Last day of month

[techtrader2]

Please help with how to program an AFL to check a signal based on closing price of the last day of the month and take the trade on the 1st day of the next month at Open.

I am using the following but it is taking the signal based on 2nd last day of the month and trading on last day of the month.

LastDayOfMonth = IIf( (Month() == Ref( Month(), 1) AND (Month() != Ref( Month(), 2)) ), 1, 0);
TradeDay = LastDayOfMonth ;
SetTradeDelays( 1, 1, 1, 1);

[Pinecone]

It's helpful to use a simple plot for bugtesting.

I'm not sure if you know this but I'm going to mention it: your ref statement is looking into the future. In this particular case I do not see an issue in doing this, but in general you will want to use negative ref's so that you're looking back.

LastDayOfMonth = IIf(Month() != Ref(Month(), 1) , 1, 0);
TradeDay = LastDayOfMonth ;
Plot(TradeDay,"td",colorAqua,styleLine);
SetTradeDelays( 1, 1, 1, 1);

[portfoliobuilder]

@techtrader2 you appear to be new to the forum, so welcome to the forum! But for future questions or posts please read the proper method of entering code in your post,

How to use this site

Search the forum It is good idea to search the forum before asking same questions over and over. To search the forum just use magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner [image] Also it is good idea to use Google and add +site:amibroker.com to your search term to limit the output to content of amibroker.com web site. Doing so will include results from Knowledge Base and Users' Guide Enter the AFL code properly It is of utmost importance as improperly formatted code results in syntax err…

And when you run into difficulty with something you have coded, @Pinecone has helped illustrate one of many different methods of debugging your code and finding your mistakes. But here are some excellent suggestions,

How do I debug my formula?

Continuing the discussion from How do I learn AFL?: Many new users with zero programming experience struggle when their formula works incorrectly. Here are few hints that everyone should use to make finding errors easier. First of all: you have to get insight into what the formula is actually doing, not what you think it does. Typically new user has no idea what is happening inside. Pretty often you make an assumption that things work one way but in fact they work differently. Do not assume t…

And @Pinecone code can be simplified to

LastDayOfMonth  = Month() != Ref( Month(), 1);

i.e. no need to use the Immediate If statement.

Lastly there are many posts on the forum that have covered coding the "last trading day" of the month (assuming we are discussing daily bar data).

LastDayofMonth = Day() > Ref( Day(), 1 ); 
AlternateVersion = Month() != Ref( Month(), 1 );
isEndOfMonth    = TimeFrameExpand( 1, inMonthly, expandPoint  );

Or perhaps if you do not want to be looking forward,

First and Last trade days of the month

My code below was designed to address the issue of identifying the last trade day of the month accurately when you are considering "today" for a signal. (In other words, there is no future bar to yet reference and you need to anticipate whether tomorrow will be a new month when making your trading decision today.) It appears to work. I am sure someone else could write it more efficiently. I hope some of you find it helpful. //This code allows for the current day to appropriately be recogniz…

[Pinecone]

@portfoliobuilder

i.e. no need to use the Immediate If statement.

Ha! I never knew that. Is there any computing speed difference in the two ways?

[fxshrat]

@Pinecone

I never knew that.

Array conditions returning true (1) / false (0) do not require IIF function to return one/zero. Things done twice.

@Pinecone

Is there any computing speed difference in the two ways?

Every additional code line / algorithm adds up to overall execution time. More work, more time.

[techtrader2]

Thanks @Pinecone this worked! Could you please advise should I do if I want to check for the same thing on the last day of the week i.e. on Friday candle closing

[Pinecone]

friday = DayOfWeek() == 5;
Plot(friday,"td",colorAqua,styleLine);

This is really simple stuff, you'd be better off reading documentation and learning what's going on in code if you ever want to do something significant with it.