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Use a Tested Configuration in Live Trading

Moving from a good backtest to live trading is a controlled change, not an automatic export. The goal is to preserve the exact strategy, configuration, and risk limits that were reviewed while avoiding selection based on a single headline metric.

Inspect Saved Results​

results summarizes saved backtests and can show symbol coverage for one strategy:

npx @tradejs/cli results \
  --strategy <StrategyName> \
  --coverage \
  --user root

The command can also maintain a local research record of the best result seen for each symbol:

  • --merge replaces a symbol only when the new recorded profit is higher;
  • --update replaces the complete saved record;
  • --clear removes that local record.

These modes organize research output. They do not change live strategy settings, enable a strategy, or authorize order placement. The current --coverage denominator uses the Bybit symbol universe.

Review the Candidate​

Before using a configuration with current market data, verify:

  1. Data integrity: no unexplained gaps, duplicates, time shifts, or look-ahead leakage.
  2. Execution assumptions: fees, slippage, fill rules, latency, funding, and borrow constraints are appropriate for the venue and turnover.
  3. Independent validation: the candidate performs acceptably outside the data used for parameter selection.
  4. Robustness: nearby parameter values and plausible cost changes do not destroy the result.
  5. Risk: drawdown, exposure, concentration, loss per trade, and failure behavior fit the intended account.
  6. Capacity: expected order size is reasonable for observed liquidity.

Preserve the complete report and selection rationale. A per-symbol winner list is not, by itself, a portfolio or deployment configuration.

Update the Live Configuration​

Live settings are declared in tradejs.config.ts. To use a reviewed candidate:

  1. Copy the complete strategy configuration into the intended deployment.
  2. Pin the exact strategy package version used during validation.
  3. Review symbol selection, account binding, risk limits, and whether the strategy is enabled.
  4. Commit the configuration and lockfile together so the change is auditable and reversible.
  5. Run project checks and verify the resolved setup. The strict parser rejects unknown config fields and the runtime computes strategyRevision and deploymentCompositionId; do not maintain a numeric version field.
npx @tradejs/cli runtime-control verify \
  --user root \
  --deployment <deployment>

The strategies page displays this configuration but does not rewrite it. Pause/resume controls temporarily block new entries; they do not edit strategy parameters.

Validate Before Placing Orders​

Run a historical replay of the exact deployment, then run one live evaluation cycle without --makeOrders:

npx @tradejs/cli replay \
  --user root \
  --deployment <deployment> \
  --days 7 \
  --cacheOnly

npx @tradejs/cli signals \
  --user root \
  --deployment <deployment> \
  --cacheOnly

Only enable order placement after reviewing the replay, current market-data health, account permissions, risk controls, monitoring, and rollback path. Use a bounded initial allocation and define stop conditions in advance.

See From backtest to live trading for the complete sequence and Validate live decisions with replay for diagnostics.