Pairlist Handlers define the list of pairs (pairlist) that the bot should trade. They are configured in the `pairlists` section of the configuration settings.
In your configuration, you can use Static Pairlist (defined by the [`StaticPairList`](#static-pair-list) Pairlist Handler) and Dynamic Pairlist (defined by the [`VolumePairList`](#volume-pair-list) Pairlist Handler).
Additionally, [`AgeFilter`](#agefilter), [`PrecisionFilter`](#precisionfilter), [`PriceFilter`](#pricefilter), [`ShuffleFilter`](#shufflefilter), [`SpreadFilter`](#spreadfilter) and [`VolatilityFilter`](#volatilityfilter) act as Pairlist Filters, removing certain pairs and/or moving their positions in the pairlist.
If multiple Pairlist Handlers are used, they are chained and a combination of all Pairlist Handlers forms the resulting pairlist the bot uses for trading and backtesting. Pairlist Handlers are executed in the sequence they are configured. You should always configure either `StaticPairList` or `VolumePairList` as the starting Pairlist Handler.
Inactive markets are always removed from the resulting pairlist. Explicitly blacklisted pairs (those in the `pair_blacklist` configuration setting) are also always removed from the resulting pairlist.
Pairlist configurations can be quite tricky to get right. Best use the [`test-pairlist`](utils.md#test-pairlist) utility sub-command to test your configuration quickly.
By default, the `StaticPairList` method is used, which uses a statically defined pair whitelist from the configuration. The pairlist also supports wildcards (in regex-style) - so `.*/BTC` will include all pairs with BTC as a stake.
`VolumePairList` employs sorting/filtering of pairs by their trading volume. It selects `number_assets` top pairs with sorting based on the `sort_key` (which can only be `quoteVolume`).
When used in the chain of Pairlist Handlers in a non-leading position (after StaticPairList and other Pairlist Filters), `VolumePairList` considers outputs of previous Pairlist Handlers, adding its sorting/selection of the pairs by the trading volume.
When used in the leading position of the chain of Pairlist Handlers, the `pair_whitelist` configuration setting is ignored. Instead, `VolumePairList` selects the top assets from all available markets with matching stake-currency on the exchange.
You can define a minimum volume with `min_value` - which will filter out pairs with a volume lower than the specified value in the specified timerange.
`VolumePairList` can also operate in an advanced mode to build volume over a given timerange of specified candle size. It utilizes exchange historical candle data, builds a typical price (calculated by (open+high+low)/3) and multiplies the typical price with every candle's volume. The sum is the `quoteVolume` over the given range. This allows different scenarios, for a more smoothened volume, when using longer ranges with larger candle sizes, or the opposite when using a short range with small candles.
For convenience `lookback_days` can be specified, which will imply that 1d candles will be used for the lookback. In the example below the pairlist would be created based on the last 7 days:
When used in conjunction with `lookback_days` and `lookback_timeframe` the `refresh_period` can not be smaller than the candle size in seconds. As this will result in unnecessary requests to the exchanges API.
If used in first position in combination with lookback, the computation of the range based volume can be time and resource consuming, as it downloads candles for all tradable pairs. Hence it's highly advised to use the standard approach with `VolumeFilter` to narrow the pairlist down for further range volume calculation.
On some exchanges (like Bittrex and Gemini), regular VolumePairList does not work as the api does not natively provide 24h volume. This can be worked around by using candle data to build the volume.
To roughly simulate 24h volume, you can use the following configuration.
Please note that These pairlists will only refresh once per day.
More sophisticated approach can be used, by using `lookback_timeframe` for candle size and `lookback_period` which specifies the amount of candles. This example will build the volume pairs based on a rolling period of 3 days of 1h candles:
Removes pairs that have been listed on the exchange for less than `min_days_listed` days (defaults to `10`) or more than `max_days_listed` days (defaults `None` mean infinity).
This is useful when an exchange has unbalanced limits. For example, if step-size = 1 (so you can only buy 1, or 2, or 3, but not 1.1 Coins) - and the price is pretty high (like 20\$) as the coin has risen sharply since the last limit adaption.
As a result of the above, you can only buy for 20\$, or 40\$ - but not for 25\$.
On exchanges that deduct fees from the receiving currency (e.g. FTX) - this can result in high value coins / amounts that are unsellable as the amount is slightly below the limit.
The `low_price_ratio` setting removes pairs where a raise of 1 price unit (pip) is above the `low_price_ratio` ratio.
This option is disabled by default, and will only apply if set to > 0.
For `PriceFiler` at least one of its `min_price`, `max_price` or `low_price_ratio` settings must be applied.
Calculation example:
Min price precision for SHITCOIN/BTC is 8 decimals. If its price is 0.00000011 - one price step above would be 0.00000012, which is ~9% higher than the previous price value. You may filter out this pair by using PriceFilter with `low_price_ratio` set to 0.09 (9%) or with `min_price` set to 0.00000011, correspondingly.
!!! Warning "Low priced pairs"
Low priced pairs with high "1 pip movements" are dangerous since they are often illiquid and it may also be impossible to place the desired stoploss, which can often result in high losses since price needs to be rounded to the next tradable price - so instead of having a stoploss of -5%, you could end up with a stoploss of -9% simply due to price rounding.
#### ShuffleFilter
Shuffles (randomizes) pairs in the pairlist. It can be used for preventing the bot from trading some of the pairs more frequently then others when you want all pairs be treated with the same priority.
!!! Tip
You may set the `seed` value for this Pairlist to obtain reproducible results, which can be useful for repeated backtesting sessions. If `seed` is not set, the pairs are shuffled in the non-repeatable random order.
#### SpreadFilter
Removes pairs that have a difference between asks and bids above the specified ratio, `max_spread_ratio` (defaults to `0.005`).
Example:
If `DOGE/BTC` maximum bid is 0.00000026 and minimum ask is 0.00000027, the ratio is calculated as: `1 - bid/ask ~= 0.037` which is `> 0.005` and this pair will be filtered out.
Removes pairs where the difference between lowest low and highest high over `lookback_days` days is below `min_rate_of_change` or above `max_rate_of_change`. Since this is a filter that requires additional data, the results are cached for `refresh_period`.
This Filter can be used to automatically remove stable coin pairs, which have a very low trading range, and are therefore extremely difficult to trade with profit.
Volatility is the degree of historical variation of a pairs over time, is is measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic daily returns. Returns are assumed to be normally distributed, although actual distribution might be different. In a normal distribution, 68% of observations fall within one standard deviation and 95% of observations fall within two standard deviations. Assuming a volatility of 0.05 means that the expected returns for 20 out of 30 days is expected to be less than 5% (one standard deviation). Volatility is a positive ratio of the expected deviation of return and can be greater than 1.00. Please refer to the wikipedia definition of [`volatility`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility_(finance)).
This filter removes pairs if the average volatility over a `lookback_days` days is below `min_volatility` or above `max_volatility`. Since this is a filter that requires additional data, the results are cached for `refresh_period`.
The below example blacklists `BNB/BTC`, uses `VolumePairList` with `20` assets, sorting pairs by `quoteVolume` and applies [`PrecisionFilter`](#precisionfilter) and [`PriceFilter`](#pricefilter), filtering all assets where 1 price unit is > 1%. Then the [`SpreadFilter`](#spreadfilter) and [`VolatilityFilter`](#volatilityfilter) is applied and pairs are finally shuffled with the random seed set to some predefined value.
