Trade Client Expression Reference

How to extract values from signal files in Trade Client strategies.
Strategy Cruncher
Published Jan 18, 2026 | Trade-client

Overview

When configuring a strategy, you specify expressions to extract values from your signal file. How these expressions are interpreted depends on whether your file has headers.

Files With Headers

For files with a header line (such as a Trade-Ideas file), the first line contains column headers. You can reference columns by name:

Expression Description
Symbol Value from the Symbol column
Price Value from the Price column
Price($) Columns with special characters work too

Math with Header References

You can perform calculations using column values in brackets:

Expression Description
1000 + [Price($)] Add 1000 to the Price column value
1000 / [Price($)] Divide 1000 by the Price column value
[Price] * 2 Double the Price column value

Files Without Headers

If your signal file doesn't have a header row, use column indices instead. Columns are numbered starting at 1 (not 0).

For a CSV line like: AAPL,150.25,1000

Expression Result Description
1 AAPL First column
2 150.25 Second column
3 1000 Third column

The Ambiguity Problem

Here's a common issue: What if you want the literal value 2, not the value from column 2?

When you enter 2 as your expression:

  • If you have 3 or more columns, 2 is interpreted as "column 2"
  • If you have fewer than 2 columns, 2 is returned as the literal value

Solutions for getting the literal value 2:

Expression Why it works
(2) Parentheses prevent column interpretation (simplest)
2.0 Decimal point prevents integer parsing
2 * 1 Math expression that evaluates to 2
1 + 1 Another math expression

The (2) syntax is recommended as it's the clearest way to indicate "I mean the number 2, not column 2".

Explicit Column References with Brackets

To explicitly reference a column (leaving no ambiguity), use square brackets:

Expression Description
[1] Explicitly get column 1
[2] Explicitly get column 2
[2] + 1 Column 2's value plus 1

If the bracketed column doesn't exist (e.g., [10] when you only have 3 columns), the result is empty.

Math Expressions

Full mathematical expressions are supported:

Expression Description
1 + 1.2 Simple arithmetic (returns 2.2)
[2] + 1 Add 1 to column 2's value
[3] * 0.5 Half of column 3's value
100 / [2] 100 divided by column 2's value

Special Values

Expression Behavior
0 Returns literal 0 (not a valid column index)
-1 Returns literal -1 (negative numbers are literal)
Empty Returns empty string

Summary Table

Scenario Expression Behavior
Header file, get column by name Price Value from Price column
Header file, math with column [Price] + 10 Price + 10
No header, get column 2 2 or [2] Value from column 2
No header, literal number 2 (2) or 2.0 The number 2
No header, math with column [2] * 100 Column 2 times 100

Examples

Example 1: File with headers

File content:

Symbol,Entry,Target,Stop
AAPL,150.25,155.00,148.00
  • Entry price: Entry returns 150.25
  • Calculate risk: [Entry] - [Stop] returns 2.25

Example 2: File without headers

File content:

AAPL,150.25,155.00,148.00
  • Symbol: 1 returns AAPL
  • Entry price: 2 returns 150.25
  • Fixed share size of 100: (100) returns 100
  • Position size based on column 4: 1000 / [4] returns 6.76 (1000 / 148)