Complete Trading Strategies, Explained Plainly
Entry, exit and management rules bundled into one approach — see exactly how each strategy works, then test it against real price history.
What this library is for
A strategy name isn't a guarantee — it's a bundle of entry, exit and management rules that has worked for other traders in other conditions, and might not survive contact with the market you actually trade. Each entry here spells out the rules plainly, what the strategy is built to catch, and where it tends to break down.
Entries are written for self-directed traders — from someone assembling their first rule-based system to someone auditing a strategy they've traded live for a year. No prior system is assumed.
The order matters: read the entry, then test the rules on past price before risking anything on them. A strategy that looks good on the trades you remember is not evidence — backtesting is where a strategy earns a place in a trading plan, or loses one.
Frequently asked
What makes something a complete trading strategy, rather than just a setup?
A setup is one condition — a pattern forming, an indicator crossing a level. A strategy adds the rest: exactly when you enter, where the stop and target sit, how you manage the trade if it moves against you, and when you stop taking the setup altogether. Missing any of those pieces means it's an idea, not something you can test yet.
What's the difference between an intraday and a swing strategy?
An intraday strategy opens and closes within a single session and leans on things that reset every day — the opening range, VWAP, session highs and lows. A swing strategy holds across multiple sessions and leans on higher-timeframe structure instead. The two need different data and different position sizing, so know which one an entry describes before you try it.
Do these strategies work as written, or do they need to be adjusted?
Assume they need adjusting. Each entry describes a strategy the way it's commonly defined, not a rule tuned for a specific market, timeframe or account size. Treat it as a starting rule set rather than a finished plan — the adjustment is part of the work, and testing is how you find out whether an adjustment actually helped.
How do I know if a strategy fits how I actually trade?
Match it to your available time and the market you trade. An intraday strategy isn't workable if you can only check charts once a day, and a strategy built for a trending futures contract can behave very differently on a range-bound pair. Test the exact rules on the exact market and timeframe you intend to use.
How do I test whether a strategy actually works?
Write the rules down precisely enough that someone else could follow them without asking you a question, then run them over past price and record every trade they would have produced — including the losers. Traders Journal's backtesting lets you step through history bar by bar, so you get a real sample instead of a memory of the trades that worked.
Will more strategies be added to this library?
Yes. Entries are added as they're written and reviewed, not promised ahead of time.
Test a strategy before you trade it
Reading a strategy's rules on charts you've already seen the outcome of proves nothing. Traders Journal steps through price history bar by bar, so you can apply the exact entry, exit and management rules and record every trade they would have produced — including the ones that failed.
Explore backtesting