Have mentioned this before, but worth putting here again to make sure it's in SQ4.
Normally an indicator tells us buy or sell, but just as often a building block / indicator is a trade or no trade decision. The most common type is a volatility indicator, or some external indicator data.
For example:
1. Volume falls to low level
2. ATR falls to a low level
3. StdDev of price falls to a low level
4. External volatility such as VIX
The key is the signal is the same for long and short. At the moment SQ3 always assumes the opposite signal is required for long and short.
So for example the long and short entry conditions, including a trade / don't trade condition:
Long Entry = RSI(14) > 50 AND Volume > EMA(Volume, 20)
Short Entry = RSI(14) < 50 AND Volume > EMA(Volume, 20)
Notice on both the long and short entry rules the volatility rule is the same, it is when the current volume is above an average threshold whether we are buying or selling. This is because we want to trade in this example only when volatility is high and not when it is low.
So to summarise, to be able to mark a building block as a volatility indicator, so it uses the same rule for long and short entry conditions. Same would apply to exit conditions or when to trigger a trailing stop.
I would imagine a checkbox for any building block, that says "treat as trade no trade rule" and in this case, the long and short condition is the same, not inverted.
Thanks,
Mike
This task is related to: https://roadmap.strategyquant.com/tasks/sq4_0503