Rule reference
Conditions you can combine
The single tests a rule of several conditions is built from, each of which can also stand alone. Each one with what it does, its settings, and an example to try.
On this page
- Price against its moving average
- One moving average against another
- RSI above or below a level
- MACD crossing its signal line
- Price against a Bollinger band
- A new high or low (channel break)
- A rise or fall over some days
- A fall from a recent high
- A market-wide series against a level (the VIX)
- A gap at the open
- A condition read on another symbol
Price against its moving average
The close above or below its simple or exponential moving average. On its own it is the trend filter many people know.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy SPY when the close is above its 200-day SMA; sell when the close is below its 200-day SMA, over the last 10 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentOne moving average against another
A faster average above, below or crossing a slower one. Combined with a filter, it buys only when the filter also holds.
- When
- SMA(50) is above SMA(200) and RSI(14) is below 70
- Then
- Buy; the symbols that are in share the portfolio equally
- Otherwise
- Sell when SMA(50) falls below SMA(200); the RSI condition only decides when to buy
- How often
- Checked every trading day
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy QQQ when its 20-day EMA crosses above its 50-day EMA and RSI(14) is below 70, over the last 5 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentGolden cross on SPY but only buy when RSI is under 70, over the last 10 years
Reads as: how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentRecorded tests of combined conditions rules, beside simply holding, in the evidence explorer.
RSI above or below a level
The RSI over any length against a level. A short RSI, such as two days, reacts to very short dips.
- When
- The close is above its 200-day SMA and RSI(2) is below 10
- Then
- Buy; the symbols that are in share the portfolio equally
- Otherwise
- Sell when RSI(2) is above 70
- How often
- Checked every trading day
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy QQQ when the price is above its 200-day SMA and RSI(14) is below 40; sell when RSI(14) rises above 70, over the last 5 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentBuy SPY when RSI(2) is below 10 while the close is above its 200-day SMA; sell when RSI(2) is above 70, over the last 10 years
Reads as: how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentRecorded tests of combined conditions rules, beside simply holding, in the evidence explorer.
MACD crossing its signal line
The MACD line crossing above or below its signal line, as a condition beside others.
- When
- MACD(12,26,9) crosses above its signal line while the close is above its 200-day SMA
- Then
- Buy; the symbols that are in share the portfolio equally
- Otherwise
- Sell when MACD crosses back below its signal line
- How often
- Checked every trading day
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy SPY when MACD crosses above its signal line while price is above the 200-day SMA, exit when MACD crosses back below. Backtest over 10 years.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentRecorded tests of combined conditions rules, beside simply holding, in the evidence explorer.
Price against a Bollinger band
The close below the lower band, above the upper band, or either side of the middle line.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy QQQ when the price is below the lower Bollinger band and RSI(14) is below 30; sell when RSI(14) rises above 50, over the last 5 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentA new high or low (channel break)
The close breaking above the highest close, or below the lowest, of the last so many trading days.
- When
- The close breaks above the highest close of the previous 20 trading days while it is above its 50-day EMA
- Then
- Buy; the symbols that are in share the portfolio equally
- Otherwise
- Only the 8% trailing stop sells
- How often
- Checked every trading day
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Stop | 8% below |
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy SPY on a 20-day breakout if it's above its 50-day EMA, 8% trailing stop. Backtest over 10 years.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentRecorded tests of combined conditions rules, beside simply holding, in the evidence explorer.
A rise or fall over some days
The close against the close a number of trading days earlier: a fall of so much in a day, or a rise over a month.
The engine's own statement of it: The close against the close N trading days earlier (N = 1 for a one-day fall).
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy Tesla when its 20-day return is below -10%; sell when its 20-day return is above 15%, over the last 5 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentBuy Apple when it drops 3% in a day and hold for 10 days, over the last 10 years
Reads as: sells after 10 trading days; how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentA fall from a recent high
How far the close is below its highest close of the last so many trading days.
The engine's own statement of it: The close against the highest close of the last N trading days, that close included; with no window named the reader uses 252 and says so.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Sells on a gain of | 15% |
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy Nvidia when it is 10% below its 50-day high, sell after a 15% gain, over the last 5 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentbuy Tesla when it drops 10% and sell when it's back up 15%, over the last 10 years
Reads as: sells on a gain of 15%; how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentA market-wide series against a level (the VIX)
A stored daily series that is not a share price, against a level. Today the agent reads the VIX's close, a measure of how much traders expect prices to swing.
The engine's own statement of it: The engine reads any stored daily series by id against a level, on its own values dated before the day of the trade; the reader offers the VIX's close only ("the VIX is below 25"); a monthly or quarterly series is refused because it is stored under the period it describes, not the day it was published.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy SPY when the VIX is below 20 and sell when the VIX is above 30, over the last 10 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentA gap at the open
The day's opening price against the day before: a gap up or down of so much from the previous close, or an open above the previous high or below the previous low.
A rule that buys on a gap up and names no way to sell is given a stop below the gap, and the card says so.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy Nvidia when it gaps up 2% and sell when it closes back below the gap, over the last 2 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentBuy QQQ when it gaps down 2%; sell when its 5-day return is positive, over the last 10 years
Reads as: how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentA condition read on another symbol
Any condition can be read on another symbol, such as the S&P 500 fund, so a rule trades one thing while watching another. Often used as a market filter.
The engine's own statement of it: The condition is worked out on that symbol's own daily closes dated before the day of the trade; on a day it has no close its last earlier one is used if at most 7 calendar days older, otherwise nothing is run; "the market" is read as SPY and the card says so.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| How often | Checked every trading day |
Buy TLT when SPY is below its 200-day SMA, sell when SPY is above its 200-day SMA, over the last 10 years
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentGolden cross on QQQ, only taking trades while SPY is above its 200 day average, over the last 10 years
Reads as: how often Checked every trading day.
Try it: open the Strategy Agent with these words typed in, unsentRelated
- Rule referenceRule referenceEvery kind of rule the engine runs, with what it does, the settings the agent uses when you name none, and an example to try.
- Rule referenceTiming rules: in or out of one shareRules that decide, each day, whether to hold a share or fund or to sit in cash. Each one with what it does, its settings, and an example to try.
- Rule referenceRanking rules: hold the leaders of a listRules that score a list of shares or funds and hold the ones at the top, swapping as the order changes. Each one with what it does, its settings, and an example to try.
- Strategy patternsTrend followingBe in while prices have been rising and out while they have been falling, judged by moving averages.
These pages describe how Quantis Trade works and what its tests show about the past. They are not forecasts and not advice.