getting-started

Your first Strategy Builder strategy (RSI mean-reversion)

Build, save, and backtest a 2-condition rule on real ETH/USDT candles

20 min · beginner

What you'll have when finished

  • Have one saved RSI strategy in your library
  • Run a 90-day backtest and read the result metrics
  • Know how to iterate without overfitting

Before you start

  • Past backtest results do NOT guarantee future performance
  • Do not skip step 7 (paper-validate before live) even if the backtest looks great
  • A 2-condition strategy that fires only 5 times in 90 days is not statistically meaningful — increase the period or loosen a condition

Walkthrough

  1. Open Strategy Builder on the Builder tab

    Click CEX Trade → Strategy Builder. You land on the Builder tab with a default 1-condition strategy (RSI < 35) and 3 actions (Market Buy 10%, TP 4%, SL 2%). Leave the defaults for now.

    Success criteria: You see Condition Blocks (WHEN) showing RSI < 35 and Action Blocks (WHAT) showing Market Buy / Take Profit / Stop Loss

  2. Name it and tag risk + category

    Name: "ETH RSI mean-reversion learner". Category dropdown: pick "Mean Reversion". Risk dropdown: pick "Medium". These tags do not change behavior — they help you find this strategy later in My Strategies.

    Success criteria: The name field shows your custom name; category and risk dropdowns show your picks

  3. Add a second condition (price above EMA9)

    Click "Add Condition" under Condition Blocks. Pick indicator = PRICE_VS_EMA9, operator = >, value = 0. Leave the AND/OR toggle on AND. Read: "RSI < 35 AND price is above EMA9". This filters out pure downtrends where RSI stays low for days.

    Success criteria: You see 2 conditions joined by "AND" and the second one shows PRICE_VS_EMA9 > 0

  4. Tighten Risk Controls

    Risk Controls card: Max trades per day = 3, Max capital % = 10 (not 20 — be conservative for a learner strategy), Daily loss limit = 3, Drawdown limit = 8. These are HARD stops the bot enforces — they cap your downside if the strategy misbehaves live.

    Success criteria: All four risk control numbers match the values above

  5. Save the strategy

    Click "Save Strategy" top-right. The button briefly shows "Saved!" with a green check. The strategy now has a strategyId visible under the name field ("Editing: a1b2c3d4…"). It also appears in the My Strategies tab.

    Success criteria: You see the "Editing: …" badge meaning the strategy is saved with an ID

  6. Backtest on 90 days of ETH/USDT 1h candles

    Backtesting tab. Saved strategy = the one you just saved. Exchange = your connected one (Coinbase or Binance US). Symbol = ETH/USDT (or ETH/USD on Coinbase). Timeframe = 1h. Days = 90. Initial capital = 10000. Fee BPS = 40. Click "Run Backtest". First run fetches candles (5-30 sec); next runs hit cache.

    Success criteria: Backtest results card appears showing Final Equity, Total Return %, Sharpe, Max Drawdown, Win Rate, Profit Factor, and a trade list

  7. Read the result the right way

    GOOD: Sharpe ≥ 1.0, max drawdown ≤ 20%, at least 30 trades, win rate doesn't have to be >50% if average win > average loss. BAD: fewer than 15 trades (not enough data), drawdown > 30%, Sharpe < 0.5. If GOOD, the next step is paper trading the same strategy for a week — backtest is necessary but never sufficient.

    Success criteria: You can articulate why your specific result is acceptable or needs more work

What's next

You have a saved + backtested strategy. Next: paper-trade it for at least a week via [[paper-trading-first-strategy-test]] before assigning to a live bot. To gate it by market regime (only run when ETH is in an uptrend), wrap it in the Conditional Bot — see [[conditional-bot-first-rule-set]].