=1 then Sell("Long Exit") next bar at EntryPrice - 10 on stop;

then this would work a conventional stop order 10 points from the entry price which would be triggered immediately your price was hit rather than on the close of the bar. As mentioned above you could also add any number of trailing exits or profit targets to the EL code which would then all be automatically implemented.

Hope this helps.