Scheduling Intraday Strategy Actions with Session Timers
Code backtrader
Summary
This example demonstrates how a Backtrader strategy can schedule callbacks around market-session events. Timer settings include the event time, an offset, repeated intervals, selected weekdays or month days, and rules for carrying a scheduled event across calendar boundaries. The strategy prints bar data and timer notifications, making the timing behavior observable during a run.
An optional cheat timer creates a buy order when its callback fires; the ordinary timer only reports its event. This illustrates how callback timing can affect order handling in a backtest. The example uses five-minute intraday data and specifies a session window, but it provides no performance analysis or evidence that the sample buy behavior is profitable. Results depend on the data feed, timer configuration, and broker execution assumptions.
Key ideas
- Session timers can trigger strategy callbacks at configured market times.
- Offsets and repeat intervals allow callbacks to be scheduled relative to a session event.
- Weekday and month-day settings control which calendar dates receive timer events.
- A cheat timer can place an order during the timer callback, changing its execution timing.
- The example logs bars and timer events but does not assess trading performance.
Tags
Full text
# scheduled-min.py
```py
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8; py-indent-offset:4 -*-
###############################################################################
#
# Copyright (C) 2015-2023 Daniel Rodriguez
#
# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#
###############################################################################
from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
unicode_literals)
import argparse
import datetime
import backtrader as bt
class St(bt.Strategy):
params = dict(
when=bt.timer.SESSION_START,
timer=True,
cheat=False,
offset=datetime.timedelta(),
repeat=datetime.timedelta(),
weekdays=[],
weekcarry=False,
monthdays=[],
monthcarry=True,
)
def __init__(self):
bt.ind.SMA()
if self.p.timer:
self.add_timer(
when=self.p.when,
offset=self.p.offset,
repeat=self.p.repeat,
weekdays=self.p.weekdays,
weekcarry=self.p.weekcarry,
monthdays=self.p.monthdays,
monthcarry=self.p.monthcarry,
# tzdata=self.data0,
)
if self.p.cheat:
self.add_timer(
when=self.p.when,
offset=self.p.offset,
repeat=self.p.repeat,
weekdays=self.p.weekdays,
weekcarry=self.p.weekcarry,
monthdays=self.p.monthdays,
monthcarry=self.p.monthcarry,
tzdata=self.data0,
cheat=True,
)
self.order = None
def prenext(self):
self.next()
def next(self):
_, isowk, isowkday = self.datetime.date().isocalendar()
txt = '{}, {}, Week {}, Day {}, O {}, H {}, L {}, C {}'.format(
len(self), self.datetime.datetime(),
isowk, isowkday,
self.data.open[0], self.data.high[0],
self.data.low[0], self.data.close[0])
print(txt)
def notify_timer(self, timer, when, *args, **kwargs):
print('strategy notify_timer with tid {}, when {} cheat {}'.
format(timer.p.tid, when, timer.p.cheat))
if self.order is None and timer.params.cheat:
print('-- {} Create buy order'.format(
self.data.datetime.datetime()))
self.order = self.buy()
def notify_order(self, order):
if order.status == order.Completed:
print('-- {} Buy Exec @ {}'.format(
self.data.datetime.datetime(), order.executed.price))
def runstrat(args=None):
args = parse_args(args)
cerebro = bt.Cerebro()
# Data feed kwargs
kwargs = dict(
timeframe=bt.TimeFrame.Minutes,
compression=5,
sessionstart=datetime.time(9, 0),
sessionend=datetime.time(17, 30),
)
# Parse from/to-date
dtfmt, tmfmt = '%Y-%m-%d', 'T%H:%M:%S'
for a, d in ((getattr(args, x), x) for x in ['fromdate', 'todate']):
if a:
strpfmt = dtfmt + tmfmt * ('T' in a)
kwargs[d] = datetime.datetime.strptime(a, strpfmt)
# Data feed
data0 = bt.feeds.BacktraderCSVData(dataname=args.data0, **kwargs)
cerebro.adddata(data0)
# Broker
cerebro.broker = bt.brokers.BackBroker(**eval('dict(' + args.broker + ')'))
# Sizer
cerebro.addsizer(bt.sizers.FixedSize, **eval('dict(' + args.sizer + ')'))
# Strategy
cerebro.addstrategy(St, **eval('dict(' + args.strat + ')'))
# Execute
cerebro.run(**eval('dict(' + args.cerebro + ')'))
if args.plot: # Plot if requested to
cerebro.plot(**eval('dict(' + args.plot + ')'))
def parse_args(pargs=None):
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter,
description=(
'Timer Test Intraday'
)
)
parser.add_argument('--data0', default='../../datas/2006-min-005.txt',
required=False, help='Data to read in')
# Defaults for dates
parser.add_argument('--fromdate', required=False, default='',
help='Date[time] in YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM:SS] format')
parser.add_argument('--todate', required=False, default='',
help='Date[time] in YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM:SS] format')
parser.add_argument('--cerebro', required=False, default='',
metavar='kwargs', help='kwargs in key=value format')
parser.add_argument('--broker', required=False, default='',
metavar='kwargs', help='kwargs in key=value format')
parser.add_argument('--sizer', required=False, default='',
metavar='kwargs', help='kwargs in key=value format')
parser.add_argument('--strat', required=False, default='',
metavar='kwargs', help='kwargs in key=value format')
parser.add_argument('--plot', required=False, default='',
nargs='?', const='{}',
metavar='kwargs', help='kwargs in key=value format')
return parser.parse_args(pargs)
if __name__ == '__main__':
runstrat()
```Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: GPL-3.0
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.