Bollinger Band Re-entry (bbta-style)¶
What it does: Buys when price closes back inside the lower Bollinger Band after a dip below it. This buys when a candle closes back above the lower Bollinger Band after the price had dropped below it. The lower band marks an unusually low price compared with the last 20 candles.
Style: Mean reversion · Difficulty: Intermediate · Risk: medium · Ready: 2 of 2 variants
When people use it: It tends to work in sideways markets with weak trends (low ADX).
Where it struggles: It struggles in sharp crashes and in strong trends where the price 'walks' along the band instead of bouncing.
Markets it was written for: BTC, ETH, liquid alts (BB 20/2.5 on alts). Timeframes: 1h (15m-4h).
Open it in the Strategy Library (on the Strategies page), pick a variant, adjust the settings and press Add to my strategies. It becomes your own strategy: edit, backtest or trade it like any other.
Long¶
Buys when price closes back inside the lower Bollinger Band after a dip below it.
Labels: Mean Reversion, Long, Spot, Intermediate, Medium
- Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (1h)
Entry
- IF Price crosses above BB(20,2) Lower band (1h)
- UNLESS (ADX(14) > 25 (1h) and ADX(14) −DI > ADX(14) +DI (1h)) or Price < EMA(200) (1d)
Exit: Indicator-Based Exit
- IF Price touches BB(20,2) Middle band (1h)
- Min profit: 0.3% (exit conditions only close once the trade is this far in profit after fees)
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 4%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band length | 20 | Yes (sets 2 fields) | How many candles the bands are based on. Shorter reacts faster and gives more signals; longer is smoother and gives fewer. Changes the entry band and the middle-band exit together. |
| Band width | 2 | Yes (sets 2 fields) | How far the outer bands sit from the average. Lower means smaller moves count, so more trades; higher waits for bigger moves, so fewer trades. On jumpy coins a wider band (2.5) is suggested. |
| ADX veto level | 25 | Yes | Trend strength above which (with the trend against you) the trade is skipped. Lower skips more trades and stays out of more trends; higher lets it trade in stronger trends, where re-entries fail more often. |
| Stop-loss % | 4 | Yes | Closes the trade if the price moves this far against your entry. Tighter limits each loss but gets hit more often by normal swings; wider gives the trade more room but each losing trade costs more. If you use leverage, keep it well inside your liquidation distance. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- This buys when a candle closes back above the lower Bollinger Band after the price had dropped below it. The lower band marks an unusually low price compared with the last 20 candles.
- It sells when the price touches the middle band (the 20-candle average) with at least a small profit, or at the stop-loss.
- It skips trades in a strong downtrend: when ADX (trend strength) is above 25 with sellers in control, or when the price is below its 200-day average.
- It tends to work in sideways markets with weak trends (low ADX).
- It struggles in sharp crashes and in strong trends where the price 'walks' along the band instead of bouncing.
- Trades on 1-hour candles (15 minutes to 4 hours also work); small profit targets mean fees take a noticeable share.
Short (perp)¶
Shorts when price closes back inside the upper Bollinger Band after a spike above it.
Labels: Mean Reversion, Short, Futures, Medium, Backtest Only
- Direction: Sell (short) · Market: swap
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (1h)
Entry
- IF Price crosses below BB(20,2) Upper band (1h)
- UNLESS (ADX(14) > 25 (1h) and ADX(14) +DI > ADX(14) −DI (1h)) or Price > EMA(200) (1d)
Exit: Indicator-Based Exit
- IF Price touches BB(20,2) Middle band (1h)
- Min profit: 0.3% (exit conditions only close once the trade is this far in profit after fees)
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 3%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band length | 20 | Yes (sets 2 fields) | How many candles the bands are based on. Shorter reacts faster and gives more signals; longer is smoother and gives fewer. Changes the entry band and the middle-band exit together. |
| Band width | 2 | Yes (sets 2 fields) | How far the outer bands sit from the average. Lower means smaller moves count, so more trades; higher waits for bigger moves, so fewer trades. On jumpy coins a wider band (2.5) is suggested. |
| ADX veto level | 25 | Yes | Trend strength above which (with the trend against you) the trade is skipped. Lower skips more trades and stays out of more trends; higher lets it trade in stronger trends, where re-entries fail more often. |
| Stop-loss % | 3 | Yes | Closes the trade if the price moves this far against your entry. Tighter limits each loss but gets hit more often by normal swings; wider gives the trade more room but each losing trade costs more. If you use leverage, keep it well inside your liquidation distance. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- This shorts when a candle closes back below the upper Bollinger Band after the price had pushed above it. The upper band marks an unusually high price compared with the last 20 candles.
- It buys back when the price touches the middle band (the 20-candle average) with at least a small profit, or at the stop-loss.
- It skips trades in a strong uptrend: when ADX (trend strength) is above 25 with buyers in control, or when the price is above its 200-day average.
- It tends to work in sideways markets with weak trends (low ADX).
- It struggles in sharp rallies and short squeezes, and in strong trends where the price 'walks' along the upper band instead of falling back.
- Trades on 1-hour candles (15 minutes to 4 hours also work); small profit targets mean fees take a noticeable share.
- Shorting means you profit if the price falls and lose if it rises.
- Suggested leverage is at most 2x. On isolated margin, at 2x the exchange closes the position (liquidation) if the price moves about 49.7% against you, and you lose the margin you put into it. Keep your stop well inside that.
- For now this version runs in backtests only; paper and live futures trading are coming later.
Warnings¶
- "Backtest only for now: paper and live trading of shorts are coming later.": shown on short variants. They need perpetual or futures pairs.
- Some variants suggest leverage. On isolated margin a liquidation loses the margin in that position; keep any stop well inside the liquidation distance (the Trade Builder warns you when it isn't).
- Once added, the strategy's conditions get the usual condition checks. Messages show under each condition on the entry / exit conditions screen; setting errors start with the indicator's short name (for example "MACD: Fast must be between 1 and 1000") and block saving, while the other warnings never block saving and repeat in the strategy's Entry or Exit section. See the indicator pages below for each one.
- "You already have this strategy with these settings (…). Change a setting to add another copy.": shown on the variant's page in the Strategy Library when you already added this variant with the same settings.
Good to know¶
- After you add it, the strategy keeps the library's trigger and an Auto main timeframe; you can change both in the builder. Nothing links it back to the library, except that the builder still shows the library's explanations in the info bubbles.
- Changing a setting before adding it also changes the saved name, so you can tell copies apart.
- Past results don't predict future ones. Try it in a backtest and on paper before using real money.
- Indicators used: ADX, BB, EMA.