How a Condition Works

Every rule in Trade Builder is one sentence with three parts: something, compared how, to something else. Then you pick which candle size to check it on.

So RSI(14) on 5m crosses below 30 is: the left side is RSI, the comparison is "crosses below", the right side is the number 30, and the candle size is 5 minutes.

Under every row is a grey line that reads the row back to you in words. That line is your safety check. If it does not say what you meant, the rule is wrong — no matter how right the dropdowns look.

Both sides offer the same choices, so you can compare almost anything to anything.

• Indicator — RSI, a moving average, Supertrend and 17 others.
• Candle — the open, high, low, close or volume of a candle.
• Candle pattern — a shape like a green candle or an inside bar. Left side only, and it takes the whole row.
• Highest / Lowest — the highest high, lowest low or average of the last few candles.
• Level — the opening range, yesterday’s high, a pivot, CPR or Camarilla.
• Number — a fixed number you type, like 30 or 24180.
• Day / time — the candle’s time of day (minutes since midnight: 09:30 is 570, 14:30 is 870), its weekday (1 is Monday), today’s open, today’s high or low so far, or trading days to the nearest or the monthly expiry. For example time of day is at or above 570 keeps a rule out of the first 15 minutes.
• Market data — the put-call OI ratio, ATM IV and options volume of the nearest expiry’s 21 strikes around ATM, the futures open interest, and the futures basis (futures minus index). Sampled every minute; a candle without the data counts as not true.

Four of them are simple: is above, is below, is at or above, is at or below. These are true on every candle while the situation holds.

Two are different: crosses above and crosses below. These are true only on the single candle where the value moves from one side of the line to the other. On the very next candle they are false again, even if the price stays there.

This trips people up constantly. If you want enter while RSI is under 30, use is below. If you want enter at the exact moment RSI drops under 30, use crosses below.

A cross fires once. A state keeps firing. Neither is better — they answer different questions.

On the right of each row is the timeframe: 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 1h or 1d. It decides how often that condition is checked, because the check happens when a candle closes.

On 5m your rule is looked at twelve times an hour. On 1h, once. On 1d, once a day after the market closes.

Smaller candles react faster and give more signals, most of which are noise. Larger candles react slower and give fewer, steadier signals. There is no correct answer — it depends on how you trade.

Different rows can use different timeframes in the same strategy. A common shape is a slow rule for direction and a fast rule for the entry.

Click Add condition for a second rule. At the top of the block you choose how they join.

AND means every rule must be true at the same time. Adding more AND rules makes the strategy pickier and it will trade less.

OR means any one of them is enough. Adding more OR rules makes it trade more.

Most beginners start with two AND rules — one for direction, one for timing — and that is a sensible place to start.

Add sub-condition creates a small group inside your rule, with its own AND/OR.

It exists for sentences that mix the two words. Supertrend is up AND (RSI is above 60 OR MACD is above its signal) cannot be written as a flat list — the bracket changes the meaning.

You can nest three levels deep. If you find yourself needing more, the strategy is probably too complicated to explain to yourself later.

Each level is colour-coded so you can see what belongs to what.

A strategy can have up to four blocks: Buy Entry, Buy Exit, Sell Entry and Sell Exit.

Entry rules decide when to get in. Exit rules are an extra way to get out — your stop loss, target and auto-exit time still work regardless, and whichever happens first wins.

Exit rules are optional. Many strategies use only a stop loss and target and never write one.

At the bottom of every block is a blue box titled In plain words. It turns your whole rule — every row, every AND and OR — into one sentence.

Read it out loud. If it matches what you set out to build, save it. If it does not, the fix is in the dropdowns above.

This one habit prevents more support tickets than anything else on this page.