Stock X-Ray Guide
X-Ray any stock across 45 backtested strategies to find the best trading approach
Overview
Stock X-Ray lets you run a single ticker through all 45 backtested strategies simultaneously. Instead of guessing which strategy works best for a stock, X-Ray tests them all and ranks the results by performance metrics like Sharpe ratio, win rate, and profit factor.
Think of it as a full diagnostic scan for any stock — it tells you which trading approach has historically worked best and gives you the confidence score to back it up.
How to Use
1. Enter a Ticker
Type any stock ticker into the search box (e.g. AAPL, TSLA, NVDA). The input auto-converts to uppercase and only accepts valid ticker characters.
2. Choose a Timeframe
Toggle between Daily and Weekly before running:
- Daily (Swing Trading) — Uses daily bars. Period options: 1y, 2y, 5y. Best for trades held 2–20 days.
- Weekly (Position Trading) — Uses weekly bars. Period options: 3y, 5y, 10y. Best for multi-week or multi-month holds. More bars needed for reliable results, so longer periods are the default.
The same strategy can rank very differently on daily vs weekly bars — a momentum strategy may look great on weekly but mediocre on daily if the stock moves too fast intraday.
3. Choose a Lookback Period
Select how much historical data to backtest against:
- 1y — One year of data. Useful for recent IPOs or to see how a strategy performs in the current market regime.
- 2y (default) — Two years. A good balance between recency and statistical significance.
- 5y — Five years. More data points mean more reliable results, but older market conditions may differ.
4. Click X-Ray
All 45 strategies run in parallel. A progress bar tracks completion as each strategy finishes. Results stream in as they complete — you don't have to wait for all 45 to see the first results.
5. Analyze the Results
Results appear in a sortable table ranked by Confidence Score (default). The top-ranked strategy gets a green "Recommended" badge. Click any column header to re-sort. Hover over any column header for a quick explanation of what it measures.
Historical Performance vs. Currently Setting Up
This is the most important concept to understand when reading X-Ray results.
Confidence Score — Historical
Answers: "Over the past 2 years, when this strategy fired on this stock, how well did it work?"
A high confidence score means the strategy has a strong historical track record on this specific stock.
It says nothing about whether the pattern is currently forming right now.
Last Signal — Currently Active
Answers: "Is this strategy's pattern present on the chart right now?"
Shows how many days ago the strategy last fired an entry signal. A recent Last Signal
(green, under 10 days) means the pattern was detected recently and may still be active.
How to use both columns together
- Best historically + active recently — Ideal. The strategy has a proven edge on this stock and is currently setting up. This is your strongest trade candidate.
- Best historically + signal months ago — The strategy works well here but isn't setting up right now. Watch and wait.
- Lower historical rank + active recently — Something is setting up now but the edge is weaker. Use caution; check the Confidence score before acting.
- Sort by Last Signal ascending — One click on the Last Signal column shows you everything currently active, from most to least recent.
Watchlist Quick-Access
If you have watchlists configured in your account, X-Ray shows clickable chips for each stock below the search bar. Click any chip to instantly run an X-Ray on that ticker without typing.
Watchlists are pulled from your account settings. You can manage them from the Customize Agent page or via the MCP tools.
Understanding the Metrics
Confidence Score
A 0–100 composite score that weighs win rate (30%), profit factor (30%), Sharpe ratio (20%), and max drawdown (20%). Strategies with fewer than 5 trades score 0 automatically.
Last Signal
How many days ago this strategy last fired an entry signal on this stock. Sort this column ascending (click once) to instantly see which strategies are currently active — the closest thing X-Ray has to "what's setting up right now."
- Green — within 10 days (recently active)
- Neutral — 11–90 days ago
- Red — over 3 months ago (hasn't set up in a while)
- — — cached before this feature was added; recomputes on next refresh
Sharpe Ratio
Risk-adjusted return. Measures how much return you get per unit of risk. Higher is better. The table sorts by this metric by default.
- > 1.0 — Good risk-adjusted returns
- > 2.0 — Very strong
- < 0 — Strategy lost money
Win Rate
Percentage of trades that were profitable. A 50%+ win rate means more winning trades than losing ones, but this alone doesn't tell the full story — a 40% win rate with large winners can outperform a 70% win rate with small winners.
Profit Factor (PF)
Ratio of gross profits to gross losses. A PF of 2.0 means you made $2 for every $1 lost. Above 1.0 is profitable; below 1.0 means the strategy lost money overall.
Net P/L
Total net profit or loss as a percentage. Shows the cumulative return if you had followed every signal the strategy generated over the lookback period.
Max Drawdown (DD)
The largest peak-to-trough decline during the period. Shows the worst-case scenario you would have experienced. Smaller (less negative) is better.
Score = (Win Rate × 0.30) + (Profit Factor / 3.0 × 100 × 0.30) + (Sharpe / 3.0 × 100 × 0.20) + ((1 - |DD| / 50) × 100 × 0.20)
Sorting & Comparing
Click any column header to sort. Click again to reverse the sort direction. The active sort column is highlighted with a blue arrow indicator.
Good Sorting Strategies
- Sharpe Ratio (default) — Best overall risk-adjusted view
- Confidence Score — Balanced multi-factor ranking
- Win Rate — If you prefer higher-frequency winning trades
- Max DD ascending — If you want the lowest-risk strategies
Reading the Results
- The green "Recommended" badge marks the #1 ranked strategy
- Strategies with too few trades may show 0 confidence — not enough data to judge
- Negative Sharpe or PF below 1.0 means the strategy lost money on this stock
- Compare the top 3–5 strategies rather than just picking #1 blindly
- Sort Last Signal ascending to switch from "best historically" to "what's active now"
The 45 Strategies
X-Ray tests the following strategies, each based on well-known trading methodologies:
Holy Grail
ADX pullback to 20 EMA in strong trends (Linda Raschke)
Turtle Breakout
New 52-week high breakout on volume
VCP Patterns
Volatility contraction near highs (Mark Minervini)
San Ku (Three Gaps)
Oversold reversal after consecutive gap-downs
TTM Squeeze
Bollinger Bands inside Keltner Channels compression
2B Reversal
Failed breakdown reversal pattern
Mean Reversion
Oversold bounce from extended moves
Bottom Picker
Multi-indicator oversold composite (RSI, BB, volume)
Waterfall Decline
Bounce scoring after sharp drawdowns
Inside Day
Range compression breakout pattern
Strength List
Sector-relative momentum ranking
VIX Reversal
Buy signals from VIX pivot analysis
Weinstein Stage 2
Rising 150-SMA slope with relative strength (Stan Weinstein)
Qullamaggie Breakout
Momentum consolidation near highs (Kristjan Kullamagi)
Prime Pullback
Trending stock pulling back to 21 EMA
Earnings Catalyst
Episodic pivot / power earnings gap
Parabolic Short
Overextended stocks for short setups
Gap and Go
Gap-up continuation with volume confirmation
Reversal at Support
Bounce from key support levels
Bearish Breakdown
Short signals from bearish pattern breakdowns
Jeff Sun Momentum
Systematic VCP-style momentum (above SMA50/200, ADX trend, not overextended)
EMA Crossover
Dual EMA crossover with ADX trend filter and ATR stops
Keltner Channel Momentum
Price breakout above Keltner Channel upper band
MACD Trend
MACD crossover with moving average trend filter (Gerald Appel)
Triple EMA Crossover
Three-EMA alignment (15/40/150) — all pointing same direction
Golden Cross
SMA 10/30 golden cross, long-only
Williams %R Reversal
WPR oversold bounce above -85 with EMA trend filter
Ichimoku Cloud
Price above cloud with Tenkan/Kijun bullish cross
SuperTrend
SuperTrend(10, 3.0) bullish flip with RSI < 70
MACD + BB Combo
MACD bullish cross while price bounces off Bollinger lower band
Momentum MACD
MACD crossover with dual MA alignment (EMA10 > EMA30) and RSI filter
Donchian Channel Breakout
Price breaks above 20-period Donchian upper channel with ADX trend filter
CCI Momentum
CCI(14) bounce from oversold (<-150) reversal signal
OBV Trend
On-Balance Volume fast/slow EMA crossover with price trend and RSI confirmation
Generate Levels & Track This Trade
Once the X-Ray finishes, two additional features unlock below the results table.
Generate Levels
Sends the top-ranked strategy, current price, and all technical indicators to an LLM which returns specific trade levels: entry price, stop loss, target price, and risk/reward ratio.
Results are cached for the day — clicking again returns the same levels until the next trading day. The entry is clamped within 10% of the current price as a sanity check.
Track This Trade
After levels are generated, click "Track This Trade" to save the setup to your trade tracker. It records the symbol, entry, stop, target, and which strategy triggered it.
View and manage tracked trades at Trade History.
Tips & Best Practices
Compare Multiple Periods
Run the same ticker with 1y, 2y, and 5y. If a strategy ranks #1 across all periods, that's a strong signal. If it only works in one period, the edge may be temporary.
Watch for Low Trade Counts
A strategy with 3 trades and a 100% win rate isn't reliable. Look for strategies with 10+ trades for meaningful statistics. The "Trades" column shows this.
Don't Ignore Drawdown
A strategy with great returns but -40% max drawdown may be too volatile for your risk tolerance. Sort by Max DD to find the smoothest performers.
Results Are Cached Weekly
Backtest results are refreshed every Sunday at 6 AM ET. If you see cached results, they're from the most recent weekly refresh. First-time lookups may be slower.
Limitations
- Past performance is not predictive. Backtests show how a strategy would have performed historically, not how it will perform in the future.
- No transaction costs. Results don't include commissions, slippage, or bid-ask spreads.
- Survivorship bias. You're testing stocks that still exist today. Delisted stocks aren't included.
- Some strategies may show insufficient data. Not every strategy generates signals for every stock. Strategies that don't produce enough trades appear with 0 confidence.