Knowledge Base

Docs. Everything You Need, In One Place.

Setup guides, indicator manuals, Stratera workflows, troubleshooting and FAQs — all the documentation for the Paradox Algo ecosystem.

Updated Sep 2026 · Paradox Algo v7.4 · Kairos Scalper v1.5 · Aurum v1.0
Getting Started

Quick Start (6 Steps).

Add the script, pick your instrument, apply a preset, verify behavior — the full six-step setup now lives on its own page.

Open the TradingView Setup guide →

Shared Layouts

Skip Configuration. Just Run A Layout.

You do not have to figure out the "best" settings yourself. Our team and the community publish complete TradingView layouts — preconfigured charts with the indicators, strategies, inputs, sessions, and timeframes already dialed in. Import a layout, save it as your own, and you're ready in under two minutes. This is the fastest path from zero to running.

What is a layout?A TradingView chart layout is a saved snapshot of one or more charts: the instrument, the timeframe, the timezone, every indicator and strategy on the chart, every input setting, every session filter, every drawing, and the multi-pane arrangement. Loading a shared layout in your TradingView account reproduces that exact setup on your screen instantly — no manual configuration.

Where to find layouts in Discord

📌 Official Layouts

Maintained by the Paradox Algo team. These are the validated layouts that match the configurations we publish backtests against. Updated whenever a strategy version ships or a major prop firm rule changes. Start here if you want the "we tested this exact config" path.

Find it under the #official-layouts channel in Discord.

💬 User Shared Layouts

Posted by members of the community. Often tuned for specific use cases — a particular prop firm eval, a specific instrument, a unique market regime, or a personal style preference. Read the original post before importing — the author usually explains who it's built for and what tradeoffs they made.

Find it under the #user-shared-layouts channel in Discord.

How to import a shared layout

Layouts are shared as TradingView links. The flow takes under two minutes:

  1. Open the layout link. In Discord, click the layout URL in the post. TradingView opens in your browser with the chart and all its settings already loaded — but at this point you're viewing the author's layout, not editing it.
  2. Save it to your account. In the top-right of TradingView, click the cloud icon (Save Layout) → pick "Save As..." → give it a name you'll recognize (e.g. Paradox Apex Eval — my copy). The layout is now in your personal Chart Layouts list under your account.
  3. Confirm the indicators / strategy are on the chart. Look at the bottom panel — you should see the Strategy Tester populated and any indicators visible. If they're missing, your account doesn't yet have access to those scripts (check your Pro tier and TradingView username in your account portal).
  4. Inspect the inputs before going live. Click the gear icon next to each indicator/strategy → review the input panel. The layout author has already set everything — but it's still your responsibility to know what you're running. Spend two minutes reading the inputs.
  5. Set up your alert. If the layout is for automated execution, create the webhook alert (Condition: Any alert() function call — except Aurum, which uses Order fills and alert() function calls) as described in Webhook Setup. Layouts do not include alerts — alerts are per-user.
  6. Run the 3-Gate ladder. Even with a community-validated layout, follow the Three-Gate ladder. Don't skip Paper just because someone else's backtest looks good.
Always "Save As" — never edit the originalIf you make changes to a layout you opened from someone else's link without first saving your own copy, your edits will be lost on refresh. The first thing you do after opening any shared layout is Save As with a new name. Make sure the name in the top bar is yours, not the author's, before you start customizing.

Why layouts beat manual configuration

  • Zero setup time. No hunting through input panels, no copy-pasting numbers from a recipe.
  • Reproducibility. Backtests published with a layout are reproducible by anyone who imports it — you know you're running the exact configuration that was tested.
  • Updates flow automatically. When the official team ships a new strategy version, an updated layout is posted alongside. You re-import once and you're current.
  • Community knowledge. Member-shared layouts often reveal use cases the official team hasn't published (specific eval firms, exotic instruments, unique session windows).
  • Safer for new users. Reduces the risk of misconfiguring an input you didn't realize mattered.
Want to share your own?If you've built a layout that performs well for a specific use case, post it in #user-shared-layouts with: (1) the TradingView share link, (2) the instrument and timeframe, (3) the use case (eval firm, style, etc.), and (4) the Strategy Tester results screenshot from your timeframe. Community contributions are how this library grows.
Setup Recipes

Starter Configs.

Concrete starter configurations — prop-firm eval, MNQ day trading, and the Kairos scalper — moved to a dedicated page.

Open the Prop-Firm Setup recipes →

Overview

What Is Paradox Algo?

Paradox Algo is a quantitative trading ecosystem for TradingView. Four automated strategies, six manual indicators, and an AI strategy optimizer — all built on advanced statistical models and institutional finance principles. Designed to work across crypto, forex, stocks, and futures markets, our models analyze the context of a move (volatility regimesVolatility regime: the market's current personality — quiet, normal, or wild. The algo measures it in real time and adapts its risk to match., order-flow imbalancesOrder-flow imbalance: when one side of the order book is consistently being absorbed faster than the other. Often a leading signal for big moves., liquidity zones) instead of relying on simple crossover signals.

Membership Tiers

What's Included.

Core Entry Tier

  • Paradox Algo (Core Algo Access)
  • Copy-paste configs from Discord chart channel
  • Works across all markets
  • Discord Premium Access
  • TradingView access < 24h

Pro Full Suite

  • Everything in Core, plus:
  • Quantum Edge — precision execution algo
  • Kairos Scalper — high-frequency futures scalper
  • Aurum — gold futures session system (MGC1! / GC1!) New
  • All 6 quant indicators (SignalWave, EdgeFlow, DeepWave, TrendScore, QuantumFlow SMC/ICT, Nova AI Trader)
  • Stratera — macOS AI strategy optimizer
  • Exclusive beta access & future releases

Yearly Pro is the same Pro tier, billed annually at 75% off and locked for life.

The Indicators (Pro)

Six Quant Tools.

The indicator suite is purpose-built for discretionary traders who read the market themselves. Each indicator surfaces a different dimension of price action — trend, momentum, regime, structure, edge — so you can layer them into an approach that fits your style. No prescribed strategy: you decide which combination of signals warrants an entry, your own stop placement, and your own targets.

SignalWavev4.1 — quality-graded trend-regime indicator, rebuilt from the ground up in v4.0 and extended with trail automation in v4.1. Every regime flip is graded A+ / B before it reaches your chart (filtered flips leave a small ◆ so a state change is never hidden), with the grade standard self-calibrated to your symbol and timeframe. Pick your asset class (Stocks / Forex / Futures / Crypto / Commodities) and trading style (Scalping → Long-Term) — 25 engine presets calibrate the volatility fingerprint. Adds a TREND ▲/▼/FLAT regime readout, rejection-confirmed swing marks, and 9 stable-title alerts with opt-in webhook JSON — v4.1 adds a Stop Envelope trail line, ◈ Trail Update alerts, and an opt-in per-bar trail webhook stream for broker-side stops. Zero repainting — every signal decides once, at bar close, and never retracts. Updating from v3.1: add the new script, pick your presets, re-create your alerts (v3.1 keeps working until you remove it, and its Classic engine in v4.1 reproduces the legacy behavior verbatim — v2 and v3 shared one engine, so it covers both). Full guide →
EdgeFlowNormalized momentum oscillator on a clean −1 to +1 scale. Auto-tunes across markets. Multi-layered gradient heat-map makes intensity instantly readable. Threshold crossings fire discrete entry signals — no manual calibration required. v3.3 — recalibrated responsiveness modes and an optional bar-close confirmation (v3.1), plus a stretched zone that now marks genuinely extended runs (the Overbought / Oversold alerts fire less often; titles unchanged, nothing to re-create), an optional Hide Markers in Ranging Markets setting, and a seamless gradient fill (v3.2 / v3.3; engine unchanged). Full guide →
DeepWavev4.1 — clock-adjusted volatility. Measures market activity against what is normal for this time of day, on one 0–100 scale — and as of v4.1 the clock adjustment holds through the whole session (fast charts changed the most, on purpose) with weekend markets measured against a normal weekend. Expected Range sizes stops and targets; four states (Quiet / Normal / Active / Extreme) and six alerts in total, including a sharp-move flag. It sizes the move — it does not time the trade or predict direction. Calibrated on 1-minute to 6-hour charts. Updating from v3 or v4.0: delete and re-create your DeepWave alerts — an alert keeps running the version it was created on. Full guide →
TrendScorev3.4 — scores trend strength from −100 to +100 in its own panel below the chart: positive readings are bullish, negative bearish, and the scale self-calibrates so the same reading means the same thing on any symbol or timeframe. Every bar is sorted into five clear states — Strong Bull, Bull, Neutral, Bear, Strong Bear — with markers and alerts at each state change, plus optional Signal Strength and Signal Confirmation filters (both off by default) for a quieter, steadier stream. The Neutral zone is what separates genuine trend from chop. Designed for 15-minute charts and above. v3.4 (September 2026): chart labels now follow exactly the same gate as the alerts, the warm-up countdown is corrected and the tooltips clarified — the score, every plotted value and all eight alert titles are unchanged, so there is nothing to re-create. Full guide →
QuantumFlow SMC/ICTSmart Money Concepts auto-mapper. Order blocks, fair value gaps, liquidity sweeps, and premium/discount zones — drawn for you in real time — plus theoretical trade playouts, session killzones, HTF bias, and webhook automation (PickMyTrade / TradersPost / custom). Full guide →
Nova AI Traderv2.3 — adaptive ML system processing real-time volatility, flow, and structure data to dynamically rank setups by historical edge. Now with hands-off webhook automation (PickMyTrade, TradersPost, CrossTrade, or Custom Template) and an optional broker-side trailing stop. Updating from v2.2 or earlier: delete and re-create your Nova alerts — TradingView alerts run a frozen copy of the script they were created with.
Fastest start for manual tradersImport a preconfigured indicator layout from Discord (see Shared Layouts). The official and community channels publish indicator-only chart layouts with sensible defaults, complementary indicator combinations, and clean visual hierarchies. Save a copy to your account and customize from there — you'll be reading the market in minutes instead of spending an hour setting up six indicator panes.
Automated Strategies

The Four Engines.

Four strategies, four different jobs. Each is a fully automated TradingView strategy with its own input panel, prop-firm framework, and webhook payload builder. Pick by use case:

Paradox Algo All Tiers

Flagship multi-factor confluence engine. Wide market coverage — evaluates trend, momentum, flow, structure, regime, and participation across multiple timeframes. Entries fire only when enough factors agree.

Best for: futures day traders who want a versatile baseline. Default cadence: 1-5 trades per session. Adaptive risk brackets, full prop-firm framework (daily caps, multi-day trailing DD, NY-anchored reset), webhook routing to PickMyTrade or TradersPost.

Typical use: futures intraday (MNQ / NQ / ES / MES). Works across timeframes — pick the one you've validated, or import a shared layout from Discord.

Quantum Edge Pro-Only

Mean-reversion precision engine. Tighter, more selective entries that fade overextended moves, built around smoothed dual price-action layers plus a volatility gate that auto-exits dangerous spikes before they hit your stop.

Best for: traders who find Paradox Algo's confluence net too wide in high-volatility sessions. Quantum Edge under-trades by design — fewer setups, higher per-trade conviction, no chasing.

Typical use: high-volatility news days, momentum sessions, when you want the strategy to skip rather than risk a marginal setup.

Kairos Scalper Pro-Only

Production-grade scalper built specifically for the NY morning liquidity burst. Multi-factor confluence on a tighter time horizon — entries fire only above a high conviction threshold, and its entries are direction-aware: the algo waits for pullbacks instead of chasing extended price.

Best for: traders who want a focused scalp window (typically 8:30–11:30am ET, Mon–Fri) on the micros. Adaptive brackets, post-loss cooldowns, pre-tuned out of the box (presets optional), and an Advanced Engine for power users.

Typical use: futures scalping (MES / MNQ / ES). Import the official Kairos layout from Discord for the validated configuration.

Aurum Pro-Only New

Our first gold system. Built for MGC1! and GC1! on the 15-minute chart: it measures the day's reference levels from a fixed part of the session, acts on a decisive move beyond them later in the day, and is flat by the daily close — most positions leave on the clock, not at a target. Sizing follows conditions; it pauses after a drawdown and comes back on its own.

Best for: traders who want a patient, session-based gold position — usually one trade a session, held for hours, not minutes. Prop rails (daily loss and profit caps with auto-flush), fill-driven alerts, webhook payloads for PickMyTrade, TradersPost, CrossTrade or a custom template.

Typical use: COMEX gold futures — MGC1! or GC1! — on the 15-minute chart only. Not tuned for other markets or timeframes. Setup & guide →

Can I run all four at once?Yes, but each on its own chart with its own alert. Many Pro members run Paradox Algo across the full session, Kairos on a separate chart during the morning window, treat Quantum Edge as their "skip if not perfect" fallback, and give Aurum its own gold chart (MGC1! or GC1!, 15-minute) — it runs on a different market and its own clock. The easiest setup for the index algos is to import the multi-strategy layout from Discord (see Shared Layouts). Just make sure your max-contracts plan accounts for the worst-case everything-fires-at-once exposure.
Stratera AI Optimizer

Optimize Any Strategy Autonomously.

Stratera is our macOS desktop app. Load any TradingView strategy, set your target metrics (SharpeSharpe ratio: reward per unit of risk. Higher is better. Anything above 1 is solid; above 2 is rare in trading., profit factor, net profit, max drawdown, win rate), click Optimize. Stratera autonomously runs thousands of adaptive backtests in the background — experimenting with input configurations until it finds the combo that maximizes your target.

What Stratera does

  • Works with any TradingView Pine strategy you have access to — Paradox products or your own
  • Detects the loaded strategy and pulls its inputs — every tunable parameter can be optimized
  • Adaptive search: the engine learns from each iteration instead of brute-forcing every combination — full runs typically complete in minutes, not days
  • Seven scoring targets: net profit, profit factor, win rate, Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, a minimum trade count — and a max drawdown ceiling
  • Outputs a ranked results dashboard and applies the winning configuration back to your TradingView strategy
  • Runs 100% locally — your strategies and results never leave your Mac
  • Claude integration: connect Stratera to the Claude desktop app from Stratera's Settings and drive an optimization by chat — targets, scoring objective, per-parameter locks and search bounds, trial budget, testing-period windows, and more
Latest release — v1.2.14 (September 2, 2026)An accuracy update. On TradingView's current Strategy Tester layout, Stratera was reading only part of each report, so profitable configurations landed in a narrow score band and the optimizer had little to learn from. Fixed: the full report is read, the profit component of the score works again, and metrics a layout doesn't show (risk ratios on an unmounted tab) are scored as absent rather than as zero. Deep testing periods are now detected automatically — no toggle needed — and every trial, including the first, must prove a freshly computed report before it's scored. Searches are more sample-efficient, and the Claude integration now has full control of the optimizer's configuration. After updating, tap Reset and re-run your existing studies — their scores will change because the profit component now counts.

Download & install

  1. Visit paradoxalgo.com/stratera and scroll to the download section.
  2. Enter the email address tied to your Pro subscription (the one you used at checkout). Our system verifies your active subscription and the download starts automatically (~70MB DMG).
  3. Open the .dmg and drag Stratera into Applications, then eject the DMG.
  4. Double-click Stratera in Applications. On first launch macOS may show a developer-verification prompt — click Open (first launch only; if it won't open, right-click the app → Open → confirm).
  • OS: macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer — Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel both supported. macOS only; no Windows or Linux version.
  • Subscription: active Pro membership — verified by email at download time. Core members: Stratera is a Pro-tier tool.
  • TradingView: the TradingView Desktop app for macOS (free download from tradingview.com) plus a TradingView account — free or paid both work for backtesting. Stratera drives the desktop app directly; a TradingView browser tab won't connect.

Connect to TradingView

  • Stratera works with the TradingView Desktop app — not a browser tab. Open it, log in, and load the strategy you want to optimize on a chart.
  • Launch Stratera — it looks for the chart on its own. The connection dot in Stratera's top-right corner turns green when it's ready.
  • If TradingView was already open in a mode Stratera can't talk to, Stratera asks "Restart TradingView to connect?" — click Restart & Connect. TradingView saves your layout automatically and reopens ready for Stratera.
  • Not connecting? Click the connection dot, or launch TradingView from Stratera's toolbar so it opens in the right mode from the start.

Your first optimization run — step by step

  1. In TradingView, open a chart with the strategy you want to optimize loaded on it.
  2. Switch to Stratera — it detects the strategy and pulls its inputs.
  3. Set your targets: net profit, profit factor, win rate, Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, minimum total trades — and a max drawdown ceiling.
  4. Set bounds for each input you want optimized (e.g. Target Multiplier 2–5). Anything you don't bound, Stratera holds fixed — that's how you lock inputs you've already settled.
  5. Click Optimize. Stratera runs adaptive backtests in the background — you can keep using your Mac while it works. Runs typically complete in minutes; tighter bounds converge faster.
  6. Review the ranked results dashboard, pick the winner, and apply it — your TradingView strategy's input panel updates with the new configuration.
  7. Before going live: validate out-of-sample (next callout) and paper-trade the configuration for at least a week.

Stratera troubleshooting

"Stratera won't connect to TradingView"
  • Stratera connects to the TradingView Desktop app — a TradingView browser tab won't work. Install the desktop app, log in, and load your strategy on a chart.
  • Click the connection dot in Stratera's top-right corner. If Stratera offers "Restart TradingView to connect?", accept it — your layout is saved automatically.
  • Or quit TradingView and launch it from Stratera's toolbar so it opens in the right mode from the start.
  • Still stuck? Verify your subscription is active at /stratera — and if you can't re-trigger a download, email support@paradoxalgo.com.
"The download won't start"
  • Confirm the email matches the one you used at checkout (it's validated against your Stripe subscription).
  • Check your spam folder for the verification email.
  • More than 30 minutes with no download? Email support@paradoxalgo.com.
"App won't open / unidentified developer"
  • That's the macOS Gatekeeper prompt on first launch: right-click the Stratera app → Open → confirm. It only happens once.
"Optimization is slow"
  • Stratera runs entirely on your Mac, so speed depends on your CPU and the bounds you set. Apple Silicon is significantly faster than Intel here.
  • Tighten the search bounds — fewer dimensions and narrower ranges converge much faster.
  • Update to v1.2.14 or later. Earlier versions could stall for minutes per trial on Deep testing periods whenever the TradingView window sat hidden behind other windows — v1.2.14 keeps trials moving with TradingView in the background.

What Stratera doesn't do

  • It doesn't trade. Stratera is a research and optimization tool, not a trading bot — it never places orders.
  • It doesn't touch the cloud. Local Mac app only; your strategies, settings, and results stay on your machine.
  • It doesn't run on Windows or Linux. macOS only.
  • It doesn't manage your account or capital. You review, you decide, you apply.
Why optimize locally?Your strategy parameters stay on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is shared, nothing is logged on our side. Privacy and IP protection built in.
Watch for curve-fitOptimized configurations always look better in-sample. Always run the winning config on out-of-sample data (the last 6 months you didn't include in the sweep) before going live. If out-of-sample P&L drops more than 30% vs the sweep, the configuration is overfit — pick a less aggressive runner-up.

Learn more about Stratera →

v7.4 Changelog

What's New in v7.4.

v7.4 is a drop-in upgradev7.4 is a broker-connectivity update — the signal engine, entries, exits, and default settings are unchanged. Everything new lives in the webhook layer and is opt-in; your saved settings, presets, and layouts carry straight over. One heads-up when you update: re-create your TradingView alert (existing alerts keep running a frozen copy of your old settings until you do).

CrossTrade is now built in (NinjaTrader 8)

  • Native provider. Pick CrossTrade from the Webhook Provider dropdown, paste your CrossTrade key and NinjaTrader account name, done — no more hand-building custom templates for NinjaTrader.
  • Fixed bracket mode (default): every entry ships with its take-profit and stop attached, held at NinjaTrader at the chart's exact prices.
  • ATM mode (the trailing stop): point the algo at your saved NinjaTrader ATM template and NinjaTrader runs your stop, target, and a tick-level auto-trail on its own — even if your connection drops mid-trade. The dashboard's Trail row shows the exact trigger/distance numbers to copy into the template. One rule: your Contracts setting must match the template's contract count.
  • Exit Mirror (on by default): when the chart closes a trade, NinjaTrader closes with it and cancels leftover orders — chart and broker stay in sync automatically.
  • Strategy tagging (automatic): Paradox's trades stay in their own lane — other bots on the same NinjaTrader account can't touch them, and Paradox won't touch theirs. Running Kairos on the same account? Each algo keeps its own tag.
  • Multiple NT accounts from one alert — comma-separated account names.
  • Tradovate through CrossTrade (beta): already on CrossTrade with a Tradovate account? Set the new Destination setting to Tradovate and orders route through CrossTrade's cloud — no desktop software, bracket included. ATM templates remain NinjaTrader-only (auto-fallback to the fixed bracket on Tradovate).

Rithmic accounts now work on PickMyTrade

  • On a Rithmic-based account (used by many prop firms)? Select PickMyTrade and type your Rithmic connection name into the new field — exactly as it appears in your PMT dashboard. Full bracket, adaptive trailing stop, and multi-account all carry natively. On Tradovate? Leave the field blank — nothing changes for you.

TradersPost, verified end to end

  • The trailing stop is confirmed working exactly as designed — it trails from entry at your full stop distance, broker-side. It's a simpler trail than the chart's adaptive one, so live trail exits won't mirror the backtest tick for tick. That's expected behavior, now clearly documented in the tooltips.
  • Two TradersPost-side settings worth checking today: keep the "Use signal take profit / stop loss" boxes CHECKED (unchecked = your brackets get silently ignored), and near contract rollover use the exact contract symbol (like MNQZ2026) — TradersPost switches front-month on its own schedule, which can differ from TradingView's.

Settings you can actually read

  • The webhook panel is now five clear sections — one Setup section everyone fills, then one per provider. Fields grey out unless their provider is selected, and every tooltip was rewritten in plain English to lead with what to do.
  • Small safety upgrades: the Setup-Health 24-hour/overnight-window warning now covers all three session windows (it previously watched only your main Active Hours), and credential fields are editable for CrossTrade and Custom Template setups (previously PickMyTrade-only).

Which provider do I pick?

Your accountPick this
Tradovate (most prop firms)PickMyTrade
RithmicPickMyTrade + Rithmic connection name
NinjaTrader 8CrossTrade
Already on CrossTrade with TradovateCrossTrade, Destination = Tradovate
Anything elseTradersPost or Custom Template

The alert is the same for every provider: Condition = Any alert() function call → Message box empty → paste your provider's webhook URL in the Notifications tab. Change any setting later? Delete and re-create the alert. Full setup walkthrough →

One exception: AurumAurum's messages ride on order fills, so its alert condition is "Order fills and alert() function calls" with the Message box left pre-filled. Choosing "alert() function calls only" on Aurum sends no trades. The other three algos are unchanged. Full setup in the Aurum section.

Previous release — v7.3 (flexibility & safety update)

  • TradersPost became built in. Native Webhook Provider — the strategy builds the complete bracketed order (market entry + take-profit + stop; stop-limit and trailing supported). URL-authenticated, so Auth Token / Account ID grey out.
  • PickMyTrade multi-account. Comma-separated Account IDs — a single alert fires all of them (e.g. an eval and a funded account together).
  • QuantLynk retired. If you were on it, flatten any open QuantLynk-managed position and migrate to TradersPost or PickMyTrade; your selection resets to PickMyTrade.
  • Up to three trading windows. Main hours plus an overnight or Asia block — each closed out flat at its own window end. Windows 2 and 3 are opt-in and off by default, sharing one timezone and weekday filter.
  • Trailing-stop master switch. One toggle for the trail: on (default) for the usual behavior, off for a clean take-profit / stop bracket when you want live fills to track the backtest as tightly as possible.

Setup-Health — the dashboard warns you before a mistake costs money

The on-chart Setup-Health readout (introduced in v7.3, extended in v7.4) flags the configuration mistakes that quietly cost money:

  • Wrong chart timeframe for the algo
  • Contract size that looks heavy for your drawdown room
  • A 24-hour / overnight window on any enabled session (v7.4 — previously main Active Hours only)
  • A preset silently overriding your edited inputs — the #1 "why won't my settings apply" question, now answered on-screen
  • Missing webhook credentials for your selected provider

Risk controls (since v7.3)

  • The loss-streak breaker counts only real losses. The consecutive-loss circuit breaker and its cooldown count only bracket losses — actual target, stop, or trailing exits. Forced time/session exits don't trip them.
  • Risk-counter hardening. The pacing and loss counters can no longer stall new entries in unusual configurations (24/7 sessions, a midnight reset hour, or the multi-day guard).
  • Carried over from v7.2: the loss breaker still resets each session (it can't lock you out across days), and the Daily Loss Cap still tracks live floating P&L, so it can trip before a position closes — matching how prop firms evaluate accounts.

Default settings (unchanged since v7.2 · optimized for MNQ 3-minute)

InputDefault
Contracts1
Target Multiplier3.5
Risk Multiplier3.5
Confluence Gate5
Max Trades per Day3
Daily Loss Cap$700
Multi-Day Window30 days

v7.3 and v7.4 change no defaults — these are unchanged from v7.2 and apply to new chart loads only; existing users keep their saved settings. The Setup Recipes still recommend their own values where a specific goal calls for it (e.g. prop-firm caps with a safety buffer).

Setup & clarity

  • Tooltips rewritten and expanded, including honest setup guidance for third-party webhook routes.
  • Same alert setup for every built-in provider (PickMyTrade, TradersPost, CrossTrade, Custom Template): set the TradingView alert Condition to Any alert() function call, leave the Message box empty, and paste your provider's webhook URL in the Notifications tab — the strategy supplies the full payload. PickMyTrade, CrossTrade, and Custom Template need their credential fields filled first; TradersPost is URL-authenticated, so those fields grey out. Full walkthrough →
  • Reminder: a blank credential field is the most common cause of alerts never reaching your broker. Enter credentials in the strategy inputs first, every time.

Carried over from v7.2 and earlier: zero-repaint confirmed-bar execution, time-based and session-end force-flats, the adaptive volatility trailing stop, the floating-P&L prop-firm engine, single-alert bracket delivery, persistent exit + cancel-all on reconnect, the MNQ-3-minute default set, and the grouped input panel.

Kairos Scalper v1.5

Kairos Scalper v1.5.

New in v1.5 — the broker-connectivity update (engine unchanged)v1.5 brings Kairos's webhook layer up to full parity with Paradox Algo v7.4 — same engine, same signals, same defaults. Two quick things after updating (the settings panel was reorganized, so give it a once-over): (1) open Settings and check your webhook fields and risk numbers look right — or hit Reset to Defaults and re-enter your token, account, and symbol (takes a minute). (2) Re-create your TradingView alert (alerts run a frozen copy of your old settings until you do).
  • CrossTrade is now built in (NinjaTrader 8). Fixed bracket mode (target + stop held at NinjaTrader at the chart's exact prices) or ATM mode (your saved NinjaTrader ATM template runs stop, target, and a tick-level auto-trail broker-side). Exit Mirror keeps NinjaTrader in sync with chart exits; automatic strategy tagging keeps Kairos's trades isolated from other bots on the same account — including Paradox Algo. Multi-account via comma-separated NT names, plus a beta Tradovate destination through CrossTrade's cloud. ATM tip: Kairos's bracket adapts to the market, so for an exact template match, turn on Use Manual Brackets and copy those fixed values into your ATM. Your Contracts setting must match the template's contract count.
  • Rithmic accounts on PickMyTrade. Type your Rithmic connection name into the new field — exactly as it appears in your PMT dashboard. Full bracket, adaptive trailing stop, and multi-account carry natively. Tradovate users: leave it blank.
  • PickMyTrade multi-account. Comma-separated account IDs trade from a single alert — works on Tradovate and Rithmic.
  • Custom Template "Flatten Word." Set the exact close keyword your provider expects (default unchanged).
  • Settings you can actually read. The webhook panel is now five clear sections with provider-aware field greying, every tooltip rewritten in plain English — and the dashboard has a new Webhook row showing your active route, with a warning if a key or account field is still blank.
  • One field that's supposed to stay lit: "PMT — Trail Enable" also serves TradersPost (it's the broker-trail on/off switch for both), so it stays active when TradersPost is selected. Not a bug — it's your trail toggle there too.
Previous release — v1.4: a PickMyTrade live-execution fixOn a rapid back-to-back reversal, PickMyTrade cancels the previous trade's stop/target bracket as it opens the opposite position — so a leftover bracket can't linger and fire later as a phantom stop. PickMyTrade only; pure execution fix with no signal, session, exit, or settings changes.
Upgrading from v1.2? Your tuned settings don't carry over.The signal engine changed in v1.3, so v1.2-tuned configurations are not transferable. Start from the shipped defaults (recommended) or re-tune from scratch — and re-create your TradingView alert either way.

Carried over from v1.3 / v1.4

  • Ships pre-tuned. Profile defaults to Custom with our optimized configuration active out of the box — no setup needed beyond the broker connection. Conservative / Balanced / Aggressive remain as opt-in presets.
  • Profile lock, made visible. The dashboard shows "preset locked" vs "CUSTOM" — custom input values only take effect on the Custom profile (or with Advanced Tuning enabled).
  • Direction-aware entries. Waits for pullbacks instead of chasing extended price.
  • Smarter confluence scoring. Scoring requires agreement across independent signal dimensions — the Confluence Gate is a true selectivity control.
  • Wick Sensitivity (Advanced Engine): filters noisy wick signals.
  • Session settings rebuilt — the old session string is gone (see below).
  • PickMyTrade entries are explicit market orders (order_type: MKT) — no action needed on your side; this eliminates limit-order ambiguity at entry.
  • Loss Circuit Breaker, clarified: when it trips, it halts new entries for the remainder of the day and resets at the next session (or on a win).

The input panel at a glance

Open the strategy's settings (gear icon on the chart) and you'll move through these groups top to bottom — everything in this section lives in one of them:

  • Profile — the preset selector. Ships on Custom with the optimized configuration already active; switch to Conservative / Balanced / Aggressive only if you deliberately want a preset driving instead.
  • Session — Active Hours, Session Timezone, and the Weekday Filter with its Mon–Sun checkboxes (detailed below).
  • Risk controls — Daily Risk Limit, Daily Profit Target, Loss Circuit Breaker, Recovery Period, and the prop-firm compliance fields (daily reset hour, trailing drawdown, force-close).
  • 🔗 Webhook — five sections as of v1.5: one Setup section everyone fills (the Webhook Provider dropdown: PickMyTrade / TradersPost / CrossTrade / Custom Template), then one section per provider. Fields grey out unless their provider is selected.
  • Advanced Engine — power-user tuning, including the new Wick Sensitivity control: raise it to filter out noisier wick-driven signals, lower it to let more through. Inputs here (and any custom values) only take effect on the Custom profile or with Advanced Tuning enabled.

The on-chart dashboard is your live status readout. Alongside the session and P&L state, it always shows which configuration is actually driving: "preset locked" means a preset is in control and your manual inputs are ignored; "CUSTOM" means your own input values are live. If you ever change an input and nothing happens — check this readout first; you're almost certainly on a locked preset.

Providers — what changed and why

Kairos v1.5's Webhook Provider dropdown has four options: PickMyTrade, TradersPost, CrossTrade, and Custom Template — the same four offered by Paradox Algo v7.4. Same webhook system, both algos.

ProviderTradingView Alert ConditionMessage boxBroker-side bracket
PickMyTradeAny alert() function callleave emptyFull — TP + SL + adaptive trailing; entries as explicit market orders
TradersPostAny alert() function callleave emptyFull — brackets delivered at entry; broker-side trail (simpler than the chart's)
CrossTrade (v1.5)Any alert() function callleave emptyFixed bracket at chart prices, or ATM template with NinjaTrader-side tick trail
Custom TemplateAny alert() function callleave emptyDepends on your bridge — verify in paper first
How each provider carries your exits — the honest versionEvery native provider delivers the full bracket broker-side from the entry payload — your position is never unprotected. The difference is the trail: PickMyTrade carries the adaptive trailing stop natively (closest match to the chart). TradersPost runs a simpler broker-side trail — it trails from entry at your full stop distance, so live trail exits won't mirror the backtest tick for tick. CrossTrade gives you a choice: the fixed bracket (exact chart prices, no trail) or ATM mode, where your NinjaTrader template runs its own tick-level trail. Pick the trade-off that fits — and paper-test whichever you choose.
  • CrossTrade — added in v1.5. Earlier versions skipped it because its webhook couldn't carry a per-trade trail; ATM mode solves that by letting your saved NinjaTrader template run the trail broker-side. Fixed-bracket mode is also available when you'd rather have exact chart prices with no trail.
  • QuantLynk — removed. Its webhook can't carry stop / target / trailing data, and Kairos's exits live in broker-side brackets delivered at entry. Routed through QuantLynk, positions would sit unprotected at the broker and desync from the strategy. (QuantLynk is retired across the entire Paradox Algo lineup — migrate to a supported provider.)
  • Generic (Universal) — removed. It was redundant with Custom Template.

Custom Template users: keep the {token} / {account} placeholders in the template itself and put your real credentials in the Auth Token and Account ID input fields — don't hardcode credentials into the template. The placeholder list now also includes {trail_enable}, {trail_offset}, and {trail_act}, and {sl_type} can resolve to trailing_stop.

Session settings — fully rebuilt

The old session string (e.g. 0800-1200:23456) is gone, replaced by a proper UI in the Session group of the input panel. Top to bottom, here's exactly what you'll find and what each control does:

  • Active Hours — a start-time and end-time pair defining your trading window (e.g. 08:30 → 11:30). The strategy only opens new positions inside this window; outside it, signals are ignored.
  • Session Timezone — a dropdown with six options: New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Sydney, UTC. Your Active Hours are interpreted in this timezone — not your chart's timezone and not your computer's. Set it once to your market's home exchange and your window stays correct year-round, DST included.
  • Enable Weekday Filter — a toggle. Switched ON, the Mon–Sun checkboxes below it become active and the strategy only trades on checked days. Switched OFF, every day of the week is eligible.
  • Mon–Sun checkboxes — one per day. The typical futures setup checks Mon–Fri and leaves Sat/Sun unchecked.
  • 24/7 markets (crypto): check Sat + Sun and turn the weekday filter OFF — or set Active Hours to 00:00–23:59.
  • Daily counters follow your timezone. Daily P&L, the trade limit, and the circuit breaker all reset at the selected timezone's day boundary — not your chart's.
InstrumentRecommended Active HoursNotes
MNQ / ES — open drive08:30–11:30 ETthe core Kairos window
MNQ / ES — full RTH08:30–15:00 ETlonger exposure, more trades
CL08:30–13:30 ETpit-session liquidity
BTC / crypto00:00–23:59weekday filter off, Sat + Sun checked
Prop-firm traders: check your firm's frequency rulesKairos is a high-frequency scalper — trade counts can clash with some prop firms' consistency or frequency rules. Read your firm's rulebook before running it on an eval, and consider the flagship Paradox Algo strategy as the steadier choice for evaluations.

Alert setup is unchanged: Condition = your strategy + Any alert() function call, Message box empty, fires once per bar close. Backtest disclaimers also unchanged — use a fixed-month contract for reproducible backtests.

Aurum v1.0 · New

Aurum v1.0.

Our first gold system — released September 6, 2026 (Pro tier)A gold-specific futures strategy for MGC1! and GC1! on the 15-minute chart. It measures each session's reference levels, acts on a decisive move beyond them later in the day, and is flat by the daily close. Closed-bar decisions, chart-managed exits, fill-driven alerts. Invite-only on TradingView as Aurum v1.0 [ParadoxAlgo]. It is not a scalper: positions run for hours, usually one trade a session.

What it does

  • The approach. Gold trades around the clock, but it does not move the same way all day. Aurum measures a fixed part of the session to set the day's reference levels. When price makes a decisive move beyond a level later in the day, it takes the trade in that direction and holds — most positions leave on the clock, not at a target. Every decision is made on a closed bar and filled at the next bar's open, so the rule you see in the backtest is the rule the live system runs.
  • Sizing by conditions. Larger size when the market's recent activity sits in the preferred band, smaller size everywhere else; size reduced when a new trade starts into a headwind, and again when a move is already crowded. It keeps taking the trade — it only changes how much it commits.
  • Risk architecture. Protective stop and target placed on the chart and reported to your broker the instant they fill; the target waits until a trade has had time to develop; a pause after a drawdown, released by time, so the system always comes back; flat by the daily close, with an optional carry into the next session for a trade already well ahead; risk budget per trade or fixed contracts, with a hard cap on contracts.
  • Prop-firm suite. Daily loss cap and daily profit cap with auto-flush, a session-anchored daily reset, and a hard daily flatten time. Compatible with Topstep, Apex, Tradeify, TFT and similar evaluation or funded accounts.
  • Alerts & automation. Ready-made webhook messages for PickMyTrade, TradersPost and CrossTrade (NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate), plus a custom template. Fill-driven: every order carries its own message and goes out the moment it fills — entries at the next bar open, exits intrabar the instant the stop or target is hit. One alert covers everything.
  • On the chart. A reference zone whose edges light up as price approaches them, a live trade envelope (entry, target, stop, with the open result shaded), size-graded entry tags, result-coloured exit dots, a diamond when a trade is carried overnight, and a status panel (position, window, conditions, protection, exit, pause, size and risk, session, setup check).

Setup in four steps

  1. Add Aurum v1.0 [ParadoxAlgo] to an MGC1! or GC1! chart on the 15-minute timeframe. Defaults are ready to run.
  2. Settings → Webhook: pick your platform (PickMyTrade, TradersPost, CrossTrade, or a custom template), then enter your broker symbol, token and account. Every field explains itself in its tooltip.
  3. Create ONE alert on the strategy. Condition: "Order fills and alert() function calls". Message: leave the pre-filled text. Webhook URL: your platform's.
  4. Alerts are a frozen copy of your settings. After any settings change, delete the alert and create it again.
Why the alert setup differs from Paradox Algo and KairosParadox Algo and Kairos send the whole bracket inside the entry message and the broker runs the exits, so they use "Any alert() function call" with an empty Message box. Aurum works the other way round: every order carries its own message and TradingView sends it the instant that order fills — the stop, the target and the daily flatten go out intrabar, not at the close of the bar. That is why Aurum's condition must include order fills. If you are used to "alert() function calls only" from our other systems, do not use it here: it sends no trades.
Alert conditionWhat you get on Aurum
Order fills and alert() function callsEverything: all trades plus the daily safety flatten. This is the one to pick.
Order fills onlyAll trades, no daily safety flatten. Also fine.
alert() function calls onlyNo trades. Only a daily flatten arrives at 4:30 PM New York. If you only get a message at the close and nothing else, this is the cause — fix the condition and recreate the alert.

Nothing is ever sent twice. Every message rides on exactly one stream: the trades are fill messages, and the only script-sent message is the daily safety flatten, which fires only on days the chart is flat. A flatten to a flat account does nothing at the broker, so the ping is harmless by design. Members who prefer their own platform's format can replace the Message with that platform's template — same alert, same timing.

The input panel at a glance

Open the strategy's settings (gear icon on the chart). Every input has a plain-English tooltip; here is the map, top to bottom:

  • Session Clock — the Reference Window (the part of the session the engine measures to set the day's reference levels; nothing trades until it has closed), the Trading Window (when new trades may open), the Hard Flatten time (everything closed at or before it, every day — default 4:30 PM New York), and the Daily Safety Flatten Alert switch.
  • Exits & HoldingProfit Target (on/off, as a multiple of current volatility) with Target Waits (how many bars a trade must be old before the target becomes active); Protective Stop (on/off, as a multiple of volatility) with Stop Arms After (0 = protected from the first bar); Carry a Working Trade Overnight (on/off, how far ahead it must be) with Max Sessions to Carry.
  • Position Sizing — a Sizing mode dropdown: By Conditions (default — more contracts on preferred days, fewer on the rest), Fixed Contracts, or Risk Budget $ (sizes every trade so the distance to its protective stop costs about that many dollars); the Preferred Conditions preset (Quiet days / Quiet and normal / All days / Custom); and Max Contracts, a hard ceiling for any single trade — set it to what your account and your prop firm actually allow.
  • ProtectionPause After Drawdown (pause new trades once the account has fallen this many dollars below its own best) with Pause Length in sessions, plus the Headwind Awareness and Crowding Awareness switches.
  • AdvancedDirection (restricts which side may be taken), Level Clearance (how far beyond a reference level price must close before it counts), Volatility Lookback in minutes, Max Positions and Max Trades per Session, the headwind and crowding tuning numbers, and the custom preferred band. Leave these at defaults unless you have validated a change on your own chart.
  • 💼 Prop Firm SettingsEnable Prop Rails, Daily Loss Cap ($) and Daily Profit Cap ($). When a cap is reached everything is closed and no new trade opens until the next session. Set the loss cap to your firm's daily limit minus a 10–20% buffer; the day's result includes the open trade.
  • 🔗 Webhook — one Connection section (Webhook Provider, Broker Symbol — the gold symbol exactly as your provider names it, e.g. Rithmic usually wants the contract month like MGCZ2026 and CrossTrade wants the NinjaTrader name like MGC 12-26 — Auth Token / API Key, Account ID; several PickMyTrade accounts can be comma-separated), then one section per provider: PMT — Rithmic Connection Name, TradersPost — SL Order Type / Limit Offset, CrossTrade — Destination (NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate) / ATM Template Name / Strategy Tag, Custom — Flatten Word / Template. Fields grey out unless their provider is selected.
  • Backtest Date Range and Display — an optional testing window, and the chart layer (panel, watermark, reference zone, trade envelope, markers, session shading, in-trade bar colouring, colours). The chart layer is display only — nothing in it feeds an order.

What to expect

  • Built for gold on the 15-minute chart. It is not tuned for other markets or timeframes.
  • It earns when gold moves with direction over weeks and months, and sits close to break-even in long sideways stretches. Losing stretches are part of the system.
  • Progress arrives in clusters. Most of it comes during the strongest moves, with long quiet periods in between. Flat days are normal — it trades at most one position per session, and only when a level is cleared.
  • One net position at a time. A carried trade is exposed while the market is closed and can open away from where it closed.
  • Backtests include slippage and commission but cannot model every live fill.

Questions members ask

  • "Why did it enter one bar after the level was cleared?" By design. Decisions are made on a closed bar and filled at the next open; the backtest runs the same rule, which is why live matches the report.
  • "My broker shows no stop right after entry." Correct at default settings: the stop is placed on the chart after the trade has had time to develop and is reported the instant it fills. If you want a broker-held stop from bar one, set Stop Arms After = 0 — the stop then rides in the entry message on platforms that accept one.
  • "It has been flat for days." Normal. One position per session at most, and only when a level is cleared.
  • "The chart shows extra labels — Long +3, Target, Session flat." Those are TradingView's own trade markers, not ours: Chart settings → Strategy → untick Trades on chart to hide them.
  • "I only get a message at the close and nothing else." Your alert condition is "alert() function calls only". Change it to "Order fills and alert() function calls" and recreate the alert.
Live vs Backtest

What To Expect Live.

A few things differ between the Strategy Tester and live execution — all of them normal. Knowing them up front prevents the usual "this is repainting / the script is broken" confusion.

  • Fires on confirmed bar close. Signals are only emitted when a bar closes — never intra-bar. This is exactly what makes the strategy non-repaint: backtest and live both act on the same confirmed bar, so the report matches reality.
  • Timestamps: bar-open label, bar-close fill. TradingView labels each trade by the bar's open time, but the fill happens at the bar close. A trade stamped 9:30 on a 3-min chart actually filled at that bar's close (~9:33). Your broker's fill log is the source of truth for the real fill time — not the TradingView label.
  • Webhook latency is normal. Expect sub-second to a few seconds from bar close to broker fill, sometimes longer under heavy load. That's the nature of TradingView → bridge → broker, not a malfunction.
  • Bar vs tick — they will differ. The backtest simulates the trailing stop on bar data; your broker runs it tick by tick. So live and backtest exits won't be identical — and the gap is largest with tight trails, which a single tick can trigger but a bar can't represent. Widen the trail if you want them to track closely.
  • Use Bar Magnifier for a realistic backtest. In the strategy's Properties tab, enable Bar Magnifier — it backtests intrabar using lower-timeframe data and models the trail far more realistically. Note: Bar Magnifier requires TradingView Premium or higher.
Configuration Basics

Tuning The Engines.

Each algo's input panel surfaces the specific options available for that engine, organized into clear groups (Confluence Engine, Order Execution & Risk, Risk Controls, Prop Firm Settings, Webhook, Session, Display). Most users only need to touch the preset profiles (Conservative / Balanced / Aggressive) to get a working configuration — Custom mode unlocks every advanced input for power users.

Prop Firm Compliance

Turn ON Enable Prop Firm Settings for any prop accountIf Enable Prop Firm Settings is off, the daily loss cap and drawdown guards do nothing — they can't protect you. Flip it on the moment you load the strategy on a funded or eval account.
  • Daily Loss Cap: hard ceiling on daily loss before new entries are blocked. Set it to your firm's daily loss rule (minus a safety buffer). The cap includes open (floating) P&L, so it can trip before a position closes — the moment your unrealized loss reaches the cap, not just on a realized loss.
  • Loss Circuit Breaker: halts new entries after N consecutive losses, then resets each session — it can't lock you out permanently across days. v7.3: the breaker and its cooldown count only bracket losses (real target / stop / trailing exits) — forced time or session exits no longer trip them, so entry pacing around those can differ slightly from v7.2.
  • Daily Profit Cap: optional ceiling that auto-flattens once your daily profit target is hit.
  • Multi-Day Loss Guard (trailing drawdown): tracks high-water-mark equity over a rolling window and blocks entries if the peak-to-current drop breaches the cap. Enable it for any firm with a trailing drawdown rule (most of them).
  • Daily Reset Hour: the hour (in NY time) your daily P&L counter resets to zero. Match it to your firm's reset window — most CME-aligned firms use 18 (6 PM ET, the futures session open). Topstep, Apex, and Tradeify can differ, so check your firm's rule sheet.
  • How to match your firm: set Daily Loss Cap and Multi-Day Loss Cap to your firm's actual dollar limits minus a 15–20% buffer, set the Daily Reset Hour to their reset time, and set Force Close to their end-of-day rule. Then the strategy enforces the rules before the firm's bridge ever has to.
  • Session-based Trade Limits: max trades per session and per day, with minimum spacing between entries.

Risk Brackets (Target / Stop / Trail)

  • Target & Stop (adaptive, volatility-scaled): every trade ships with one profit target and one protective stop, both sized as a multiple of the strategy's live volatility unit. Raising the Target Multiplier pushes the target further out; raising the Risk Multiplier widens the stop. There are no partial scale-outs — the position exits in one piece.
  • Stop-Loss (SL): hard ceiling on per-trade loss. Required input.
  • Market entry: entries fire at market on the close of the confirmed signal bar — there is no limit price or entry offset to configure.
  • Adaptive (recommended): TP, SL, and trail distances scale with live volatility. Risk stays proportional to conditions.
  • Fixed: manual mode for deterministic stop sizes. Pick one format (% · Ticks · Points · Pips) and stay consistent across the Stop and the Target.
  • Adaptive Position Exit (Trailing Stop): the adaptive trailing logic ratchets behind price using a volatility-derived buffer. Arms once the trade has run past your Trail Trigger. Recommended for trends. v7.3: a master trailing-stop toggle turns it on or off in one place — leave it on for the usual behavior, or switch it off for a clean take-profit / stop bracket (handy for mean-reverting setups, or to make live fills track the backtest as tightly as possible).

Manual Brackets & the Trail (read before you touch them)

Manual Trail = 0 does NOT turn the trail offWith Manual Brackets ON, a 0 in any manual field does not mean "disabled" — it means "fall back to the adaptive value for that component." So Manual Trail = 0 just uses the adaptive trail. To actually disable the trail, use the master trailing-stop toggle (v7.3) — switch it off for a clean TP/SL bracket. (On older builds without the toggle, set Manual Trail Trigger to a high number like 9999 so it never activates, or widen the distance intentionally.)
  • How Manual Brackets work (mix & match). When Manual Brackets is enabled, each manual field overrides the adaptive value only if it is greater than 0. Any field left at 0 keeps using the adaptive value. So you can set a fixed Manual SL and Manual TP while leaving the trail at 0 to stay adaptive — every component is independent.
  • Tight trails exit you in seconds. A small trail distance on a fast instrument scalps you out almost instantly — a 1–10 tick trail on MNQ gets hit by normal noise within seconds of entry. Recommended starting range: 40–60 ticks on MNQ (scale up for ES / NQ). If trades keep closing the instant they open, the trail is too tight — widen it.
  • Adaptive vs Manual — when to use each. Adaptive (the default) scales TP / SL / trail with live volatility, so risk stays proportional across regimes — best for most users, most of the time. Manual is for deterministic fixed bracket sizes — a prop firm requiring exact stops, or testing a specific fixed-tick configuration. Unsure? Stay Adaptive.

Trade Pacing & Cooldowns

  • Cooldown Period: blocks new entries for N minutes after a position exits. Prevents revenge trading.
  • Consecutive-Loss Circuit Breaker: auto-blocks new entries after N losses in a row. Forces a pause. Resets at the start of each session, so it can't lock you out permanently. v7.3: counts only bracket losses (target / stop / trail) — forced time/session exits don't trip it or its cooldown.
  • Max Hold Time: auto-flattens any position open longer than your specified threshold. Useful for scalpers.
  • Start with Max Trades = 1 until your discipline is proven and your results are consistent. Scale up only after that bar is met.

Session & Time Filtering

  • Multiple sessions (v7.3): run up to three trading windows — your main hours plus, say, an overnight or Asia block. Windows 2 and 3 are opt-in and off by default, share one timezone and weekday filter, and each closes flat at its own window end. A single session behaves exactly as before.
  • Time Zone: set UTC offset for your locale (e.g. UTC−5 for ET).
  • Force Close: Don't Force · Day Close · Session Close · Custom Time. Required for funded-account end-of-day rules.
  • Session Filter: NY · London · Tokyo · Sydney presets, plus custom HHMM-HHMM windows.
  • Day-of-Week Filter: Mon–Fri toggles — disable holidays and low-liquidity days.
Risk Management

The Core Rule.

Read this twiceOnly risk 10% of your maximum drawdown per trading day. This single rule has kept more accounts alive than any indicator ever will.
  • Example. Prop account max drawdown = $4,000. Daily risk limit = 10% × $4,000 = $400. That is your total allowable loss across every trade that day.
  • Position sizing (NQ, the big E-mini). Stop = 20 ticks × $5/tick = $100 risk per contract. Daily limit $400 ÷ $100 = 4 contracts max. For a second trade: verify combined risk ≤ $400 or reduce size.
  • Position sizing (MNQ, the micro). Stop = 20 ticks × $0.50/tick = $10 risk per contract. Daily limit $400 ÷ $10 = 40 contracts max. Micros let you scale granularly while you build live conviction.
  • Tactical stops use indicator context — SignalWave regime flips, EdgeFlow threshold crossings — for short-term placement.
  • Structural stops sit at QuantumFlow order-block invalidation levels.
  • Stop distance balance: too tight = stop-outs; too wide = violates position sizing.

Tick Value Cheat Sheet

Use this to size positions accurately on the most popular CME futures. Tick math is the #1 source of "I sized this wrong" mistakes in live trading. Bookmark this section.

SymbolNameTick size$ / tick$ / point
ESE-mini S&P 5000.25 pt$12.50$50
MESMicro E-mini S&P 5000.25 pt$1.25$5
NQE-mini Nasdaq-1000.25 pt$5.00$20
MNQMicro E-mini Nasdaq-1000.25 pt$0.50$2
RTYE-mini Russell 20000.10 pt$5.00$50
M2KMicro E-mini Russell 20000.10 pt$0.50$5
YME-mini Dow1.0 pt$5.00$5
MYMMicro E-mini Dow1.0 pt$0.50$0.50
CLCrude Oil0.01 / bbl$10.00$1,000
MCLMicro Crude Oil0.01 / bbl$1.00$100
GCGold0.10 / oz$10.00$100
MGCMicro Gold0.10 / oz$1.00$10
Quick ruleMost micros = 1/10th of the big contract. If you know the big-E-mini exposure, divide by 10 for the micro. MNQ ≠ NQ — they look similar in TradingView but the dollar risk differs by 10×.

MNQ vs NQ & symbol mapping

Know which contract you're on before setting contractsMNQ is $2 per point. NQ is $20 per point — a 10× difference. One MNQ contract and one NQ contract are not remotely the same risk. Confirm which symbol your chart and broker account are on before you set your contract count, or you can be 10× over-sized without realizing it.
  • Symbol mapping. The strategy's Broker Symbol input (e.g. MNQ1!) maps to the front-month contract on the broker side — for example MNQM6. MNQ1! is TradingView's continuous front-month alias; your broker fills the actual dated contract. Make sure the front month your broker resolves to is the one you intend to trade (watch for roll periods near expiration).
  • Sizing math. Daily risk ÷ (stop in ticks × $/tick) = max contracts. Example, MNQ with a $400 daily cap and a 20-tick stop: 20 × $0.50 = $10/contract → $400 ÷ $10 = 40 MNQ max. The same stop on NQ: 20 × $5 = $100/contract → 4 NQ max. Size to your account, not to the chart.

Pre-Trade Checklist

  • Does this trade fit within my daily risk cap?
  • Will my stop-loss maintain acceptable per-trade risk?
  • Am I using structural or tactical indicator context for stop placement?
  • Have I tracked cumulative risk across the day?
  • Is my prop-firm trailing drawdown still safe after this trade?

If any answer is "No" — do not trade.

Live Execution

Webhook Setup.

Provider choice, alert configuration, and end-to-end verification for PickMyTrade, TradersPost and CrossTrade.

Official partner — members save 10%Enter PARADOXALGO at PickMyTrade's checkout. Tradovate accounts sign up at pickmytrade.trade, Rithmic accounts at pickmytrade.io (partner links; we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you). Partner page & setup → · All integrations →

Open the Webhook Automation guide →

Going Live Safely

The Three-Gate Promotion Ladder.

Do not skip gates. Every gate exists because someone before you blew up by skipping it. Each step's pass criteria is concrete and measurable — there's nothing to interpret.

1

Backtest

Duration: 2+ years of dataMin sample: 500+ tradesTools: TradingView Strategy Tester · Stratera

Validate that the strategy passes minimum statistical sanity on historical data for your specific instrument and timeframe.

Pass criteria
  • Profit Factor > 1.3
  • Max consecutive losses ≤ Loss Circuit Breaker setting
  • Win rate consistent with the published reference report (±5%)
  • Equity curve shape resembles "stair-step up" — no single trade or month dominates
  • You've changed Inputs at least once and re-run — you understand what each main setting actually does
2

Paper / Sim

Duration: 30+ trading sessionsAccount: broker paper or prop-firm simTools: PickMyTrade paper · TradersPost "Disable Auto Submit"

Confirm the full chain (TradingView → Webhook → Bridge → Broker) executes correctly under live market conditions and that your rule discipline holds.

Pass criteria
  • ≥ 10 webhook-fired trades reach the broker with correct TP, SL, and quantity
  • Zero rule violations (daily loss cap, max trades, session window)
  • You did NOT manually override a single signal — let the strategy run
  • You can identify what triggered each entry and each exit, in order
  • Live realized P&L is within ±15% of backtest expectation over the sample (slippage drift)
3

Live — Minimum Size

Duration: 10+ trading sessionsSize: 1 contract / 1 share — the smallest unit your broker allowsTools: broker live account

Skin in the game changes behavior. Verify your psychology and your tech survive real money before scaling.

Pass criteria
  • You did NOT touch the chart, alert, or input panel mid-session for any reason
  • Zero rule violations across the 10 sessions
  • You journaled each session: entries, exits, surprises
  • You did NOT increase size mid-streak (winning OR losing)
  • Net P&L is positive — or at minimum, breakeven before commissions
4

Live — Full Size

Unlocked only after Gate 3 passes

Scale to your target position size in increments of 25% — not 100%. Re-validate after each step. Weekly journal review is non-negotiable from here on.

No skipping.Every blown account we've ever debugged with a customer skipped Gate 2 or Gate 3. The math says "this should work" — the market says "prove it." Pay the time tax.
Support

Troubleshooting.

Alerts, webhooks, fills, prop-firm rules — the common failure points and their fixes.

Open Troubleshooting →

Best Practices

Ten Rules To Live By.

  1. Start with a preset profile (Conservative / Balanced / Aggressive). Adjust incrementally only after you've run at least 30 sessions on the baseline.
  2. Use adaptive (volatility-scaled) brackets over fixed-tick brackets unless your prop firm specifically requires fixed sizes.
  3. Set your Active Hours filter to a high-liquidity 3-6 hour window — low-liquidity overnight and holiday sessions carry wider spreads and thinner books — most day traders stand aside.
  4. Set Daily Loss Cap to your firm's actual rule minus a 15-20% safety buffer. Never push the firm's rule to the wire.
  5. Enable Multi-Day Loss Guard for any prop firm with a trailing drawdown (Apex, Topstep — most do).
  6. Verify the Daily Reset Hour matches your firm's reset window. Most CME-aligned firms use 18 (6pm NY).
  7. Begin with Max Trades / Day = 1-2 — a deliberately conservative starting cap. Raise it only against your own written plan, not on the back of a good week.
  8. Trust the Recovery Period and Loss Circuit Breaker — when they halt you, the regime is bad. Re-entering immediately is how accounts die.
  9. Never override a signal manually mid-session. If you don't trust the strategy enough to leave it alone, you're not ready to be live.
  10. Follow the Three-Gate Ladder — Backtest → Paper → Live (1-unit) → Live (full). Every blown account skipped a gate.
Walkthrough

First Trade.

What fires, in what order, and what to verify at each hop — signal, alert, webhook, fill, bracket.

Open the First Trade walkthrough →

Reference

Payload Reference.

Field-by-field reference for the webhook JSON payload each provider receives.

Open the Payload Reference →

Reference

Glossary & Acronyms.

Plain-English definitions for every recurring term in the ecosystem.

Open the Glossary →

Get Help

Support Channels.

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Account Portal

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Risk Disclaimer

Trade At Your Own Risk.

Paradox Algo and affiliated parties are not registered financial advisors. The tools provided are for educational purposes only and do not constitute financial advice. You must understand the risks involved and accept any level of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You assume full responsibility for all trading outcomes.

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