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Longclaw

Longclaw User Guide

VKB Agri Processors · Strategy Platform

Version 1.2.1 · March 2026 · Administrator: Bradley Jackson

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started
  2. Data Management
  3. Backtest Configuration
  4. Compound Timelines (Multi-Timeframe)
  5. Indicators Reference
  6. Entry & Exit Rules
  7. Risk Management & Spread
  8. Results Dashboard
  9. Strategy Hunter
  10. Autofit & Pattern Scanner
  11. Leaderboard
  12. Composite Signal Feed
  13. What-If Analysis
  14. Liquidity Zones
  15. Spread Backtesting
  16. Correlation Finder
  17. Hedge Cover Optimizer
  18. Reports
  19. Signal Watch
  20. Commentary
  21. Production Stress
  22. Admin Panel
  23. Keyboard Shortcuts

1. Getting Started

Longclaw is a standalone desktop application for backtesting, strategy discovery, and portfolio analysis on commodity derivatives. It runs as a local server with a native window — no browser required.

First Launch

After installation, launch Longclaw from the desktop shortcut. A loading screen appears while the server initialises (5–15 seconds on first run). You'll be logged in automatically if your Refinitiv Eikon session is running and your account has been approved by the administrator.

Navigation

The sidebar on the left provides access to all pages. Your username, version number, and sign-out option are shown at the bottom. The top-right corner shows your Refinitiv connection status.

Typical Workflow

  1. Data — Download instrument data from Refinitiv
  2. Backtest — Build and test a strategy
  3. Results — Analyse performance metrics
  4. Save — Save promising strategies to the Leaderboard
  5. What-If — Monitor live signal status for saved strategies
  6. Reports — Generate PDF/Excel reports for team distribution

2. Data Management

The Data page is the central hub for loading OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) data. All data is shared across team members via the shared database.

Pulling from Refinitiv

  1. Enter a RIC (Reuters Instrument Code) — e.g. MAWc1 for White Maize, WEAc1 for Wheat
  2. Select a Timeframe — 1min, 5min, 15min, 1H, 4H, 1D, or 1W
  3. Optionally set start/end dates to limit the range
  4. Click Pull Data — requires Refinitiv Eikon running locally

Common RICs

RICInstrument
MAWc1White Maize (SAFEX)
MAYc1Yellow Maize (SAFEX)
WEAc1Wheat (SAFEX)
SOYBNc1Soybeans (SAFEX)
SUFc1Sunflower (SAFEX)
ZAR=USD/ZAR
Cc1CBOT Corn
Wc1CBOT Wheat
Sc1CBOT Soybeans

CSV/XLSX Upload

You can also upload data from a file. Expected columns: datetime, open, high, low, close, volume. After selecting a file you'll be prompted for a RIC label to assign to the data.

Top-Up

Use the Top up button in the instruments table to fetch new bars since the last download — keeps your data current without re-downloading everything.

3. Backtest Configuration

The Backtest page is the core workspace. It's divided into three columns: Indicators (left), Rules & Risk (centre), and Pattern Conditions (right).

Setting Up a Backtest

  1. Enter an Instrument RIC and select a Timeframe (this is your signal timeframe)
  2. Optionally add Context Timeframes for multi-timeframe filtering (see Compound Timelines)
  3. Optionally set Start/End dates (defaults to all available data)
  4. Add Indicators (up to 8 — duplicates allowed with different parameters)
  5. Configure Entry Rules — the conditions that trigger a trade
  6. Configure Exit Rules — how positions are closed
  7. Set Risk Management — stop loss, take profit, trailing
  8. Set Spread — transaction cost per trade
  9. Press Ctrl+Enter or click Run

Trade Direction

ModeDescription
Long OnlyBuy to open, sell to close. One set of entry/exit rules.
Short OnlySell to open, buy to close. One set of entry/exit rules.
BothSeparate rules for long entries, short entries, long exits, short exits.

Strategy Advisor

A live panel in the left column that analyses your current setup and suggests indicators, conditions, and risk settings. It scores your strategy 0–100 based on role coverage (trend filter, signal generator, volume confirmation).

Duplicate Indicators

You can add the same indicator twice with different parameters — e.g. Stochastic(14,3) and Stochastic(5,3). The second instance gets an #2 label and its outputs are suffixed with __1 in conditions. This enables cross-indicator rules like "Slow Stoch crosses above Fast Stoch".

Strategy Templates

Click Strategy Assistant (top right) to load pre-built templates:

3b. Compound Timelines (Multi-Timeframe Strategies)

Compound Timelines let you combine up to 4 different timeframes in a single strategy. This is essential for professional trading — you don't want to take a 1-hour buy signal when the daily and weekly trends are pointing down.

How It Works

Every strategy has one Signal Timeframe (the one you select at the top — e.g. 1H). This is where your entry and exit rules are evaluated bar-by-bar. You can then add up to 3 Context Timeframes (e.g. 1D, 1W) that provide higher-level filtering.

TimeframeRoleBadgeExample
SignalWhere entries and exits are triggered. Bar-by-bar evaluation.Green1H
Context 1First higher timeframe filter. Typically the next level up.Purple (CTX1)1D
Context 2Second higher timeframe. Additional trend confirmation.Blue (CTX2)1W
Context 3Third higher timeframe. Rarely needed but available.Amber (CTX3)1M

Setting Up Context Timeframes

  1. Select your Signal Timeframe as normal (e.g. 1H)
  2. Click the + Context button in the timeline bar (below the instrument selector)
  3. Choose a higher timeframe from the dropdown (e.g. 1D)
  4. Add more context timeframes if needed (up to 3 total)
  5. Make sure you have data loaded for each timeframe — an amber dot warns you if data is missing

Assigning Indicators to Timeframes

Each indicator card has a timeframe dropdown. By default, all indicators run on the Signal timeframe. Change any indicator to a Context timeframe to make it evaluate on that higher timeframe's data instead.

Example: Set EMA(200) to Context 1 (1D) and it will calculate the 200-day EMA. Your entry condition can then require "price is above EMA(200) on the daily" before taking any hourly signal.

Conditions Across Timeframes

When building entry/exit conditions, each condition row shows a colour-coded badge indicating which timeframe it operates on. You can mix timeframes freely:

All conditions must be true simultaneously (AND logic) for the signal to fire. This means you can build strategies like: "Enter long on the 1-hour when the MACD crosses above zero, but only if the daily EMA trend is up AND the weekly ADX confirms a strong trend."

Practical Example: Triple Screen Strategy

Based on Alexander Elder's Triple Screen method:

TimeframeIndicatorRole
Signal (1H)Stochastic(14,3)Entry trigger — buy when Stoch crosses above 20
CTX1 (1D)MACD(12,26,9)Momentum filter — only trade when daily MACD histogram is rising
CTX2 (1W)EMA(26)Trend filter — only trade when price is above weekly EMA

The result: you only enter trades on intraday dips (1H Stochastic oversold) that align with the daily momentum (MACD rising) and weekly trend (above EMA). This dramatically reduces false signals compared to using a single timeframe.

Pre-Built Compound Templates

The Strategy Assistant includes 6 ready-made compound timeline templates. Loading one auto-sets the context timeframes and all indicators:

Key principle: Context timeframes are for filtering, not for generating entry signals. Your signal timeframe fires the trade; context timeframes confirm the environment is favourable. Always ensure you have data loaded for every timeframe you reference — the timeline bar shows an amber warning if data is missing.

4. Indicators Reference

Indicators are grouped into three categories. Each indicator produces one or more outputs that can be used as signal sources in entry/exit conditions.

Trend Indicators

IndicatorParametersOutputs
SMAperiod (2–500, default 20)sma
EMAperiod (2–500, default 20)ema
WMAperiod (2–500, default 20)wma
HMAperiod (2–500, default 20)hma
DEMAperiod (2–500, default 20)dema
TEMAperiod (2–500, default 20)tema
MACDfast (12), slow (26), signal (9)macd_line, signal_line, histogram
ADXperiod (2–100, default 14)adx, plus_di, minus_di
Parabolic SARaf_start (0.02), af_max (0.2)sar
Ichimoku Cloudtenkan (9), kijun (26), senkou_b (52)tenkan_sen, kijun_sen, senkou_a, senkou_b
SuperTrendperiod (10), multiplier (3.0)supertrend, direction
Aroonperiod (2–200, default 25)aroon_up, aroon_down
VWAP(none)vwap
Linear Regressionperiod (50), deviations (2.0)lr_mid, lr_upper, lr_lower
KAMAperiod (10), fast (2), slow (30)kama
ZLEMAperiod (2–500, default 20)zlema
Elder Rayperiod (13)bull_power, bear_power

Range-Bound Indicators

IndicatorParametersOutputs
RSIperiod (14), overbought (70), oversold (30)rsi
Stochastick_period (14), d_period (3)stoch_k, stoch_d
Bollinger Bandsperiod (20), std_dev (2.0)bb_upper, bb_mid, bb_lower
CCIperiod (2–200, default 20)cci
Williams %Rperiod (14)williams_r
Keltner Channelema (20), atr (10), mult (1.5)kc_upper, kc_mid, kc_lower
Donchian Channelperiod (20)dc_upper, dc_mid, dc_lower
Z-Scoreperiod (5–200, default 20)zscore
Stochastic RSIrsi_period (14), stoch_period (14)stoch_rsi
MFIperiod (14)mfi
TSIlong_period (25), short_period (13)tsi
CMOperiod (14)cmo
KSTr1–r4 (10,15,20,30), s1–s4 (10,10,10,15), signal (9)kst, kst_signal
SMIk_period (14), d_period (3)smi, smi_signal
Connors RSIrsi_period (3), streak (2), pct_rank (100)connors_rsi

Volatility & Volume Indicators

IndicatorParametersOutputs
ATRperiod (14)atr
BB Widthperiod (20), std_dev (2.0)bb_width
Historical Volperiod (20)hist_vol
Volume SMAperiod (20)vol_sma
OBV(none)obv
Volume ROCperiod (14)vol_roc
CMFperiod (20)cmf
Pivot Points(none)pivot, r1, r2, r3, s1, s2, s3
Heikin-Ashi(none)ha_open, ha_high, ha_low, ha_close
ATR Trailing Stopperiod (14), multiplier (3.0)atr_stop
ROCperiod (14)roc
Awesome Oscillator(none)ao
Ultimate Oscillatorp1 (7), p2 (14), p3 (28)uo
DPOperiod (20)dpo
Squeeze Momentumbb_period (20), kc_period (20), kc_mult (1.5)squeeze_val, squeeze_on
Coppock Curvewma (10), roc1 (14), roc2 (11)coppock
Elder Force Indexperiod (13)force_index
Klinger Oscillatorfast (34), slow (55), signal (13)klinger, klinger_signal
TRIXperiod (15)trix
Mass Indexema_period (9), sum_period (25)mass_index

Multi-Timeframe Indicators

Each indicator has a timeframe dropdown: Signal (uses the backtest timeframe) or Context 1/2/3 (a higher timeframe for filtering). Context indicators appear with colour-coded badges (purple/blue/amber) in condition rows. See Compound Timelines for full details on multi-timeframe strategies.

5. Entry & Exit Rules

Rules define when trades are opened and closed. Each rule set uses AND or OR logic to combine multiple conditions.

Building a Condition

  1. Source — What to measure: Price, or any indicator output (e.g. "RSI(14)", "MACD(12) → histogram")
  2. Operator — How to compare:
    • crosses above / crosses below — triggers only at the crossover bar
    • is above / is below — true whenever the value satisfies the comparison
    • increases / decreases — checks if the value is rising or falling
    • between — true when the value falls within a min/max range
    • bullish divergence / bearish divergence — price makes new low/high but indicator doesn't
    • bullish hidden div / bearish hidden div — hidden divergence (trend continuation)
    • bullish compound div / bearish compound div — 3+ consecutive diverging swings
    • n-touch turn up / n-touch turn down — indicator touches a level N times then reverses
  3. Value — Compare against a fixed number OR another indicator. Toggle with the vs / 123 button.

Quick Threshold Chips

Indicators with well-known levels show clickable chips below the value input:

Pattern-Based Conditions

Enable chart patterns, candlestick patterns, Fibonacci patterns, or trendlines in the right column. These become available as signal sources in conditions with operators like detected, breakout confirmed, touches, breaks through.

Tip: Use AND logic for stricter entry (higher quality, fewer trades) and OR logic for broader entry (more trades, potentially more noise). A common approach: AND for entries, AND for exits.

6. Risk Management & Spread

Stop Loss

TypeHow It WorksWhen to Use
Fixed %Stop placed at a fixed percentage from entry price. E.g. 2% on a R4,500 entry = stop at R4,410.Simple, predictable risk. Good for beginners.
ATR-basedStop distance = multiplier × ATR(14). E.g. 2.0 × ATR means if ATR is R100, stop is R200 from entry. Adapts to current volatility.Preferred for commodities — respects market volatility. A 2.0 ATR stop won't get whipsawed on high-vol days like a tight fixed % would.
ATR Stop Explained: The Average True Range (ATR) measures how much price typically moves per bar. An ATR multiplier of 2.0 means your stop is 2× the average bar range away from entry. Lower multipliers (1.0–1.5) are tighter and get stopped out more often. Higher multipliers (2.5–3.0) give the trade more room but risk more per trade.

Take Profit

TypeHow It Works
Fixed %Close position when profit reaches this percentage from entry.
R:R RatioTake profit is a multiple of the stop loss distance. E.g. R:R of 2:1 means if your stop is R200, your target is R400. This ensures your winners are always larger than your losers.

Time Exit

Close the position after a fixed number of bars if no other exit is triggered. Useful for strategies that rely on momentum fading — e.g. exit after 10 bars if neither stop loss nor take profit was hit.

Trailing Stop

TypeHow It Works
NoneNo trailing. Position held until SL, TP, time exit, or exit rule triggers.
ATR TrailingStop follows price upward (for longs), trailing behind by ATR × multiplier. Locks in profit as price moves in your favour. Parameters: ATR Period (default 14) and ATR Multiplier (default 2.0).
PercentageStop trails at a fixed % below the highest price reached (for longs). E.g. 2% trailing on a move from R4,500 to R4,700 = stop at R4,606.
Tip: Trailing stops let winning trades run while protecting profit. ATR trailing is generally better for commodities because it adjusts to volatility — during calm markets it's tighter, during volatile periods it's wider.

Spread (Transaction Cost)

Spread simulates the cost of entering and exiting a trade. It is applied in price units (not percentage).

ModeDescription
FixedA constant cost per trade (e.g. 5 Rand per contract).
Volume-adjustedSpread scales with volume — wider during thin volume periods.
Tick-derivedSpread derived from actual tick data.

Click Calculate to fetch the live bid/ask spread from Refinitiv. The result shows average, median, and range — use the "Use avg" button to auto-fill.

7. Results Dashboard

After running a backtest, the Results page shows comprehensive performance analysis.

Key Metrics

MetricWhat It MeansGood Values
Win Rate% of trades that were profitable> 40% (with good R:R)
Sharpe RatioRisk-adjusted return (higher = better per unit of risk)> 0.5 acceptable, > 1.0 good
Max DrawdownLargest peak-to-trough decline in equity< 20% preferred
Profit FactorGross wins / gross losses> 1.5 good, > 2.0 excellent
ExpectancyExpected return per tradePositive
Total ReturnOverall portfolio returnPositive, context-dependent
RobustnessOut-of-sample / in-sample performance ratio (walk-forward only)> 0.7 good, > 0.5 acceptable

Charts

Trade Log

Full list of all trades with entry/exit dates, prices, PnL%, holding period, and exit reason. Filterable by direction and outcome. Exportable to CSV.

Saving a Strategy

Click Save Strategy to persist the strategy and its results to the Leaderboard. Give it a descriptive name — it will be available across all team members.

8. Strategy Hunter

The Hunter automates strategy discovery by systematically testing every indicator, then progressively combining top performers into multi-indicator strategies.

How It Works — 5 Progressive Tiers

  1. Singles — Tests every indicator in the library individually
  2. Pairs — Combines the top N singles into every possible 2-indicator combination
  3. Triples — Extends top pairs with a third indicator
  4. Quads — Extends top triples with a fourth indicator
  5. Quints — Extends top quads with a fifth indicator

Each tier is colour-coded (green/blue/purple/amber/rose). Results are auto-saved to history and can be loaded or deleted later.

Scoring: 0.5 × Sharpe + 0.4 × Win% + 0.1 × trade_factor

Configuration

Click Load on any result row to send it to the Backtest page for further refinement.

9. Autofit & Pattern Scanner

Autofit scans the entire price history for chart patterns, candlestick formations, and Elliott Wave structures, then reports their historical accuracy.

Controls

Pattern Performance Table

For each detected pattern, shows: count of detections, hit rate (how often the pattern's implied direction was correct over 20-bar forward returns), and average forward return. Use this to identify which patterns are statistically reliable for your instrument.

10. Leaderboard

The Leaderboard ranks all saved strategies across the team. Two views are available:

Performance View

Tabular ranking by OOS Win Rate, Sharpe, Max DD, Profit Factor, or Robustness. Filter by instrument, timeframe, or strategy type. Click any row to expand full strategy details including indicator parameters, entry/exit rules, year-by-year performance, and reassessment history.

Stability View

Ranks strategies by consistency over time. Each strategy has a Stability Score (0–100). Strategies are tagged as Stable, Degrading, or Critical based on periodic reassessment.

Actions

11. Composite Signal Feed

Aggregates all leaderboard strategies into a live signal feed. Each instrument gets a conviction score based on how many strategies agree on direction.

Signal Cards

Each card shows: strategy name, instrument, direction (bullish/bearish), state (watching/triggered), OOS metrics, robustness, and confluence score (0–100).

Conviction Panel

Per-instrument summary: how many strategies are bullish vs bearish, average win rates, and the top signal.

Auto-refresh is available (30-minute intervals) to keep the feed current.

12. What-If Analysis

Live chart analysis for a saved strategy. Monitor whether current market conditions are approaching an entry signal.

Signal Status Panel

Shows each entry condition with its current value and whether it's met (green) or not met (red). When all conditions align, the strategy is "triggered" — providing a real-time heads-up before placing a trade.

Drawing Tools

10 drawing tools for manual chart analysis: Trendline, Horizontal, Fibonacci Retracement, Fibonacci Extension, Andrews Pitchfork, Parallel Channel, Rectangle, Text, Measure, and Eraser.

Auto-Refresh

Enable 30-minute auto-refresh to keep watching for signal changes throughout the trading day.

13. Liquidity Zones

Volume-profile based support and resistance analysis with VWAP bands.

Key Levels

LevelMeaning
POCPoint of Control — the price with the highest traded volume. Acts as a strong magnet/support/resistance.
VAHValue Area High — upper boundary of the 70% volume range.
VALValue Area Low — lower boundary of the 70% volume range.
HVNHigh Volume Node — secondary volume clusters. Strong S/R levels.
LVNLow Volume Node — thin areas where price tends to move quickly through.
VWAPVolume-Weighted Average Price with ±1σ and ±2σ bands.

The zones table ranks levels by proximity to current price, with strength scores and confluence indicators.

14. Spread Backtesting

Backtests strategies on a synthetic spread instrument calculated as Base RIC minus Quote RIC.

How Spreads Work

A calendar spread (e.g. MAWc1 vs MAYc1) or inter-commodity spread creates a synthetic price series: Spread = Base Price - Quote Price. The backtest engine runs indicators and rules on this spread series.

Configuration

  1. Select Base RIC and Quote RIC
  2. Set Timeframe and optional date range
  3. Set Bid/Ask (R) — transaction cost per leg entry/exit
  4. Add indicators, rules, and risk management (same as Backtest page)
  5. Press Ctrl+Enter to run

You can also Load Strategy from the Leaderboard to apply an existing strategy to a spread pair.

Tip: Spread trading reduces directional risk. If White Maize and Yellow Maize are correlated, trading the spread captures the relative value difference rather than outright price direction.

15. Correlation Finder

Multi-instrument lead/lag and correlation analysis. Select 2–5 instruments to find which ones move first and which follow.

Outputs

Parameters

16. Hedge Cover Optimizer

Determines optimal forward cover timing and percentages for a commodity position, using a saved strategy's signal strength to time cover decisions.

Configuration

Outputs

17. Reports

Generate downloadable PDF or Excel reports for team distribution.

Report Types

Options

17b. Signal Watch

Real-time monitoring of your saved strategies and chart formations across multiple instruments. The system automatically pulls live data from Eikon every 15 minutes and evaluates your watches every 30 seconds.

Watch Types

TypeWhat It Does
Strategy WatchMonitors a saved strategy's entry conditions across selected instruments. Fires when all conditions align.
Formation WatchScans for specific chart patterns (triangles, wedges, flags, candlestick patterns, etc.) on selected instruments.

Setting Up a Watch

  1. Click + New Watch
  2. Name your watch (e.g. "MACD Daily Signals")
  3. Choose Strategy Signals or Formation Detection
  4. Select a strategy from your saved strategies (or pick formation types)
  5. Add instruments to monitor (up to 10 per watch, each with its own timeframe)

Notifications

When a signal triggers, you'll see it in the signal feed and receive a desktop notification (if browser permissions are granted). Each event shows the instrument, direction, price, timeframe, and which watch triggered it. Click any event to expand a chart with the signal highlighted.

Evaluation Intervals

Watches are evaluated at smart intervals based on timeframe: 1min watches every 30 seconds, daily watches every 15 minutes. This ensures timely alerts without unnecessary computation.

Requires Eikon: Signal Watch needs a running Refinitiv Eikon session (on any superuser's machine) to auto-refresh data. Without Eikon, watches still scan existing data but won't detect new market movements.

18. Commentary

A shared team feed with two separate channels:

Channels

ChannelPurposeColour
Market ChatMarket observations, trade ideas, strategy notes, and general discussionGreen (default)
Bugs & FeaturesReport issues, request features, track platform improvementsAmber

Switch between channels using the tabs at the top of the Commentary page. All team members see all posts in both channels.

18b. Production Stress

Scenario-based stress testing for production portfolios. Simulate how your positions would perform under historical and hypothetical market conditions.

Access via the Prod Stress link in the sidebar. Configure your portfolio exposure and run stress scenarios to understand risk under adverse conditions.

19. Admin Panel

Visible only to administrators. Two tabs: Users and Database.

User Types

TypeCapabilities
SuperuserHas Refinitiv access. Can auto-login via Eikon. Not machine-locked. Data auto-tops up from their Eikon session.
NormalPassword-only login. Locked to one machine after first login. Cannot pull data from Eikon.

Registration & Approval Flow

  1. New user visits the Register page and creates an account (username + password)
  2. Account is created with Pending status — they cannot log in yet
  3. Admin sees the pending user on the Admin page (highlighted in amber)
  4. Admin clicks Approve to activate the account
  5. User can now log in. Normal users are machine-locked on first login

Alternatively, admin can pre-create users via + Add User — these are pre-approved and ready to log in immediately.

Admin Actions

User Status

The users table shows each user's live status:

Database Tab

Shows the shared database connection status. Data is synchronised automatically across all team members via the cloud database.

20. Keyboard Shortcuts

ShortcutActionPage
Ctrl+EnterRun backtestBacktest
Ctrl+EnterRun spread backtestSpreads
Ctrl+EnterPost messageCommentary