Moving Average Crossovers with Break-Even Stops and Staged Targets

Summary

This strategy enters long when price crosses above a simple moving average and short when it crosses below. It combines an initial stop, a rule to move protection to the entry price after a favorable move, and two profit objectives that scale out a larger portion of the position at the first target and the remainder at the second. The settings expose trade size, stop distance, target distances, break-even trigger, and moving-average period. The prose describes a 200-period average, while the published settings and code use a 180-period default.

The document presents the rules and a BTC/USDT futures backtest interval, but gives no performance results. It notes that repeated crosses can cause losses and costs in sideways markets, and that fixed sizing, slippage, and reliance on one indicator are limitations. The code expresses distances in instrument ticks and uses entry-price state, so actual behavior depends on the symbol's tick size and order simulation. The stated partial-exit and stop logic should be validated in a backtest before drawing conclusions.

Key ideas

• Price crossing above or below a simple moving average triggers long or short entries.
• An initial stop can move to break-even after price advances by a configurable distance.
• The system uses staged profit targets to reduce most of the position first and retain a smaller remainder.
• Sideways markets, slippage, fixed sizing, and tick-size conventions may materially affect results.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.