# What does the checklist beside the builder look for?

Strategies & bots · Where: Strategy › Builder › Checklist · Updated 2026-10-20

The checklist reads the four panels and flags the gaps a first rule set usually has: no exit for a losing trade, a typed size instead of a size rule, winners smaller than losers, too many conditions for the sample, and rules that peek at the future. It re-reads the panels as you edit. A gap is a warning, not a block.

## Step by step

1. **A losing trade is closed** The stop loss in Exits. Nothing in the builder runs without one.
2. **Every trade is sized the same way** A size rule means every trade risks a known amount. A typed override in Position size turns the rule off, and the checklist says so.
3. **Winners at least as big as losers** From the target and stop. The line says what share of trades must win just to break even, before fees.
4. **Few enough conditions** Three or more entry rules on a window of ninety days or less fit the past more than the future. Fewer rules, or a longer window.
5. **No peeking** The tester only reads bars that have closed and fills an entry at the close of the bar that triggered it, so this line is always met here.

Web page: https://buildtrade.app/help/check-your-rules/