Guides / Rule playground

Rule playground · about 8 min

Offsets and windows

Look back with offsets and ref(), choose between windows that include today and ones that do not, and know what happens when history runs out.

1. The request

   Eleven rules on XLE:

   {
     "model": "ora-fin1",
     "state": {
       "symbol": "XLE"
     },
     "questions": {
       "today_up": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > C[-1]"
       },
       "yesterday_up": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C[-1] > C[-2]"
       },
       "ref_form": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > ref(C, -1)"
       },
       "week_ago": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > C[-5]"
       },
       "future": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > C[1]"
       },
       "breakout": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > highest(C, 20)"
       },
       "never": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > max(C, 20)"
       },
       "at_max": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C >= max(C, 20)"
       },
       "ma_rising": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "sma(C, 20) > ref(sma(C, 20), -5)"
       },
       "year": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > sma(C, 250)"
       },
       "too_long": {
         "type": "yes_no",
         "ask": "C > sma(C, 2000)"
       }
     }
   }

   Open this in the Playground

2. The answers

   Session of 2026-10-30:

   Question	Rule	Belief
   today_up	C > C[-1]	0.9085
   yesterday_up	C[-1] > C[-2]	0.6708
   ref_form	C > ref(C, -1)	0.9085
   week_ago	C > C[-5]	0.7066
   future	C > C[1]	0.5
   breakout	C > highest(C, 20)	0.6462
   never	C > max(C, 20)	0.5
   at_max	C >= max(C, 20)	0.5
   ma_rising	sma(C, 20) > ref(sma(C, 20), -5)	0.9425
   year	C > sma(C, 250)	0.9463
   too_long	C > sma(C, 2000)	0.5

3. Offsets count back

   C[-1] is yesterday's close, C[-5] a week ago. C > ref(C, -1) is the same rule as C > C[-1] (both 0.9085). A positive offset looks at a bar that does not exist yet, so C > C[1] is 0.5.

4. ref() for everything else

   Offsets work on price letters only. To look back at an indicator, use ref(): sma(C, 20) > ref(sma(C, 20), -5) asks whether the 20-day average is higher than a week ago (0.9425).

5. Including or excluding today

   highest(C, 20) is the 20 sessions before today; max(C, 20) includes today. So C > highest(C, 20) (0.6462) is the breakout, and C > max(C, 20) (0.5) can never be more than a tie.

6. When history runs out

   About 1,500 sessions are loaded. A window longer than that is not known, so C > sma(C, 2000) is 0.5, while C > sma(C, 250) is 0.9463.

Information, not investment advice. Every number on this page is a real response for the session shown; answers change with each session.

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