Strategy Lab
Test a trading idea before any money is at risk — strategies, backtests, paper trading, your own rules and the Lab assistant, how they fit together, who gets what, and the API behind it.
What this is for. The Strategy Lab tests a trading idea before a dollar moves. You describe a strategy — copy some traders' buys, sells or both, bet against them, or, on Lab Pro and up, follow your own rules on a market's prices, order book, trading and timing with no wallet to copy. A backtest replays it over past data against a fair baseline; paper trading scores its live signals against real order books without placing orders; the Lab assistant screens wallets, writes the strategy and runs the tests when you ask in plain words. Nothing in the Lab places orders, signs anything or holds funds, and live trading is not available.
Simulated performance
Simulated. Replayed on past trades. Not a forecast or advice. Backtests replay the past at prices a follower could have paid; paper trading scores live signals on real order books without placing orders. Neither is a forecast or advice, and both carry a measured optimism.
These results are based on simulated or hypothetical performance results that have certain inherent limitations. Unlike the results shown in an actual performance record, these results do not represent actual trading. Also, because these trades have not actually been executed, these results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated or hypothetical trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to these being shown.
How the pieces fit
Make a strategy. Ask the assistant, pick a template (Use this), or use + beside Strategies in the left rail → Blank strategy or From a saved ranking. → Strategies, Your own rules
Backtest it. On the strategy page, under Test it on past trades, pick 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or Dates… and press Backtest. The report gives a verdict in words next to a fair baseline. → Backtesting
Paper-trade it. Press Paper-trade under Paper-trade on live books. The run scores every signal on the live order book until 50 copies have resolved. → Paper trading
Ask about anything on the way. The assistant reads the data, explains a report, proposes a variant and runs the next test. → The Lab assistant, Research and data
The workspace
A new account's Lab (captured 6 Nov 2026 on a demo account).
Signed in on a paid plan, /lab is one page in three columns:
- The rail (left): New chat; Strategies (each row shows the last backtest's result per $10 and a Draft · Tested · Paper · Live stepper; five rows, then Show more); Chats; and a Today meter for backtests, paper runs and saved strategies against your plan.
- The conversation (middle): a new chat opens on What should we test today? with three starters — I'm new, A market I follow, I know what I want — and Or start from a template.
- The strategy canvas (right): the strategy the chat is working on; Show the strategy opens it.
- The header: your credits (N credits · resets …; click for the allowance, top-ups, today's spend, Buy credits and Usage details — see Lab AI credits) and a Plain | Expert switch: Plain says results in plain words with the statistics one tap away; Expert puts every statistic on the card.
Other pages lead in: Backtest in the Lab on the Ranking Builder, Backtest or paper-trade this board on the Copy Engine, Copy in the Lab on a trader page, and Ask the Lab elsewhere.
Who gets what
| You are | What /lab shows |
|---|---|
| Signed out | The public preview: real, dated example answers replayed (no model runs), Create a free account |
| On Free | The same preview with Upgrade to Pro Trader — the Lab is part of every paid plan |
| On Pro Trader | The workspace: copy strategies, backtests, paper trading and the assistant (Standard) |
| On Lab Pro and up | All of that, plus your own rules and the assistant's Deep mode |
Backtests a day, backtests queued at once, paper runs at once, saved strategies, AI credits and
chats answering at once are per plan: see the plan table. Your plan's numbers and
today's use are also GET /v1/lab/limits, and the rail's Today meter shows them.
API
Session cookie or API key; every route under /v1/lab answers 403 plan_required on a plan
without the feature and 404 lab_disabled while the Lab is off. The full request and response
shapes are in API Reference → Strategy Lab.
| Endpoint | What it does |
|---|---|
GET /v1/lab/limits | Your plan's Lab limits and today's use (incl. lab_agent_concurrent, used.agent_conversations) |
GET /v1/lab/templates | Strategy templates (editable specs) with their as-of evidence |
GET / POST /v1/lab/strategies, PATCH /v1/lab/strategies/{id} | Your strategies: save (a spec or a template), rename, edit, archive |
POST /v1/lab/backtests, GET /v1/lab/backtests/{id} | Queue a backtest (202) and poll it: status, queue position, the simulated report |
POST /v1/lab/strategies/{id}/paper, GET /v1/lab/paper-runs, GET /v1/lab/paper-runs/{id}, POST …/stop | Paper trading: start, list, read (stats and copies), stop |
GET /v1/lab/paper-runs/{id}/orders, POST …/orders/{orderId}/cancel, POST …/orders/cancel-all | A paper run's resting limit orders |
POST /v1/lab/size-preview | How much of a copy the recorded book could have taken |
GET /v1/lab/notify, POST /v1/lab/paper-runs/{id}/notify | Paper-run notifications |
POST /v1/lab/agent/conversations, …/{id}/messages, …/{id}/events, …/{id}/stop, GET /v1/lab/agent/conversations/{id}, GET /v1/lab/agent/searches/{id} | The assistant: start (session or API key), reply, the event stream, stop, read a chat (queue_position, awaiting_backtests), a search's report |
GET /v1/lab/credits, /history, /usage, /settings | Credits: balance, ledger, usage by day, your ceiling (Lab AI credits) |
The same Lab is reachable from any MCP client through the Strategy Lab tools of @polyrank/mcp
with an API key on a paid plan: templates, strategies (polyrank_list_strategies, polyrank_get_strategy,
polyrank_create_strategy, polyrank_update_strategy), backtests (polyrank_run_backtest,
polyrank_get_backtest, polyrank_list_backtests), paper runs (polyrank_start_paper,
polyrank_get_paper_run), your limits (polyrank_get_lab_limits) and the assistant
(polyrank_lab_ask, polyrank_lab_reply, polyrank_lab_stop, polyrank_lab_list_chats,
polyrank_lab_get_chat).
Related
Skill persistence (measured 2026-09-30)
A one-off, dated measurement — do the traders with the highest luck-adjusted edge in one quarter stay near the top the next?
Strategies
What a Lab strategy is, how to create one, every setting of the strategy editor, the Draft · Tested · Paper · Live stages, and saving, archiving and reopening from the Strategies rail.