The six rule types explained

What this does

Every rule you build is one of six kinds. Each kind has its own idea of what counts as following it. This is the reference for all six.

The four possible results

N/A is not a pass and not a failure. It is dropped from the top and the bottom of the day’s score, so it cannot flatter you or punish you.

1. At most N trades

Called Trade count cap on the web and on iPhone, and Count Cap on Android.

You set a maximum, and a scope of either the whole day or before a particular time. With a time scope, VEXA counts trades whose entry falls strictly before that time in the rule’s own timezone.

This is the only rule type that can score a half point:

count ≤ max        → Followed
count = max + 1    → Partial
count > max + 1    → Not Followed

Being over by exactly one is treated as a slip, not a collapse. Two over is a collapse.

A maximum of zero is legal and useful. “No trades in the first 5 minutes” is a cap of zero trades before 09:35.

Evidence reads like 3 trades before 09:45 (limit 2) or 12 trades today (limit 10).

2. A money or size ceiling

Called Dollar value cap on the web, Value/loss cap on iPhone, and Value Cap on Android. There are four different things it can measure, and they behave differently enough to be worth treating as four rules.

Position size is measured as |quantity × entry price × contract multiplier|, taking the largest across the day. Shorts are graded on absolute size. Options and futures include their contract multiplier, which matters enormously: leaving it out under-measures an options position by around 100 times.

Daily loss uses net P&L for the whole day, so winners offset losers. A day that closes green is always Followed, no matter how ugly it got in the middle. That is deliberate, and it is why the next metric exists.

Intraday net low walks your trades in the order they closed, tracks the lowest point the running net ever reached, and fails if that low ever went below your line. It catches the day that recovered.

Single-trade loss looks only at your worst individual trade.

All four are binary. There is no partial. Every figure is rounded to two decimal places before it is compared, so a breach by half a cent is not a breach.

Evidence reads like largest position $8,120 (limit $7500), net P&L $-5289.92 across accounts (limit $-5000), intraday low $-7,800, closed $420 net across accounts (limit $-7500) or worst single trade $-1,240 (limit $-1000).

3. No new trades after a time

Called Time gate (no trades after) on the web, Time gate on iPhone, Time Gate on Android.

You set a time and a timezone. The timezone is fixed when you create the rule and cannot be changed afterwards. The default is America/New_York.

The comparison is strict. A trade entered exactly at the gate is allowed. One second later is not.

What counts as breaking it:

• Opening a trade after the gate.
• Scaling into an existing position after the gate. Adding size is a new entry.

What does not count:

• Closing anything. You must always be able to get out.
• Fills that carry no role information. Trades imported without execution types grade at trade level, exactly as they did before per-fill grading existed.

Evidence reads like traded at 11:42 (after 11:30) or scaled in at 11:42 (after 11:30). A clean day reads no trades after 11:30.

4. Wait after a big loss

Called Cooldown after loss on the web, Cooldown on iPhone and Android.

You set a trigger size, as a positive number, and a number of minutes.

The trigger is strict. A loss of exactly 2,000 dollars does not trigger a rule set at 2,000. It has to be worse than that.

The waiting period starts when the losing trade closed, not when it opened. A position that was already open when the loser closed is a concurrent position, not a re-entry, and it is exempt.

Re-entry means opening another trade, or scaling into one. Exits do not count.

Grading has four outcomes:

any measured gap shorter than the wait     → Not Followed
otherwise, at least one measurable gap      → Followed
triggers happened but none had a re-entry   → N/A
no triggering losses at all                 → Followed

The third case is worth understanding. If you took a big loss and then stopped trading for the day, VEXA cannot measure a gap, so it declines to give you credit rather than awarding a pass it cannot prove. Days are graded independently, so a cooldown is not carried across midnight.

Evidence reads like re-entered 2.3 min after a >$2000 loss (need 5 min) or waited ≥5 min after each >$2000 loss (min gap 12.4 min).

5. A yes or no check

Called Boolean check on the web, Yes/No rule on iPhone, Boolean on Android.

You give the check a label, then choose where the answer comes from. VEXA can read it from your journal automatically, or you can tick it yourself in the Day Detail panel.

true      → Followed
false     → Not Followed
no answer → N/A

A manual check you never ticked is never auto-passed. It stays N/A and drops out of the day’s score.

Evidence reads like Journaled today: yes or Pre-market plan written: no input yet.

6. Tighten other rules when you sleep badly

Called Conditional modifier (sleep) on the web and Conditional on Android. It is not in the structured form on iPhone or iPad, where you add it from a template or in plain English.

This one does not grade your trading directly. It changes other rules for the day.

You set a sleep condition, for example fewer than 6.5 hours, and a list of rules to tighten with their new limits. On a day where the condition holds, those rules are graded against the tighter numbers.

When several modifiers hit the same target, the tightest one wins: the lowest number for a trade count or a position size, and the number closest to zero for a loss line. A modifier can only target ordinary rules, never another modifier.

The modifier is then graded on its own:

condition did not fire, or a target is missing or N/A  → N/A
condition fired and every target was Followed          → Followed
any target was Partial or Not Followed                 → Not Followed

Without sleep data it never fires. No wearable and no manually entered sleep hours means the rule sits at N/A forever. See Sleep-based rules.

One more thing to expect: a modifier can target a template rather than a specific rule. If you created three rules from the same template, all three get tightened.

What you should see

Open any day in the Day Detail panel and each rule shows its result and the evidence string the grader produced. The evidence always names the number it measured and the limit it measured against, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.

If it doesn’t work

• A green day failed your daily loss rule. It cannot. Check whether the rule that failed was the intraday net low. See Daily loss and intraday net low.
• A cooldown shows N/A on a day you clearly took a big loss. You stopped trading afterwards, so there was no gap to measure.
• A count cap says Partial and you expected a failure. One over the limit is a half point by design.
• The evidence disagrees with what you remember. Override it. See Override a day’s grading.

Related

• Build a custom rule
• Rules across multiple accounts