Read these roughly in order. The first page is the one that matters most: it
explains the line between the AI (which only turns your words into rules) and
the fixed, deterministic engine (which produces every number).
The shape of it
Read in this order
Is the backtest real?
Start here. The AI only writes the rules; a deterministic engine produces every number.
Futures and symbols
Symbols, micros, continuous contracts, ticks, points, margin, and roll.
Strategies
The parts every strategy is made of: market, entry, exit, filters, parameters.
Signals, indicators and series
Real TA-Lib indicators, crossovers, special series, patterns, and COT.
Timeframes, bars and sessions
Bars and timeframes, day vs. swing strategies, and how the trading day is anchored.
Risk and trade management
Stops, targets, trailing, time and end-of-day exits, filters, and trading costs.
Backtesting
What a backtest is, the test window, run status, and the metrics it reports.
Optimization
Sweeping parameter ranges to find better settings — without overfitting.
Sessions, versions and artifacts
How every edit becomes a new saved version you can compare and revisit.
Where data comes from
Market-data origin, daily freshness, continuous contracts, and macro data.
Same word, different meanings
Trading vocabulary overloads a few terms — “signal” alone means three different things in AskFutures. The glossary defines every term alphabetically and calls out the overloaded ones so you always know which sense is meant.Glossary
Every term in one place, plus the overloaded-terms reference.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always test before you trade.
Next steps
Is the backtest real?
The trust frame — read this first.
Build a strategy
Put the concepts to work in chat.
Quickstart
Run your first backtest in about five minutes.