# Strategies (/platform/charts/strategies)



A strategy script plots on the active chart and shows its trades and performance on that same chart. This page is about **reading** a strategy that is already there. To have Quant write one, see [Making strategies](/platform/quant/strategies).

## Run [#run]

When the editor holds a `strategy(...)` script, click **Run** (signed in). The strategy executes over the chart's history: the chart marks every entry and exit, and a **Backtest Summary** strip appears below with the headline numbers:

| Metric            | What it tells you                                                                                                                                        |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Net profit**    | Total profit and loss across all closed trades                                                                                                           |
| **Trades**        | Number of closed trades. Treat any metric with few trades behind it as noise                                                                             |
| **Win rate**      | Percentage of trades that closed profitable. Meaningless in isolation: a 30% win rate with large winners can outperform a 70% win rate with large losers |
| **Max drawdown**  | The largest peak-to-trough drop in equity along the way: the pain you would have had to sit through                                                      |
| **Profit factor** | Gross profit divided by gross loss. Above 1 means the strategy made more than it lost; the further above, the better                                     |

The strip can also toggle a historical net profit chart. Use the maximize button on the strip to open the full viewer.

## Backtest viewer [#backtest-viewer]

The maximized viewer has three tabs:

* **Performance**: the net profit curve, summary metrics, net daily P\&L, weekday performance, and a performance table broken out by all trades, longs only, and shorts only. The long/short split is worth checking: many strategies make all their money on one side.
* **Trades Analysis**: distribution views (P\&L distribution, win rate, trade duration vs. P\&L, and an analysis table). This is where you spot whether performance comes from many small edges or a few outliers.
* **Trades Log**: every trade, searchable, with entry, exit, net P\&L, and cumulative P\&L. Switch to the calendar view for daily results.

You can change the **symbol and timeframe from inside the viewer** to re-run the same strategy on different data without leaving the chart, the quickest way to check whether an edge survives outside the market it was built on.

## Script settings [#script-settings]

Open the settings gear in the toolbar:

* **Inputs**: the script's `input.*` parameters (lengths, thresholds, toggles, whatever the script exposes). Changes re-run the backtest immediately, so you can sweep a parameter and watch the summary strip react.
* **Properties** (strategies only): the simulation settings, independent of the script's logic:
  * **Initial capital**: starting equity for the simulation
  * **Order size**: how much each entry commits
  * **Pyramiding**: how many entries may stack in the same direction
  * **Commission** and **slippage**: per-trade costs; leaving these at zero flatters every strategy, so set them realistically before trusting the numbers
  * **Margin**: leverage constraints

## Saving [#saving]

Star a run from the summary strip or the viewer. A saved strategy keeps everything needed to reproduce it: the script, symbol, timeframe, inputs, and backtest properties.

<Note>
  Results can differ across data feeds and fill models. Re-run on the [symbol and timeframe](/platform/charts/introduction) you care about rather than trusting numbers produced elsewhere.
</Note>