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BBRSIoriginal Strategy: The Simplest "Bottom-Fishing" Tool

Nickname: Bollinger Band Bottom-Fisher
Job: Freqtrade's "Official Face" — The Gatekeeper of Beginner Village
Timeframe: 1 hour

I. What is This Strategy?​

Simply put, BBRSIoriginal is:

  • Price breaks through Bollinger Band lower band → Buy!
  • RSI shoots above 75, price returns to middle band → Sell!

That's it! This is Freqtrade's built-in default strategy, less than 100 lines of code, specifically for beginners to learn from.

Like a "bottom-fishing expert": Staring at the Bollinger Band lower band, as soon as price breaks through, jump in, wait for the bounce, then sell 🎣

II. Core Configuration: Simply Put, "Waiting for Bargains"​

Take Profit Rules (ROI Table)​

At open: Need 9.6% profit to sell
After 19 minutes: 3.6% is fine
After 69 minutes: 1.9% is OK
After 120 minutes: Any profit, just sell

Translation:

  • Just opened, ambitious — "I want 9.6%!"
  • After 19 minutes, getting impatient — "Fine, 3.6% works"
  • After 1 hour, more impatient — "1.9% is OK too"
  • After 2 hours — "Any profit, just run, don't waste time"

Complaint:

This tiered ROI is interesting — at open "I have patience", after 2 hours "I don't want to wait anymore" 😂

Stop Loss Rule​

Stop loss: -36.828%

Translation:

  • Only stop loss after losing more than 36.8%
  • Means 100 bucks has to drop to 63 bucks before running

Complaint:

This stop loss is ridiculously wide! Only run after losing a third? What kind of heart can withstand that? This is the legendary "either profit or hold"!

Order Types​

Buy: Limit order
Sell: Limit order
Stop loss: Limit order (executed locally)

Translation: All limit orders, ensuring price control. Stop loss not executed on exchange, controlled locally by Freqtrade.

III. Buy Conditions: Price Breaks Bollinger Band Lower Band, Just Do It​

🎯 Core Logic​

Just one condition:

close < bb_lowerband3  # Price breaks below 3-standard deviation Bollinger Band lower band

What is "3-Standard Deviation Bollinger Band"?​

Everyone knows Bollinger Bands: middle band is moving average, upper/lower bands are MA ± standard deviation.

  • 1 standard deviation: Covers about 68% of prices
  • 2 standard deviations: Covers about 95% of prices
  • 3 standard deviations: Covers about 99.7% of prices

3-standard deviation Bollinger Band lower band:

Price dropping here means "statistically only 0.3% probability of reaching this position" — extreme oversold!

Buy Signal in Plain English​

"Price broke through the Bollinger Band lower band! This is extreme oversold, it must bounce! Buy buy buy!"

Note:

  • Doesn't check volume
  • Doesn't check trend
  • Purely looks at "is price low enough"

This is a classic "catch falling knife" strategy — buying when price crashes, betting it will bounce.

IV. Sell Logic: Run When RSI Gets High​

Sell requires both conditions to be met:

Condition #1: RSI > 75​

RSI > 75  # RSI above 75

Plain English:

"RSI hit 75, this is overbought, momentum is too strong!"

Condition #2: Price Back Above Bollinger Band Middle Band​

close > bb_middleband  # Price above Bollinger Band middle band

Plain English:

"Price has bounced back to middle band, bottom-fishing successful!"

Both Conditions Must Be Met​

(RSI > 75) AND (close > bb_middleband) → Sell

Plain English Translation:

"Price bounced to middle band, and RSI is overbought too — means the bounce is done, time to wrap up!"

V. This Strategy's "Personality Traits"​

✅ Pros (Praise Time)​

  1. Ridiculously Simple: Less than 100 lines of code, anyone can understand it. Freqtrade default strategy, beginners must learn.

  2. Classic Combination: Bollinger Band + RSI, the "rice and noodles" of technical analysis, can't go too wrong.

  3. Reliable Extreme Signals: 3-standard deviation Bollinger Band breakout is statistically really extreme, high signal quality.

  4. Comfortable 1-Hour Timeframe: Not tiring like 5-minute, not slow like daily, friendly for part-time traders.

  5. Suitable for Manual Trading: Simple signals, set an alert in TradingView and you can watch it.

⚠️ Cons (Complaint Time)​

  1. Ridiculously Wide Stop Loss: 36% stop loss?! Run after losing a third? What kind of heart can take that!

  2. Brain-Dead Bottom-Fishing: No matter the trend, buy when it breaks lower band. In downtrends, this is "king of catching falling knives."

  3. Sparse Signals: 3-standard deviation Bollinger Band breakouts don't happen every day, might be days without signals.

  4. Strict Sell Conditions: RSI needs to hit 75, plus price back to middle band. Might bounce for a while, RSI just won't hit 75, finally forced out by ROI.

  5. Unused 4x Bollinger Band: Code calculates 4-standard deviation Bollinger Band, but doesn't use it at all! What's this about? Maybe author forgot to delete it?

VI. Applicable Scenarios: When to Use It?​

Market EnvironmentRecommended ActionReason
🔄 Range BounceUse carefullyThis is its home turf, price goes back and forth through Bollinger Bands
📈 Strong UptrendDon't usePrice won't break lower band, no signals
📉 Sustained DowntrendDefinitely don't useFrequent bottom-fishing, buying lower and lower, catching knives with bloody hands
⚡ High VolatilityCan tryHigh volatility might trigger signals

VII. Summary: How Is This Strategy Really?​

One-Sentence Review​

"Bollinger Band bottom-fishing textbook — simple code, clear logic, but needs modification for live trading."

Who Is It For?​

  • ✅ Freqtrade beginners (must-learn strategy)
  • ✅ People wanting to understand Bollinger Band strategies
  • ✅ Manual traders (simple signals)
  • ✅ People wanting to modify and optimize on this foundation

Who Is It NOT For?​

  • ❌ Direct live trading use (stop loss too wide, needs modification)
  • ❌ Downtrend markets (will catch falling knives)
  • ❌ High-frequency trading seekers (sparse signals)
  • ❌ Risk-averse investors

My Recommendations​

  1. Learning First: This is the best introductory textbook, understand it and you understand Freqtrade strategy basics.

  2. Must Modify Stop Loss: 36% stop loss is unacceptable, suggest changing to 10%-15%.

  3. Add Trend Filter: Add EMA or EWO in buy conditions to judge trend, avoid frequent bottom-fishing in downtrends.

  4. Can Manual Trade: Set an alert in TradingView, Bollinger Band lower band breakthrough alerts, take a look manually before deciding.

VIII. What Markets Can This Strategy Make Money In?​

8.1 Core Logic: Mean Reversion School​

BBRSIoriginal is a classic "Mean Reversion Strategy" — believing prices oscillate around moving averages, extreme deviations will revert.

Its Money-Making Philosophy:

  • Bollinger Band lower band = extreme oversold = should bounce
  • Bollinger Band middle band = normal price = bounce complete
  • RSI > 75 = overbought = time to sell

8.2 Performance in Different Markets (Plain English Version)​

Market TypePerformance RatingPlain English Explanation
📈 Strong Uptrend⭐☆☆☆☆Price hangs around upper band all day, won't trigger buy at all
🔄 Range Bounce⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Perfect home turf! Price goes back and forth through bands, buy low sell high cycle
📉 Sustained Downtrend⭐⭐☆☆☆Bottom-fishing every day, getting trapped every day, catching knives with bloody hands
⚡ High Volatility No Direction⭐⭐⭐☆☆Signals exist, but quality might be mixed

One-Sentence Summary:

Range bounce markets are its home turf, trending markets are its nightmare.

IX. Want to Run This Strategy? Check These Configurations First​

9.1 Must Modify Stop Loss​

Default stop loss -36.828%, my recommendations:

Risk ToleranceSuggested Stop LossNote
Aggressive-0.2020% stop loss
Balanced-0.1515% stop loss
Conservative-0.1010% stop loss

9.2 Trading Pair Selection​

Configuration ItemRecommended ValueNote
Number of Pairs10-20 pairsSparse signals, need more pairs to get trades
Pair TypesMajor coinsGood liquidity, Bollinger Bands more reliable
Timeframe1h (default)Can also try 30m or 2h

9.3 Hardware Requirements (Super Low)​

This strategy has minimal computation, any computer can run it:

Number of PairsMinimum MemoryRecommended MemoryExperience
1-10 pairs512MB1GBSmooth
11-30 pairs1GB2GBNormal
31+ pairs2GB4GBNo problem

Complaint:

A Raspberry Pi can run this, resource requirements are negligible.

9.4 Backtest Recommendations​

  • At least 6 months data
  • Sparse signals, single trade impact is large
  • Recommend testing multiple time periods

X. Bonus: "Little Secrets" in the Strategy​

Look carefully at the code, and you'll find some interesting things:

  1. Calculated but Unused 4x Bollinger Band:

    bollinger = qtpylib.bollinger_bands(..., stds=4)  # Calculated
    # But completely unused later!

    "Maybe author wanted to use it, then changed their mind? Or forgot?"

  2. Typical Price:

    typical_price = (High + Low + Close) / 3

    "Bollinger Bands use typical price, not closing price — this detail is a bit pro!"

  3. Official Code Comments:

    """
    Default Strategy provided by freqtrade bot.
    You can override it with your own strategy
    """

    "Official stamped default strategy, meaning 'you should probably modify it yourself.'"

XI. Final Thoughts​

One-Sentence Review​

"Freqtrade Beginner Village Gatekeeper — simple code, clear logic, suitable for learning, needs major modification for live trading."

Who Is It For?​

  • ✅ Freqtrade beginners (first strategy to learn)
  • ✅ People wanting to understand Bollinger Band + RSI combination
  • ✅ People wanting to modify and optimize on this foundation
  • ✅ Manual traders (simple signals to follow)

Who Is It NOT For?​

  • ❌ Direct live trading (stop loss too wide!)
  • ❌ Downtrend markets
  • ❌ High-frequency trading seekers
  • ❌ Risk-averse investors

Manual Trader Recommendations​

Want to use this strategy manually? Simple:

  1. Open TradingView
  2. Add Bollinger Band indicator: period 20, standard deviation 3
  3. Add RSI indicator: period 14
  4. Set alerts:
    • Price breaks below Bollinger Band lower band → Alert
    • RSI > 75 and price > middle band → Alert

That's it, no code needed!

XII. ⚠️ Risk Warning Again (Must Read)​

This Strategy is "Introductory Material", Not "Money-Making Machine"​

BBRSIoriginal is Freqtrade's official default strategy, mainly for:

Teaching you how to write Freqtrade strategies, not for you to directly make money!

Three Major Risks​

  1. Stop Loss Too Wide: 36% stop loss, hit a "black swan" event and you could lose months of profits in a day.

  2. Brain-Dead Bottom-Fishing: Frequently triggers buys in downtrends, buying lower and lower, finally harvested by stop loss.

  3. Sparse Signals: 3-standard deviation Bollinger Band breakouts are rare, might only have a few trades a week.

My Advice (From the Heart)​

1. Change stop loss to 10%-15%, don't use the default 36%
2. Add a trend filter (like EMA100), forbid buying in downtrends
3. Pick more trading pairs (10-20), sparse signals need diversification
4. Backtest at least 6 months of data
5. Or — just use it as a template, modify it into a more suitable strategy

Remember: This is learning material, not a money printer. Understand it, modify it, transcend it! 🙏

Strategy Source: Freqtrade Official Default Strategy
Lines of Code: About 80 lines
Nickname: Bollinger Band Bottom-Fisher
Positioning: Beginner Introductory Material