Summary
The Trade Rule block checks if one value meets a condition against another value.
It is used to build trading logic such as:
price is above a moving average
yesterday's high is higher than the previous high
spread is below a maximum value
price crosses above a breakout level
account equity is below a limit
If the rule is true, the connected "yes" path continues.
If the rule is false, the "no" path runs or the logic stops.
Also known as: condition block, compare values, if statement, price crosses above, price crosses below, trade condition.
How the Trade Rule works
The block compares two values:
Value A → operator → Value B
Example:
Candle High ID 1 is greater than Candle High ID 2
This means:
Was the last closed candle high higher than the candle before it?
If yes, the rule is true.
What values can be compared?
Value A and Value B can come from different sources.
Common examples:
Source | Example |
Indicator | Moving Average, RSI, Bollinger Band |
Candle | Candle high, low, open, close, body size, wick size |
Market Property | Bid price, Ask price, spread |
Account | Balance, equity, free margin |
Trade Info | Open price, profit/loss, stop loss, take profit |
Value | Fixed number, input, or variable |
Example:
Bid price crosses above Moving Average 20
or:
Spread is less than Max_Spread
Operators explained
The operator is the condition between Value A and Value B.
The dropdown uses plain-English wording.
Symbol | Operator | Meaning |
> | is greater than | Value A is above / higher than Value B |
< | is less than | Value A is below / lower than Value B |
x> | crosses above | Value A moves from below Value B to above Value B |
x< | crosses below | Value A moves from above Value B to below Value B |
>= | is greater than or equal to | Value A is above or exactly equal to Value B |
<= | is less than or equal to | Value A is below or exactly equal to Value B |
= | is equal to | Value A is exactly the same as Value B |
!= | is not equal to | Value A is different from Value B |
"Is greater than" vs "crosses above"
This is where users often get confused.
Is greater than
Use is greater than when you only care that one value is currently above another value.
Example:
Bid price is greater than Moving Average 20
This means:
Price is currently above the moving average.
It does not care when price moved above it.
Crosses above
Use crosses above when you care about the moment price moves through a level from below to above.
Example:
Bid price crosses above Moving Average 20
This means:
Price was below the moving average before. Price then moved above the moving average.
This is useful for breakout logic.
Example:
Price crosses above previous candle high → Buy Now
This checks for the breakout moment, not just that price is already above the level.
"Is less than" vs "crosses below"
Is less than
Use is less than when you only care that one value is currently below another value.
Example:
Bid price is less than Moving Average 20
This means:
Price is currently below the moving average.
Crosses below
Use crosses below when you care about the moment price moves through a level from above to below.
Example:
Bid price crosses below Moving Average 20
This means:
Price was above the moving average before. Price then moved below the moving average.
This is useful for breakdown logic.
Example:
Price crosses below previous candle low → Sell Now
Important: crosses can happen multiple times
A crossing is not permanent.
If price moves up and down around the same level, it can cross above and below the same level multiple times.
Example:
Price below level → crosses above level → moves below level again → crosses above level again
If you only want one trade, add a Count Trades block before Buy Now or Sell Now.
Example:
Trade Rule: Bid crosses above Previous_High → Count Trades: Buy trades = 0 → Buy Now
Why my cross condition never triggers ?
Operators fall into two groups that behave very differently:
State (is greater than, is less than, >=, <=): true for as long as the condition holds, across as many candles as it takes
Event (crosses above, crosses below): true only on the candle where the cross happens; on the next candle it is false again
Most common cause: the cross already happened. If price has been above the moving average for the last twenty candles, crosses above is false there is no transition happening right now. This is why switching to is greater than "makes it work".
Most expensive cause: two event conditions in the same chain. Both can only be satisfied if both crosses happen on the exact same candle, which almost never occurs. The result is a backtest that takes no trades at all.
Rule of thumb: use at most one cross operator per chain. That operator is your trigger. Every other condition should use a state operator, because a filter needs to still be true at the moment the trigger fires.
Practical example: candle comparison
You are trading on the daily timeframe and want to check if yesterday's high was higher than the high from two days ago.
Use:
Candle High ID 1 is greater than Candle High ID 2
Candle IDs:
Candle ID 1 = last fully closed candle Candle ID 2 = candle before that
This rule checks whether the latest closed candle made a higher high.
Practical example: breakout above previous high
You want to buy when price breaks above the previous candle high.
Use:
Bid price crosses above Candle High ID 1
Then connect:
Count Trades: Buy trades = 0 → Buy Now
This avoids repeated trades if price crosses the same level several times.
Practical example: spread filter
You only want to trade if spread is below a certain value.
Use:
Spread is less than Max_Spread
Here, Max_Spread can be an input so you can adjust it before running a backtest in Profectus.
Best practice
Use is greater than / is less than for state-based checks.
Example:
Price is above MA20 RSI is greater than 50 Spread is less than Max_Spread
Use crosses above / crosses below for event-based checks.
Example:
Price crosses above previous high Price crosses below previous low Price crosses above moving average
If crossing logic opens trades, usually place Count Trades close to the execution block.
Conclusion
The Trade Rule block compares two values and decides whether the logic continues.
Use:
is greater than / is less than
when you care about the current state.
Use:
crosses above / crosses below
when you care about price moving through a level.
For trade entries, combine Trade Rule with Count Trades to avoid repeated entries when price crosses the same level multiple times.