RC2_IND_IN_BODY

Indicators must be declared at the top of execute(), before any other statement.

What it means

An indicator must receive every bar’s data to compute correctly. If you declare it inside an if block or a for loop, it would only receive bars where the branch fires — its internal state would skip bars and produce wrong values.

The transpiler hoists indicator declarations from the top of execute() so they always run. Anywhere else is a compile error.

Why it happens

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

    def execute(self):
        if self.trade.is_flat:
            rsi = RSI(14, on=self.trade)   # ❌ — declared inside a conditional
            if rsi.value < 30:
                self.buy(self.trade)

The RSI here would only update on bars where self.trade.is_flat is true — so the moment you enter a position, RSI stops receiving data and goes stale.

How to fix it

Move every indicator to the top of execute():

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

    def execute(self):
        rsi = RSI(14, on=self.trade)   # ✅ — always at the top

        if self.trade.is_flat and rsi.value < 30:
            self.buy(self.trade)

Same rule for chained indicators

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

    def execute(self):
        rsi = RSI(14, on=self.trade)
        smooth = EMA(3, on=rsi)        # ✅ chained — also at the top

        if smooth.value < 30 and self.trade.is_flat:
            self.buy(self.trade)

Related

• Indicators
• Execution Model