stable/docs/stoploss.md

Stop Loss

The stoploss configuration parameter is loss in percentage that should trigger a sale. For example, value -0.10 will cause immediate sell if the profit dips below -10% for a given trade. This parameter is optional.

Most of the strategy files already include the optimal stoploss value.

!!! Info All stoploss properties mentioned in this file can be set in the Strategy, or in the configuration. Configuration values will override the strategy values.

Stop Loss Types

At this stage the bot contains the following stoploss support modes:

1. Static stop loss.
2. Trailing stop loss.
3. Trailing stop loss, custom positive loss.
4. Trailing stop loss only once the trade has reached a certain offset.

Those stoploss modes can be on exchange or off exchange. If the stoploss is on exchange it means a stoploss limit order is placed on the exchange immediately after buy order happens successfully. This will protect you against sudden crashes in market as the order will be in the queue immediately and if market goes down then the order has more chance of being fulfilled.

In case of stoploss on exchange there is another parameter called stoploss_on_exchange_interval. This configures the interval in seconds at which the bot will check the stoploss and update it if necessary.

For example, assuming the stoploss is on exchange, and trailing stoploss is enabled, and the market is going up, then the bot automatically cancels the previous stoploss order and puts a new one with a stop value higher than the previous stoploss order. The bot cannot do this every 5 seconds (at each iteration), otherwise it would get banned by the exchange. So this parameter will tell the bot how often it should update the stoploss order. The default value is 60 (1 minute). This same logic will reapply a stoploss order on the exchange should you cancel it accidentally.

!!! Note Stoploss on exchange is only supported for Binance (stop-loss-limit) and Kraken (stop-loss-market) as of now.

Static Stop Loss

This is very simple, you define a stop loss of x (as a ratio of price, i.e. x * 100% of price). This will try to sell the asset once the loss exceeds the defined loss.

Trailing Stop Loss

The initial value for this is stoploss, just as you would define your static Stop loss. To enable trailing stoploss:

trailing_stop = True

This will now activate an algorithm, which automatically moves the stop loss up every time the price of your asset increases.

For example, simplified math:

• the bot buys an asset at a price of 100$
• the stop loss is defined at 2%
• the stop loss would get triggered once the asset dropps below 98$
• assuming the asset now increases to 102$
• the stop loss will now be 2% of 102$ or 99.96$
• now the asset drops in value to 101$, the stop loss will still be 99.96$ and would trigger at 99.96$.

In summary: The stoploss will be adjusted to be always be 2% of the highest observed price.

Custom positive stoploss

It is also possible to have a default stop loss, when you are in the red with your buy, but once your profit surpasses a certain percentage, the system will utilize a new stop loss, which can have a different value. For example your default stop loss is 5%, but once you have 1.1% profit, it will be changed to be only a 1% stop loss, which trails the green candles until it goes below them.

Both values require trailing_stop to be set to true.

    trailing_stop_positive = 0.01
    trailing_stop_positive_offset = 0.011

The 0.01 would translate to a 1% stop loss, once you hit 1.1% profit. Before this, stoploss is used for the trailing stoploss.

Read the next section to keep stoploss at 5% of the entry point.

!!! Tip Make sure to have this value (trailing_stop_positive_offset) lower than minimal ROI, otherwise minimal ROI will apply first and sell the trade.

Trailing only once offset is reached

It is also possible to use a static stoploss until the offset is reached, and then trail the trade to take profits once the market turns.

If "trailing_only_offset_is_reached": true then the trailing stoploss is only activated once the offset is reached. Until then, the stoploss remains at the configured stoploss. This option can be used with or without trailing_stop_positive, but uses trailing_stop_positive_offset as offset.

    trailing_stop_positive_offset = 0.011
    trailing_only_offset_is_reached = true

Simplified example:

    stoploss = 0.05
    trailing_stop_positive_offset = 0.03
    trailing_only_offset_is_reached = True

• the bot buys an asset at a price of 100$
• the stop loss is defined at 5%
• the stop loss will remain at 95% until profit reaches +3%

Changing stoploss on open trades

A stoploss on an open trade can be changed by changing the value in the configuration or strategy and use the /reload_conf command (alternatively, completely stopping and restarting the bot also works).

The new stoploss value will be applied to open trades (and corresponding log-messages will be generated).

Limitations

Stoploss values cannot be changed if trailing_stop is enabled and the stoploss has already been adjusted, or if Edge is enabled (since Edge would recalculate stoploss based on the current market situation).