stable/docs/configuration.md

Configure the bot

Freqtrade has many configurable features and possibilities. By default, these settings are configured via the configuration file (see below).

The Freqtrade configuration file

The bot uses a set of configuration parameters during its operation that all together conform the bot configuration. It normally reads its configuration from a file (Freqtrade configuration file).

Per default, the bot loads the configuration from the config.json file, located in the current working directory.

You can specify a different configuration file used by the bot with the -c/--config command line option.

In some advanced use cases, multiple configuration files can be specified and used by the bot or the bot can read its configuration parameters from the process standard input stream.

If you used the Quick start method for installing the bot, the installation script should have already created the default configuration file (config.json) for you.

If default configuration file is not created we recommend you to copy and use the config.json.example as a template for your bot configuration.

The Freqtrade configuration file is to be written in the JSON format.

Additionally to the standard JSON syntax, you may use one-line // ... and multi-line /* ... */ comments in your configuration files and trailing commas in the lists of parameters.

Do not worry if you are not familiar with JSON format -- simply open the configuration file with an editor of your choice, make some changes to the parameters you need, save your changes and, finally, restart the bot or, if it was previously stopped, run it again with the changes you made to the configuration. The bot validates syntax of the configuration file at startup and will warn you if you made any errors editing it, pointing out problematic lines.

Configuration parameters

The table below will list all configuration parameters available.

Freqtrade can also load many options via command line (CLI) arguments (check out the commands --help output for details). The prevelance for all Options is as follows:

• CLI arguments override any other option
• Configuration files are used in sequence (last file wins), and override Strategy configurations.
• Strategy configurations are only used if they are not set via configuration or via command line arguments. These options are market with Strategy Override in the below table.

Mandatory parameters are marked as Required, which means that they are required to be set in one of the possible ways.

Parameter	Description
max_open_trades	Required. Number of trades open your bot will have. If -1 then it is ignored (i.e. potentially unlimited open trades). More information below. Datatype: Positive integer or -1.
stake_currency	Required. Crypto-currency used for trading. Strategy Override. Datatype: String
stake_amount	Required. Amount of crypto-currency your bot will use for each trade. Set it to "unlimited" to allow the bot to use all available balance. More information below. Strategy Override. Datatype: Positive float or "unlimited".
tradable_balance_ratio	Ratio of the total account balance the bot is allowed to trade. More information below. Defaults to 0.99 99%). Datatype: Positive float between 0.1 and 1.0.
amend_last_stake_amount	Use reduced last stake amount if necessary. More information below. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
last_stake_amount_min_ratio	Defines minimum stake amount that has to be left and executed. Applies only to the last stake amount when it's amended to a reduced value (i.e. if amend_last_stake_amount is set to true). More information below. Defaults to 0.5. Datatype: Float (as ratio)
amount_reserve_percent	Reserve some amount in min pair stake amount. The bot will reserve amount_reserve_percent + stoploss value when calculating min pair stake amount in order to avoid possible trade refusals. Defaults to 0.05 (5%). Datatype: Positive Float as ratio.
ticker_interval	The ticker interval to use (e.g 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h ...). Strategy Override. Datatype: String
fiat_display_currency	Fiat currency used to show your profits. More information below. Datatype: String
dry_run	Required. Define if the bot must be in Dry Run or production mode. Defaults to true. Datatype: Boolean
dry_run_wallet	Define the starting amount in stake currency for the simulated wallet used by the bot running in the Dry Run mode. Defaults to 1000. Datatype: Float
process_only_new_candles	Enable processing of indicators only when new candles arrive. If false each loop populates the indicators, this will mean the same candle is processed many times creating system load but can be useful of your strategy depends on tick data not only candle. Strategy Override. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
minimal_roi	Required. Set the threshold in percent the bot will use to sell a trade. More information below. Strategy Override. Datatype: Dict
stoploss	Required. Value of the stoploss in percent used by the bot. More details in the stoploss documentation. Strategy Override. Datatype: Float (as ratio)
trailing_stop	Enables trailing stoploss (based on stoploss in either configuration or strategy file). More details in the stoploss documentation. Strategy Override. Datatype: Boolean
trailing_stop_positive	Changes stoploss once profit has been reached. More details in the stoploss documentation. Strategy Override. Datatype: Float
trailing_stop_positive_offset	Offset on when to apply trailing_stop_positive. Percentage value which should be positive. More details in the stoploss documentation. Strategy Override. Defaults to 0.0 (no offset). Datatype: Float
trailing_only_offset_is_reached	Only apply trailing stoploss when the offset is reached. stoploss documentation. Strategy Override. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
unfilledtimeout.buy	Required. How long (in minutes) the bot will wait for an unfilled buy order to complete, after which the order will be cancelled. Strategy Override. Datatype: Integer
unfilledtimeout.sell	Required. How long (in minutes) the bot will wait for an unfilled sell order to complete, after which the order will be cancelled. Strategy Override. Datatype: Integer
bid_strategy.price_side	Select the side of the spread the bot should look at to get the buy rate. More information below. Defaults to bid. Datatype: String (either ask or bid).
bid_strategy.ask_last_balance	Required. Set the bidding price. More information below.
bid_strategy.use_order_book	Enable buying using the rates in Order Book Bids. Datatype: Boolean
bid_strategy.order_book_top	Bot will use the top N rate in Order Book Bids to buy. I.e. a value of 2 will allow the bot to pick the 2nd bid rate in Order Book Bids. Defaults to 1. Datatype: Positive Integer
bid_strategy. check_depth_of_market.enabled	Do not buy if the difference of buy orders and sell orders is met in Order Book. Check market depth. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
bid_strategy. check_depth_of_market.bids_to_ask_delta	The difference ratio of buy orders and sell orders found in Order Book. A value below 1 means sell order size is greater, while value greater than 1 means buy order size is higher. Check market depth Defaults to 0. Datatype: Float (as ratio)
ask_strategy.price_side	Select the side of the spread the bot should look at to get the sell rate. More information below. Defaults to ask. Datatype: String (either ask or bid).
ask_strategy.use_order_book	Enable selling of open trades using Order Book Asks. Datatype: Boolean
ask_strategy.order_book_min	Bot will scan from the top min to max Order Book Asks searching for a profitable rate. Defaults to 1. Datatype: Positive Integer
ask_strategy.order_book_max	Bot will scan from the top min to max Order Book Asks searching for a profitable rate. Defaults to 1. Datatype: Positive Integer
ask_strategy.use_sell_signal	Use sell signals produced by the strategy in addition to the minimal_roi. Strategy Override. Defaults to true. Datatype: Boolean
ask_strategy.sell_profit_only	Wait until the bot makes a positive profit before taking a sell decision. Strategy Override. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
ask_strategy.ignore_roi_if_buy_signal	Do not sell if the buy signal is still active. This setting takes preference over minimal_roi and use_sell_signal. Strategy Override. Defaults to false. Datatype: Boolean
order_types	Configure order-types depending on the action ("buy", "sell", "stoploss", "stoploss_on_exchange"). More information below. Strategy Override. Datatype: Dict
order_time_in_force	Configure time in force for buy and sell orders. More information below. Strategy Override. Datatype: Dict
exchange.name	Required. Name of the exchange class to use. List below. Datatype: String
exchange.sandbox	Use the 'sandbox' version of the exchange, where the exchange provides a sandbox for risk-free integration. See here in more details. Datatype: Boolean
exchange.key	API key to use for the exchange. Only required when you are in production mode. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
exchange.secret	API secret to use for the exchange. Only required when you are in production mode. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
exchange.password	API password to use for the exchange. Only required when you are in production mode and for exchanges that use password for API requests. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
exchange.pair_whitelist	List of pairs to use by the bot for trading and to check for potential trades during backtesting. Not used by VolumePairList (see below). Datatype: List
exchange.pair_blacklist	List of pairs the bot must absolutely avoid for trading and backtesting (see below). Datatype: List
exchange.ccxt_config	Additional CCXT parameters passed to the regular ccxt instance. Parameters may differ from exchange to exchange and are documented in the ccxt documentation Datatype: Dict
exchange.ccxt_async_config	Additional CCXT parameters passed to the async ccxt instance. Parameters may differ from exchange to exchange and are documented in the ccxt documentation Datatype: Dict
exchange.markets_refresh_interval	The interval in minutes in which markets are reloaded. Defaults to 60 minutes. Datatype: Positive Integer
edge.*	Please refer to edge configuration document for detailed explanation.
experimental.block_bad_exchanges	Block exchanges known to not work with freqtrade. Leave on default unless you want to test if that exchange works now. Defaults to true. Datatype: Boolean
pairlists	Define one or more pairlists to be used. More information below. Defaults to StaticPairList. Datatype: List of Dicts
telegram.enabled	Enable the usage of Telegram. Datatype: Boolean
telegram.token	Your Telegram bot token. Only required if telegram.enabled is true. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
telegram.chat_id	Your personal Telegram account id. Only required if telegram.enabled is true. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
webhook.enabled	Enable usage of Webhook notifications Datatype: Boolean
webhook.url	URL for the webhook. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
webhook.webhookbuy	Payload to send on buy. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
webhook.webhookbuycancel	Payload to send on buy order cancel. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
webhook.webhooksell	Payload to send on sell. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
webhook.webhooksellcancel	Payload to send on sell order cancel. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
webhook.webhookstatus	Payload to send on status calls. Only required if webhook.enabled is true. See the webhook documentation for more details. Datatype: String
api_server.enabled	Enable usage of API Server. See the API Server documentation for more details. Datatype: Boolean
api_server.listen_ip_address	Bind IP address. See the API Server documentation for more details. Datatype: IPv4
api_server.listen_port	Bind Port. See the API Server documentation for more details. Datatype: Integer between 1024 and 65535
api_server.username	Username for API server. See the API Server documentation for more details. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
api_server.password	Password for API server. See the API Server documentation for more details. Keep it in secret, do not disclose publicly. Datatype: String
db_url	Declares database URL to use. NOTE: This defaults to sqlite:///tradesv3.dryrun.sqlite if dry_run is true, and to sqlite:///tradesv3.sqlite for production instances. Datatype: String, SQLAlchemy connect string
initial_state	Defines the initial application state. More information below. Defaults to stopped. Datatype: Enum, either stopped or running
forcebuy_enable	Enables the RPC Commands to force a buy. More information below. Datatype: Boolean
strategy	Required Defines Strategy class to use. Recommended to be set via --strategy NAME. Datatype: ClassName
strategy_path	Adds an additional strategy lookup path (must be a directory). Datatype: String
internals.process_throttle_secs	Set the process throttle. Value in second. Defaults to 5 seconds. Datatype: Positive Intege
internals.heartbeat_interval	Print heartbeat message every N seconds. Set to 0 to disable heartbeat messages. Defaults to 60 seconds. Datatype: Positive Integer or 0
internals.sd_notify	Enables use of the sd_notify protocol to tell systemd service manager about changes in the bot state and issue keep-alive pings. See here for more details. Datatype: Boolean
logfile	Specifies logfile name. Uses a rolling strategy for log file rotation for 10 files with the 1MB limit per file. Datatype: String
user_data_dir	Directory containing user data. Defaults to ./user_data/. Datatype: String
dataformat_ohlcv	Data format to use to store OHLCV historic data. Defaults to json. Datatype: String
dataformat_trades	Data format to use to store trades historic data. Defaults to jsongz. Datatype: String

Parameters in the strategy

The following parameters can be set in either configuration file or strategy. Values set in the configuration file always overwrite values set in the strategy.

• minimal_roi
• ticker_interval
• stoploss
• trailing_stop
• trailing_stop_positive
• trailing_stop_positive_offset
• trailing_only_offset_is_reached
• process_only_new_candles
• order_types
• order_time_in_force
• stake_currency
• stake_amount
• unfilledtimeout
• use_sell_signal (ask_strategy)
• sell_profit_only (ask_strategy)
• ignore_roi_if_buy_signal (ask_strategy)

Configuring amount per trade

There are several methods to configure how much of the stake currency the bot will use to enter a trade. All methods respect the available balance configuration as explained below.

Available balance

By default, the bot assumes that the complete amount - 1% is at it's disposal, and when using dynamic stake amount, it will split the complete balance into max_open_trades buckets per trade. Freqtrade will reserve 1% for eventual fees when entering a trade and will therefore not touch that by default.

You can configure the "untouched" amount by using the tradable_balance_ratio setting.

For example, if you have 10 ETH available in your wallet on the exchange and tradable_balance_ratio=0.5 (which is 50%), then the bot will use a maximum amount of 5 ETH for trading and considers this as available balance. The rest of the wallet is untouched by the trades.

!!! Warning The tradable_balance_ratio setting applies to the current balance (free balance + tied up in trades). Therefore, assuming the starting balance of 1000, a configuration with tradable_balance_ratio=0.99 will not guarantee that 10 currency units will always remain available on the exchange. For example, the free amount may reduce to 5 units if the total balance is reduced to 500 (either by a losing streak, or by withdrawing balance).

Amend last stake amount

Assuming we have the tradable balance of 1000 USDT, stake_amount=400, and max_open_trades=3. The bot would open 2 trades, and will be unable to fill the last trading slot, since the requested 400 USDT are no longer available, since 800 USDT are already tied in other trades.

To overcome this, the option amend_last_stake_amount can be set to True, which will enable the bot to reduce stake_amount to the available balance in order to fill the last trade slot.

In the example above this would mean:

• Trade1: 400 USDT
• Trade2: 400 USDT
• Trade3: 200 USDT

!!! Note This option only applies with Static stake amount - since Dynamic stake amount divides the balances evenly.

!!! Note The minimum last stake amount can be configured using amend_last_stake_amount - which defaults to 0.5 (50%). This means that the minimum stake amount that's ever used is stake_amount * 0.5. This avoids very low stake amounts, that are close to the minimum tradable amount for the pair and can be refused by the exchange.

Static stake amount

The stake_amount configuration statically configures the amount of stake-currency your bot will use for each trade.

The minimal configuration value is 0.0001, however, please check your exchange's trading minimums for the stake currency you're using to avoid problems.

This setting works in combination with max_open_trades. The maximum capital engaged in trades is stake_amount * max_open_trades. For example, the bot will at most use (0.05 BTC x 3) = 0.15 BTC, assuming a configuration of max_open_trades=3 and stake_amount=0.05.

!!! Note This setting respects the available balance configuration.

Dynamic stake amount

Alternatively, you can use a dynamic stake amount, which will use the available balance on the exchange, and divide that equally by the amount of allowed trades (max_open_trades).

To configure this, set stake_amount="unlimited". We also recommend to set tradable_balance_ratio=0.99 (99%) - to keep a minimum balance for eventual fees.

In this case a trade amount is calculated as:

currency_balance / (max_open_trades - current_open_trades)

To allow the bot to trade all the available stake_currency in your account (minus tradable_balance_ratio) set

"stake_amount" : "unlimited",
"tradable_balance_ratio": 0.99,

!!! Note This configuration will allow increasing / decreasing stakes depending on the performance of the bot (lower stake if bot is loosing, higher stakes if the bot has a winning record, since higher balances are available).

!!! Note "When using Dry-Run Mode" When using "stake_amount" : "unlimited", in combination with Dry-Run, the balance will be simulated starting with a stake of dry_run_wallet which will evolve over time. It is therefore important to set dry_run_wallet to a sensible value (like 0.05 or 0.01 for BTC and 1000 or 100 for USDT, for example), otherwise it may simulate trades with 100 BTC (or more) or 0.05 USDT (or less) at once - which may not correspond to your real available balance or is less than the exchange minimal limit for the order amount for the stake currency.

Understand minimal_roi

The minimal_roi configuration parameter is a JSON object where the key is a duration in minutes and the value is the minimum ROI in percent. See the example below:

"minimal_roi": {
    "40": 0.0,    # Sell after 40 minutes if the profit is not negative
    "30": 0.01,   # Sell after 30 minutes if there is at least 1% profit
    "20": 0.02,   # Sell after 20 minutes if there is at least 2% profit
    "0":  0.04    # Sell immediately if there is at least 4% profit
},

Most of the strategy files already include the optimal minimal_roi value. This parameter can be set in either Strategy or Configuration file. If you use it in the configuration file, it will override the minimal_roi value from the strategy file. If it is not set in either Strategy or Configuration, a default of 1000% {"0": 10} is used, and minimal roi is disabled unless your trade generates 1000% profit.

!!! Note "Special case to forcesell after a specific time" A special case presents using "<N>": -1 as ROI. This forces the bot to sell a trade after N Minutes, no matter if it's positive or negative, so represents a time-limited force-sell.

Understand stoploss

Go to the stoploss documentation for more details.

Understand trailing stoploss

Go to the trailing stoploss Documentation for details on trailing stoploss.

Understand initial_state

The initial_state configuration parameter is an optional field that defines the initial application state. Possible values are running or stopped. (default=running) If the value is stopped the bot has to be started with /start first.

Understand forcebuy_enable

The forcebuy_enable configuration parameter enables the usage of forcebuy commands via Telegram. This is disabled for security reasons by default, and will show a warning message on startup if enabled. For example, you can send /forcebuy ETH/BTC Telegram command when this feature if enabled to the bot, who then buys the pair and holds it until a regular sell-signal (ROI, stoploss, /forcesell) appears.

This can be dangerous with some strategies, so use with care.

See the telegram documentation for details on usage.

Understand process_throttle_secs

The process_throttle_secs configuration parameter is an optional field that defines in seconds how long the bot should wait before asking the strategy if we should buy or a sell an asset. After each wait period, the strategy is asked again for every opened trade wether or not we should sell, and for all the remaining pairs (either the dynamic list of pairs or the static list of pairs) if we should buy.

Understand order_types

The order_types configuration parameter maps actions (buy, sell, stoploss) to order-types (market, limit, ...) as well as configures stoploss to be on the exchange and defines stoploss on exchange update interval in seconds.

This allows to buy using limit orders, sell using limit-orders, and create stoplosses using using market orders. It also allows to set the stoploss "on exchange" which means stoploss order would be placed immediately once the buy order is fulfilled. If stoploss_on_exchange and trailing_stop are both set, then the bot will use stoploss_on_exchange_interval to check and update the stoploss on exchange periodically. order_types can be set in the configuration file or in the strategy. order_types set in the configuration file overwrites values set in the strategy as a whole, so you need to configure the whole order_types dictionary in one place.

If this is configured, the following 4 values (buy, sell, stoploss and stoploss_on_exchange) need to be present, otherwise the bot will fail to start.

emergencysell is an optional value, which defaults to market and is used when creating stoploss on exchange orders fails. The below is the default which is used if this is not configured in either strategy or configuration file.

Since stoploss_on_exchange uses limit orders, the exchange needs 2 prices, the stoploss_price and the Limit price. stoploss defines the stop-price - and limit should be slightly below this. This defaults to 0.99 / 1% (configurable via stoploss_on_exchange_limit_ratio). Calculation example: we bought the asset at 100$. Stop-price is 95$, then limit would be 95 * 0.99 = 94.05$ - so the stoploss will happen between 95$ and 94.05$.

Syntax for Strategy:

order_types = {
    "buy": "limit",
    "sell": "limit",
    "emergencysell": "market",
    "stoploss": "market",
    "stoploss_on_exchange": False,
    "stoploss_on_exchange_interval": 60,
    "stoploss_on_exchange_limit_ratio": 0.99,
}

Configuration:

"order_types": {
    "buy": "limit",
    "sell": "limit",
    "emergencysell": "market",
    "stoploss": "market",
    "stoploss_on_exchange": false,
    "stoploss_on_exchange_interval": 60
}

!!! Note Not all exchanges support "market" orders. The following message will be shown if your exchange does not support market orders: "Exchange <yourexchange> does not support market orders."

!!! Note Stoploss on exchange interval is not mandatory. Do not change its value if you are unsure of what you are doing. For more information about how stoploss works please refer to the stoploss documentation.

!!! Note If stoploss_on_exchange is enabled and the stoploss is cancelled manually on the exchange, then the bot will create a new order.

!!! Warning "Warning: stoploss_on_exchange failures" If stoploss on exchange creation fails for some reason, then an "emergency sell" is initiated. By default, this will sell the asset using a market order. The order-type for the emergency-sell can be changed by setting the emergencysell value in the order_types dictionary - however this is not advised.

Understand order_time_in_force

The order_time_in_force configuration parameter defines the policy by which the order is executed on the exchange. Three commonly used time in force are:

GTC (Good Till Canceled):

This is most of the time the default time in force. It means the order will remain on exchange till it is canceled by user. It can be fully or partially fulfilled. If partially fulfilled, the remaining will stay on the exchange till cancelled.

FOK (Fill Or Kill):

It means if the order is not executed immediately AND fully then it is canceled by the exchange.

IOC (Immediate Or Canceled):

It is the same as FOK (above) except it can be partially fulfilled. The remaining part is automatically cancelled by the exchange.

The order_time_in_force parameter contains a dict with buy and sell time in force policy values. This can be set in the configuration file or in the strategy. Values set in the configuration file overwrites values set in the strategy.

The possible values are: gtc (default), fok or ioc.

"order_time_in_force": {
    "buy": "gtc",
    "sell": "gtc"
},

!!! Warning This is an ongoing work. For now it is supported only for binance and only for buy orders. Please don't change the default value unless you know what you are doing.

Exchange configuration

Freqtrade is based on CCXT library that supports over 100 cryptocurrency exchange markets and trading APIs. The complete up-to-date list can be found in the CCXT repo homepage. However, the bot was tested by the development team with only Bittrex, Binance and Kraken, so the these are the only officially supported exhanges:

• Bittrex: "bittrex"
• Binance: "binance"
• Kraken: "kraken"

Feel free to test other exchanges and submit your PR to improve the bot.

Some exchanges require special configuration, which can be found on the Exchange-specific Notes documentation page.

Sample exchange configuration

A exchange configuration for "binance" would look as follows:

"exchange": {
    "name": "binance",
    "key": "your_exchange_key",
    "secret": "your_exchange_secret",
    "ccxt_config": {"enableRateLimit": true},
    "ccxt_async_config": {
        "enableRateLimit": true,
        "rateLimit": 200
    },

This configuration enables binance, as well as rate limiting to avoid bans from the exchange. "rateLimit": 200 defines a wait-event of 0.2s between each call. This can also be completely disabled by setting "enableRateLimit" to false.

!!! Note Optimal settings for rate limiting depend on the exchange and the size of the whitelist, so an ideal parameter will vary on many other settings. We try to provide sensible defaults per exchange where possible, if you encounter bans please make sure that "enableRateLimit" is enabled and increase the "rateLimit" parameter step by step.

Advanced Freqtrade Exchange configuration

Advanced options can be configured using the _ft_has_params setting, which will override Defaults and exchange-specific behaviours.

Available options are listed in the exchange-class as _ft_has_default.

For example, to test the order type FOK with Kraken, and modify candle_limit to 200 (so you only get 200 candles per call):

"exchange": {
    "name": "kraken",
    "_ft_has_params": {
        "order_time_in_force": ["gtc", "fok"],
        "ohlcv_candle_limit": 200
        }

!!! Warning Please make sure to fully understand the impacts of these settings before modifying them.

What values can be used for fiat_display_currency?

The fiat_display_currency configuration parameter sets the base currency to use for the conversion from coin to fiat in the bot Telegram reports.

The valid values are:

"AUD", "BRL", "CAD", "CHF", "CLP", "CNY", "CZK", "DKK", "EUR", "GBP", "HKD", "HUF", "IDR", "ILS", "INR", "JPY", "KRW", "MXN", "MYR", "NOK", "NZD", "PHP", "PKR", "PLN", "RUB", "SEK", "SGD", "THB", "TRY", "TWD", "ZAR", "USD"

In addition to fiat currencies, a range of cryto currencies are supported.

The valid values are:

"BTC", "ETH", "XRP", "LTC", "BCH", "USDT"

Prices used for orders

Prices for regular orders can be controlled via the parameter structures bid_strategy for buying and ask_strategy for selling. Prices are always retrieved right before an order is placed, either by querying the exchange tickers or by using the orderbook data.

!!! Note Orderbook data used by Freqtrade are the data retrieved from exchange by the ccxt's function fetch_order_book(), i.e. are usually data from the L2-aggregated orderbook, while the ticker data are the structures returned by the ccxt's fetch_ticker()/fetch_tickers() functions. Refer to the ccxt library documentation for more details.

Buy price

Check depth of market

When check depth of market is enabled (bid_strategy.check_depth_of_market.enabled=True), the buy signals are filtered based on the orderbook depth (sum of all amounts) for each orderbook side.

Orderbook bid (buy) side depth is then divided by the orderbook ask (sell) side depth and the resulting delta is compared to the value of the bid_strategy.check_depth_of_market.bids_to_ask_delta parameter. The buy order is only executed if the orderbook delta is greater than or equal to the configured delta value.

!!! Note A delta value below 1 means that ask (sell) orderbook side depth is greater than the depth of the bid (buy) orderbook side, while a value greater than 1 means opposite (depth of the buy side is higher than the depth of the sell side).

Buy price side

The configuration setting bid_strategy.price_side defines the side of the spread the bot looks for when buying.

The following displays an orderbook.

...
103
102
101  # ask
-------------Current spread
99   # bid
98
97
...

If bid_strategy.price_side is set to "bid", then the bot will use 99 as buying price.
In line with that, if bid_strategy.price_side is set to "ask", then the bot will use 101 as buying price.

Using ask price often guarantees quicker filled orders, but the bot can also end up paying more than what would have been necessary. Taker fees instead of maker fees will most likely apply even when using limit buy orders. Also, prices at the "ask" side of the spread are higher than prices at the "bid" side in the orderbook, so the order behaves similar to a market order (however with a maximum price).

Buy price with Orderbook enabled

When buying with the orderbook enabled (bid_strategy.use_order_book=True), Freqtrade fetches the bid_strategy.order_book_top entries from the orderbook and then uses the entry specified as bid_strategy.order_book_top on the configured side (bid_strategy.price_side) of the orderbook. 1 specifies the topmost entry in the orderbook, while 2 would use the 2nd entry in the orderbook, and so on.

Buy price without Orderbook enabled

The following section uses side as the configured bid_strategy.price_side.

When not using orderbook (bid_strategy.use_order_book=False), Freqtrade uses the best side price from the ticker if it's below the last traded price from the ticker. Otherwise (when the side price is above the last price), it calculates a rate between side and last price.

The bid_strategy.ask_last_balance configuration parameter controls this. A value of 0.0 will use side price, while 1.0 will use the last price and values between those interpolate between ask and last price.

Sell price

Sell price side

The configuration setting ask_strategy.price_side defines the side of the spread the bot looks for when selling.

The following displays an orderbook:

...
103
102
101  # ask
-------------Current spread
99   # bid
98
97
...

If ask_strategy.price_side is set to "ask", then the bot will use 101 as selling price.
In line with that, if ask_strategy.price_side is set to "bid", then the bot will use 99 as selling price.

Sell price with Orderbook enabled

When selling with the orderbook enabled (ask_strategy.use_order_book=True), Freqtrade fetches the ask_strategy.order_book_max entries in the orderbook. Then each of the orderbook steps between ask_strategy.order_book_min and ask_strategy.order_book_max on the configured orderbook side are validated for a profitable sell-possibility based on the strategy configuration (minimal_roi conditions) and the sell order is placed at the first profitable spot.

!!! Note Using order_book_max higher than order_book_min only makes sense when ask_strategy.price_side is set to "ask".

The idea here is to place the sell order early, to be ahead in the queue.

A fixed slot (mirroring bid_strategy.order_book_top) can be defined by setting ask_strategy.order_book_min and ask_strategy.order_book_max to the same number.

!!! Warning "Orderbook and stoploss_on_exchange" Using ask_strategy.order_book_max higher than 1 may increase the risk, since an eventual stoploss on exchange will be needed to be cancelled as soon as the order is placed.

Sell price without Orderbook enabled

When not using orderbook (ask_strategy.use_order_book=False), the price at the ask_strategy.price_side side (defaults to "ask") from the ticker will be used as the sell price.

Pairlists

Pairlists define the list of pairs that the bot should trade. There are StaticPairList and dynamic Whitelists available.

PrecisionFilter and PriceFilter act as filters, removing low-value pairs.

All pairlists can be chained, and a combination of all pairlists will become your new whitelist. Pairlists are executed in the sequence they are configured. You should always configure either StaticPairList or DynamicPairList as starting pairlists.

Inactive markets and blacklisted pairs are always removed from the resulting pair_whitelist.

Available Pairlists

• StaticPairList (default, if not configured differently)
• VolumePairList
• PrecisionFilter
• PriceFilter
• SpreadFilter

!!! Tip "Testing pairlists" Pairlist configurations can be quite tricky to get right. Best use the test-pairlist subcommand to test your configuration quickly.

Static Pair List

By default, the StaticPairList method is used, which uses a statically defined pair whitelist from the configuration.

It uses configuration from exchange.pair_whitelist and exchange.pair_blacklist.

"pairlists": [
    {"method": "StaticPairList"}
    ],

Volume Pair List

VolumePairList selects number_assets top pairs based on sort_key, which can be one of askVolume, bidVolume and quoteVolume and defaults to quoteVolume.

VolumePairList considers outputs of previous pairlists unless it's the first configured pairlist, it does not consider pair_whitelist, but selects the top assets from all available markets (with matching stake-currency) on the exchange.

refresh_period allows setting the period (in seconds), at which the pairlist will be refreshed. Defaults to 1800s (30 minutes).

VolumePairList is based on the ticker data, as reported by the ccxt library:

• The bidVolume is the volume (amount) of current best bid in the orderbook.
• The askVolume is the volume (amount) of current best ask in the orderbook.
• The quoteVolume is the amount of quote (stake) currency traded (bought or sold) in last 24 hours.

"pairlists": [{
        "method": "VolumePairList",
        "number_assets": 20,
        "sort_key": "quoteVolume",
        "refresh_period": 1800,
],

Precision Filter

Filters low-value coins which would not allow setting a stoploss.

Price Pair Filter

The PriceFilter allows filtering of pairs by price. Currently, only low_price_ratio is implemented, where a raise of 1 price unit (pip) is below the low_price_ratio ratio. This option is disabled by default, and will only apply if set to <> 0.

Calculation example:
Min price precision is 8 decimals. If price is 0.00000011 - one step would be 0.00000012 - which is almost 10% higher than the previous value.

These pairs are dangerous since it may be impossible to place the desired stoploss - and often result in high losses.

Spread Filter

Removes pairs that have a difference between asks and bids above the specified ratio (default 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

Full Pairlist example

The below example blacklists BNB/BTC, uses VolumePairList with 20 assets, sorting by quoteVolume and applies both PrecisionFilter and PriceFilter, filtering all assets where 1 priceunit is > 1%.

"exchange": {
    "pair_whitelist": [],
    "pair_blacklist": ["BNB/BTC"]
},
"pairlists": [
    {
        "method": "VolumePairList",
        "number_assets": 20,
        "sort_key": "quoteVolume",
    },
    {"method": "PrecisionFilter"},
    {"method": "PriceFilter", "low_price_ratio": 0.01}
    ],

Switch to Dry-run mode

We recommend starting the bot in the Dry-run mode to see how your bot will behave and what is the performance of your strategy. In the Dry-run mode the bot does not engage your money. It only runs a live simulation without creating trades on the exchange.

1. Edit your config.json configuration file.
2. Switch dry-run to true and specify db_url for a persistence database.

"dry_run": true,
"db_url": "sqlite:///tradesv3.dryrun.sqlite",

3. Remove your Exchange API key and secret (change them by empty values or fake credentials):

"exchange": {
        "name": "bittrex",
        "key": "key",
        "secret": "secret",
        ...
}

Once you will be happy with your bot performance running in the Dry-run mode, you can switch it to production mode.

!!! Note A simulated wallet is available during dry-run mode, and will assume a starting capital of dry_run_wallet (defaults to 1000).

Considerations for dry-run

• API-keys may or may not be provided. Only Read-Only operations (i.e. operations that do not alter account state) on the exchange are performed in the dry-run mode.
• Wallets (/balance) are simulated.
• Orders are simulated, and will not be posted to the exchange.
• In combination with stoploss_on_exchange, the stop_loss price is assumed to be filled.
• Open orders (not trades, which are stored in the database) are reset on bot restart.

Switch to production mode

In production mode, the bot will engage your money. Be careful, since a wrong strategy can lose all your money. Be aware of what you are doing when you run it in production mode.

Setup your exchange account

You will need to create API Keys (usually you get key and secret, some exchanges require an additional password) from the Exchange website and you'll need to insert this into the appropriate fields in the configuration or when asked by the freqtrade new-config command. API Keys are usually only required for live trading (trading for real money, bot running in "production mode", executing real orders on the exchange) and are not required for the bot running in dry-run (trade simulation) mode. When you setup the bot in dry-run mode, you may fill these fields with empty values.

To switch your bot in production mode

Edit your config.json file.

Switch dry-run to false and don't forget to adapt your database URL if set:

"dry_run": false,

Insert your Exchange API key (change them by fake api keys):

"exchange": {
        "name": "bittrex",
        "key": "af8ddd35195e9dc500b9a6f799f6f5c93d89193b",
        "secret": "08a9dc6db3d7b53e1acebd9275677f4b0a04f1a5",
        ...
}

You should also make sure to read the Exchanges section of the documentation to be aware of potential configuration details specific to your exchange.

Using proxy with Freqtrade

To use a proxy with freqtrade, add the kwarg "aiohttp_trust_env"=true to the "ccxt_async_kwargs" dict in the exchange section of the configuration.

An example for this can be found in config_full.json.example

"ccxt_async_config": {
    "aiohttp_trust_env": true
}

Then, export your proxy settings using the variables "HTTP_PROXY" and "HTTPS_PROXY" set to the appropriate values

export HTTP_PROXY="http://addr:port"
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://addr:port"
freqtrade

Embedding Strategies

Freqtrade provides you with with an easy way to embed the strategy into your configuration file. This is done by utilizing BASE64 encoding and providing this string at the strategy configuration field, in your chosen config file.

Encoding a string as BASE64

This is a quick example, how to generate the BASE64 string in python

from base64 import urlsafe_b64encode

with open(file, 'r') as f:
    content = f.read()
content = urlsafe_b64encode(content.encode('utf-8'))

The variable 'content', will contain the strategy file in a BASE64 encoded form. Which can now be set in your configurations file as following

"strategy": "NameOfStrategy:BASE64String"

Please ensure that 'NameOfStrategy' is identical to the strategy name!

Next step

Now you have configured your config.json, the next step is to start your bot.