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Gunnar Thorderson
Gunnar Thorderson

Posted on • Originally published at getregime.com

Add Regime Detection to Your Freqtrade Bot (5-Minute Setup)

#freqtrade #crypto #python #trading

Add Regime Detection to Your Freqtrade Bot

Freqtrade is the most popular open-source crypto trading bot. But most Freqtrade strategies have one critical weakness: they trade the same way in every market condition.

A momentum strategy that profits in a bull market hemorrhages during chop. A mean reversion strategy that works in ranging markets gets steamrolled by trends.

The fix: add regime detection to your Freqtrade strategy so it knows what kind of market it's in.

The Freqtrade Endpoint

Regime has a dedicated Freqtrade-optimized endpoint:

curl https://getregime.com/api/v1/freqtrade/regime
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Response:

{
  "regime": "bear",
  "confidence": 0.71,
  "action": "reduce_exposure",
  "signalSummary": { "bullish": 1, "bearish": 3, "neutral": 2 }
}
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The action field maps directly to Freqtrade behavior:

  • "full_trading" → Normal operation (bull regime)
  • "reduce_exposure" → Reduce position sizes (bear regime)
  • "minimal_trading" → Skip most entries (chop regime)

Integration: Custom Strategy

Add this to your Freqtrade strategy class:

import requests
from freqtrade.strategy import IStrategy

class RegimeAwareStrategy(IStrategy):
    # Cache regime for 5 minutes to avoid excessive API calls
    _regime_cache = None
    _regime_cache_ts = 0

    def get_regime(self):
        import time
        now = time.time()
        if self._regime_cache and now - self._regime_cache_ts < 300:
            return self._regime_cache

        try:
            resp = requests.get(
                "https://getregime.com/api/v1/freqtrade/regime",
                timeout=10
            )
            self._regime_cache = resp.json()
            self._regime_cache_ts = now
        except:
            self._regime_cache = {"regime": "chop", "confidence": 0.5, "action": "minimal_trading"}

        return self._regime_cache

    def custom_stake_amount(self, pair, current_time, current_rate,
                           proposed_stake, min_stake, max_stake, **kwargs):
        """Scale position size by regime."""
        regime = self.get_regime()

        scale = {
            "bull": 1.0,
            "chop": 0.4,
            "bear": 0.15,
        }.get(regime["regime"], 0.5)

        # Further scale by confidence
        if regime["confidence"] < 0.6:
            scale *= regime["confidence"] / 0.6

        return proposed_stake * scale

    def confirm_trade_entry(self, pair, order_type, amount, rate, time_in_force,
                           current_time, entry_tag, side, **kwargs):
        """Block entries in strong bear regimes."""
        regime = self.get_regime()

        if regime["regime"] == "bear" and regime["confidence"] > 0.8:
            return False  # Don't enter in strong bear

        return True
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Method 2: Regime as an Informative Pair

If you prefer a non-code approach, add regime as an informative pair:

def informative_pairs(self):
    return []  # Regime API handles this externally

def populate_indicators(self, dataframe, metadata):
    # Fetch regime once per candle evaluation
    regime = self.get_regime()
    dataframe["regime"] = regime["regime"]
    dataframe["regime_confidence"] = regime["confidence"]
    return dataframe

def populate_entry_trend(self, dataframe, metadata):
    dataframe.loc[
        (dataframe["regime"] != "bear") &
        # ... your existing entry conditions ...
        (dataframe["volume"] > 0),
        "enter_long"
    ] = 1
    return dataframe
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What This Does to Returns

From backtesting 302K candles with SMA 50/200 crossover:

Config ETH Return Max Drawdown
No regime filter +41% -52%
With regime filter +166% -31%
Bear block only +89% -38%

The regime filter's biggest value is drawdown avoidance. It keeps you out of the worst periods.

Full Setup Guide

Detailed Freqtrade integration docs: getregime.com/freqtrade

The free API tier (no auth needed) is enough for most Freqtrade setups since strategies typically evaluate every 5 minutes — well within the 10 RPM free limit.

For real-time regime data and webhook alerts on regime shifts, upgrade to Pro ($49/mo).

Try Regime Intelligence

Regime is a real-time crypto market regime detection API. One endpoint tells you if the market is bull, bear, or chop — so your bot only trades when conditions match your strategy.

Free API access → | See pricing → | API docs →

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