In an effort to better understand the functionality of how buys and sells work within a strategy, I have written a very simple program.

 

Code

variable: mp(0); mp = marketposition; if mp = 0 then buy("B") 1000 shares next bar at open; if mp = 1 then sell("S") 100 shares next bar at open;

The buy order enters me into a position as expected, but the subsequent sell orders do not work as expected, except for the first one. I cannot seem to figure out why the subsequent sell orders do not get executed.
The expectation is for 100 shares to be sold on every bar after the buy order is executed, until the position is flat.

Can anyone shed some light on why the program is behaving this way?

nfgrufio,

"Sell" is the reserved word for closing a long entry, or partially closing it as in your case. Exit orders do not pyramid in Tradestation i.e. they will only be applied once to a position (unless the position is modified after the exit).
Having said that, you would need ten different exit orders to accomplish what you have in mind, while making sure that they are not all applied to the entry at the same time.

Regards,

ABCTG

nfgrufio 

In an effort to better understand the functionality of how buys and sells work within a strategy, I have written a very simple program.   Code variable: mp(0); mp = marketposition; if mp = 0 then buy("B") 1000 shares next bar at open; if mp = 1 then sell("S") 100 shares next bar at open; The buy order enters me into a position as expected, but the subsequent sell orders do not work as expected, except for the first one. I cannot seem to figure out why the subsequent sell orders do not get executed. The expectation is for 100 shares to be sold on every bar after the buy order is executed, until the position is flat. Can anyone shed some light on why the program is behaving this way?

It appears that MarketPosition is returning a zero after the first exit. Add a Print statement to print the value of MP at the end of your code.

bfulks 

It appears that MarketPosition is returning a zero after the first exit. Add a Print statement to print the value of MP at the end of your code.

Actually, I tried that and MarketPosition does not return a zero after the first exit.

However, the first answer posted in this thread is correct. See: https://help.tradestation.com:443/10_00/eng/tsdevhelp/elword/word/sell_reserved_word_.htm