Fix the Risk and Exits alerts
The Risk section raises one blocking alert — no Risk-Off to switch to — and three to review about rules that change nothing, act late or keep flipping; the Exits card raises three to review about positions that never rotate or come straight back.
Steps
- Open the alert. Click Risk or Exits in the section strip, or read the card's footer — in Step by step, the Risk and exits chapter. The two alerts about the Risk-Off allocation are answered on the Allocation card's Risk-Off tab.
- Find it below by its title — the short form its card and a refused Backtest show. Each fold quotes the exact sentence, with example numbers where yours would stand. The ones marked for a Combined also appear on its own Risk card, naming "the Combined" instead of "the strategy"; a Combined has no exits of its own.
- Change what it names, or leave it as is. The blocking alert clears only when you choose the Risk-Off allocation — its button reads Choose the Risk-Off; the others can be fixed or kept with Leave as is.
- Save and run — see Save, run and copy a strategy.
Done. Risk and Exits in the strip are grey again, or darker grey if you left an alert as is — see Resolve a strategy's alerts.
What if the risk rule has nothing to switch to?
Blocking · Nothing set for when the risk triggers — "You turned on a risk condition but have not chosen what to do when it triggers. Choose a Risk-Off allocation: until you do, the backtest cannot run." An active risk condition with no Risk-Off allocation.
To review · Nothing changes when the risk triggers — for one of two reasons:
- "When the risk condition triggers, nothing changes, because Risk-Off is the same as Risk-On. Change the Risk-Off allocation, or leave it if that is intended." — both profiles carry the same method and parameters; see Risk-Off canonicalization.
- "With one instrument the method does not matter and Risk-Off can only change the leverage; with the same leverage the engine removes the rule, so set a different leverage (0 = all in cash)." — one picked instrument, no entry screener, the same leverage in both, and both profiles reducing to equal weights (not Beta neutral, nor a Fixed, Markowitz or Ranking-based setup with a zero or negative weight); see What does Risk-Off change on a single instrument?
Leave it as is if the identical profile is a deliberate placeholder.
What if the risk rule acts late or keeps flipping?
To review · When the risk triggers, the strategy changes late — "When the rule triggers, the strategy changes only at the next rebalance, up to 3 months later, and a shorter dip passes with no effect; turn on “Auto-rebalance” if you want it to act the same day." Every active risk condition has Auto-rebalance off and the monthly-cadence rebalances are more than one month apart; the number is the interval. Also on a Combined, with its own interval. See auto-rebalance on flip.
To review · The strategy would keep flipping between Risk-On and Risk-Off — "With values between 30 and 40 the rule would go from Risk-On to Risk-Off at every observation; separate the thresholds so that Risk-On triggers only where Risk-Off does not." A Single series condition whose two thresholds overlap; when both point the same way it opens "With values above 30" or "With values below 30". Also on a Combined. See How do the Risk-Off and Risk-On thresholds work?
Which alerts can the Exits card raise?
To review · Once full, the strategy stops changing — "The entry screener only fills free slots. With no exit rule, once the strategy is full it never changes instruments, even when the screener finds better ones. To make it rotate, add an exit screener, a stop loss, a take profit or a maximum holding period." An entry screener and nothing that makes a position leave — no stop loss, take profit, maximum holding period or exit screener, and no Risk-Off that differs from Risk-On. Silent under a Ranking-based Risk-On method, and without an entry screener: a hand-picked basket held for good is a buy-and-hold.
To review · After a stop the title can come straight back — a stop loss or take profit, an entry screener, and Reinvest delay off; its text and fix: position exits.
To review · The wait after a stop is shorter than it looks — "The wait is counted in calendar months and checked only at rebalances, so with 3 months a title stopped out in the month of the last rebalance is back already at the next one: to always skip at least one you need 6 months." A stop or target on, a monthly cadence, and a reinvest delay equal to the interval, the shortest the field allows. Double the wait.
Which notes can the Risk and Exits cards show?
- "When the risk triggers, the strategy changes at the rebalance" — "A change of regime changes the strategy at the next rebalance, the first Friday of the month, unless you turn on “Auto-rebalance”." Every active condition has Auto-rebalance off and the strategy rebalances monthly; at a longer interval it is the alert above. On a Combined's own Risk card it reads "the Combined".
- "With one instrument, risk only changes how much you invest" — "Risk-Off decides how much to invest in the instrument: leverage 0 means cash, 0.5 means half." An active condition on one picked instrument with no entry screener, unless "Nothing changes when the risk triggers" is already raised.
- "After a stop the capital stays in cash" — "Stop and target are checked every day; after the exit the capital stays in cash and at the next rebalance the engine buys the instrument again (with a screener: if it still passes)." A stop loss or take profit with no entry screener and no wait; with an entry screener it is the alert "After a stop the title can come straight back" instead.
UPDATED 2026-10-07REVIEWED 2026-10-07