Strategy alerts

What do the three severities mean?

Severity decides whether the alert stops the run and whether you can dismiss it.

• Blocking — the strategy cannot be backtested. The header reads Can't run · {count} errors and the settings footer reads {count} errors · fix before backtest. There is no Accept button; the underlying setting has to change.
• Warning — the strategy runs, but the setup is likely unintended. The header counts these as {count} issues to review.
• Info — nothing is wrong; the alert states a fallback the strategy will use. Info alerts never change the header's tint.

When no alert is active, the header reads Ready to run. Counts appear next to each other as {count} blocking, {count} warnings, and {count} info.

What does Accept do, and can I undo it?

Accept acknowledges a warning or info alert and moves it out of the active list into a Handled · {count} section — it changes nothing about the strategy itself, it only records that you have seen the alert. Restore brings one back to the active list, and Reopen all brings back every handled alert; Accept all handles the whole active batch at once. Accepting the last active warning returns the header to Ready to run.

Two kinds of alert have no Accept: every blocking alert, and the warning "Risk-Off allocation is the same as Risk-On." — a Risk-Off profile that mirrors Risk-On does nothing at runtime, so the only real fix is to change the parameters. Acceptances are stored on the strategy and are never cleared automatically, so if the same condition arises again later the alert stays in Handled rather than reopening.

Which alerts can appear, and what fixes each one?

Each quote below is the exact text the app shows, followed by what triggers it and what clears it.

• Blocking — "Risk-Off allocation needs to be set." The strategy has an active risk condition but no Risk-Off allocation, so there is nothing to switch to. The alert's action button reads "Resolve Risk-Off", and its short form on the alert card is "Risk-Off not configured — Required before the strategy can run". Set the Risk-Off allocation to clear it. This is the only blocking alert today, so it is the only one that can produce Can't run.
• Warning — "Your screener will filter the instruments you selected — make sure the combination is what you want." You have both hand-picked instruments and at least one attached screener, so the screener narrows your own list rather than searching the whole market. Remove one side, or Accept if the combination is deliberate.
• Warning — "Risk-Off allocation is the same as Risk-On." Both allocation profiles carry the same allocation method and parameters, so switching between them changes nothing. Change one of the two profiles; there is no Accept for this alert.
• Warning — "This strategy has no rule to fully close positions. Once an instrument enters the portfolio, it stays — only its weight gets adjusted on rebalance." Nothing in the setup can fully exit a position: no stop-loss, no take-profit, no maximum holding period, no exit screener, and no Risk-Off profile that differs from Risk-On. Add one of those, or Accept.
• Warning — "Duplicate screener detected — one is redundant or contradicting the other." The same source screener is attached more than once, counting entry and exit screeners together. Remove the duplicate.
• Warning — "You have an exit screener but no entry screener. The strategy's working universe is limited — if many instruments in it match the exit rule at the same time, the portfolio will sit in cash until they stop matching." Only an exit screener is attached, so the pool the strategy can hold is whatever you picked, and the exit rule can empty it. Add an entry screener, or Accept.
• Info — "No instruments picked and no entry screener — the engine will filter by volatility ranking, keeping as many instruments as Max positions allows." You have selected nothing and attached no entry screener, so the selection falls back to a volatility ranking, capped by Max positions ("Cap how many instruments are held at once"). Pick instruments or attach an entry screener if you want the selection to be explicit.

Worked example

You build a strategy over ten instruments, equal-weighted, rebalancing monthly, and you set no exit rules at all. The header shows 1 issue to review and the "Strategy alerts" group lists the warning "This strategy has no rule to fully close positions. Once an instrument enters the portfolio, it stays — only its weight gets adjusted on rebalance." Nothing is broken — the strategy will still backtest — but it tells you the design has no way out of a position, only reweighting at each rebalance. You have two routes: add an exit (a stop-loss, a take-profit, a maximum holding period, an exit screener, or a Risk-Off profile that differs from Risk-On), which makes the warning stop firing; or press Accept, which moves it to Handled · 1 and returns the header to Ready to run without changing the strategy.