In general, the search for best parameters starts with a few random combinations (see [below](#reproducible-results) for more details) and then uses Bayesian search with a ML regressor algorithm (currently ExtraTreesRegressor) to quickly find a combination of parameters in the search hyperspace that minimizes the value of the [loss function](#loss-functions).
To learn how to get data for the pairs and exchange you're interested in, head over to the [Data Downloading](data-download.md) section of the documentation.
Since Hyperopt dependencies are not needed to run the bot itself, are heavy, can not be easily built on some platforms (like Raspberry PI), they are not installed by default. Before you run Hyperopt, you need to install the corresponding dependencies, as described in this section below.
the sample hyperopt file located in [user_data/hyperopts/](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/blob/develop/freqtrade/templates/sample_hyperopt.py).
The simplest way to get started is to use the following, command, which will create a new hyperopt file from a template, which will be located under `user_data/hyperopts/AwesomeHyperopt.py`.
``` bash
freqtrade new-hyperopt --hyperopt AwesomeHyperopt
```
### Hyperopt checklist
Checklist on all tasks / possibilities in hyperopt
Assuming the optional methods are not in your hyperopt file, please use `--strategy AweSomeStrategy` which contains these methods so hyperopt can use these methods instead.
*`generate_roi_table` - for custom ROI optimization (if you need the ranges for the values in the ROI table that differ from default or the number of entries (steps) in the ROI table which differs from the default 4 steps)
*`stoploss_space` - for custom stoploss optimization (if you need the range for the stoploss parameter in the optimization hyperspace that differs from default)
*`trailing_space` - for custom trailing stop optimization (if you need the ranges for the trailing stop parameters in the optimization hyperspace that differ from default)
You can quickly optimize the spaces `roi`, `stoploss` and `trailing` without changing anything (i.e. without creation of a "complete" Hyperopt class with dimensions, parameters, triggers and guards, as described in this document) from the default hyperopt template by relying on your strategy to do most of the calculations.
2. Triggers are ones that actually trigger buy in specific moment, like "buy when EMA5 crosses over EMA10" or "buy when close price touches lower Bollinger band".
Technically, there is no difference between Guards and Triggers.
However, this guide will make this distinction to make it clear that signals should not be "sticking".
Sticking signals are signals that are active for multiple candles. This can lead into buying a signal late (right before the signal disappears - which means that the chance of success is a lot lower than right at the beginning).
If you have updated the buy strategy, i.e. changed the contents of `populate_buy_trend()` method, you have to update the `guards` and `triggers` your hyperopt must use correspondingly.
Hyperopt will now call `populate_buy_trend()` many times (`epochs`) with different value combinations.
It will use the given historical data and make buys based on the buy signals generated with the above function.
Based on the results, hyperopt will tell you which parameter combination produced the best results (based on the configured [loss function](#loss-functions)).
Each hyperparameter tuning requires a target. This is usually defined as a loss function (sometimes also called objective function), which should decrease for more desirable results, and increase for bad results.
A loss function must be specified via the `--hyperopt-loss <Class-name>` argument (or optionally via the configuration under the `"hyperopt_loss"` key).
Because hyperopt tries a lot of combinations to find the best parameters it will take time to get a good result. More time usually results in better results.
The `-e` option will set how many evaluations hyperopt will do. Since hyperopt uses Bayesian search, running too many epochs at once may not produce greater results. Experience has shown that best results are usually not improving much after 500-1000 epochs.
Doing multiple runs (executions) with a few 1000 epochs and different random state will most likely produce different results.
### Running Hyperopt using methods from a strategy
Hyperopt can reuse `populate_indicators`, `populate_buy_trend`, `populate_sell_trend` from your strategy, assuming these methods are **not** in your custom hyperopt file, and a strategy is provided.
The default Hyperopt Search Space, used when no `--space` command line option is specified, does not include the `trailing` hyperspace. We recommend you to run optimization for the `trailing` hyperspace separately, when the best parameters for other hyperspaces were found, validated and pasted into your custom strategy.
The search for optimal parameters starts with a few (currently 30) random combinations in the hyperspace of parameters, random Hyperopt epochs. These random epochs are marked with an asterisk character (`*`) in the first column in the Hyperopt output.
The initial state for generation of these random values (random state) is controlled by the value of the `--random-state` command line option. You can set it to some arbitrary value of your choice to obtain reproducible results.
If you have not set this value explicitly in the command line options, Hyperopt seeds the random state with some random value for you. The random state value for each Hyperopt run is shown in the log, so you can copy and paste it into the `--random-state` command line option to repeat the set of the initial random epochs used.
If you have not changed anything in the command line options, configuration, timerange, Strategy and Hyperopt classes, historical data and the Loss Function -- you should obtain same hyper-optimization results with same random state value used.
By default, hyperopt prints colorized results -- epochs with positive profit are printed in the green color. This highlighting helps you find epochs that can be interesting for later analysis. Epochs with zero total profit or with negative profits (losses) are printed in the normal color. If you do not need colorization of results (for instance, when you are redirecting hyperopt output to a file) you can switch colorization off by specifying the `--no-color` option in the command line.
You can use the `--print-all` command line option if you would like to see all results in the hyperopt output, not only the best ones. When `--print-all` is used, current best results are also colorized by default -- they are printed in bold (bright) style. This can also be switched off with the `--no-color` command line option.
Windows does not support color-output natively, therefore it is automatically disabled. To have color-output for hyperopt running under windows, please consider using WSL.
If you are optimizing ROI (i.e. if optimization search-space contains 'all', 'default' or 'roi'), your result will look as follows and include a ROI table:
In order to use this best ROI table found by Hyperopt in backtesting and for live trades/dry-run, copy-paste it as the value of the `minimal_roi` attribute of your custom strategy:
```
# Minimal ROI designed for the strategy.
# This attribute will be overridden if the config file contains "minimal_roi"
If you are optimizing ROI, Freqtrade creates the 'roi' optimization hyperspace for you -- it's the hyperspace of components for the ROI tables. By default, each ROI table generated by the Freqtrade consists of 4 rows (steps). Hyperopt implements adaptive ranges for ROI tables with ranges for values in the ROI steps that depend on the timeframe used. By default the values vary in the following ranges (for some of the most used timeframes, values are rounded to 5 digits after the decimal point):
These ranges should be sufficient in most cases. The minutes in the steps (ROI dict keys) are scaled linearly depending on the timeframe used. The ROI values in the steps (ROI dict values) are scaled logarithmically depending on the timeframe used.
If you have the `generate_roi_table()` and `roi_space()` methods in your custom hyperopt file, remove them in order to utilize these adaptive ROI tables and the ROI hyperoptimization space generated by Freqtrade by default.
Override the `roi_space()` method if you need components of the ROI tables to vary in other ranges. Override the `generate_roi_table()` and `roi_space()` methods and implement your own custom approach for generation of the ROI tables during hyperoptimization if you need a different structure of the ROI tables or other amount of rows (steps).
A sample for these methods can be found in [sample_hyperopt_advanced.py](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/blob/develop/freqtrade/templates/sample_hyperopt_advanced.py).
If you are optimizing stoploss values (i.e. if optimization search-space contains 'all', 'default' or 'stoploss'), your result will look as follows and include stoploss:
In order to use this best stoploss value found by Hyperopt in backtesting and for live trades/dry-run, copy-paste it as the value of the `stoploss` attribute of your custom strategy:
If you are optimizing stoploss values, Freqtrade creates the 'stoploss' optimization hyperspace for you. By default, the stoploss values in that hyperspace vary in the range -0.35...-0.02, which is sufficient in most cases.
If you have the `stoploss_space()` method in your custom hyperopt file, remove it in order to utilize Stoploss hyperoptimization space generated by Freqtrade by default.
Override the `stoploss_space()` method and define the desired range in it if you need stoploss values to vary in other range during hyperoptimization. A sample for this method can be found in [user_data/hyperopts/sample_hyperopt_advanced.py](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/blob/develop/freqtrade/templates/sample_hyperopt_advanced.py).
If you are optimizing trailing stop values (i.e. if optimization search-space contains 'all' or 'trailing'), your result will look as follows and include trailing stop parameters:
In order to use these best trailing stop parameters found by Hyperopt in backtesting and for live trades/dry-run, copy-paste them as the values of the corresponding attributes of your custom strategy:
If you are optimizing trailing stop values, Freqtrade creates the 'trailing' optimization hyperspace for you. By default, the `trailing_stop` parameter is always set to True in that hyperspace, the value of the `trailing_only_offset_is_reached` vary between True and False, the values of the `trailing_stop_positive` and `trailing_stop_positive_offset` parameters vary in the ranges 0.02...0.35 and 0.01...0.1 correspondingly, which is sufficient in most cases.
Override the `trailing_space()` method and define the desired range in it if you need values of the trailing stop parameters to vary in other ranges during hyperoptimization. A sample for this method can be found in [user_data/hyperopts/sample_hyperopt_advanced.py](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/blob/develop/freqtrade/templates/sample_hyperopt_advanced.py).
After you run Hyperopt for the desired amount of epochs, you can later list all results for analysis, select only best or profitable once, and show the details for any of the epochs previously evaluated. This can be done with the `hyperopt-list` and `hyperopt-show` sub-commands. The usage of these sub-commands is described in the [Utils](utils.md#list-hyperopt-results) chapter.
To achieve same results (number of trades, their durations, profit, etc.) than during Hyperopt, please use same configuration and parameters (timerange, timeframe, ...) used for hyperopt `--dmmp`/`--disable-max-market-positions` and `--eps`/`--enable-position-stacking` for Backtesting.
Should results don't match, please double-check to make sure you transferred all conditions correctly.
Pay special care to the stoploss (and trailing stoploss) parameters, as these are often set in configuration files, which override changes to the strategy.
You should also carefully review the log of your backtest to ensure that there were no parameters inadvertently set by the configuration (like `stoploss` or `trailing_stop`).
