How does AlgoTest define a candle?
We often get queries from users about how we define the :candle at AlgoTest.
"On Friday ( 24th Feb 2022) Enter Straddle at 9.20 with 40% SL and Re-Enter ASAP 2 times"
As you can see in the above picture, the CE stop loss is hit at 9:54am, and the CE leg is re-entered with a new :strike at 9:54am (since the user has selected :Re-enter ASAP) with a new strike price. The new entry price is Rs 617.95.
Now when the user checked the same 9:54am candle on :Zerodha, they saw
"But if I look at the Close Price of 36500 CE at 9.54 , its 586.45. Zerodha Close Price -- 586.45 Algotest Close Price -- 617.95"
So why the difference?​
In Zerodha, the 9.15am candle refers to the time covering 9:15:00-9:15:59.
How does AlgoTest define this candle? In AlgoTest, this timespan refers to the 9.16 candle. So when we say 9:54am, the price you see on AlgoTest was Rs. 617.95, which corresponds to the close price of the 9:53 candle on Zerodha, which was Rs. 620, a lot closer to the price you see on AlgoTest!
Here is the screenshot of the Zerodha candle :
Q:Now that we know that the 9:19 candle in Zerodha corresponds to the 9:20 candle in AlgoTest.What does that mean for my 9:20 straddle entry?
Answer: Entry at 9:20am on AlgoTest will correspond to 9:19am candle close price on Zerodha.
Q: Does this 1-second difference matter?
Answer: If you are trading manually, or using broker API to trade, it doesn't.
Hopefully, this gives you an idea of how data is represented on AlgoTest. Do check out our website to learn more about options trading in India and how we can improve our trading by backtesting!