Trading bots: the guide

A bot is a short list of rules you write, like "buy when the price crosses above the 20 EMA, sell when it gets back below it". It trades on your account while you are away, with the same fees, cooldowns and limits as your own clicks. Bots come with Meme Street Expert, which includes everything in Pro.

Set one up, step by step

Open Bots in the menu. You need an Expert pass that is on; without one the page links to the Shop.
Press New bot, or start from a template: EMA trend, RSI dip, Breakout on volume, News momentum or Calls on good news. A template is an ordinary bot you can change.
Name it, list its stocks and pick a candle size. Stocks are tickers separated by commas (NVXA, CLDR), up to 10. The candle size is 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m or 1h: the bot thinks once each candle of that size closes.
Write its rules. Each row is a condition (When this is true) and an action (Do this), with a size for buys, shorts and options. Add a rule adds a row, up to 10. The order matters: the first rule that is true and makes sense acts (below).
Set a stop and a target if you want them: the position closes when it moves that % against you or for you, from your entry (0 means none). At most … trades a game day caps how busy it can get.
Choose its news words if it reads the news (optional; below).
Run a backtest under the editor: pick a stock, a candle size, how many candles and how much MB to start with, and press Run. It shows how the rules would have done (below).
Save. A rule the bot can't understand is refused with the place it went wrong, so you can fix it.
Switch it on on its card. The card shows its stocks, how many trades it has made today, its rules in plain words, and What it did: its last 40 actions and what came of each. Switch off, Edit and Delete are on the card too.

How a bot runs

Once a candle. When a candle of the bot's size closes, the bot works out its rules on the finished candles, stock by stock. A rule never sees the candle still forming, except through price.
The first rule that is true and makes sense acts, and only one action per stock per candle. "Makes sense" means: no buy or short while it already holds the stock, no sell unless long, no cover unless short, no call while it holds a call on that stock, and so on. So you rarely need to write flat and in front of a buy, but it does no harm.
Stops and targets are checked every second, not once a candle, and close the whole position.
It trades your account. Its orders go through the same code as your own clicks: the 0.1% fee, the cooldowns, your cash, and leverage only if you have Pro (Expert includes it). A sell, cover or close closes your whole position in the stock, including shares you bought by hand, so leave the stocks a bot trades to the bot.
It stops when your Expert pass ends. Every bot is switched off and you get a message. Switch them back on after renewing.
It sees the last 300 candles. An indicator needs that many candles to have a value: ema(200) is fine, while sma(400) never has one in a running bot, so a comparison with it is always false.

Writing rules

A condition is a small formula that is either true or false. Some examples:

cross_above(close, ema(20)) and rsi(14) < 70
price >= ema(200) or pnl_pct <= -5
news_score > 2 and change(12) > 0
close > highest(20) and volume > volume_sma(20) * 1.5

Numbers and maths: + - * / % and brackets. A division by zero gives "no value".
Comparisons: < <= > >= == !=. A comparison with something that has no value yet (an indicator still warming up) is false.
Logic: and, or, not, and the words true and false. and is worked out before or; use brackets when in doubt.
Words are lower case (close, not Close); spaces are optional.
A condition is at most 300 characters. It is read by the game's own small parser, never run as code, and can only read the market and your account.

Every word a rule can use

The candles

Word	What it is
`open high low close volume`	The last finished candle.
`price`	The price right now (inside the candle that is still forming).
`prev(x, n)`	Anything `x` as it was `n` candles ago (1 to 200): `prev(close, 1)` is the close before, `prev(rsi(14), 3)` the RSI three candles back.

Indicators

The numbers in brackets are lengths in candles (1 to 500) and must be plain numbers. Leave one out to get the default shown.

Indicator	What it is
`sma(n)`	Simple moving average of the closes over n candles.
`ema(n)`	Exponential moving average: like the SMA, but recent candles count more.
`wma(n)`	Weighted moving average: weights n, n−1, … 1, newest first.
`rsi(n=14)`	Relative strength index, 0 to 100. Below 30 is often called oversold, above 70 overbought.
`macd(fast=12, slow=26)`	The MACD line: `ema(fast) − ema(slow)`.
`macd_signal(12, 26, 9)`	The signal line: an EMA of the MACD line.
`macd_hist(12, 26, 9)`	The histogram: MACD line minus signal line.
`atr(n=14)`	Average true range: how far a candle typically moves, in MB.
`bb_upper(n=20, k=2)` `bb_mid(n=20)` `bb_lower(n=20, k=2)`	Bollinger bands: the SMA, and k standard deviations above and below it.
`stoch_k(n=14)` `stoch_d(n=14, d=3)`	Stochastic oscillator, 0 to 100: where the close sits in the range of the last n candles; %D is its d-candle average.
`highest(n)` `lowest(n)`	The highest high and lowest low of the n candles before this one, so a breakout reads `close > highest(20)`.
`change(n)`	The % change of the close over n candles: `change(12) > 3` means up more than 3%.
`volume_sma(n)`	Average volume over n candles.
`vwap()`	Volume-weighted average price since the start of the game day (30 real minutes).

Crosses and helpers

Word	What it is
`cross_above(a, b)`	True on the candle where a went from at or below b to above it.
`cross_below(a, b)`	True on the candle where a went from at or above b to below it.
`abs(x) min(a, b) max(a, b)`	Size without sign, the smaller, the larger.

Your account (for the stock being looked at)

Word	What it is
`position`	Shares held: positive when long, negative when short, 0 when flat.
`long short flat`	1 (true) or 0 (false).
`entry`	Your average entry price (0 when flat).
`pnl_pct`	The open position's move from the entry in %, your way: +4 means 4% in your favour, long or short.
`cash equity`	Your free cash, and what the whole account is worth, in MB.
`calls puts`	How many call or put positions you hold on this stock.

The news

Word	What it is
`news_score`	The score of this stock's recent headlines, with your words (below).
`market_news`	The same for headlines about no single company: the economy, rates, the market.

Actions and sizes

Action	What it does	Acts only when
Buy	Opens a long	you hold none of the stock
Sell	Closes the whole long	you are long
Short	Opens a short	you hold none of the stock
Cover	Closes the whole short	you are short
Close the position	Closes a long or a short	you hold some
Buy calls / Buy puts	Buys whole 100-share option contracts	you don't hold a call (or put) on it
Sell its options	Sells every option you hold on the stock	you hold some

Size (buys, shorts, options): a % of your free cash, or an amount of MB. Options buy as many whole contracts as that pays for (none if it can't pay for one).
Leverage (buys and shorts): 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x. It needs Pro, which Expert includes, and costs interest like a leveraged trade by hand.
Options: the strike is a % out of the money (0 to 15; 0 is the strike nearest the price), and the expiry is the next close or 2, 7, 30 or 90 game days after it (a game day is 30 real minutes).

News scores

A bot can read the news wire the way you do. Each headline about the stock is scored by adding up the weights of your words that appear in it. Older headlines count less: a headline's score halves every half-life (30 real minutes unless you change it, 1 to 1,440). news_score is the total for the stock; market_news for headlines about no single company.

In the editor, under News words, write one per line: a word or phrase, =, and its weight. A word ending in * matches any word it starts: upgrade* matches "upgraded" and "upgrades". Up to 200 words. Back to the default words restores the starting list:

beat* = 2       raise* = 1.5    record = 1      surge* = 1.5    soar* = 2
jump* = 1       win* = 1.5      upgrade* = 2    approv* = 2     expand* = 1
strong = 1      buyback = 1.5   partnership = 1 contract = 1    rebound* = 1
rall* = 1.5     rescue* = 1.5   above the forecast = 1
miss* = -2      cut* = -1.5     downgrade* = -2 recall* = -2    lawsuit* = -1.5
probe* = -1.5   investigation = -1.5            warn* = -1.5    delay* = -1
fall* = -1      plunge* = -2    slump* = -1.5   weak* = -1      loss* = -1
layoff* = -1    fraud = -3      bankrupt* = -3  default* = -2   resign* = -1
shortage* = -1  offering = -1   dilut* = -1.5   below the forecast = -1

It only reads the headline text, exactly what you could read yourself, never anything hidden behind the prices.

Backtests

A backtest runs the bot over the past: rules at each candle's close, orders filled at the next candle's open, the same fee, leverage with its interest, stops and targets on the candles' highs and lows, options priced the way the game prices them, and the news score from the headlines the stock has kept. It can use up to 2,000 candles of each size (three real days of 1-minute candles).

The result shows the return against just holding the stock, the number of trades, how many won, the average win and loss, the profit factor (money won ÷ money lost), the worst drawdown, the fees, the time in the market, an equity curve and every trade.

A backtest only shows the past. The market has no free money in it: a rule that did well over a few days has usually found luck, not an edge. Try it on several stocks and candle sizes, and be wary of rules tuned until the curve looks perfect.

Examples

EMA trend (the template; 5m candles, stop 3%)

Buy 20%:  flat and cross_above(close, ema(20)) and close > ema(200)
Sell:     long and (close >= ema(200) * 1.03 or cross_below(close, ema(20)))

RSI dip (15m candles, stop 4%, target 6%)

Buy 15%:  flat and rsi(14) < 30 and close > sma(50)
Sell:     long and rsi(14) > 60

Breakout on volume (5m candles, stop 2.5%)

Buy 20%:  flat and close > highest(20) and volume > volume_sma(20) * 1.5
Sell:     long and close < ema(20)

News momentum (1m candles, stop 2%, target 4%, half-life 20)

Buy 10%:   flat and news_score >= 2
Short 10%: flat and news_score <= -2
Close:     not flat and abs(news_score) < 0.5

Calls on good news (1m candles, half-life 30)

Buy calls 20%, 2% out, next close:  calls == 0 and news_score >= 2
Sell its options:                   calls > 0 and news_score < 0

A few more ideas

Buy on a MACD turn:          cross_above(macd(), macd_signal())
Buy a bounce off the band:   close < bb_lower(20, 2) and rsi() < 35
Buy above the VWAP:          cross_above(close, vwap()) and market_news >= 0
Sell before a gain goes:     pnl_pct > 5 and close < prev(low, 1)

Limits

What	Limit
Bots a player	5
Stocks a bot	10
Rules a bot	10, each at most 300 characters
Candle sizes	1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h
Indicator lengths	1 to 500 (a running bot sees the last 300 candles)
Trades a game day	1 to 500 (30 to start)
Stop / target	up to 90% / up to 1,000%
News words	200; half-life 1 to 1,440 real minutes
Backtests	one every 3 seconds; 50 to 5,000 candles

When a bot does nothing

Is it switched on, and is your Expert pass on? Bots stop when Expert ends.
Has a candle closed? A 1h bot thinks once an hour.
Does the action make sense for the position? A buy does nothing while you already hold the stock, even shares you bought by hand.
Has it reached its trades for the game day?
Is an indicator too long? With fewer candles than its length it has no value, and the rule is false.
Look at What it did on its card: every action is listed with the reason it failed, if it did (too little cash, a cooldown).