Strategies, Confluences & Exit Reasons
======================================

FTJ lets you categorize every trade with structured tags. The strategy you used, the
confluences that supported your entry, and the reason you exited. This structured tagging
is what powers the performance-by-strategy and performance-by-confluence analytics.

Navigate to **Strategy** in the sidebar to manage all three.

.. image:: /_static/view_strategies.png
   :alt: Strategies view
   :align: center

.. TODO: Replace with a screenshot of the Strategies view with the strategy list and editor.

|
Tab Navigation
--------------

The Strategies view has three tabs:

1. **Strategies** - Your trading setups and approaches.
2. **Confluences** - The conditions/signals you check before entering.
3. **Exit Reasons** - Why you closed a trade.


Strategies
----------

A **strategy** represents a distinct trading approach or setup type. Examples include
*Trend Following*, *Breakout Trading*, and *Mean Reversion*.

Pre-Seeded Strategies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're starting fresh, you can populate a library of common strategies from the :doc:`settings` view using the Seed Strategies & Exit Reasons action. 
This adds a set of well-known trading strategies (e.g. Trend Following, Breakout Trading, Mean Reversion). It also seeds a set of common exit reasons (see below).

You can edit or delete any of the seeded items and create your own alongside them.

Creating a Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Click **+ Add** at the top of the strategy list.
2. Fill in the **Edit Strategy** form on the right:

   - **Name** - A short, descriptive name (e.g. "London Breakout").
   - **Image** - Optionally attach a representative chart image. Click the **+** area or drag
     and drop an image. Click **✕** to remove it.
   - **Description** - Explain the strategy's rules, entry criteria, and expected conditions.

3. Assign **confluences** to the strategy (see below).
4. Click **Save Strategy**.


Deleting a Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Select a strategy and click **Delete** at the bottom. If the strategy is assigned to any
trades, you'll need to remove it from those trades first.

Importing & Exporting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- **Import** - Load strategies from a JSON file. This is useful for sharing strategy libraries
  between databases or team members.
- **Export** - Save your strategies to a JSON file. The export includes names, descriptions,
  images, and confluence assignments.



Confluences
-----------

A **confluence** is a specific market condition, signal, or technical indicator that supports
a trade entry. The idea is that the more confluences align, the higher your confidence in a trade.

Examples of confluences:

- Support/Resistance Level
- Volume Confirmation
- MACD Bullish/Bearish Crossover
- RSI Overbought/Oversold
- Bollinger Band Squeeze
- Break of Structure
- Fibonacci Retracement Level
- Moving Average Crossover
- Multiple Timeframe Alignment
- Trend Line Support/Resistance

Managing Confluences
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Click the **Confluences** tab.
2. The left panel lists all confluences. Click one to select it.
3. Edit the name, description, and optional image in the right panel.
4. Click **Save** to persist changes.

To create a new confluence, click **+ Add** and fill in the details.

Strategy-Confluence Relationships
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Each strategy can have a set of "expected" confluences attached to it. When you assign a strategy
to a trade, its confluences act as a checklist - a reminder of what conditions should be present.

To assign confluences to a strategy:

1. Go to the **Strategies** tab.
2. Select a strategy.
3. In the **Confluences** section of the Edit Strategy form, click **+ Add Confluence**.
4. Select the relevant confluences from the picker.

.. note::
   Strategy-level confluences are a template/checklist. When you tag a specific trade, you
   independently select which confluences were actually present for that trade.


Exit Reasons
------------

**Exit reasons** categorize why you closed a trade. Structured exit reasons enable analytics
on your exit behavior - for example, are your stopped-out trades performing worse than your
manually managed exits?

Common exit reasons:

- Hit Take Profit
- Hit Stop Loss
- Trailed Stop
- Manual Exit (discretionary)
- Time-Based Exit
- News Event
- Account Risk Limit

.. TODO: Confirm the pre-seeded exit reasons (if any) and whether they have images.

Managing Exit Reasons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Click the **Exit Reasons** tab.
2. Click **+ Add** to create a new exit reason.
3. Fill in the name, description, and optional image.
4. Click **Save**.

When recording a trade, you select the exit reason from a dropdown on the Exit card.

.. tip::
   Keep your exit reason library focused. Too many exit reasons dilute the analytical value.
   Aim for 5–10 well-defined categories that cover your actual exit behaviors.