Automated Trading Using AND/OR Decision Criteria

For many investors, trade entry is dependent on multiple criteria. Traders often have a checklist when entering new positions. So, Option Alpha included and/or decision-making criteria into the automation editor.

And/or decision criteria make bots dynamic and give you complete control over an automation’s functionality.

Before opening a new position, you may want to check multiple criteria. RSI is a popular indicator used to identify overbought and oversold conditions. If RSI is low (oversold), you may want to enter a put credit spread.

But, you may want to add an additional layer and reference a momentum indicator to build out the strategy's complexity. You could add another step to the decision action to check that SPY is also above its 10-day SMA.

The two decision recipes are grouped with the “And” function, meaning both criteria must be true for the automation to proceed down the “Yes” path and open a short put spread.

You can also use the “Or” function when referencing multiple market conditions.

For example, you may want to ensure that only one of the criteria is met so that the outcome is not dependent on both statements being true simultaneously. Therefore, if SPY’s RSI is below 20 OR its price is above the 10-day SMA, the automation will proceed down the “Yes” path.

You can even use multiple grouped decisions inside a single automation to make it more dynamic.

In this example, if SPY’s RSI is not below 20 AND above the 10-day SMA, an additional grouped decision can be added to the “No” path using an “Or” function.

The second decision block evaluates RSI and IV rank to determine if a short call spread will be opened.

This video serves as an example of how flexible a single automation can be when trading with multiple decision criteria.

It is so much easier for a bot to group and/or decision recipes together than for you to constantly check various indicators and hope you can enter an order before market conditions change.

Let bots automate the scanning process and immediately open a position so you don't have to waste valuable time tracking multiple criteria.