Creating a Strategy

This guide walks you through every step of creating a trading strategy in Stratifyre, from naming your strategy to saving a fully configured system ready for backtesting. No coding is involved – everything is done through the visual interface.

Step 1: Open the strategy builder

From the Stratifyre dashboard, click New Strategy in the top-right corner. This opens the strategy creation screen where you will configure all aspects of your strategy.

Tip

If you would rather describe your strategy in plain English and have the AI build it for you, see AI Strategy Builder. You can always fine-tune the AI-generated rules using the visual editor afterward.

Step 2: Name and describe your strategy

At the top of the strategy builder, you will see two fields:

• Strategy Name – Give your strategy a descriptive name that helps you identify it later (for example, “RSI Mean Reversion - Daily SPY” or “MACD Trend Following - Crypto”).
• Description (optional) – Add notes about your trading idea, the market conditions it targets, or any assumptions you are making. This is for your own reference.

Choose a name that captures both the approach and the instruments involved. When you have dozens of strategies, clear names save you time.

Step 3: Choose your instruments

In the Instruments section, select which symbols your strategy will trade. You have several options:

• Search for individual symbols – Type a ticker symbol (like AAPL, BTC/USD, or ES) into the search bar and select it from the results.
• Use a built-in basket – Choose from pre-built instrument groups like S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, or Crypto 100 to apply your strategy across an entire index.
• Create a custom basket – Build your own group of symbols to trade as a set.

You can select a single instrument or hundreds at once. Stratifyre evaluates your rules independently for each symbol, so a single strategy can manage a full portfolio.

Note

When trading multiple instruments, you can use local state variables (unique to each instrument) and global state variables (shared across all instruments) to coordinate behavior. See Multi-Instrument Strategies for details.

These selections become your strategy’s default instrument universe. Backtests inherit that universe unless you override the symbols or baskets in the backtest configuration for a specific run. Strategy preview uses one symbol at a time, so it is best for spot-checking rule behavior rather than validating a full basket.

Step 4: Select your timeframe

The Timeframe dropdown sets the primary chart resolution for your strategy – that is, how often your rules are evaluated. Common choices include:

Timeframe	Best for
1 minute	Scalping, high-frequency intraday
5 minutes	Active day trading
15 minutes	Intraday swing trading
1 hour	Short-term swing trading
Daily	Swing trading, position trading
Weekly	Long-term position trading

Your strategy’s rules will be evaluated each time a new bar closes on your selected timeframe. For example, a 5-minute strategy checks its rules every five minutes.

Tip

You can reference data from other timeframes within your rules using multi-timeframe expressions, even if your primary timeframe is different. See Multi-Timeframe Strategies for more.

Step 5: Add entry rules

Entry rules define the conditions that must be true for your strategy to open a new position. Click Add Rule in the Entry Rules section to begin.

Building a condition

Each condition is composed of three parts that you configure using dropdown menus and input fields:

1. Left-hand side (LHS) – What you are measuring. Select a technical indicator, price value, volume, or any expression from the dropdown. For example, choose “RSI” with a period of 14.
2. Operator – How to compare the two sides. Choose from 15 operators like “is less than,” “crosses above,” or “enters channel.”
3. Right-hand side (RHS) – What you are comparing against. This can be a fixed number (like 30), another indicator, a price value, or a custom expression.

Example: To create a “buy when RSI drops below 30” condition:

• LHS: RSI(14)
• Operator: is less than
• RHS: 30

Adding multiple conditions

Click Add Condition to require additional criteria. When a rule has multiple conditions, all of them must be true at the same time for the rule to trigger (AND logic).

Example: “Buy when RSI is below 30 AND price is above the 50-day SMA”:

• Condition 1: RSI(14) is less than 30
• Condition 2: Price is greater than SMA(50)

Choosing the action

Below your conditions, select what happens when the rule triggers:

• Place Order – Opens a new position. Choose the order type (Market, Limit, Stop, etc.), the side (Buy or Sell), and the quantity.
• Send Alert – Notifies you without placing a trade.
• Set Variable – Stores a value for use in other rules. See Expressions for details.

Setting execution frequency

Use the Frequency dropdown to control how often this rule can fire:

• No limit – Fires every time conditions are met.
• Once – Fires only once for the entire strategy run.
• Once per period – Fires once per time interval (for example, once per day, once per hour).

For most entry rules, “Once” or “Once per period” is a good choice to prevent opening duplicate positions.

Step 6: Add exit rules

Exit rules tell the strategy when to close an open position. Click Add Rule in the Exit Rules section and configure conditions the same way you did for entries.

Common exit approaches include:

• Profit target – Exit when unrealized profit exceeds a threshold (for example, position return greater than 2%).
• Stop loss – Exit when unrealized loss exceeds your risk limit (for example, position return less than -1%).
• Indicator signal – Exit when an indicator reverses (for example, RSI rises back above 50).
• Time-based exit – Exit after holding for a set period (for example, 240 minutes after entry).

For the action, choose Close Position to flatten the current position, or Place Order if you want to exit with a specific order type.

Caution

Always include at least one exit rule that acts as a stop loss. Strategies without stop-loss logic can suffer large, uncontrolled drawdowns.

Step 7: Configure position sizing

In the Position Sizing section, define how much capital to allocate to each trade. You can choose from:

• Fixed quantity – Trade the same number of shares, contracts, or units every time (for example, 100 shares).
• Fixed dollar amount – Allocate a set dollar amount per trade (for example, $5,000).
• Percentage of equity – Allocate a percentage of your account equity (for example, 5% of equity per trade).
• Risk-based sizing – Calculate quantity based on your risk tolerance and stop-loss distance. For example, risk 2% of equity per trade with an ATR-based stop: account.equity * 0.02 / ATR(14).

Risk-based sizing is the most common approach among professional traders because it automatically adjusts your position size based on market volatility.

Step 8: Configure order settings

For each rule action that places an order, you can configure:

• Order type – Market, Limit, Stop, Stop-Limit, Bracket, TWAP, VWAP, or Iceberg. See Order Types for details on each.
• Time-in-force – How long the order stays active: DAY (expires at market close), GTC (good until canceled), IOC (fill immediately or cancel), or FOK (fill completely or cancel).
• Bracket orders – Automatically attach a take-profit and stop-loss to every entry, so your risk management is built in from the start.

Tip

Bracket orders are a great choice for beginners. They automatically place a take-profit and stop-loss when your entry fills, so you never forget risk management.

Step 9: Review and save

Before saving, review your strategy in the summary panel:

• Rules – Confirm your entry and exit conditions are correct.
• Instruments – Verify the right symbols are selected.
• Position sizing – Check that your sizing method and parameters make sense for your account size.
• Order settings – Make sure order types and time-in-force settings are appropriate.

When everything looks good, click Save Strategy. Your strategy is now ready to backtest.

What to do next

• Backtest your strategy to see how it would have performed on historical data. Look at key metrics like total return, win rate, profit factor, maximum drawdown, and Sharpe ratio.
• Refine your rules based on backtest results. Small adjustments to indicator periods, thresholds, or position sizing can make a meaningful difference.
• Add complexity gradually. Start with a simple version of your strategy, validate that it works, and then layer on additional conditions or filters.

Best practices

• Start simple. A strategy with two or three well-chosen rules often outperforms one with a dozen conditions that overfit to historical data.
• Always include risk management. Every strategy should have a stop-loss rule and sensible position sizing.
• Name your rules clearly. When a strategy has many rules, descriptive names like “RSI Oversold Entry” or “ATR Trailing Stop Exit” make it much easier to maintain.
• Test across different market conditions. A strategy that only works in bull markets is not robust. Backtest across trending, ranging, and volatile periods.
• Document your reasoning. Use the description field and rule names to capture why you chose specific indicators, thresholds, and timeframes. Future-you will thank present-you.