How to Build a Strategy
Step 1: Describe your strategy idea
Tell pSpark what you want your strategy to do. At a minimum, you need:
Direction - Long or short
Entry condition - What triggers the trade
pSpark will build immediately with what you provide. If critical elements are missing, it asks focused, clarifying questions.
Step 2: Review the strategy summary
pSpark shows a summary of your strategy, including:
Direction, instrument, and timeframe
Entry conditions with exact parameters
Exit conditions
Approach description
Step 3: Iterate and refine
Continue the chat conversation to tweak your strategy:
“Add an EMA filter - only enter when price is above 50 EMA.”
“Change the RSI threshold to 25”
“Add a stop loss at 0.2%.”
“Switch the timeframe to 1 hour."
Each change updates the strategy definition in the side panel.
pSpark strategy building - defining entry/exit rules with strategy summary
Step 4: Save your strategy
When you’re satisfied, save the strategy. Once saved, it becomes available for backtesting and future use.
Example Strategy Prompts
Strategy Type | Example Prompt |
Mean reversion | “Long when RSI drops below 30 on NQ” |
Trend following | “Golden cross strategy — buy when 50 EMA crosses above 200 EMA” |
Breakout | “Short when price breaks below Bollinger lower band with volume spike” |
ICT/SMC | “ICT short setup for ES — bearish market structure shift with FVG entry” |
Multi-signal | “Long when RSI is oversold AND price is above VWAP AND bullish engulfing forms” |
With risk management | “RSI oversold long for NQ with 0.15% stop and 0.45% target” |
Wyckoff | “Wyckoff spring entry on ES” |
Pattern-based | “Short on bearish engulfing on NQ” |
Stop Loss and Take Profit
pSpark does not automatically add stop loss or take profit to your strategy
Include them only when you specifically ask: “with stop loss”, “add 0.2% stop”, “with risk management.”
If you request SL/TP without specific values, pSpark uses sensible defaults based on the instrument and timeframe
You’ll see a note in the summary when SL/TP is not included
Post-Save: Backtesting and Beyond
After saving your strategy:
Open the pSpark tab in the navigation
Find your strategy in “Your saved strategies.”
Click Backtest to run it against historical data (see the Backtesting section for details)
Strategy deployment for live trading is a coming-soon feature
Managing Saved Strategies
From the pSpark tab where your saved strategies are listed:
View strategy details - see the full definition and summary
Edit in Chat - click “Edit in Chat” next to any saved strategy to reopen it in pSpark chat. From there, you can continue the conversation to modify the strategy in natural language (e.g., “add an ADX filter above 25” or “switch from RSI to Stochastic”)
Backtest - run your strategy against historical data
Delete - remove strategies you no longer need
pSpark tab showing saved strategies with the backtest option
Tips for Better Strategies
Start with one signal, then add filters. “Buy when RSI is oversold” is a valid starting point - pSpark will suggest adding filters
Be specific about parameters. “RSI below 30” is better than “RSI oversold.”
Use AND/OR logic. “Long when RSI < 30 AND price is above 50 EMA” or “Exit when RSI > 70 OR MACD bearish cross.”
Specify bar references. “Bullish engulfing on the previous bar” is more precise than just “bullish engulfing.”
Iterate in conversation. Build a basic version first, then ask “add a trend filter” or “tighten the stop loss”
What pSpark Won’t Do?
pSpark will never choose a strategy for you - if you say “you decide” or “surprise me,” it presents options for you to pick from
It will never originate trading ideas - it translates YOUR ideas into structured definitions
It will not build indicators (those are handled separately - see Custom Indicators)