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Keltner Band Trading System: Amibroker AFL

Similar to Donchian Band, Keltner Band is another promising indicator to determine trend breakouts accurately. And experienced traders might very well know that catching accurate trend breakouts is as good a finding a fortune. Keltner band calculates the price range based on ATR (average true range), which is different from standard deviation calculation that Bollinger band uses. In this post, we would understand Keltner band calculation steps and explore a trading system based on it. This trading system is backtested on NSE Nifty for past 18 years and results are decent enough.

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Keltner Band Calculation Steps

Keltner Band is named after Chester W. Keltner (1909–1998) who described it in his 1960 book How To Make Money in Commodities.

The band can be visualized a central moving average line enveloped by an upper and lower band. These bands are calculated based on average true range(ATR) of the price.

Below is the standard calculation steps for Keltner band.

Middle line = 20 period moving average

Keltner Upper Band = Middle line + Multiplier * ATR(Periods)

Keltner Lower Band = Middle line – Multiplier * ATR(Periods)

The default value of multiplier is 2, and periods is 10.

All the constants used in the calculation steps can be adjusted based on the security and timeframe you are trading.

Keltner Band Trading System – AFL Overview

Parameter Value
Preferred Time-frame
Daily
Indicators Used ATR, Bollinger Bands
Buy Condition High value of candle crosses above Keltner upper band
Short Condition Low value of candle crosses below Keltner lower band
Sell Condition Low value of candle crosses below Keltner middle band
Cover Condition High value of candle crosses above Keltner middle band
Stop Loss No defined SL
Targets No defined target
Position Size 150 (fixed)
Initial Equity 200000
Brokerage 100 per order
Margin 10%

Keltner Band Trading System – AFL Code

//------------------------------------------------------
//
//  Formula Name:    Keltner  Channel trading System
//  Author/Uploader: Trading Tuitions
//  E-mail:          support@tradingtuitions.com
//  Website:         www.tradingtuitions.com
//------------------------------------------------------

_SECTION_BEGIN("Keltner Channel trading System");

SetChartOptions(0,chartShowArrows|chartShowDates);
_N(Title = StrFormat("{{NAME}} – {{INTERVAL}} {{DATE}} Open %g, Hi %g, Lo %g, Close %g (%.1f%%) {{VALUES}}", O, H, L, C, SelectedValue( ROC( C, 1 ) ) ));

//Initial Parameters
SetTradeDelays( 0,0,0, 0 );
SetOption( "InitialEquity", 200000);
SetOption("FuturesMode" ,True);
SetOption("MinShares",1);
SetOption("CommissionMode",2);
SetOption("CommissionAmount",50);
SetOption("AccountMargin",10);
SetOption("RefreshWhenCompleted",True);
SetPositionSize(150,spsShares);
SetOption( "AllowPositionShrinking", True );

Plot( Close, "Price", colorWhite, styleCandle );

//Keltner Band Code
KMid = MA (Close, 20);	//Middle Line
ATRPeriod = 10; 		//ATR Period
KFactor = 2;			//Multiplier
KValue = ATR(ATRPeriod) * KFactor; 
KTop = KMid + KValue;	//Upper Band
KBottom = KMid - KValue;	//Lower Ban

 
printf("\nKTop : " + KTop );  
printf("\nKBottom : " + KBottom );  
printf("\nKMid : " + KMid );  

Plot(KTop,"KTop",colorBlue,styleLine);
Plot(KMid,"KMid",colorGreen,styleLine);
Plot(KBottom,"KBottom",colorRed,styleLine);


Buy=Cross(High,KTop);
Short=Cross(KBottom,Low);
Sell=Cross(KMid,Low);
Cover=Cross(High,KMid);

BuyPrice=KTop;
SellPrice=KMid;
ShortPrice=KBottom;
CoverPrice=KMid;

Buy = ExRem(Buy,Sell);
Sell = ExRem(Sell,Buy);
Short=ExRem(Short,Cover);
Cover=ExRem(Cover,Short);


printf("\nBuy : " + Buy );  
printf("\nSell : " + Sell );  
printf("\nShort : " + Short );  
printf("\nCover : " + Cover );  

/* Plot Buy and Sell Signal Arrows */
PlotShapes(IIf(Buy, shapeSquare, shapeNone),colorGreen, 0, L, Offset=-25);
PlotShapes(IIf(Buy, shapeSquare, shapeNone),colorLime, 0,L, Offset=-35);
PlotShapes(IIf(Buy, shapeUpArrow, shapeNone),colorWhite, 0,L, Offset=-30);
PlotShapes(IIf(Short, shapeSquare, shapeNone),colorRed, 0, H, Offset=25);
PlotShapes(IIf(Short, shapeSquare, shapeNone),colorOrange, 0,H, Offset=35);
PlotShapes(IIf(Short, shapeDownArrow, shapeNone),colorWhite, 0,H, Offset=-30);
PlotShapes(IIf(Sell, shapeStar, shapeNone),colorGold, 0, L, Offset=-15);
PlotShapes(IIf(Cover, shapeStar, shapeNone),colorGold, 0,L, Offset=-15);


_SECTION_END();

AFL Screenshot

Below is the screenshot of the Keltner Band AFL chart from Amibroker

Keltner Band Chart

Also Read: Intraday trend following strategy: MACD and Bollinger Bands

Keltner Band Trading System- Backtest Report

The performance of this system may not be as impressive as Donchian band trading system, but still it’s a stable system and gives very accurate signals. Try it out on different instruments

Parameter Value
Nifty
Initial Capital 200000
Final Capital 998020.42
Scrip Name NSE Nifty
Backtest Period 09-Feb-2000 to 18-May-2018
Timeframe Daily
Net Profit % 399.01%
Annual Return % 9.14%
Number of Trades 198
Winning Trade % 42.42%
Average holding Period 14.74 periods
Max consecutive losses 4
Max system % drawdown -29.49%
Max Trade % drawdown -87.55%

Download the detailed backtest report here.

Equity Curve

The equity curve is consistent and almost linear

Keltner Band Equity Curve

Profit Table

Keltner Band Profit Table

Additional Amibroker settings for backtesting

Goto Symbol–>Information, and specify the lot size and margin requirement. The below screenshot shows lot size of 75 and margin requirement of 10% for NSE Nifty:

Symbol Info_Nifty

Disclaimer:

All the AFL’s posted in this section are for learning purpose. Trading Tuitions does not necessarily own these AFL’s and we don’t have any intellectual property rights on them. We might copy useful AFL’s from public forums and post it in this section in a presentable format. The intent is not to copy anybody’s work but to share knowledge. If you find any misleading or non-reproducible content then please inform us at support@tradingtuitions.com

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2 Comments

  1. For a period of 18 years –
    Net Profit % 399.01%
    Annual Return % 9.14%

    this seems like a really low performing trading system. 9.14% p.a. is like having a ROI slightely better than FD.
    am I missing something here?

  2. Keltner Band should give a very very good return if configured well. Could you share any other better example, a better test of Keltner Band trading system?

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