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RC2_IND_CYCLE

Indicator <name> references itself (on=<name>). Indicators cannot depend on themselves.

What it means

An indicator’s on= names its input series. Naming itself would mean “my value this bar is computed from my value this bar” — a definition with no base case. There is no ordering of the computation that satisfies it, so the transpiler refuses the declaration outright rather than emitting a graph that cannot be evaluated.

Why it happens

Nearly always a copy-paste: a chain was duplicated and the local name on the left was updated while the on= on the right was not (or the other way round).

class Bad(Strategy):
    trade = Symbol()
    sizing = FixedCapital()


    def execute(self):
        smooth = EMA(5, on=smooth)        # ❌ smooth is its own input
        if smooth.value > 0 and self.trade.is_flat:
            self.buy(self.trade)

Note that a longer cycle cannot be written at all. Indicators resolve strictly in source order, so a = EMA(5, on=b) followed by b = SMA(20, on=a) fails on the first line with RC2_IND_ON_UNKNOWN — b is not declared yet. Self-reference is the only cycle the language can express, which is why this diagnostic is about exactly that.

How to fix it

Point on= at the thing the indicator is actually measuring — a symbol, a bar field, or a different indicator declared above it.

class Good(Strategy):
    trade = Symbol()
    sizing = FixedCapital()


    def execute(self):
        rsi = RSI(14, on=self.trade)
        smooth = EMA(5, on=rsi)           # ✅ a different, earlier indicator


        if smooth.value > 50 and self.trade.is_flat:
            self.buy(self.trade)
        if smooth.value < 50 and self.trade.is_long:
            self.sell(self.trade, self.trade.position)

If what you wanted was feedback — this bar’s value depending on the previous bar’s — that is not chaining. Keep the previous value in persistent state, or write a custom indicator, where self.<state> and a Series buffer make the recurrence explicit.