Hi there,

I've backtested a variety of cryptocurrency strategies with backtrader and am now at the point where I'd like to start papertrading. I'm struggling to come up with the best way to go about implementing it. I'd prefer to be able to connect backtrader directly to Binance through its API, but I'm having a hard time finding how to directly do this. I found a thread on implementing a CCXT extension, but there still seems to be some issues with that. My other option would be to set a timer on a python script to the Binance API, store the data as a CSV, and then have backtrader take in the new data. My main question about this method is whether or not backtrader has the ability to (once initially run) call on the new data every few minutes so that I'm trading on a 5 minute lag or less.

Hopefully I described my situation well enough, if not please let me know. If anybody has additional ideas that what I'd come up with, I'm all ears! Thanks y'all

@taylerallen6 What do you mean by depreciated and no longer works ? I had a mod suggest to me the original Oanda API just last week. That said I haven't tried implementation yet. Also, click the link above you, go to the issues section, and under "Which features are missing" is a thread of their progress.

Hi there,

I've backtested a variety of cryptocurrency strategies with backtrader and am now at the point where I'd like to start papertrading. I'm struggling to come up with the best way to go about implementing it. I'd prefer to be able to connect backtrader directly to Binance through its API, but I'm having a hard time finding how to directly do this. I found a thread on implementing a CCXT extension, but there still seems to be some issues with that. My other option would be to set a timer on a python script to the Binance API, store the data as a CSV, and then have backtrader take in the new data. My main question about this method is whether or not backtrader has the ability to (once initially run) call on the new data every few minutes so that I'm trading on a 5 minute lag or less.

Hopefully I described my situation well enough, if not please let me know. If anybody has additional ideas that what I'd come up with, I'm all ears! Thanks y'all

@tomasrollo , Could you please post your code for Binance? It's exactly what I'm looking for!

I'm getting a strong sense that maybe lines aren't able to call on past values of themselves to generate new values of the same line.I don't see why that would be an issue though, since calling past lines values is a standard thing, but it's the only explanation I have. It would be nice for it to work because then most other worthwhile filters would become usable.

@backtrader, So I've narrowed the problem down to a single line of code. After messing with the log method I figured that it wasn't the issue. For sake of simplicity I decided to simply print the values in the next method as so:

print('Filties, %.2f' % self.filties[0])

I've attempted both the declarative and non-declarative approaches as y'all highlighted in the custom indicator blog post. Below is the non (declarative is at bottom):

class Smooth(bt.Indicator):
lines = ('smooth','filty',)

    def __init__(self):
    
        self.addminperiod(20)
        self.count = 0
    
    def next(self):
        self.l.smooth[0] = sm = self.data[0]
        f = math.degrees(1.44 * 3.14159 / 20)
        a1 = math.exp(-f)
        b1 = 2 * a1 * math.cos(f)
        c2 = b1
        c3 = -a1 * a1
        c1 = 1 - c2 - c3
        if(self.count==0):
            self.l.filty[0] = ((c1 * ((sm + sm) / 2 + (c2 * sm ) + (c3 * sm))))
        if(self.count==1):
            self.l.filty[0] = ((c1 * ((sm + self.l.smooth[-1]) / 2 + (c2 * sm ) + (c3 * self.l.smooth[0]))))
        if(self.count>=2):
            self.l.filty[0] = ((c1 * ((sm + self.l.smooth[-1]) / 2 + (c2 * self.l.filty[-1] ) + (c3 * self.l.filty[-2]))))
        
        self.count= self.count+1

What I am doing here with the three lines of self.l.filty[0] is trying to initialize the line with values so that in the final line I can run it how it should. When I run the program as is, I am returned Nan values.

However, in the final line, if I replace self.l.filty[-1] and self.l.filty[-2] with self.l.smooth[-1] and self.l.smooth[-2], then I am returned actual numerical values for the line filty. I don't understand why this is occurring because I'm almost certain that the first two values in the filty line are being initialized, and so I should be able to call for their values. If I try to call self.l.filty[-1] and self.l.smooth[-2], I am again returned Nan values.

For the sake of being thorough, here is the declarative version I used:

class Smooth(bt.Indicator):
    lines = ('smooth','filty',)

    def __init__(self):
    
        self.l.smooth = sm = self.data
        f = math.degrees(1.44 * 3.14159 / 20)
        a1 = math.exp(-f)
        b1 = 2 * a1 * math.cos(f)
        c2 = b1
        c3 = -a1 * a1
        c1 = 1 - c2 - c3
        self.l.filty = ((c1 * ((sm + self.l.smooth(-1)) / 2 + (c2 * self.l.filty(-1)) + (c3 * self.l.filty(-2)))))

@backtrader, It hadn't changed from the original post, but here is the strategy section:

class ShortStrategy(bt.Strategy):

    def log(self, txt, dt=None):
        ''' Logging function fot this strategy'''

        dt = dt or self.datas[0].datetime.date(0)
        print('%s, %s' % (dt.isoformat(), txt))

    def __init__(self):

        # Keep a reference to the "close" line in the data[0] dataseries

        self.dataclose = self.datas[0].close
        self.FiltClose = self.datas[1].close
        self.Filt2Close = self.datas[2].close

        #self.ema = bt.indicators.ExponentialMovingAverage(self.FiltClose, period=13)
        #self.eroc = bt.indicators.ROC(self.ema)
        self.rsi = bt.indicators.RSI_SMA(self.Filt2Close, period=15,upperband=80,lowerband=20,safediv=True)
        self.sma = bt.indicators.SimpleMovingAverage(self.dataclose,period=25)
        self.filties = Smooth(self.dataclose)

    # To keep track of pending orders and buy price/commission
        self.order = None
        self.buyprice = None
        self.buycomm = None


    def notify_order(self, order):

         if order.status in [order.Submitted, order.Accepted]:
             # Buy/Sell order submitted/accepted to/by broker - Nothing to do
             return

         # Check if an order has been completed
        # Attention: broker could reject order if not enough cash
        if order.status in [order.Completed]:
            if order.isbuy():
                self.log(
                    'BUY EXECUTED, Price: %.2f, Cost: %.2f, Comm %.2f' %
                    (order.executed.price,
                     order.executed.value,
                     order.executed.comm))

                self.buyprice = order.executed.price
                self.buycomm = order.executed.comm
            else:  # Sell
                self.log('SELL EXECUTED, Price: %.2f, Cost: %.2f, Comm %.2f' %
                         (order.executed.price,
                          order.executed.value,
                          order.executed.comm))

            self.bar_executed = len(self)

        elif order.status in [order.Canceled, order.Margin, order.Rejected]:
            self.log('Order Canceled/Margin/Rejected')

        self.order = None

    def notify_trade(self, trade):
        if not trade.isclosed:
            return

        self.log('OPERATION PROFIT, GROSS %.2f, NET %.2f' %
                 (trade.pnl, trade.pnlcomm))

    def next(self):

        #self.log(self.eroc[0])
        self.log(self.filties[0])

        # Simply log the closing price of the series from the reference
        self.log('Close, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])
        #self.log('Close, %.2f' % self.Filtclose[0])
        # Check if an order is pending ... if yes, we cannot send a 2nd one
       if self.order:
            return

         # Check if we are in the market

        if not self.position:

           # Not yet ... we MIGHT SELL if ...
            if ((self.dataclose[0] < self.sma[0]) & (self.rsi<45)):

                # SELL, SELL, SELL!!! (with all possible default parameters)
                 self.log('SELL CREATE, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])

                # Keep track of the created order to avoid a 2nd order
                self.order = self.sell()

        else:

             if (self.rsi[0]>45):
                # BUY, BUY, BUY!!! (with all possible default parameters)
                self.log('BUY CREATE, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])

                 # Keep track of the created order to avoid a 2nd order
                self.order = self.buy()

I'd also like to add that self.log(self.eroc[0]) would output the values of ROC in the text

Thanks for the advice, I've partially gotten it to work in that it computes what it's supposed to and even plots values on the chart at the end, however, when I try to print out the values by logging it during the next method under strategies, I am given Nan. The issue now is understanding how to get it so that I can work with the data within strategies. Below is the new layout for the indicator:

class Smooth(bt.Indicator):

    lines = ('filty','smooth',)

    def __init__(self):

        self.l.smooth = self.data
        f = math.degrees(1.44 * 3.14159 / 20)
        a1 = math.exp(-f)
        b1 = 2 * a1 * math.cos(f)
        c2 = b1
        c3 = -a1 * a1
        c1 = 1 - c2 - c3
        self.l.filty = ((c1 * ((self.l.smooth(0) + self.l.smooth(-1)) / 2 + (c2 * self.l.filty(-1)) + (c3 * self.l.filty(-2)))))

Below I have two custom indicators: ROC and Smooth. ROC is callable as a bt.indicators, however, Smooth is not. When trying to run code with bt.inidcators before Smooth I receive the error " module 'backtrader.indicators' has no attribute 'Smooth'". That is the first odd thing that occurs...

Here is the full code I am working with:

from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
                            unicode_literals)

import datetime  # For datetime objects
import os.path  # To manage paths
import sys  # To find out the script name (in argv[0])
import math
from math import cos, sin
%matplotlib notebook

# Import the backtrader platform
import backtrader as bt

class ROC(bt.Indicator):
    lines = ('roc','ma',)

    def __init__(self):
        self.ma[0] = self.data[0]

    def next(self):
        self.roc = (self.ma-self.ma(-1))


class Smooth(bt.Indicator):
    lines = ('filty','smooth',)

    def __init__(self):
        self.l.smooth[0] = self.data[0]
        f = math.degrees( 1.44 * 3.14159 / 20)
        a1 = math.exp(-f)
        b1 = 2 * a1 * math.cos(f)
        c2 = self.b1
        c3 = -a1 * a1
        c1 = 1 - c2 - c3
    def next(self):
        self.filty = ((self.c1 * ((self.smooth(0) + self.smooth(-1)) / 2 + (self.c2 * self.filty(-1)) + (self.c3 * self.filty(-2)))))


class ShortStrategy(bt.Strategy):

    def log(self, txt, dt=None):
        ''' Logging function fot this strategy'''

        dt = dt or self.datas[0].datetime.date(0)
        print('%s, %s' % (dt.isoformat(), txt))

    def __init__(self):

        # Keep a reference to the "close" line in the data[0] dataseries

        self.dataclose = self.datas[0].close
        self.FiltClose = self.datas[1].close
        self.Filt2Close = self.datas[2].close

        #self.ema = bt.indicators.ExponentialMovingAverage(self.FiltClose, period=13)
        #self.eroc = bt.indicators.ROC(self.ema)
        self.rsi = bt.indicators.RSI_SMA(self.Filt2Close, period=15,upperband=80,lowerband=20,safediv=True)
        self.sma = bt.indicators.SimpleMovingAverage(self.dataclose,period=25)
        self.filties = Smooth(self.dataclose)

    # To keep track of pending orders and buy price/commission
        self.order = None
        self.buyprice = None
        self.buycomm = None


    def notify_order(self, order):

        if order.status in [order.Submitted, order.Accepted]:
            # Buy/Sell order submitted/accepted to/by broker - Nothing to do
            return

        # Check if an order has been completed
        # Attention: broker could reject order if not enough cash
        if order.status in [order.Completed]:
            if order.isbuy():
                self.log(
                    'BUY EXECUTED, Price: %.2f, Cost: %.2f, Comm %.2f' %
                    (order.executed.price,
                     order.executed.value,
                     order.executed.comm))

                self.buyprice = order.executed.price
                self.buycomm = order.executed.comm
            else:  # Sell
                self.log('SELL EXECUTED, Price: %.2f, Cost: %.2f, Comm %.2f' %
                         (order.executed.price,
                          order.executed.value,
                          order.executed.comm))

            self.bar_executed = len(self)

        elif order.status in [order.Canceled, order.Margin, order.Rejected]:
            self.log('Order Canceled/Margin/Rejected')

        self.order = None

    def notify_trade(self, trade):
        if not trade.isclosed:
            return

        self.log('OPERATION PROFIT, GROSS %.2f, NET %.2f' %
                 (trade.pnl, trade.pnlcomm))

    def next(self):

        #self.log(self.eroc[0])
        self.log(self.filties[0])

        # Simply log the closing price of the series from the reference
        self.log('Close, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])
        #self.log('Close, %.2f' % self.Filtclose[0])
        # Check if an order is pending ... if yes, we cannot send a 2nd one
        if self.order:
            return

        # Check if we are in the market

        if not self.position:

            # Not yet ... we MIGHT SELL if ...
            if ((self.dataclose[0] < self.sma[0]) & (self.rsi<45)):

                # SELL, SELL, SELL!!! (with all possible default parameters)
                self.log('SELL CREATE, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])

                # Keep track of the created order to avoid a 2nd order
                self.order = self.sell()

        else:

            if (self.rsi[0]>45):
                # BUY, BUY, BUY!!! (with all possible default parameters)
                self.log('BUY CREATE, %.2f' % self.dataclose[0])

                # Keep track of the created order to avoid a 2nd order
                self.order = self.buy()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Create a cerebro entity
    cerebro = bt.Cerebro()

    cerebro.addstrategy(ShortStrategy)

    datapath1 = ('C:/Users/Nathan/Desktop/Binance/BTCUSDT-AdjMar_Binance.csv')

    # Create a Data Feed

    data = bt.feeds.GenericCSVData(
        dataname=datapath1,
        fromdate=datetime.datetime(2018, 3, 8),
        todate=datetime.datetime(2018, 3, 25),
        dtformat = '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M',timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes
        )

    datapath2 = ('C:/Users/Nathan/Desktop/Binance/BTCUSDT-FiltMar_Binance2.csv')
    Filt = bt.feeds.GenericCSVData(
        dataname=datapath2,
        fromdate = datetime.datetime(2018, 3, 8), 
        todate = datetime.datetime(2018,3,25),
        dtformat = '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M',
        datetime=0,
        close=1,
        open=-1,
        high=-1,
        low=-1,
        volume=-1,
        openinterest=-1, timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes)

    datapath3 = ('C:/Users/Nathan/Desktop/Binance/BTCUSDT-FiltMar_Binance3.csv')
    Filt2 = bt.feeds.GenericCSVData(
        dataname=datapath3,
        fromdate = datetime.datetime(2018, 3, 8), 
        todate = datetime.datetime(2018,3,25),
        dtformat = '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M',
        datetime=0,
        close=1,
        open=-1,
        high=-1,
        low=-1,
        volume=-1,
        openinterest=-1, timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes)


    Filt.plotinfo.plotmaster = data

    # Add the Data Feed to Cerebro
    cerebro.replaydata(data, timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes,compression=48)
    cerebro.replaydata(Filt, timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes,compression=48)
    cerebro.replaydata(Filt2, timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes,compression=48)

    # Set our desired cash start
    cerebro.broker.setcash(100000.0)

    cerebro.addsizer(bt.sizers.FixedSize, stake=10)

    cerebro.broker.setcommission(commission=0.001) # 0.1% ... divide by 100 to remove the %

    # Print out the starting conditions
    print('Starting Portfolio Value: %.2f' % cerebro.broker.getvalue()
    # Run over everything
    cerebro.run()
    # Print out the final result
    print('Final Portfolio Value: %.2f' % cerebro.broker.getvalue())

    cerebro.plot(volume=False)

When I run the above code, this is the error I receive....

IndexError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-1-dfc816206e87> in <module>()
325 
326     # Run over everything
--> 327     cerebro.run()
328 
329     # Print out the final result

~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\cerebro.py in run(self, **kwargs)
    1125             # let's skip process "spawning"
    1126             for iterstrat in iterstrats:
 -> 1127                 runstrat = self.runstrategies(iterstrat)
    1128                 self.runstrats.append(runstrat)
    1129                 if self._dooptimize:

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\cerebro.py in runstrategies(self, iterstrat, predata)
 
    1215             sargs = self.datas + list(sargs)
    1216             try:
 -> 1217                 strat = stratcls(*sargs, **skwargs)
    1218             except bt.errors.StrategySkipError:
    1219                 continue  # do not add strategy to the mix

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\metabase.py in __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
 
      86         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.donew(*args, **kwargs)
      87         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.dopreinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
 ---> 88         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.doinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
      89         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.dopostinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
      90         return _obj

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\metabase.py in doinit(cls, _obj, *args, **kwargs)
 
      76 
      77     def doinit(cls, _obj, *args, **kwargs):
 ---> 78         _obj.__init__(*args, **kwargs)
      79         return _obj, args, kwargs
      80 

 <ipython-input-1-dfc816206e87> in __init__(self)
 
     168         self.rsi = bt.indicators.RSI_SMA(self.Filt2Close, period=15,upperband=80,lowerband=20,safediv=True)
     169         self.sma = bt.indicators.SimpleMovingAverage(self.dataclose,period=25)
 --> 170         self.filties = Smooth(self.dataclose)
     171     # To keep track of pending orders and buy price/commission
     172         self.order = None


 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\indicator.py in __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
 
      51     def __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
      52         if not cls._icacheuse:
 ---> 53             return super(MetaIndicator, cls).__call__(*args, **kwargs)
      54 
      55         # implement a cache to avoid duplicating lines actions

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\metabase.py in __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
 
      86         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.donew(*args, **kwargs)
      87         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.dopreinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
 ---> 88         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.doinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
      89         _obj, args, kwargs = cls.dopostinit(_obj, *args, **kwargs)
      90         return _obj

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\metabase.py in doinit(cls, _obj, *args, **kwargs)
 
      76 
      77     def doinit(cls, _obj, *args, **kwargs):
 ---> 78         _obj.__init__(*args, **kwargs)
      79         return _obj, args, kwargs
      80 

 <ipython-input-1-dfc816206e87> in __init__(self)
 
      29 
      30     def __init__(self):
     ---> 31         self.l.smooth[0] = self.data[0]
      32         f = math.degrees( 1.44 * 3.14159 / 20)
      33         a1 = math.exp(-f)

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\lineseries.py in __getitem__(self, key)
 
     465 
     466     def __getitem__(self, key):
 --> 467         return self.lines[0][key]
     468
     469     def __setitem__(self, key, value):

 ~\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\backtrader\linebuffer.py in __getitem__(self, ago)
 
     161 
     162     def __getitem__(self, ago):
 --> 163         return self.array[self.idx + ago]
     164 
     165     def get(self, ago=0, size=1):

 IndexError: array index out of range

The strange part is that as you can see, the setup for feeding the data into Smooth is the exact same as ROC, however, it doesn't seem to be working. I think it may be rooted in the fact that the program is not recognizing Smooth as an indicator, but that is just a guess.

Okay so I've changed some things around, and now I'm able to get values for Stoc, S1, c1...3, the only part that's giving me issues now is getting a value for MyStoch as it keeps returning Nan - I imagine it has something to do with calculating MyStoch[-1] and [-2], but I haven't come to figure out how yet. @backtrader , thanks for the clarification of init's one time use. You'd think it'd be obvious that initializing would occur only once, but I think it was the concept of lines objects getting generated from operations in init that threw me off. Nonetheless things are looking much better now. @ab_trader , I haven't got a chance to try your code yet, but I really appreciate the effort; I'll give it a shot at some point.

class MyStochastic(bt.Indicator):
    lines = ('MyStoch','Stoc','filts',)

    def __init__(self):
    
        self.f = math.degrees(1.44 * 3.14159 / 10)
        self.a1 = math.exp(-self.f)
        self.b1 = 2 * self.a1 * math.cos(self.f)
        self.c2 = self.b1
        self.c3 = -self.a1 * self.a1
        self.c1 = 1 - self.c2 - self.c3
        self.addminperiod(11)

  
        super(MyStochastic,self).__init__()
       
    def next(self):
        self.filts[0] = self.data[0]

        self.HighestC = bt.indicators.Highest(period=9)
        self.LowestC = bt.indicators.Lowest(period=9)

        self.l.Stoc = (self.filts(0)-self.LowestC/(self.HighestC-self.LowestC))
        S1 = self.Stoc[-1]
        self.lines.MyStoch[0] = (self.c1*(self.l.Stoc[0]+S1)/2 + self.c2*self.l.MyStoch[-1] +  self.c3*self.l.MyStoch[-2])

@ab_trader , tried your code that you posted and worked fine out of the box, however, I still couldn't get past the nan values when calculating MyStoch.

Any thoughts?

@ab_trader, I think you're right about the loop, I switched [-count] to (-count) and got a Boolean error so I'm messing with that now. I'll have to look for those indicators, they sound very useful. Thank you for the help