Troubleshooting

This page covers the most common issues users encounter and how to resolve them. Each entry follows a Problem / Cause / Solution format for quick reference.

If your issue is not listed here, check the FAQ or contact support from within the app by clicking Help in the bottom-left corner.

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Backtesting Issues

Backtest shows zero trades

Problem: The backtest completes but reports no trades — the equity curve is a flat line.

Cause: Your entry conditions were never met during the backtest period, or there is a logic error in your rules.

Solution:

1. Open the strategy in the Strategy Editor and review each rule’s conditions. Make sure the logic matches your intention — for example, confirm you are using “crosses above” and not “is above” if you need a crossover signal.
2. Check the instrument and timeframe. A condition like RSI(14) < 30 might trigger frequently on daily bars for a volatile stock but almost never on weekly bars for an index.
3. Temporarily loosen your conditions (for example, change RSI < 30 to RSI < 50) and re-run the backtest. If trades appear, your original conditions were simply too strict for the instrument and time period selected.

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Backtest results seem unrealistically good

Problem: The backtest shows extremely high returns or a perfect win rate that seems too good to be true.

Cause: This is often caused by look-ahead bias (your rules unintentionally use information that would not be available at the time of the trade), an unrealistic fill model, or insufficient slippage modeling.

Solution:

1. Review your rules for look-ahead bias. Make sure conditions only reference data that would have been available at the time of the signal. For example, using the current bar’s close price to decide whether to enter on the current bar is a form of look-ahead bias.
2. Check the fill mode. If you are using “instant fill,” switch to “next-bar fill” for more realistic results.
3. Ensure slippage modeling is enabled (it is on by default). If you set slippage to zero, the engine assumes perfect execution at the exact signal price.
4. Run a Monte Carlo simulation to stress-test the results. If performance collapses under randomization, the backtest was likely overfitted.

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Strategy Issues

Strategy rules are not triggering as expected

Problem: A rule that you expect to trigger does not seem to fire, or it fires at unexpected times.

Cause: The most common causes are incorrect operator selection, timeframe mismatch, or a misunderstanding of how indicators are calculated on the selected timeframe.

Solution:

1. Expand the rule in the Strategy Editor and verify each part — left expression, operator, right expression. Common mistakes include using “is greater than” when you meant “crosses above” (which only triggers at the moment of crossing, not every bar where the value is above).
2. Confirm the strategy’s timeframe. A rule that checks whether RSI(14) is below 30 behaves very differently on 1-minute bars versus daily bars.
3. Check indicator parameters. A 200-period SMA needs at least 200 bars of data before it produces a value. If your backtest starts too close to the available data start, the indicator may not have enough history to calculate.
4. Use Strategy Replay to step through the bars and see the actual condition evaluations.

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Rule triggers too frequently

Problem: An entry rule fires on almost every bar, resulting in hundreds or thousands of trades.

Cause: You may be using a “state” condition (like “RSI is below 30”) instead of a “transition” condition (like “RSI crosses below 30”). State conditions are true on every bar where the condition holds, while crossover conditions only trigger once at the moment of crossing.

Solution:

1. If you want the rule to trigger only once when a threshold is crossed, use the crosses above or crosses below operators instead of is greater than or is less than.
2. Add a position check to your entry rule — for example, only buy if you do not already have an open position. This prevents repeated entries.

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Cannot add more rules to a strategy

Problem: The “Add Rule” button is grayed out or you receive an error when trying to add a new rule.

Cause: You may have reached the maximum number of rules for your plan, or there may be a validation error on an existing rule that prevents saving.

Solution:

1. Check whether any existing rules show validation errors (usually highlighted in red). Fix those errors first.
2. Review your plan’s limits. If you have reached the maximum number of rules, consider consolidating conditions within existing rules or upgrading your plan.

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Data Issues

Missing data or gaps in the chart

Problem: The price chart shows gaps, missing bars, or the chart does not load.

Cause: Data gaps can occur for instruments with low liquidity, during market holidays, or for time periods outside your plan’s historical data depth.

Solution:

1. Check whether the gap falls on a market holiday or weekend. Equity markets are closed on weekends and holidays — these are not data gaps, they are expected.
2. Confirm your plan’s data depth. If your plan includes 5 years of data and you are trying to backtest 10 years, the first 5 years will be unavailable.
3. For thinly traded instruments, gaps on intraday timeframes are normal. If a stock does not trade for a 1-minute interval, there is no bar to display.
4. If you believe the data should exist but is missing, contact support with the instrument identifier and the time period in question.

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Indicator values seem wrong

Problem: An indicator appears to show different values than you expect based on another platform or manual calculation.

Cause: Different platforms may use different calculation methods, source data, or default parameters for the same-named indicator. Timeframe differences are also a common source of confusion.

Solution:

1. Confirm you are comparing the same timeframe. RSI(14) on daily bars is a completely different calculation than RSI(14) on 5-minute bars.
2. Check the indicator’s source parameter. Some indicators default to using the close price, but you may be comparing against a version that uses the typical price (HLC/3) or another source.
3. Verify the indicator period. Different platforms may use different default periods — for example, some default RSI to 14 and others to 9.
4. Corporate actions (stock splits, dividends) can affect historical price levels. Stratifyre adjusts for these automatically, but if the platform you are comparing against does not, the raw price values and derived indicator values will differ.

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Browser and Connection Issues

The app is loading slowly or not responding

Problem: Pages take a long time to load, the interface is sluggish, or buttons do not respond.

Cause: Browser extensions, insufficient system resources, network issues, or using an outdated browser.

Solution:

1. Try opening Stratifyre in a private/incognito window to rule out browser extension conflicts.
2. Clear your browser cache and cookies for the Stratifyre domain.
3. Ensure you are using a supported, up-to-date browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge).
4. Check your internet connection — try loading another website to confirm connectivity.
5. If you have many open tabs or applications, try closing some to free up system memory.

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“Connection lost” or “Unable to connect” errors

Problem: You see a banner or toast message saying the connection was lost.

Cause: Your internet connection was interrupted, or there may be a platform outage or scheduled maintenance.

Solution:

1. Check your internet connection by loading another website.
2. Refresh the page. Stratifyre will attempt to reconnect automatically.
3. Check the Stratifyre status page or social media channels for any announced outages or maintenance windows.
4. If you are on a corporate network, check whether a firewall or proxy is blocking WebSocket connections (Stratifyre uses WebSockets for real-time updates).

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Charts or UI elements are not rendering correctly

Problem: Charts appear blank, overlapping, or visually broken.

Cause: Browser rendering issues, outdated browser, or a display scaling conflict.

Solution:

1. Try a hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac).
2. Reset your browser zoom to 100% (Ctrl+0 or Cmd+0).
3. Update your browser to the latest version.
4. Try a different browser to isolate whether the issue is browser-specific.
5. If you are using a very high-DPI display with custom scaling, try adjusting your OS display scaling settings.

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Billing Issues

Payment failed

Problem: You receive a notification that your payment could not be processed.

Cause: Expired card, insufficient funds, or the card issuer declined the charge.

Solution:

1. Go to Settings > Billing and click Manage Subscription to open the Stripe portal.
2. Update your payment method with a valid card.
3. Stripe will automatically retry failed payments. If the retry succeeds, no further action is needed.
4. If the issue persists, contact your bank or card issuer to confirm there are no blocks on the charge.
5. If you cannot resolve the payment issue, contact Stratifyre support for assistance.

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I was charged after cancelling

Problem: You cancelled your subscription but still see a charge on your statement.

Cause: Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period. If you cancelled mid-cycle, the final charge covers the period you already had access to.

Solution:

1. Check the date of the charge. If it falls within your last active billing period, it is the expected final charge.
2. Go to Settings > Billing > Manage Subscription and confirm the subscription shows as “Cancelled” with an end date.
3. If you see a charge dated after your cancellation end date, contact support with the charge details for a review.

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Cannot access Stripe billing portal

Problem: Clicking “Manage Subscription” does not open the Stripe portal, or the portal shows an error.

Cause: Pop-up blocker, browser extension interference, or a temporary Stripe service issue.

Solution:

1. Allow pop-ups for the Stratifyre domain in your browser settings.
2. Try in a private/incognito window.
3. Try a different browser.
4. If the issue persists, contact support and they can send you a direct link to the billing portal.

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Still Need Help?

If none of the above solutions resolve your issue:

1. Click Help in the bottom-left corner of the app to open a support ticket.
2. Include as much detail as possible: what you were trying to do, what happened, the browser and operating system you are using, and any error messages you saw.
3. For billing issues, include the last four digits of the card on file and the date of the charge in question.

The support team typically responds within one business day.