"Q_Pilot Elite" Strategy
Q_Pilot Elite V1.0 User Manual
Automated trend trading, powered by Q_Pilot.
By QuantVue · QuantVue.io · Join our Discord
Disclaimer (Boring stuff the lawyer makes us say...)
Q_Pilot Elite V1.0 is an automated trading strategy designed to execute trades on your behalf based on technical analysis signals. It does not constitute financial advice, and no trade, signal, or backtest result produced by Q_Pilot Elite should be interpreted as a guarantee of future performance. All trading involves risk, including the risk of total loss of capital. Past performance — including all backtest results — is not indicative of future results.
Automated strategies can and will lose money. Drawdowns, losing streaks, and extended flat periods are normal. You are solely responsible for your own trading decisions, including the decision to run this strategy live. Always use proper position sizing and never risk more than you can afford to lose. QuantVue and its contributors are not responsible for any losses incurred while using this tool.
If you are new to automated trading, we strongly recommend running Q_Pilot Elite in paper trading (simulated) mode for an extended period before committing real capital. Backtest thoroughly on your specific asset and timeframe before going live.
No representation is being made that any strategy or any system sold by QuantVue will work without error or result in profits. The author and publisher of these systems is not a licensed financial advisor and will not accept liability for any financial losses or damages incurred as a result of using the tools. By using these tools, you acknowledge that you understand these risks and that you are solely responsible for the outcomes of your decision. You also agree to never hold QuantVue, its staff, or its principals liable for any possible trading losses you may incur for any reason or cause. It is your responsibility to do your own research, due diligence, and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment or trading decisions. Since we are not a licensed financial advisor, all indicators, algorithms, scripts, and other tools are presented for educational and entertainment purposes only.
Quick Start Guide (Let's go!! 🚀)
If you just want to get up and running, here's everything you need in under two minutes.
Step 1: Add Q_Pilot Elite and Q_Pilot Pro to Your Chart
Open any chart on TradingView, click the Indicators button (or press /), search for Q_Pilot Elite V1.0, and add it. The strategy loads with sensible defaults and will immediately begin showing historical trades on your chart.
Do the same with Q_Pilot Pro. This will display the visual indications that the trades from Q_Pilot Elite are following. The visual elements are stripped from Q_Pilot Elite in order to speed up processing.
Step 2: Understand What's on Your Screen
Trade markers — BUY, SELL, RE-ENTRY BUY, and RE-ENTRY SELL labels appear where the strategy enters positions. Exit markers show what closed each trade (SL/TP, Conviction Fade, Vol Exhaustion, Chop Zone, or Session End).
Stop Loss line (red) — Shows where your active stop loss sits. Turns orange if moved to breakeven by the Volume Exhaustion exit.
Take Profit line (green) — Shows your active profit target.
Background tint — A faint color behind candles shows your current position direction. Gray tint marks hours outside your trading session.
Step 3: Review the Strategy Tester
Click the Strategy Tester tab at the bottom of your TradingView chart. Here you'll see:
Overview: Net profit, win rate, profit factor, and max drawdown.
List of Trades: Every entry and exit with P&L, duration, and which exit rule closed the trade.
Equity Curve: A visual history of your account balance over time.
Step 4: Paper Trade First
Before risking real capital, switch to paper trading mode and let Q_Pilot Elite run for at least 1–2 months on your intended asset and timeframe. Observe how it behaves during different market conditions — trending days, choppy days, high-volatility news events. This builds confidence and surfaces any settings adjustments needed for your specific setup.
How Q_Pilot Elite Works (The Big Picture)
Q_Pilot Elite is the automated execution layer for Q_Pilot's trend-following signals. It takes the same multi-engine analysis that powers the Q_Pilot indicator and wraps it in a complete trade management system with entries, exits, re-entries, and risk controls.
The Entry Engine
Q_Pilot Elite runs three independent analysis engines simultaneously:
A trend engine that measures directional strength and determines whether buyers or sellers are dominant.
A momentum engine that detects shifts in buying and selling pressure and confirms whether a move has real force behind it.
An adaptive average engine that tracks price using self-adjusting smoothing — fast when the market is moving cleanly, slow when it's noisy.
The strategy requires confluence — all three engines must agree on direction — before it will enter a trade. This multi-engine consensus approach filters out most noise and false signals that plague single-indicator systems.
The Strength Score
Behind every entry and exit decision is a composite strength score (0–100%) that measures how convicted all engines are in the current direction. This score incorporates five dimensions: directional conviction, momentum alignment, adaptive trend alignment, trend maturity, and volume confirmation. Each dimension is self-normalizing, meaning the score automatically adapts to any asset and timeframe without manual calibration.
The strength score powers the Conviction Fade exit, the Minimum Entry Strength filter, and the Re-Entry logic. You never see the raw score on the chart, but it's the system's internal measure of "how strong is this trade?"
The Exit System
Q_Pilot Elite uses a layered exit system designed so that multiple safety nets protect each trade:
Hard Exits — Fixed stop loss and take profit levels placed at entry, based on recent price volatility. These are your guardrails.
Smart Exits — Conviction Fade and Volume Exhaustion exits that monitor the health of your trade in real time and close or protect it when conditions deteriorate.
Safety Net — The Chop Zone exit catches any trade where the market has gone completely directionless.
Each exit layer can be independently toggled on or off. At minimum, we recommend keeping the stop loss enabled.
Q_Pilot Elite vs. Q_Pilot Pro
Q_Pilot Elite is purpose-built for automated execution. It uses the same core engines as Q_Pilot Pro but is intentionally streamlined:
Trend BUY/SELL signals
✅
✅ (auto-executed)
Re-Entry signals
✅
✅ (auto-executed)
Composite strength scoring
✅ (visible on dashboard)
✅ (drives entries & exits internally)
Volume exhaustion detection
✅ (visual caution labels)
✅ (automated exit or breakeven)
ATR-based stop loss & take profit
❌
✅
Conviction fade exit
❌ (manual TP signals)
✅ (automated)
Chop zone exit
❌ (visual filter only)
✅ (automated)
Session time filter
❌
✅
Channel detection
✅
❌
Support & resistance zones
✅
❌
Opening range break (ORB)
✅
❌
Prediction ribbon
✅
❌
Dashboard
✅
❌
Candle coloring
✅
❌
Backtestable
❌
✅
Tip: Q_Pilot Elite is designed to run as an overlay alongside Q_Pilot Pro. Add both to the same chart — Pro gives you the visual analysis and dashboard, while Elite handles execution.
Trade Direction
Setting: Allowed Directions Default: Long & Short
Controls which side of the market the strategy trades.
Long & Short: Trades both directions. When the system detects a bullish opportunity, it goes long. When it detects bearish, it goes short. If you're in a long position and a short signal fires, the long is closed and a short is opened.
Long Only: Only opens long (buy) positions. Short signals will close any open long position but will not open a new short. Useful for assets with a long-term bullish bias or accounts that don't permit shorting.
Short Only: Only opens short (sell) positions. Buy signals will close any open short but won't open a new long.
Session Filter
The Session Filter restricts when the strategy is allowed to open new trades. This is one of the most important settings for day traders — it keeps the strategy focused on high-liquidity hours and prevents entries during low-volume periods where signals are less reliable.
Important: The Session Filter only blocks new entries. All exit rules (stop loss, take profit, conviction fade, volume exhaustion, chop zone) continue to function normally outside the session. Your open positions are always protected.
Enable Session Filter
Default: ON
When ON, the strategy will only open new positions during the defined session window. When OFF, the strategy trades 24/7 whenever a signal fires.
Session Time
Default: 0935-1130:2345
The time window during which the strategy is allowed to open trades. All times are in US Eastern (EST/EDT). Uses TradingView's standard session format:
Format: HHMM-HHMM for the time window, optionally followed by :DAYS to restrict which days of the week.
Day codes: 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, 3=Tuesday, 4=Wednesday, 5=Thursday, 6=Friday, 7=Saturday.
Examples:
0930-1600
9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, every day
0935-1130:2345
9:35 AM to 11:30 AM ET, Monday through Thursday
0930-1600:23456
9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, Monday through Friday
1800-0200:23456
6:00 PM to 2:00 AM ET (next day), weekdays
Tips:
For US equity futures (NQ, ES), the default
0935-1130:2345focuses on the highest-liquidity morning session while avoiding the opening 5 minutes of volatility.For forex, consider
0800-1200:23456(London session) or0800-1700:23456(London + New York overlap).For crypto, you may want to disable the session filter entirely since crypto markets run 24/7.
Close Positions at Session End
Default: OFF
When ON, any open position is automatically closed the moment the session window ends. This ensures no trades are held outside your defined trading hours — critical for day traders who want to avoid overnight gap risk.
When OFF, open positions carry through and continue to be managed by all active exit rules (stop loss, take profit, etc.) until one of those rules closes the trade.
Tip: If you're trading instruments with significant overnight gaps (individual stocks, for example), turning this ON prevents you from waking up to a gap through your stop loss. For 24-hour instruments like futures and forex, leaving it OFF lets winning trades run.
Engine Tuning
The Engine Tuning section controls how quickly the strategy reacts to changing market conditions. This affects signal timing — when entries fire and how sensitive the system is to new moves.
Preset
Default: Balanced
Balanced
Most assets and timeframes. Start here.
General-purpose, no extreme biases.
Aggressive
Scalping, fast-moving assets, lower timeframes (1m–5m).
More trades, more noise, earlier entries. Some entries may fire on moves that don't follow through.
Conservative
Swing trading, higher timeframes (1H+), noisy or volatile assets.
Fewer trades, later entries, but generally higher conviction when a signal does fire.
Tip: The Balanced preset is correct for the vast majority of setups. Only switch to Aggressive or Conservative after you've observed the strategy's behavior on your specific asset and identified that signal timing is consistently too slow or too fast.
Use Minimum Entry Strength
Default: OFF
When enabled, the strategy adds a second filter on top of engine confluence. Not only must all three engines agree on direction, but the system's internal confidence score must also meet a minimum threshold. This filters out signals that technically have confluence but lack strong conviction — often the signals that fire during transitional or uncertain market conditions.
When to use it: If you're seeing too many entries that immediately reverse into the stop loss, enabling this with a threshold of 50–60% can significantly improve entry quality. The trade-off is fewer total trades.
Minimum Strength %
Default: 50%
The minimum confidence level required to enter a trade. Only active when "Use Minimum Entry Strength" is ON.
30–40%
Permissive. Most signals pass. Minimal filtering.
50%
Moderate. Requires at least half of the system's engines to be strongly aligned. Good starting point.
60–70%
Selective. Only high-conviction signals pass. Fewer trades but higher average quality.
80%+
Very restrictive. Only the strongest setups are taken. You may see very few trades.
Tip: For NQ and ES on lower timeframes (3m–15m), 60% has tested well as a starting point. For calmer instruments, 50% is usually sufficient.
Hard Exit — Stop Loss
The stop loss is your primary risk control. When a trade opens, the strategy calculates a fixed stop distance based on recent price volatility and places the stop immediately. The stop does not trail — it stays where it was placed unless moved to breakeven by the Volume Exhaustion exit.
Enable Stop Loss
Default: ON
We strongly recommend keeping this ON at all times. Disabling it means your only protection is the other exit rules, which may not fire quickly enough during sudden adverse moves.
Volatility Lookback
Default: 14
How many recent bars are used to measure typical price movement. This measurement (the average distance price travels per bar) determines how far your stop loss and take profit are placed from your entry.
5–8
Reacts quickly to recent volatility spikes. Stops will widen during volatile bars and tighten during calm bars. Good for fast-moving markets.
14
Standard. Balances responsiveness with stability.
25–50
Very stable reading that smooths out individual volatile bars. Good for swing trading where you don't want a single spike to dramatically widen your stop.
Note: This setting is shared between the Stop Loss and Take Profit. Changing it affects both.
Stop Distance
Default: 1.5
How far the stop loss is placed from your entry, measured in multiples of the volatility reading.
A value of 1.5 means: if the average bar moves 50 points, the stop is placed 75 points away from entry.
0.5–1.0
Tight stop. Less dollar risk per trade, but more likely to be hit by normal price noise. Best for scalping or very clean-trending instruments.
1.5
Standard. Gives most trades enough room to breathe through a normal pullback.
2.0–3.0
Wide stop. More room for the trade to develop, but larger dollar risk per trade. Best for volatile instruments or higher timeframes.
Tip: Your stop distance and target distance together determine your risk-to-reward ratio. With the defaults (1.5 stop, 2.5 target), you have a 1.67:1 reward-to-risk ratio — meaning you only need to win about 38% of trades to break even.
Hard Exit — Take Profit
The take profit is your fixed profit target. When a trade opens, the strategy calculates a target distance based on the same volatility reading used for the stop loss. If price reaches this level, the trade closes automatically regardless of other conditions.
Enable Take Profit
Default: ON
When ON, a fixed profit target is placed at entry. When OFF, the strategy relies on the other exit rules (conviction fade, volume exhaustion, chop zone, or trend reversal) to close winning trades. Disabling TP lets winners run further but means you're dependent on the smart exits to capture profits.
Target Distance
Default: 2.5
How far the take profit is placed from your entry, measured in multiples of the volatility reading.
1.0–1.5
Close target. Gets hit more often but captures smaller moves. Best for range-bound or mean-reverting setups.
2.0–2.5
Standard. Captures a meaningful portion of most trend moves while still getting hit regularly.
3.0–5.0
Ambitious target. Gets hit less often but captures larger moves when it does. Best for strong trending instruments or higher timeframes.
5.0+
Very wide target. Only hit during extended moves. Most trades will close via other exit rules before reaching this level. Effectively lets winners run.
The risk-to-reward relationship:
1.5
1.5
1.0:1
50%
1.5
2.5
1.67:1
37.5%
1.5
3.0
2.0:1
33.3%
1.0
2.5
2.5:1
28.6%
2.0
2.5
1.25:1
44.4%
Smart Exit — Conviction Fade
Conviction Fade monitors the internal confidence behind your trade in real time. It's the system's own opinion of when a trade has run its course.
How It Works
When you enter a trade, the system begins tracking its composite strength score. As the trend develops, that score typically climbs — the engines become more aligned, momentum builds, volume confirms the move. The score reaches a peak at some point during the trade.
Conviction Fade fires when the score drops from that peak by a configurable percentage. If the peak was 70% and your sensitivity is set to 50%, the exit triggers when strength drops to 35%.
This is fundamentally different from a fixed take profit. The stop loss and take profit are set at entry and never change. Conviction Fade is adaptive — it responds to the actual health of your trade. A strong trend with a peak score of 85% gets much more room to breathe than a weak trend with a peak of 40%.
Enable Conviction Fade Exit
Default: ON
When ON, the system monitors trade health and exits when conviction fades. When OFF, trades can only close via the hard exits (SL/TP), chop zone, session end, or trend reversal.
Fade Sensitivity %
Default: 50%
How much confidence must decay from its peak before the exit triggers.
20–30%
Very protective. Exits early at the first significant dip in conviction. Good for scalping. Will exit many trades that would have recovered and continued.
40–50%
Moderate. Exits when roughly half the conviction is gone. Balanced between protection and letting trades run.
60–70%
Relaxed. Requires a major conviction decline before exiting. Lets trades breathe through normal pullbacks. Good for swing trading or trending instruments.
80–90%
Very relaxed. Only exits when conviction has almost completely collapsed. At this level, most trades will hit TP or SL before Conviction Fade fires.
Tip: On lower timeframes (1m–5m), the strength score is naturally more volatile. A sensitivity of 60–70% prevents premature exits during normal bar-to-bar noise. On higher timeframes (1H+), 50% works well because score movements are more meaningful.
Smart Exit — Volume Exhaustion
Volume Exhaustion detects when buying or selling pressure has reached an unsustainable extreme and begins to reverse. Think of it as the system watching the fuel gauge — when the tank empties, it warns you.
How It Works
The system continuously monitors the balance between buying and selling volume. It establishes what "normal" pressure looks like over a configurable window, then watches for statistical extremes — moments when buying or selling volume surges far beyond the norm.
The key insight is that the system doesn't fire on the spike itself. It waits for the reversal — the moment when extreme pressure starts pulling back toward normal. A volume exhaustion signal during a long trade means: buying volume just peaked and is now fading. The buyers may be spent.
Enable Volume Exhaustion Exit
Default: ON
When ON, the system monitors volume pressure during open trades. When OFF, this detection is disabled entirely.
Action
Default: Move Stop to Breakeven
What happens when volume exhaustion is detected:
Move Stop to Breakeven
Shifts your stop loss to your entry price. The trade stays open but you can no longer lose money on it (excluding slippage). If the trend resumes, you capture the continuation. If it reverses, you exit at breakeven.
Most setups. Protects gains while giving the trend a chance to continue.
Close Position
Exits the trade immediately. The most defensive option.
Scalping setups or very volatile instruments where you want to take what you have.
Tip: "Move Stop to Breakeven" is the recommended default. In backtesting, the "Close Position" action was found to exit many trades prematurely — trades that went on to hit the take profit. Breakeven mode captures the best of both worlds: protection when the exhaustion signal is correct, continuation when it's a false alarm.
Pressure Window
Default: 20
How many bars are used to establish what "normal" buying and selling pressure looks like. The system watches for deviations beyond this baseline.
5–10
Short memory. Adapts quickly to recent conditions. More sensitive, fires more often.
15–20
Standard. Balances adaptation speed with stability.
30–50
Long memory. Requires truly extreme volume events relative to a broader history. Fires less often but with higher significance.
Exhaustion Threshold
Default: 1.5
How extreme volume pressure must become before the system flags exhaustion.
0.5–1.0
Low threshold. Catches smaller volume surges. Fires frequently. May produce false alarms on volatile instruments.
1.5
Standard. Catches meaningful exhaustion events on most instruments.
2.0–3.0
High threshold. Only flags dramatic blow-off events. Very few signals but high significance.
3.0+
Extreme. Only the most dramatic volume events trigger this. For most instruments, this means very rare signals.
Baseline Smoothing
Default: 21
How smoothly the volume pressure baseline adapts over time.
5–10
Fast adaptation. The baseline shifts quickly with changing conditions.
15–21
Standard.
30–50
Slow adaptation. The baseline ignores short bursts and only moves in response to sustained changes.
Safety Net — Directionless Market (Chop Zone)
The Chop Zone exit is your last line of defense. It closes any open trade when the market loses directional momentum and enters a choppy, sideways state.
How It Works
The system continuously measures how strong the current trend is. When that measurement drops below a threshold, the market is declared "choppy" — meaning price is moving sideways with no clear direction. If you're in a trade when this happens, the directional edge that justified your entry no longer exists, and the strategy cuts the position.
Enable Chop Zone Exit
Default: ON
When ON, the strategy monitors trend strength and closes trades when the market goes directionless. When OFF, trades are only closed by the hard exits, smart exits, session end, or trend reversal.
Chop Sensitivity
Default: 0
Controls how easily the system declares the market "choppy."
-20 to -10
Very loose. Requires a definitively dead trend. Only the most directionless markets trigger the exit. Rarely fires.
-5 to 0
Standard. Triggers during genuinely choppy conditions.
5 to 15
Strict. Exits at the first sign of trend weakness. Will close some trades that would have recovered.
20 to 30
Very strict. Even mild trend slowdowns trigger the exit. Many trades will be closed by this before reaching SL or TP.
Tip: If you've enabled the Minimum Entry Strength filter at 60%+, you've already filtered out weak entries at the gate. In that case, the chop zone exit may be redundant and can be set very loose (-10 or lower) or turned off entirely. The two features overlap in what they protect against — one filters at entry, the other filters during the trade.
Re-Entry
Re-entries give the strategy a second chance to ride a trend that briefly weakened but didn't reverse.
How It Works
After a trade's conviction fades (whether the position was closed by Conviction Fade, stop loss, take profit, or any other exit), the system continues monitoring the trend internally. If the engines briefly lose alignment and then snap back into agreement in the original direction — without a full reversal occurring — a re-entry is placed.
The sequence: BUY → trend develops → conviction fades → engines briefly disagree → engines realign bullish → RE-ENTRY BUY fires.
Re-entries get their own fresh stop loss and take profit levels, calculated from the re-entry price. They are fully independent trades with their own risk management.
Enable Re-Entries
Default: ON
When ON, the strategy watches for re-entry opportunities after conviction fades. When OFF, only initial trend entries (BUY/SELL) are taken.
Max Re-Entries Per Trend
Default: 1
How many times the strategy can re-enter the same trend direction before a full reversal.
1
Conservative. One re-entry per trend. If it fails, you're done until the next trend.
2–3
Moderate. Allows multiple bites at the same trend. Works well on instruments with multi-wave trend patterns.
4–5
Aggressive. Assumes trends have many tradeable waves. Higher exposure to whipsaw losses if the trend is actually ending.
Tip: On NQ and ES intraday (3m–15m), 1 re-entry is recommended. These instruments tend to have one or two clean waves per trend before reversing. On daily timeframes for trending stocks or forex pairs, 2–3 can capture multi-day moves.
Apply Conviction Fade to Re-Entries
Default: ON
When ON, re-entry trades are monitored for conviction fade just like initial entries. If the confidence behind the re-entry weakens from its peak, the trade closes.
When OFF, re-entries ride until a hard exit (stop loss, take profit, or trend reversal) closes them. This lets re-entries run longer but removes the adaptive exit protection.
Display
Visual settings that control what appears on the chart. These have no effect on strategy behavior or trade execution.
Show SL / TP Levels
Default: ON
Plots the active stop loss and take profit levels as horizontal lines while a trade is open. The stop loss line is red (or orange if moved to breakeven). The take profit line is green.
Tip: These lines are essential for understanding why specific trades closed at specific prices. Keep them ON during backtesting and optimization.
Show Session Background
Default: ON
Adds a subtle gray tint to bars that fall outside your trading session. Makes it easy to see at a glance which hours the strategy is active. Only visible when the Session Filter is enabled.
Long Color
Default: #00BFFF (cyan)
The background tint color used when the strategy is in a long position.
Short Color
Default: Red
The background tint color used when the strategy is in a short position.
Alerts
Q_Pilot Elite supports TradingView alerts for all major events. To set up alerts, right-click the strategy name on your chart, select Add Alert, and choose from the available conditions:
Entry Long
New BUY signal executes
Entry Short
New SELL signal executes
Re-Entry Long
RE-ENTRY BUY executes
Re-Entry Short
RE-ENTRY SELL executes
Conviction Fade
A trade closes due to conviction fade
Volume Exhaustion
Volume exhaustion detected (close or breakeven move)
Chop Zone Exit
A trade closes because the market went directionless
Session End
A trade closes because the session window ended
Tip: At minimum, set alerts for Entry Long, Entry Short, and the exit types you have enabled. If you're running Q_Pilot Elite for automated execution through a third-party service, you'll need alerts configured for every entry and exit event.
How the Exit Layers Work Together
Q_Pilot Elite's exits are designed to work as a system, not as competing rules. Here's the priority and interaction:
Execution Order
On each bar, the strategy evaluates exits in this order:
ATR Stop Loss / Take Profit — Hard price levels. If price has reached the SL or TP, the trade closes immediately. This takes priority because it's price-based and non-negotiable.
Volume Exhaustion — If detected, either closes the position or moves the stop to breakeven (depending on your setting). Breakeven moves are immediately reflected in the SL/TP exit on the next bar.
Conviction Fade — If the strength score has decayed sufficiently from its peak, the trade closes.
Chop Zone — If the market has gone directionless, the trade closes.
Session End — If the session window just ended and this option is enabled, the trade closes.
Common Combinations
All defaults (SL + TP + Vol Exh BE + Conv Fade + Chop)
Most trades close via SL or TP. Volume exhaustion moves the stop to breakeven when pressure peaks. Conviction fade catches trades that are slowly dying without hitting either level. Chop zone catches edge cases where the market flatlines.
SL + TP only
Clean, simple execution. You're relying entirely on the fixed levels. Good for hands-off trading when you trust the entry signals.
SL + TP + Vol Exh BE only
Adds breakeven protection without adding adaptive exits. Once volume exhaustion fires, you have a risk-free trade that either hits TP or closes at breakeven.
SL + Conv Fade only (no TP)
Lets winners run indefinitely. Conviction fade becomes your primary profit-taking mechanism. Good for strong trending instruments where you don't want a fixed ceiling on gains.
Suggested Starting Configurations
These are starting points based on common trading styles. Always backtest on your specific asset and timeframe before trading live.
Day Trading — NQ/ES Futures (3m–15m)
Preset
Balanced
Min Entry Strength
ON, 60%
Session
0935-1130:23456
Close at Session End
ON
Stop Distance
1.5
Target Distance
2.5
Conviction Fade
ON, 70%
Vol Exhaustion
ON, Move to Breakeven
Chop Zone
OFF or Sensitivity -10
Re-Entries
ON, Max 1
Swing Trading — Stocks/ETFs (1H–4H)
Preset
Conservative
Min Entry Strength
ON, 50%
Session
OFF
Stop Distance
2.0
Target Distance
3.5
Conviction Fade
ON, 50%
Vol Exhaustion
ON, Move to Breakeven
Chop Zone
ON, Sensitivity 0
Re-Entries
ON, Max 2
Scalping — Fast Instruments (1m–3m)
Preset
Aggressive
Min Entry Strength
OFF
Session
0935-1100:23456
Close at Session End
ON
Stop Distance
1.0
Target Distance
1.5
Conviction Fade
ON, 50%
Vol Exhaustion
ON, Close Position
Chop Zone
ON, Sensitivity 5
Re-Entries
OFF
Common Mistakes
1. Going Live Without Forward Testing
Forward testing is a thing for a reason. Run all strategies for 1-2 months prior to going live. Look at max drawdown, longest losing streak, and profit factor — not just net profit.
2. Over-Optimizing on Historical Data
If you keep adjusting settings until the backtest looks perfect, you've probably curve-fitted to past data. A strategy that made $50,000 on the last 12 months of NQ with hyper-specific settings may not perform in the next 12 months. Prefer robust settings that work reasonably well across multiple periods over settings that work perfectly on one period.
3. Running Too Many Exit Layers
Every exit layer you add creates more potential for premature exits. If you have SL, TP, Conviction Fade, Volume Exhaustion, AND Chop Zone all enabled with aggressive settings, your trades will be closed constantly before they have time to develop. Start with SL + TP + Volume Exhaustion (breakeven), then add other layers only if you identify a specific problem they solve.
4. Ignoring the Session Filter
Trading 24/7 on instruments with defined market hours (stocks, futures) means you're taking signals during low-liquidity periods where spreads are wide and signals are unreliable. Use the session filter to focus on the hours that matter.
5. Setting Stops Too Tight
A stop distance of 0.5–1.0 on a volatile instrument means normal bar-to-bar noise will constantly hit your stop. If your win rate is below 30%, your stops may be too tight. Increase the stop distance and let trades breathe.
6. Expecting Every Trade to Win
Even the best trend-following strategies have win rates of 40–55%. Q_Pilot Elite is designed to be profitable through its reward-to-risk ratio — winners are larger than losers. A losing streak of 5–7 trades is normal and expected. Don't abandon the strategy during a drawdown if the logic is sound.
7. Changing Settings Mid-Drawdown
Drawdowns trigger the urge to "fix" things. Resist this. If you backtested thoroughly and the current drawdown is within the historical range, the strategy is performing as expected. Changing settings during a drawdown often means you're reacting emotionally to noise.
Frequently Asked Questions
General
Q: What assets does Q_Pilot Elite work on? A: Any asset on TradingView with sufficient price history and volume data — futures, stocks, ETFs, forex, crypto. The system's internal scoring is self-normalizing, so it adapts automatically. Volume exhaustion detection works best on instruments with reliable volume data.
Q: What timeframes work best? A: Q_Pilot Elite works on all timeframes. For day trading futures, 1m–15m with Balanced or Aggressive. For swing trading stocks, 1H–4H with Balanced or Conservative. For position trading, Daily with Conservative. Lower timeframes produce more trades but also more noise.
Q: Can I run Q_Pilot Elite alongside Q_Pilot Pro? A: Yes, and this is the recommended setup. Add both to the same chart. Q_Pilot Pro gives you the visual analysis (dashboard, candle colors, S/R zones, prediction ribbon) while Q_Pilot Elite handles automated execution. They use the same underlying engines, so their signals will align.
Q: Does Q_Pilot Elite repaint? A: No. All entries and exits are calculated on the close of each bar. Historical trades shown in the strategy tester reflect what would have actually happened in real time.
Entries
Q: Why isn't Q_Pilot Elite taking any trades? A: Check these in order: (1) Is the Session Filter restricting trading hours? Look for gray background tint. (2) Is the Minimum Entry Strength enabled and set too high? Try lowering it or turning it off. (3) Is the asset in a prolonged choppy period? The engines require confluence, and some market conditions simply don't produce it.
Q: Why did the strategy enter at a worse price than the signal on Q_Pilot Pro? A: Q_Pilot Elite executes on the close of each bar. If price moves significantly during the bar where the signal fires, the entry price will differ from where the signal label appears on Q_Pilot Pro. This is normal and reflects realistic execution.
Exits
Q: My trade went green and then closed at a loss. Why? A: This happens when price moves in your favor (approaching but not reaching TP) and then reverses through your stop loss. It's a normal occurrence in trend-following strategies. If this happens frequently, consider widening your TP (to get hit more often while green) or tightening your SL (to limit the reversal damage).
Q: What does the orange stop line mean? A: The stop loss line turns orange when Volume Exhaustion has moved it to breakeven (your entry price). This means the worst-case outcome for this trade is now a scratch (breakeven) instead of a full stop loss.
Q: The strategy exited via "Chop Zone" but the trend continued. What happened? A: The Chop Zone exit fires when the system's internal trend strength drops below a threshold, indicating the market has gone directionless. Sometimes this is a temporary dip during a pullback, and the trend does resume. If this happens frequently, lower the Chop Sensitivity or disable the Chop Zone exit entirely. The trade-off is that you'll occasionally hold through periods where the directional edge has genuinely disappeared.
Performance
Q: What win rate should I expect? A: Trend-following strategies typically have win rates of 35–50%. Q_Pilot Elite is designed to be profitable through reward-to-risk asymmetry — winners are larger than losers. A profit factor (gross profit ÷ gross loss) above 1.3 is solid. Above 1.5 is strong.
Q: My backtest shows great results but live trading is different. Why? A: Several factors: (1) Backtests don't account for slippage, which can be significant on fast-moving instruments. (2) Backtests on lower timeframes may benefit from perfect fill assumptions that don't exist in reality. (3) Market conditions change — a strategy that worked in a trending market may underperform in a ranging one. This is normal.
Settings Reference
A complete reference of every setting in Q_Pilot Elite, organized by group.
Trade Direction
Allowed Directions
Long & Short
Which side of the market the strategy trades: Long & Short, Long Only, or Short Only.
Session Filter
Enable Session Filter
ON
Restricts new entries to the defined session window.
Session Time
0935-1130:2345
Time window for entries in HHMM-HHMM:DAYS format. US Eastern time.
Close Positions at Session End
OFF
Force-closes any open position when the session ends.
Engine Tuning
Preset
Balanced
Engine speed profile: Balanced, Aggressive, or Conservative.
Use Minimum Entry Strength
OFF
Requires a minimum confidence score for entries.
Minimum Strength %
50%
The confidence floor for entries. Only active when the above is ON.
Hard Exit — Stop Loss
Enable Stop Loss
ON
Places a fixed stop loss at entry based on volatility.
Volatility Lookback
14
Bars used to measure typical price movement. Shared with TP.
Stop Distance
1.5
Stop loss distance as a multiple of the volatility reading.
Hard Exit — Take Profit
Enable Take Profit
ON
Places a fixed profit target at entry based on volatility.
Target Distance
2.5
Take profit distance as a multiple of the volatility reading.
Smart Exit — Conviction Fade
Enable Conviction Fade Exit
ON
Exits when trade confidence decays from its peak.
Fade Sensitivity %
50%
How much conviction must decay before exiting. Lower = earlier exit.
Smart Exit — Volume Exhaustion
Enable Volume Exhaustion Exit
ON
Detects when buying/selling pressure peaks and reverses.
Action
Move Stop to Breakeven
What to do when exhaustion is detected: close or move stop to entry.
Pressure Window
20
Bars used to establish normal volume pressure.
Exhaustion Threshold
1.5
How extreme pressure must become before triggering.
Baseline Smoothing
21
How smoothly the pressure baseline adapts over time.
Safety Net — Directionless Market
Enable Chop Zone Exit
ON
Closes trades when the market loses directional momentum.
Chop Sensitivity
0
How easily the market is declared choppy. Positive = stricter, negative = looser.
Re-Entry
Enable Re-Entries
ON
Allows re-entering a trend after conviction fades and engines realign.
Max Re-Entries Per Trend
1
Maximum re-entries before a full reversal is required.
Apply Conviction Fade to Re-Entries
ON
Monitors re-entry trades for conviction fade.
Display
Show SL / TP Levels
ON
Plots stop loss and take profit lines on the chart.
Show Session Background
ON
Gray tint on bars outside the trading session.
Long Color
#00BFFF
Background tint for long positions.
Short Color
Red
Background tint for short positions.
Getting Help
Website: QuantVue.io
Discord: discord.gg/quantvue — Ask questions, share setups, and connect with other Q_Pilot users.
Updates: Follow QuantVue on TradingView for strategy updates and release notes.
Q_Pilot Elite V1.0 — Automated trend trading, powered by Q_Pilot. © QuantVue. All rights reserved.
Last updated