Strategy Builder (time-based)

The Strategy Builder is where you write the rules of a strategy and test them on past data. This page covers the time-based builder: strategies that enter at a fixed time of day.

New to the words on this page? Read Key words first. Want a guided walk-through? Do Your first backtest.

Where to find it: left menu → BACKTEST → Strategy Builder.

How the page works

1. You pick a strategy type.
2. You fill in four sections, top to bottom: 1. Strategy Setup, 2. Leg Builder, 3. Universal Exits, 4. Review & Run.
3. You click BACKTEST. The results appear below the form.

Click a section’s title to open or close it. Sections 2 and 3 start closed.

Every field has a small ⓘ next to it. Click it for a short explanation inside the app.

Choosing a strategy type

The page opens with a card for each kind of strategy:

Card	Use it when
Time-Based / Pure Risk	You want to enter at a fixed time, for example “sell a straddle at 9:20”. This page covers it.
Indicator / Signal-Driven	You want to enter when a chart condition is met, for example “RSI crosses above 30”.

Tip

If you are new, start with Time-Based. It has the fewest settings, so the result is easier to understand.

The tabs at the top

After you pick a type, a row of tabs appears:

Tab	What it does
Time-Based Strategy	The builder form (this page).
Auto Tune	Tests many values of your settings at once, for example stop losses from 20% to 50%.
Bayesian Search	Like Auto Tune, but tries the most promising values first instead of every value.
Walk Forward	Tunes on one stretch of past data, then checks the result on the next stretch it has not seen.
Walk Forward 2	Like Walk Forward, but carries forward a group of good settings instead of one.
Change Type	Goes back to the three cards.

Your browser’s Back button does the same: from a builder it returns to the three cards, and Forward opens the builder again with what you had. Clicking Strategy Builder in the left menu while a builder is open also returns to the cards.

The tuning tabs use the strategy you built on the form. If you change a number on the form after opening a tuning tab, a yellow note asks you to Re-sync (use the new numbers) or Keep my values. If you change the rules themselves, for example add a leg, the tuning form is rebuilt for you and a blue note says so.

1. Strategy Setup

These settings apply to the whole strategy.

Field	What it does	Example
Underlying	The index to trade options on. Lot size and strike step come from this choice.	NIFTY
Trade Type	Intraday closes everything the same day. Positional lets positions stay open overnight.	Intraday
ATM Source	How the at-the-money strike is found. Spot Price uses the index price. Synthetic Futures uses a futures price worked out from the option prices.	Spot Price
Entry Time	The time the strategy enters each day.	09:20
Exit Time	Anything still open is closed at this time, whatever else is happening.	15:15
Stop New Orders	After this time, no new entry or re-entry is made. Positions already open stay open until they exit.	15:00
Execution Delay	How long to wait after the entry time before entering. See below.	Immediate
Start Date / End Date	The past days to test on. Every number in the result comes only from these days.	2026-07-01 to 2026-07-31
Move SL to Cost	When any leg hits its stop loss, the stop of every other open leg moves to its own entry price. See the example below.	Off
Expiry DTE Selection	Trade only on the chosen days to expiry. All DTEs (the default) trades every day.	0 DTE and 1 DTE
Neighbourhood check	After the backtest, re-runs it with each setting moved a little either side, so the report can say whether the result holds up nearby. Tick it to choose which settings and how far.	Off

Execution Delay has three choices:

• Immediate: enter in the entry-time minute.
• Next Minute Start: enter one minute later. Entry time 09:20 → enters at 09:21.
• Delay By: enter a number of minutes later. Delay By 3 → enters at 09:23.

The delay applies to entries only. Exits and stops are never delayed.

Move SL to Cost — example. You sell a straddle: CE at ₹100 and PE at ₹100, each with a 25% stop.

1. The CE rises to ₹125 and hits its stop. It closes.
2. The PE’s stop moves from ₹125 to ₹100, its entry price.
3. If the PE later rises back to ₹100, it closes with no loss on that leg.

If the other leg is already showing a loss when the first stop hits, its stop stays where it was.

Expiry DTE Selection — example. If the option expires on a Tuesday, Monday is 1 DTE and the Friday before is 4 DTE (DTE counts calendar days). Choosing only 0 DTE means the strategy trades only on expiry days.

2. Leg Builder

Each leg is one option position. A new strategy starts with two legs: SELL CE ATM and SELL PE ATM, 1 lot each. That is a short straddle.

• + Add Base Leg adds another leg.
• × (top right of a leg) removes it.
• + Add SL Sequence Leg / + Add Target Sequence Leg add a leg that opens only when this leg hits its stop loss or target. See Sequence legs.

The leg header

Control	What it does
SELL / BUY	Click to switch. Sell receives the premium. Buy pays it.
CE / PE	Click to switch between call and put.

Example: to turn the default short straddle into a long straddle, click SELL on both legs so they read BUY. You now pay the two premiums and profit from a big move either way.

Contract fields

Field	What it does	Example
Instrument	Option (the normal choice) or Future. A Future leg trades the index futures contract. It works in backtests but cannot be deployed live yet.	Option
Expiry	Which expiry to trade: Current Week, Next Week or Current Month. It is worked out again every day, so contracts roll by themselves.	Current Week
Strike	How the strike is chosen each day. See the table below.	ATM
Lots	How many lots this leg trades.	1

Strike choices. Examples use NIFTY at 24,000 (strike step 50).

Choice	How the strike is chosen	Example
ATM	The strike closest to the index.	24,000
OTM 1 … OTM 10	That many steps away, on the out-of-the-money side.	OTM 2: CE 24,100, PE 23,900
ITM 1 … ITM 10	That many steps the other way.	ITM 1: CE 23,950, PE 24,050
Premium Near	The option whose price is closest to the number you type.	Near 50, prices 62 / 48 / 35 → 48
Premium Above or Equal To	The cheapest option still priced at or above your number.	≥ 50, prices 62 / 48 / 35 → 62
Premium Below or Equal To	The costliest option priced at or below your number.	≤ 50, prices 62 / 48 / 35 → 48
Delta Near / Above or Equal To / Below or Equal To	The same three rules, using the option’s delta (0 to 1) instead of its price.	Delta Near 0.30
Strike Price	The exact strike you type.	24,000
Spot %	A strike that far from the index, in percent, on the out-of-the-money side.	1% → CE 24,250, PE 23,750
Spot Pts	A strike that many index points away, on the out-of-the-money side.	200 → CE 24,200, PE 23,800
Future Based	The at-the-money strike, measured from the synthetic futures price instead of spot.	—

If no strike meets an Above or Equal To / Below or Equal To rule, the app uses the closest one instead.

Stop loss and target

Field	What it does	Example
Stop Loss	Where the leg is closed at a loss. Type a number and pick a unit.	25, % legs
SL Placed At	Appears once a stop is set. Only matters for live trading on supported brokers. Backtests and paper trading always watch the stop inside the app.	Local monitor
On Stop Loss Hit	What happens after the stop is hit. See Re-entry choices.	None
Target	Where the leg is closed in profit. Same units as the stop loss.	40, % legs
On Target Hit	What happens after the target is hit.	None
SL Wait Mins	Minutes to wait after a stop before a re-entry is allowed.	5
Tgt Wait Mins	Minutes to wait after a target before a re-entry is allowed.	5

Units. The same number means very different things in different units. For a leg sold at ₹100, with NIFTY at 24,000:

Unit	Meaning	Example stop	The leg closes when…
% legs	Percent of the leg’s own entry price.	20	its price reaches ₹120
pts legs	Points on the leg’s own price.	20	its price reaches ₹120
% index	Percent move of the index against the leg.	1	the index moves 240 points (1% of 24,000) against the leg
pts index	Index points against the leg.	100	the index moves 100 points against the leg
atr pre	A multiple of the leg’s own average one-minute range (ATR), measured when the leg enters.	2	its price rises by 2 × that range
atr index	A multiple of the index’s average one-minute range (ATR), measured when the leg enters.	2	the index moves 2 × that range against the leg

“Against the leg” means: up for a sold CE or a bought PE, down for a sold PE or a bought CE.

A target works the same way in the profit direction. Target 40, % legs, on a leg sold at ₹100: the leg closes when its price falls to ₹60.

ATR units start at 9:30

The average range uses the last 14 completed one-minute candles, which are only complete from 9:30. If any leg uses an ATR unit, the earliest entry time becomes 09:30. Broker charts usually smooth ATR differently, so their ATR value often reads 5–15% different from the app’s.

Re-entry choices

On Stop Loss Hit offers:

Choice	What happens after the stop
None	Nothing. The leg stays closed.
Re-Entry	Waits for the same contract to come back to its original entry price, then enters again at that price.
Re-Execute	Enters a new position, choosing the strike again with the leg’s own strike rule, at the start of the next minute.
Re-exe Opp Leg Premium	Enters a new position of the same type, at the strike whose price is closest to the other leg’s current price.
Re-exe B/S Opp Leg	Enters the same option type on the opposite side of the position that just closed, so the sides alternate: a sold leg comes back bought, then sold, then bought. Each day starts on the side you set.

On Target Hit offers None, Re-Entry, Re-Execute and Opp Leg (the same as Re-exe Opp Leg Premium above).

When you pick anything other than None, a # box appears: the most times this may happen in a day. If you leave it empty, it happens once.

Re-Execute also offers Risk:

• Risk Off + a number: the new position is that many steps out of the money (cheaper, further away).
• Risk On + a number: the new position is that many steps into the money.

Example: re-enter once after a stop. Leg: SELL CE ATM at 9:20, sold at ₹100. Stop Loss 25 (% legs). On Stop Loss Hit = Re-Entry, # = 1, SL Wait Mins = 5.

1. 10:00: the price reaches ₹125. The stop is hit and the leg closes.
2. Until 10:05: the app waits (SL Wait Mins).
3. After 10:05: when the same contract’s price comes back down to ₹100, the leg enters again at ₹100 with a fresh stop at ₹125.
4. If it is stopped out a second time, it does not come back, because # = 1.

Wait & Trade

Tick Wait & Trade to wait for a price move before entering. At the entry time the app notes a starting price, then waits for the move you set.

Setting	What it does
Premium / Index	Watch the leg’s own option price, or the index.
Value	How far the price must move. A minus number waits for a fall, a plain number waits for a rise.
% / Pts	Whether the value is a percent or points.

Example: Premium, -10, %. At 9:20 the CE costs ₹100. The leg enters only when its price falls to ₹90. If that never happens, the leg does not trade that day.

Caution

Wait & Trade means some days will not trade at all. Check how many days actually traded before you trust the result.

OCO

OCO (“one cancels other”) sits right after Wait & Trade on each leg. When the first leg enters, every leg that has not entered yet is cancelled for the day. It is one setting for the whole strategy: ticking it on any leg ticks it on all of them.

Example: a CE leg waits for its premium to rise 10% and a PE leg waits for the same. With OCO on, whichever fills first is the only trade that day.

OCO and normal straddles

In a plain straddle both legs enter in the same minute, so nothing is left waiting and OCO does nothing. Leave it off unless your legs are meant to enter at different moments.

Hedge

Tick HEDGE on a sold leg to buy a protective option (a wing) with it: same type, same expiry, same lots, no stop loss. Choose how far out it is: Strikes beyond (N strikes past the sold strike), Points beyond (P points past it, rounded outward to a listed strike) or Premium ≤ (the closest strike costing at most ₹X). The wing is sold just after its leg closes, whatever closes it, and a re-entry buys a fresh wing measured from the new strike. Its cost is already inside the result.

Example: Premium ≤ ₹2 on a sold 24,000 CE buys the CE far above it whose price is ₹2 or less.

The hedge is set on each leg in every tab: Time-Based Strategy, Auto Tune, Bayesian Search and both Walk Forwards.

Trail SL

Tick Trail SL to move the stop loss in your favour as the trade gains. You set Move, by and one unit (%, Pts, ATR Pre or ATR Index).

The rule: for every full Move of profit, the stop moves by that amount. It starts from the leg’s stop loss (or from the entry price if the leg has no stop loss). It never moves back.

Example: SELL CE sold at ₹100, Stop Loss 20 (% legs), so the stop starts at ₹120. Trail SL: Move 10, by 10, Pts.

Lowest price so far	Profit (points)	Full steps of 10	Stop is now at
₹100	0	0	₹120
₹90	10	1	₹110
₹80	20	2	₹100 (your entry price)
₹75	25	2	₹100
₹70	30	3	₹90

If the price then rises back to ₹90, the leg closes there with 10 points of profit.

Sequence legs

A sequence leg does not trade on its own. It opens only when its parent leg hits its stop loss (+ Add SL Sequence Leg) or target (+ Add Target Sequence Leg). It shows as “↳ LEG 3 (Triggered by Leg 1 SL)” and enters at the start of the next minute.

Example: Leg 1 sells a CE. Add an SL sequence leg that buys a CE. If Leg 1 is stopped out, the bought CE opens automatically.

3. Universal Exits

These rules look at the whole strategy, not at one leg. Tick a box to turn a rule on.

Field	What it does	Example
Overall Stop Loss	Closes every leg when the strategy’s combined loss reaches this amount. Choose MTM (rupees), Points or % (of the combined premium at entry).	MTM, 5000: close all at a ₹5,000 loss
Overall Re-entry on SL	After the overall stop closes everything, open the whole strategy again. After N mins: wait that many minutes, then enter fresh. On premium recovery: wait until the combined price is back at its starting level. Set Max Count.	After 10 mins, Max Count 1
Overall Target	Closes every leg when the combined profit reaches this amount.	MTM, 8000
Overall Re-entry on Tgt	After the overall target closes everything, open the strategy again. Same choices as above.	Off
Trailing Options	A trailing stop on the combined profit. See the example below.	Reach 5000, Lock/Trail 2000
Comb. Pump & Dump	Delays entry: waits for the combined price of the call and put to rise by Pump, then fall back by Dump, then enters. Lock Strike (on by default) keeps watching the same strike all day.	Pump 20 Pts, Dump 10 Pts
Sq. Off All on SL	If any one leg hits its stop, close all legs. With Wait Mins and Max RE set, the whole strategy is opened again after the wait.	On
Max Trades / Day	The most entries allowed in one day, re-entries included. Empty means no limit.	3
Max Loss / Day (₹)	When the day’s loss reaches this, everything closes and the strategy stops for the day.	5000
Max Profit / Day (₹)	When the day’s profit reaches this, everything closes and the strategy stops for the day.	10000

Trailing Options — example. Reach 5,000, Lock/Trail 2,000 (rupees):

1. Combined profit first reaches ₹5,000. A stop is set ₹2,000 below it, at ₹3,000 profit.
2. Profit rises to ₹8,000. The stop follows to ₹6,000.
3. Profit falls back to ₹6,000. Everything closes, keeping about ₹6,000.

The stop follows the best profit, always ₹2,000 behind it, and never moves down. It is checked at the close of each one-minute candle.

Overall Stop Loss and Max Loss / Day are different

Overall Stop Loss closes the current trade, and the strategy may enter again if you allowed re-entries. Max Loss / Day stops the strategy for the rest of the day. Many traders set both.

4. Review & Run

Item	What it does
Summary card	Shows exactly what you built: a table of the legs (Action, Type, Strike, Expiry, Lots, stop loss, target, On SL Hit, On TP Hit), an Entry panel, an Exit panel and the overall limits (🛡️ Overall SL, 🎯 Overall TP). A field left blank shows as “—”. Read it before you run.
Strategy Name	The name used in the Armory, in saved reports and in deployments. Name it after what it does, for example NIFTY straddle 25% SL.
Folder	A label to group strategies in the Armory. It does not change how the strategy runs.
SAVE	Saves the strategy to your My Strategies. The button shows SAVED ✓.
BACKTEST	Runs the test on your dates. It shows PROCESSING… while it runs, and Backtest processing… with a Cancel Backtest button below the form; click it to stop the run. Results appear below the form.

Example: for the default straddle with a 25% stop on each leg, the card reads: legs SELL CE ATM and SELL PE ATM, 1 lot, SL 25 % legs; Entry: Time-based at 09:20; Exit: ✓ Leg-level SL/TP active and Hard square-off at 15:15. If you meant 30%, or a 09:30 entry, this is where you notice before spending credits.

Each backtest uses credits from your account. If your dates hold no market data, the run is refused and nothing is charged.

To understand the result, see Reading your results.

Common mistakes

• No stop loss on a sold leg. A sold option can lose far more than the premium you received.
• The wrong unit. “20” in % legs, pts legs and pts index are three very different stops. Check the unit next to every number.
• Changing many things at once. Change one setting, run again and compare. Otherwise you cannot tell what made the difference.
• Exit Time too late. The last minutes of the day can have wide prices. Keep the exit comfortably before the close.
• Trusting a result with few trading days. With Wait & Trade, DTE filters or a short date range, check how many days actually traded.