Brent Neale edbe359d1b Phase 1 complete: S3-S6 strategies, S4 variant analysis, learnings doc
- S3 Key Level Breakout: best performer (52-53% WR, PF ~1.0 on JPY crosses)
- S4 EMA Ribbon: tested 7 variants (D/E/F/F-v2/G/G-Minimal), exhausted
  - Only EUR_AUD S4-F marginally profitable (PF 1.06)
  - Detailed filter funnel analysis revealed contradictory filter stacking
- S5 Momentum Exhaustion: extended to 5 pairs, PF 0.43-0.77
- S6 EMA Bounce: 59-60% WR but PF 0.83-0.84, needs SL/TP restructuring
- Added STRATEGY_LEARNINGS.md with design principles and next steps
- Added M5 data downloader for 3-timeframe strategies
- Updated README with full strategy scorecard

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-02-18 20:42:16 +10:00
2026-02-17 22:53:49 +10:00

fx-quant

Algorithmic FX trading system with backtesting, paper/live execution via OANDA, and a Flask web dashboard.

Quick Start (New Machine Setup)

1. Clone & install dependencies

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd fx-quant
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Configure environment variables

Copy the template and fill in your credentials:

cp config/.env.example config/.env

Required variables in config/.env:

Variable Description
SUPABASE_URL Your Supabase project URL
SUPABASE_KEY Supabase anon/service key
OANDA_API_KEY OANDA v20 API token
OANDA_ACCOUNT_ID OANDA account ID
OANDA_ENV practice or live (default: practice)
DASHBOARD_PASSWORD Password for web dashboard login
TRADING_ECONOMICS_API_KEY Trading Economics API key (for economic calendar)

3. Verify connectivity

python src/test_connection.py

4. Load historical data (if Supabase table is empty)

python src/historical_loader.py

5. Run the backtester

python src/backtester.py

Output goes to logs/:

  • backtest_trades_<INSTRUMENT>_<GRANULARITY>.csv -- trade log
  • backtest_summary_<INSTRUMENT>_<GRANULARITY>.json -- metrics + monthly P&L

6. Visualize trades on a chart

python src/chart_trades.py --start 2025-02-24 --end 2025-02-27
python src/chart_trades.py --granularity M15 --start 2025-04-01 --end 2025-04-15

Saves PNG charts to logs/chart_trades_*.png.


Project Structure

fx-quant/
  config/
    system.yaml          # Main configuration (strategy, features, execution)
    .env                 # Secrets (not committed)
  src/
    config_loader.py     # Loads system.yaml + .env
    data_engine.py       # Feature engineering (SMA, EMA, RSI, ATR, VWAP, pivots, engulfing)
    backtester.py        # Backtesting engine (SMA cross + pivot retest strategies)
    order_executor.py    # Paper/live order execution via OANDA
    ai_wrapper.py        # ML ensemble (logistic reg, RF, gradient boosting) signal validation
    dashboard.py         # Flask web dashboard
    chart_trades.py      # Matplotlib/mplfinance trade visualization
    get_candles.py       # Fetch candles from OANDA API
    economic_calendar.py # Economic calendar fetch/upload pipeline
    historical_loader.py # Bulk historical data loader
    supabase_upload.py   # Upload candle data to Supabase
    param_sweep.py       # Strategy parameter optimization
    test_connection.py   # OANDA + Supabase connectivity check
  templates/             # Flask HTML templates (chart, backtest, config, logs)
  logs/                  # Output: trade CSVs, JSON summaries, chart PNGs
  models/                # Saved ML models
  sql/                   # Database schemas
  Dockerfile             # Bot container
  docker-compose.yml     # Bot + dashboard services
  requirements.txt       # Python dependencies (portable)
  requirements.docker.txt# Docker-specific deps

Phase 1: Strategy Backtesting Status

Backtested 6 strategy families across 10 currency pairs on 2021-2024 data. Full results in results/phase1/, detailed learnings in results/STRATEGY_LEARNINGS.md.

Working Strategies

S3 — Key Level Momentum Breakout (H1 timeframe) — Best performer

Pair Trades Win Rate PF PnL (pips) Max DD
GBP_JPY 155 52.3% 0.99 +408 -13.5%
GBP_USD 179 53.1% 1.02 +97 -10.2%
USD_JPY 138 52.9% 1.00 +66 -9.8%

Breakout of horizontal S/R levels (3+ touch clusters) with volume confirmation, strong candle close, MACD alignment, and ADX > 20. Simple, 4-filter approach on H1. Needs SL/TP tuning to push PF above 1.0 consistently.

Strategies With Potential (Need Tweaks)

S4-F — EMA Ribbon Trend Context (EUR_AUD only): 95 trades, 45.3% WR, PF 1.06, +173 pips. Only profitable on EUR_AUD. Needs pair-specific tuning and SL/TP restructuring.

S6 — EMA Bounce (EUR_AUD/GBP_USD): 59-60% win rate but PF 0.83-0.84. Win rate is strong — needs tighter SL or trailing stop to fix risk/reward.

Strategies Retired

Strategy Issue Status
S1 — MA Breakout 35-47% WR, PF 0.40-0.88 No edge
S2 — VWAP Reversal 20-25% WR, 26 consecutive losses Disabled
S4 — EMA Ribbon (6 variants) Extensively tested D/E/F/F-v2/G/G-Minimal. Only EUR_AUD S4-F marginal. Exhausted
S5 — Momentum Exhaustion High trade count but PF 0.43-0.77 Too much noise

Key Learnings

  1. Momentum + mean-reversion filters are contradictory — don't combine in one strategy
  2. 3-4 hard filters max — more gates compound multiplicatively and kill trade count
  3. Always validate thresholds against data distributions before running backtests
  4. Simple strategies beat complex ones — S3 (4 filters) outperforms S4 (7+ filters)
  5. H1 timeframe has natural edge — lower timeframes (M5/M15) struggle with noise

Full filter analysis and design principles in results/STRATEGY_LEARNINGS.md.

Next Phase

Moving to Smart Money / institutional flow strategies. Will also revisit S3 (SL/TP tuning, expanded pairs) and S6 (risk/reward restructuring).


Strategies (Legacy Reference)

SMA Cross (original)

Long-only strategy. Goes long when short SMA > long SMA, flat otherwise.

strategy:
  rule: sma_cross
  params:
    short: 50
    long: 100

Pivot Retest + Engulfing

Long/short strategy with dual take-profit and ATR-based stop loss.

Entry conditions (all must be true):

  • Price retests a pivot level (broke through, then returned within ATR tolerance)
  • SMA 50 aligns with trade direction relative to the pivot level
  • Engulfing candle pattern confirmed
  • Strong close (in top/bottom 30% of candle range)

Position management:

  • SL: 1.5x ATR from entry
  • TP1: next pivot level in trade direction (close 50%, move SL to breakeven)
  • TP2: pivot level after TP1 (close remaining 50%)
strategy:
  rule: pivot_retest_engulfing
  params:
    sma_period: 50
    lookback_bars: 20
    retest_tolerance_atr: 0.5
    strong_close_pct: 0.30
    sl_atr_multiplier: 1.5

To switch strategies, edit config/system.yaml and change strategy.rule.

Configuration Reference

All settings live in config/system.yaml:

Section Key settings
brokers[0].instruments Currency pairs to trade (e.g. EUR_USD)
data.candle_granularities Timeframes (M5, M15, H1, etc.)
features.* Indicator windows (SMA, EMA, RSI, ATR, VWAP, volatility)
strategy.* Active strategy rule + parameters
ai.* ML ensemble config, confidence threshold, sanity checks
execution.paper_mode true for paper trading, false for live
execution.interval_seconds Bot loop interval
execution.max_positions Max concurrent open trades

Web Dashboard

Flask-based UI for remote management.

# Docker
docker-compose build && docker-compose up -d

# Or run directly
python src/dashboard.py

Access via SSH tunnel: ssh -L 5000:localhost:5000 your-server, then open http://localhost:5000.

Pages: Status (/), Backtest (/backtest), Chart (/chart), Config (/config), Logs (/logs)

Kill Switch

Create STOP_ALL_TRADING in the project root to halt all trading immediately. The bot checks for this file every loop iteration. In live mode, it also closes all open trades. Toggle via the dashboard or manually:

touch STOP_ALL_TRADING   # activate
rm STOP_ALL_TRADING      # deactivate

Economic Calendar

Filters trade entries near high-impact economic events (NFP, CPI, rate decisions, etc.) to reduce slippage and false signals. Uses the Trading Economics API.

Setup:

  1. Subscribe to a Trading Economics API plan that includes Calendar data (pricing)
  2. Add your API key to config/.env: TRADING_ECONOMICS_API_KEY=your-key-here
  3. Create the Supabase table: run sql/create_economic_calendar.sql in the SQL Editor
  4. Fetch events: python src/economic_calendar.py (full load) or python src/economic_calendar.py --incremental

Config (config/system.yamleconomic_calendar):

Key Default Description
enabled true Toggle calendar filter on/off
impact_threshold High Minimum impact level to block entries (Low, Medium, High)
event_buffer_minutes 30 Block entries within this many minutes of an event
days_back 400 How far back to fetch on full load

Status: Table created in Supabase. Awaiting Trading Economics API key (subscription request pending). Once the key is obtained, run the loader and the backtester will automatically filter entries near high-impact events.

Running the Bot

# Single execution
python src/order_executor.py --once

# Continuous loop (default 60s interval)
python src/order_executor.py

# Docker
docker-compose up -d
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