Users who have BlackArrow Ultra or BlackArrow Pro can create and run automated strategies on the Simulation Account for free. To operate on a Real Account, it is necessary to subscribe the add-on Strategy Automation module directly from the NeloStore.
Learn about plans, payment methods, exposure limits and subscriptions in this article
To set up an automated strategy, go to the Strategies menu:
Through the management interface, create a strategy under New Strategy, edit existing ones via the gear icon, monitor your automations, run them, or pause them. To view the summary and status of the strategies, click the upward-pointing arrow.
The Strategy Automation module is designed to automate the execution strategies created in the Strategy Editor.
Creating an automation
To create an automation, click New Automation:
With the Advanced Settings button, you can view the General, Entry, Exit, Risk, and Safety tabs.
Setting up the automation: General tab
The first step, on the General tab, contains essential and mandatory settings for creating the automation.
Set the account, the execution strategy, the target asset, quantity per order, maximum position quantity, and the period the strategy will use as the basis for its analysis.
The execution strategy is the brain of the automation. Clicking the Select Strategy button will list all execution strategies present on the platform. Once selected, you can Edit Strategy Parameters.
- Account: Select the simulation or brokerage account in which your strategy will operate.
- Strategy: Select the previously created execution strategy.
- Ticker: Select the asset on which the strategy will operate.
- Interval: Select the period on which the strategy will perform analysis and trades.
- Quantity per Order: Select the quantity per order opened on the asset.
- Maximum Position Quantity: Select the maximum quantity per asset that can be opened in a single trade.
If using Replay, you need to enter the asset requested in Replay in the Asset field. In the search window, click the icon to request a replay of the desired asset.
The selected Replay asset can be identified by the [R] marker and yellow coloring. Once requested, the replay will appear at the bottom of the automation screen as shown below:
After configuring the strategy parameters, click Create. To activate the strategy, click Run and enable Replay.
Setting up the automation: Entry tab
On the Entry tab, specify the type of position opening — that is, whether the strategy will open new positions only for buying, only for selling, or both sides. Also set the start and end times during which the strategy will remain active.
You can also enable evaluation of the last candle, which will cause the last candle's entry to be reassessed if a disconnection occurs more than thirty seconds after the candle opens and there is a distance of 0.30% from the candle's opening price.
- Input Order: Select the side on which the strategy should open positions — Buy only, Sell only, or both Buy and Sell.
- Execution Mode: Choose between the standard execution mode, where orders are sent only when the candle closes, or send-on-condition-met mode, where orders are sent only once per candle, but at the moment the condition is met.
- Trading Hours: Select the start and end time during which the strategy will remain active.
- Evaluate last candle after disconnection: If enabled, the last candle's entry will be reassessed if a disconnection occurs more than thirty seconds after the candle opens and there is a distance of 0.30% from the candle's opening price.
Setting up the automation: Exit tab
On the Exit tab, select the OCO strategy — previously set up in the Trading Strategy Editor — for orders executed by the strategy, and choose a time for it to close out all positions:
- OCO Strategy: Select or create an Exit OCO Strategy, using Stop Loss, Trailing Stop, or Auto Breakeven. Note that if an OCO strategy is selected, the strategy's own exit orders will be disregarded. In the Strategy Summary you can check whether the exit is Defined by Code or Defined by OCO.
- Close at: Select this if you want orders to be canceled and the position closed once the configured time is reached. The automation will remain active but will not send new orders. This setting follows local time.
Setting up the automation: Risk tab
On the Risk tab, set a profit target and a loss limit for that specific strategy:
- Daily gain Objective: Set the daily profit target for the Strategy.
- Daily Loss Limit: Set the daily loss limit for the Strategy. When selected, the configured value will appear in the Strategy Summary.
- Consecutive Losses: Select this if you want the strategy to be disabled once it reaches the configured number of consecutive losses.
- Trade count: Select this if you want the strategy to be disabled once it reaches the configured maximum number of trades.
- Pause when account limits are reached:
Set up the Account's overall Risk Management by clicking Edit in the "General Account Limits" section. If the account is being used by several strategies at the same time, it will block new trades across more than one strategy, following that account's Risk Management settings.
- Account loss is greater than: Set the daily loss limit for the Strategy. When selected, the configured value will appear in the Strategy Summary.
- Account gain is greater than: Set the daily profit target for the Strategy.
The values configured in the "Pause upon reaching" and "Pause and Close upon reaching" sections are set per portfolio and are not cumulative across them, as these are portfolio-specific risk settings.
Setting up the automation: Safety tab
Finally, on the Safety tab, define the strategy's behavior in the event of a code failure or market changes, such as the asset entering an auction, for example.
- Failure Control: How the strategy should proceed in case of a code execution failure.
- Auction Control: How the strategy should proceed if the asset enters an auction.
- Flood Control: This option defines how the strategy should proceed when the order rejection limit is exceeded. If there are 10 order rejections, the automation will be blocked for 1 minute. If there are 20 rejections, it will be disabled, or disabled and closed out.
Monitoring Automations
To make edits to your automation, within the control interface you can right-click on the strategy and go to Edit Automation, or use the strategy's edit icon:
You can also edit strategies while they are running:
- Automation Details: View the Initial Configuration, Entry, Exit, and Risk details.
- Duplicate Automation: Duplicate the automation for use on another asset.
- Run: Run the automation.
- Close Position: Close out ongoing trades.
- Edit Strategy Code: Modify the previously created execution strategy.
- Remove: Delete the automation.
- Strategy Automation Properties: Select the columns visible in the module and customize the font.
To Pause or Pause + Close Position, go to Pause on the strategy, or right-click on the strategy or on the three dots:
You can also use the buttons in the top-right corner of the control interface to pause all running automations, or to pause and close out all open positions.
Track your strategies and results
Through the Strategies menu, you can tell whether you have an active strategy even with the Strategy Automation window closed.
The menu will be highlighted in blue, and clicking on it will display the number of running strategies, allowing you to take quick action.
In Strategy Automation, view a quick summary of the main information in the grid, such as status, the portfolio the automation is linked to, asset, timeframe, strategy, position, and results.
In this window you can also view a summary of statistics related to that strategy, with more detail available in Summary and Status:
For more information, access the automation Details by right-clicking on the strategy or on the three dots:
In the automation details, you have tabs such as Chart, Summary, X-ray, and Events.
Under Events, check information about events that occurred in your automation:
Points of attention:
- When the risk limits set in the Platform's Risk Management are reached, strategy automations will be paused.
- If an automation is active, adjustments (splits, dividends) cannot be edited.
- Currently, the use of Strategy Automations on the platform is done exclusively from the Desktop Windows platform. However, BlackArrow Ultra licenses include the Remote Control feature, which allows managing automations previously set up and active on Desktop through the Mobile app.
Unlike systems that operate directly on cloud servers, BlackArrow's automation resides on your hardware, meaning the software must remain open on your computer for it to operate. Therefore, the integrity of your operation is tied to the stability of your physical environment (power, internet, and operating system).
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