freqtrade/freqtrade · error · OperationalException

RangeStabilityFilter requires sort_direction to be either No

Error message

RangeStabilityFilter requires sort_direction to be either None (undefined), 'asc' or 'desc'

What it means

RangeStabilityFilter raises this OperationalException when sort_direction is not None (unset), 'asc', or 'desc'. The setting optionally sorts the filtered pairs by their rate-of-change score.

Source

Thrown at freqtrade/plugins/pairlist/rangestabilityfilter.py:45

        self._days = self._pairlistconfig.get("lookback_days", 10)
        self._min_rate_of_change = self._pairlistconfig.get("min_rate_of_change", 0.01)
        self._max_rate_of_change = self._pairlistconfig.get("max_rate_of_change")
        self._refresh_period = self._pairlistconfig.get("refresh_period", 86400)
        self._def_candletype = self._config["candle_type_def"]
        self._sort_direction: str | None = self._pairlistconfig.get("sort_direction", None)

        self._pair_cache: FtTTLCache = FtTTLCache(maxsize=1000, ttl=self._refresh_period)

        candle_limit = self._exchange.ohlcv_candle_limit("1d", self._def_candletype)
        if self._days < 1:
            raise OperationalException("RangeStabilityFilter requires lookback_days to be >= 1")
        if self._days > candle_limit:
            raise OperationalException(
                "RangeStabilityFilter requires lookback_days to not "
                f"exceed exchange max request size ({candle_limit})"
            )
        if self._sort_direction not in [None, "asc", "desc"]:
            raise OperationalException(
                "RangeStabilityFilter requires sort_direction to be "
                "either None (undefined), 'asc' or 'desc'"
            )

    def short_desc(self) -> str:
        """
        Short whitelist method description - used for startup-messages
        """
        max_rate_desc = ""
        if self._max_rate_of_change:
            max_rate_desc = f" and above {self._max_rate_of_change}"
        return (
            f"{self.name} - Filtering pairs with rate of change below "
            f"{self._min_rate_of_change}{max_rate_desc} over the "
            f"last {plural(self._days, 'day')}."
        )

    @staticmethod

View on GitHub (pinned to 1c8edfe4d1)

Solutions

1. Use exactly 'asc' or 'desc'
2. Omit sort_direction to keep the default undefined behavior

Example fix

# before
{"method": "RangeStabilityFilter", "config": {"sort_direction": "descending"}}
# after
{"method": "RangeStabilityFilter", "config": {"sort_direction": "desc"}}

sd = pairlist_config.get("sort_direction")
if sd is not None and sd not in ("asc", "desc"):
    raise ValueError("sort_direction must be None, 'asc' or 'desc'")

def is_valid_sort_direction(v: object) -> bool:
    return v is None or (isinstance(v, str) and v in ("asc", "desc"))

When it happens

Trigger: Pairlist config contains an invalid sort_direction string (e.g. 'ascending', 'ASC'). The check runs in __init__.

Common situations: Wrong wording or capitalization copied from forum posts or another filter's docs.

Related errors

• StaticPairList requires pair_whitelist to be set.
• VolatilityFilter requires lookback_days to be >= 1
• VolatilityFilter requires sort_direction to be either None (
• key {self._sort_key} not in {SORT_VALUES}
• VolumeFilter requires lookback_period to be >= 0

AI-assisted analysis of freqtrade/freqtrade@1c8edfe4d1 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/db8fc1b952688feb. Report an issue: GitHub.