Test your first trading idea

In this tutorial you hand one trading idea to the agent and let it do the research. By the end you will know how often the idea actually worked across two years of history, and the answer will sit on your chart as a Forward Insight the next time it happens.

The idea is the one from How the pieces fit: BTC breaking the first 15-minute range of the New York session above VWAP. There, it came to 786 breaks, and breaks from above the upper VWAP band reached the prior day's high 51 times in 61. Your numbers will depend on your dates. The steps work for any idea.

Research needs Starter or above. The agent runs on AI credits or your own AI subscription.

Give the agent your idea

Describe the idea and the question you want answered, the way you would to another trader. This is the one used here:

When BTC breaks the first 15-minute range of the New York session while price is above session VWAP, how often does it go on to reach the prior day's high? Use the last two years, and split the answer by how far above VWAP the break started.

1. Open Agent at the top of the sidebar. The page asks What do you want to do?

2. Under the message box, leave the mode on Supervised. The agent then shows you each step on the chart before it moves on, so you can correct it as it goes.

3. Type your idea and press Enter.

Approve the plan

Before building anything, the agent writes back a plan: what it will make, what it will measure, and what "done" looks like. It arrives as a Plan proposal card.

1. Read the plan. Check it has understood the idea, the instrument and the time window.

2. Click Approve to let it start, or send it back with what to change.

Check the marks it makes

The agent builds a definition: your idea, written precisely enough that Chartnaut can spot it on a chart. It checks the script against real BTC data, then shows you the result as a Result card with the definition open beside the chat, its marks drawn on the chart.

Look at a few days before you accept anything. Every number that follows depends on these marks being right.

1. Step through a handful of sessions on the chart beside the chat.

2. Check each mark sits on the bar where price left the range, and only on days when price was above VWAP.

3. If something is off, say so with the date: On 12 March the mark fired before the first 15 minutes had finished. The agent fixes it and shows you again.

4. When the marks look right, click Accept.

Let it find every break in history

A definition only knows about the bars it has run over. To answer the question, it needs to run across two years of BTC. The agent asks first, with a Data collection proposal card showing the instrument and dates it wants.

1. Check the instrument is BTC and the dates cover two years.

2. Click Collect.

The run takes a few minutes. When it finishes, the agent tells you how many times the break happened. In this example, 786. Each plan holds a set number of events, listed on Definition events.

Run the study

Now the agent writes a study: the question itself, measured across all 786 breaks. It asks before running it, with a Study run proposal card showing how many events are in scope.

1. Click Run.

2. Watch the progress in the chat. When it completes, a Study results card appears.

3. Click Open the full report to see it beside the chat.

The report gives the answer with the sample behind every number: how often breaks reached the prior day's high, and how that changes with distance from VWAP. In this example, breaks from above the upper band did it 51 times in 61. Ask the agent anything about the result in the chat, or ask it to split the answer another way. Read the results explains every part of the report.

Put the answer on your chart

A number in a report is easy to forget. A Forward Insight puts it on the chart, on the bar where the break happens.

1. In the report, click Attach to chart.

2. Pick what you want the chart to show, and choose any breakdown, such as distance from VWAP. Apply breakdown shows you a preview.

3. Name it under Pin name and click Save pin.

A Forward insight card in the chat confirms it is Saved to the chart.

See it on the chart

1. Open Trading → Charts on BTC.

2. When the break happens, live or in a replay, a marker appears on that bar. Click it to see the reading: 51 in 61, for breaks like this one.

That is the whole loop: an idea, the evidence behind it, and the answer waiting where you trade. Everything the agent made is kept under Tools → Definitions, where you can run the definition on other markets or ask new questions of the same events. How research works explains each piece in depth.