I realized today that in order to fully debug and test my strategy ideas, I need to fully understand what the logs are trying to tell me.
So I created a simple test script in order to determine what the log entries associated with trades mean.
The trades were ordered like this, alternating long and short trades:
if ( Step == 1) {
Step = 2;
StopLoss = price(0) - .01;
TakeProfit = price(0) + .01;
enterLong( Lot, price(0), StopLoss, TakeProfit );
} else {
Step = 1;
StopLoss = price(0) + .01;
TakeProfit = price(0) - .01;
enterShort( Lot, price(0), StopLoss, TakeProfit );
}Here's a snippet from the logfile.
[596: Mon 11-04-11 10:00] -23.34 -0.98 42/85 (1.44644)
(EUR/USD::L) Long 1@1.44598 Entry stop
(EUR/USD::L) Entry stop 1.44598 hit by 1.44644 at 10:00:00
[EUR/USD::S59606] Reverse 1@1.44644: -0.98 at 10:00:00
[EUR/USD::L59607] Long 1@1.44644 Risk 11 p at 10:00:00
Please help me understand what the following tidbits in the log entries are saying to me:
1. Mon 11-04-11 10:00] -23.34 -0.98 42/85 (1.44644)
The trade occurred on 2011-04-11 at 23:34.
What does the -0.98 mean?
What does the 42/85 mean?
1.44644 seems to be the price the script sent with the order. Correct?
2. Long 1@1.44598
It's a long order.
I'm guessing it means 1 lot ordered at price 1.44598.
I'm guessing that between the time my script captured price(0) and sent the order and the time that the order was processed, the spot price fell from 1.44644 to 1.44598. Is that correct?
3. Entry stop
What does this mean? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with Stop Loss.
4. Entry stop 1.44598 hit by 1.44644 at 10:00:00 -- The time was 10:00:00.
It appears to be saying that the trade I ordered at the price 1.44644 transacted at the price $1.44598.
Maybe "Entry stop" means that the order got transacted?
5. Reverse 1@1.44644: -0.98 at 10:00:00
Maybe this refers to reversing the direction of the trade position?
6. Long 1@1.44644 Risk 11 p at 10:00:00
I have no idea what "Risk 11 p" means.
