Trading strategies can vary greatly when applied to long and short positions. So traders might want to use different parameters for both sides. Furthermore, traders may develop different strategies for managing risk when taking a long or short position. By understanding the differences in strategies for long and short sides, traders can make informed decisions and maximize their profits. In this article, I’ll show you a straightforward way to add an input to Pine Script Parameters to control if the strategy can go Long / Short or Both sides.
Let’s start with a code of build-in MACD Strategy as an example:
//@version=5
strategy("MACD Strategy", overlay=true)
fastLength = input(12)
slowlength = input(26)
MACDLength = input(9)
MACD = ta.ema(close, fastLength) - ta.ema(close, slowlength)
aMACD = ta.ema(MACD, MACDLength)
delta = MACD - aMACD
if (ta.crossover(delta, 0))
strategy.entry("MacdLE", strategy.long, comment="MacdLE")
if (ta.crossunder(delta, 0))
strategy.entry("MacdSE", strategy.short, comment="MacdSE")
First, we have to create our input with three options: Long, Short, and Both:
side = input.string("Both", title = "Side", options = ['Long', 'Short', 'Both'])
Next, we have to adjust the code for strategy entries. So long “if” should be “true” only if Both or Long are selected. You can use the following condition: side != ‘Short’. Here is how these conditions will look after that:
if (ta.crossover(delta, 0) and side != 'Short')
strategy.entry("MacdLE", strategy.long, comment="MacdLE")
if (ta.crossunder(delta, 0) and side != 'Long')
strategy.entry("MacdSE", strategy.short, comment="MacdSE")
The issue with this strategy is that it’s always in the market, and positions aren’t closed. If we leave it with these conditions, the strategy won’t work because short entry closes long positions. To fix this, we have to add an explicit strategy.close calls for both sides:
if (ta.crossover(delta, 0))
strategy.close("MacdSE")
if (ta.crossunder(delta, 0))
strategy.close("MacdLE")
That’s it. Now we have a parameter that can control which sides the strategy can go, and you can change this without changing your code. Here is the complete code of this example:
//@version=5
strategy("MACD Strategy", overlay=true)
fastLength = input(12)
slowlength = input(26)
MACDLength = input(9)
side = input.string("Both", title = "Side", options = ['Long', 'Short', 'Both'])
MACD = ta.ema(close, fastLength) - ta.ema(close, slowlength)
aMACD = ta.ema(MACD, MACDLength)
delta = MACD - aMACD
if (ta.crossover(delta, 0) and side != 'Short')
strategy.entry("MacdLE", strategy.long, comment="MacdLE")
if (ta.crossunder(delta, 0) and side != 'Long')
strategy.entry("MacdSE", strategy.short, comment="MacdSE")
if (ta.crossover(delta, 0))
strategy.close("MacdSE")
if (ta.crossunder(delta, 0))
strategy.close("MacdLE")
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