MACD + 200 EMA (pullback cross)¶
What it does: Buys a MACD turn-up during a dip while price stays above the 200-candle average. MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This buys when MACD crosses above its signal line while MACD is still below zero (a dip) and the price is above the 200-candle average.
Style: Momentum · Difficulty: Beginner · Risk: medium · Ready: 2 of 2 variants
When people use it: It tends to work in trends with pullbacks.
Where it struggles: It struggles when the price chops sideways around the 200-candle average.
Markets it was written for: BTC, ETH. Timeframes: 1h (30m-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 a MACD turn-up during a dip while price stays above the 200-candle average.
Labels: Momentum, Long, Spot, Beginner, Medium
- Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (1h)
Entry
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses above MACD(12,26,9) Signal (1h) and MACD(12,26,9) < 0 (1h) and Price > EMA(200) (1h)
Exit: Standard Exit
- Take-profit %: 3%
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 2%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Take-profit % | 3 | Yes | Where it takes profit. Higher aims for bigger wins but fewer trades reach it; lower wins more often but smaller. |
| Stop-loss % | 2 | 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. |
| Trend average | 200 | Yes | It only trades on the trend side of this average (buys above it; the short version shorts below it). Shorter lets it trade sooner after a trend change; longer is stricter. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This buys when MACD crosses above its signal line while MACD is still below zero (a dip) and the price is above the 200-candle average.
- It exits at a 3% profit target or a 2% stop-loss (1.5 to 1 reward to risk).
- It tends to work in trends with pullbacks.
- It struggles when the price chops sideways around the 200-candle average.
- Trades on 1-hour candles (30 minutes to 4 hours also work); the 200-candle average needs about 600 candles of history.
- The original sets the stop below the last swing low; a fixed % is used here.
Short (perp)¶
Shorts a MACD turn-down during a rally while price stays below the 200-candle average.
Labels: Momentum, Short, Futures, Medium, Backtest Only
- Direction: Sell (short) · Market: swap
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (1h)
Entry
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses below MACD(12,26,9) Signal (1h) and MACD(12,26,9) > 0 (1h) and Price < EMA(200) (1h)
Exit: Standard Exit
- Take-profit %: 3%
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 2%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Take-profit % | 3 | Yes | Where it takes profit. Higher aims for bigger wins but fewer trades reach it; lower wins more often but smaller. |
| Stop-loss % | 2 | 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. |
| Trend average | 200 | Yes | It only trades on the trend side of this average (buys above it; the short version shorts below it). Shorter lets it trade sooner after a trend change; longer is stricter. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This shorts when MACD crosses below its signal line while MACD is still above zero (a bounce) and the price is below the 200-candle average.
- It closes at a 3% profit target (price 3% below entry) or a 2% stop-loss (1.5 to 1 reward to risk).
- It tends to work in downtrends with bounces.
- It struggles when the price chops sideways around the 200-candle average.
- Trades on 1-hour candles (30 minutes to 4 hours also work); the 200-candle average needs about 600 candles of history.
- The original sets the stop below the last swing low; a fixed % is used here.
- Shorting means you profit if the price falls and lose if it rises.
- Suggested leverage is at most 5x. On isolated margin, at 5x the exchange closes the position (liquidation) if the price moves about 19.6% 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: EMA, MACD.