> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.quantvue.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.quantvue.io/our-tools/automated-trading-strategies/qpilot-2.0-strategy-ats-2.0.md). # "QPilot 2.0" Strategy (ATS 2.0) ## QPilot 2.0 QPilot 2.0 is a multi-engine, composite-scoring strategy for CME futures. It reads several internal trend engines at once, scores how strongly they agree, and opens a trade when the read is strong enough. A second entry mode lets it fade exhausted moves inside a trend instead. On top of that sits an optional daily market-bias filter, the **QuantVue Direction Classifier**, so you can restrict the strategy to trading with the day. It runs as a "load it and let it work" algorithm: pick your instrument, set your size, choose how it enters, and let it manage the trade from entry to exit. ### What's new in 2.0 If you ran the original QPilot, here's what changed: * **Two entry modes.** Keep the original trend-confluence entries, or switch to Volume Exhaustion to fade exhausted moves. * **Direction Classifier gate.** Restrict entries to the published daily bias, with a minimum-confidence floor. * **Confidence-based sizing.** Size up on higher-conviction days automatically. * **Cleaner settings panel.** Reorganized so the everyday controls sit up top and the advanced exits are grouped and collapsible. Everything new is off by default. Load 2.0 at defaults and it behaves like the trend strategy you already know. ### Supported instruments NQ, MNQ, ES, MES, YM, MYM, RTY, M2K, CL, MCL, GC, MGC. Pick the matching micro or full-size contract for your account. ### Quick start 1. Add QPilot 2.0 to your chart. 2. Set **Symbol** to the contract you trade and **Candle Interval** to your timeframe (5m is a good starting point). 3. Set **Base Contract Quantity** to a size your account can handle. 4. Leave **Entry Signal Source** on Trend Confluence. 5. Leave the stop loss, take profit, and smart exits at their defaults. 6. Save. You now have a working trend strategy. Resist the urge to turn on seven filters at once. Run it at defaults first, watch how it behaves, then adjust one thing at a time. ### How it works QPilot 2.0 has two ways to enter a trade. You choose one with **Entry Signal Source**. **Trend Confluence (default).** Several internal trend engines each vote on direction. When they line up the same way, the strategy scores how strong that agreement is and opens a trade in that direction on the first bar of the new alignment. Think of it as a panel of judges that has to reach a verdict before anything happens. A stronger, more unanimous read is a higher-quality entry, and the optional strength filter lets you demand a minimum score before trading. **Volume Exhaustion.** Instead of trading with a fresh trend, this mode fades a move that has run out of steam inside the prevailing trend. When the trend is down and selling pressure spikes to an unsustainable extreme and starts to turn, it buys. When the trend is up and buying pressure does the same, it sells. These are counter-trend entries by design, so they behave very differently from Trend Confluence. In this mode the trend-following smart exits (Conviction Fade and Chop Zone) switch off, and each trade is managed by the stop, the target, and the Volume Exhaustion exit. Once a trade is open, QPilot 2.0 manages it with a stop loss, a take-profit target, and a set of optional "smart" exits that read the market in real time and close early when the reason for the trade goes away. ### The Direction Classifier The **QuantVue Direction Classifier** is our proprietary daily-bias engine. Each day it publishes a market bias (long, short, or neutral) and a confidence level for NQ and ES. QPilot 2.0 can use that read two ways: as a gate, and as a sizing input. As a gate, it restricts which direction you can trade that day. On a long-bias day it allows longs only, on a short-bias day shorts only, and (in strict mode) it stands aside on neutral days. The gate applies to both entry modes. The Classifier only models NQ and ES. If you trade NQ or MNQ it uses the NQ read; every other supported symbol uses the ES read. If the daily read is missing or stale while the filter is on, QPilot 2.0 takes no trades that day. That is the fail-safe working as designed, not a malfunction. Expect some days, sometimes several in a row, with no entries. ### Settings #### Main Configuration **Candle Interval** sets the bar size the strategy runs on. 5m is the default. Faster timeframes trade more often and react quicker; slower ones trade less and ride longer. **Symbol** is the instrument used for the signal feed. Set it to the contract you actually trade. #### Session Filter **Enable Session Filter** restricts trading to the time window you define. Leave it on unless you have a reason to trade around the clock. **Trading Hours** sets the start and end of the trading window and the days it runs (default 09:35 to 11:30 ET, Monday to Friday). Entries only happen inside this window. **Close at Session End** flattens any open position when the trading window closes. Turn it on if you don't want to hold past your session. **Enable Closure Time** adds a hard cutoff after which everything closes, separate from the session window. Use it as a backstop. **Closure Hour (ET)** and **Closure Minute (ET)** set that cutoff. Only used when Enable Closure Time is on. #### Entry Signal **Entry Signal Source** picks how new trades open: Trend Confluence (default, trade with the trend) or Volume Exhaustion (fade an exhausted move inside the trend). See How It Works above. The two modes are different strategies that happen to share one engine, so backtest each on your own before committing. #### Trade Direction **Trade Direction** locks the strategy to one side of the market: Long & Short (both), Long Only, or Short Only. When the Direction Classifier is on, a one-sided choice only trades on days whose bias matches that side. Long Only takes entries on long-bias days (plus neutral days if Bias Filter Mode is set to Allow Neutral), and skips days biased the other way. #### Direction Classifier **Use Direction Classifier** turns the daily bias gate on. Off by default. With it off, the strategy ignores the daily bias entirely. **Bias Filter Mode** controls how strict the gate is. Strict trades the bias direction only (longs on long days, shorts on short days). Allow Neutral also lets both directions trade on neutral days. **Minimum Confidence** sets the floor for the daily read. Only days at or above this confidence (Low, Medium, or High) are traded. Higher settings mean fewer days but only the ones the read is most sure about. **Confidence-Based Sizing** sizes each trade by the day's confidence level instead of using a flat contract count. Requires the Direction Classifier to be on. Days below your Minimum Confidence are not traded at all, so their size never comes into play. **Low-Confidence Contracts**, **Medium-Confidence Contracts**, and **High-Confidence Contracts** set the contract count for each tier (default 1 / 2 / 3). A common setup is small on low-confidence days and larger on the days the read is strongest. Only used when Confidence-Based Sizing is on. {% hint style="info" %} Confidence-Based Sizing replaces Base Contract Quantity while it's on. If you turn it off, the strategy goes back to the flat Base Contract Quantity. {% endhint %} #### Engine Tuning **Engine Preset** sets the signal speed: Balanced for general use, Aggressive for faster scalping signals, Conservative for slower swing signals. **Use Minimum Entry Strength** only takes Trend Confluence entries that clear a minimum agreement score. Off by default. **Minimum Strength %** is that score floor. Higher means fewer but higher-conviction entries. Only used when Use Minimum Entry Strength is on. (This applies to Trend Confluence; Volume Exhaustion entries don't use it.) **Base Contract Quantity** is the number of contracts per trade. This is your main risk dial. Used unless Confidence-Based Sizing is on. #### Stop Loss **Enable Stop Loss** places a volatility-based stop at entry. Leave it on. Trading without a stop is a choice, and a bold one. **Volatility Lookback** is the number of bars used to measure typical price movement for stop and target placement. The default of 14 is a sensible middle. **Stop Distance** sets how far the stop sits from entry, as a multiple of measured volatility. Lower cuts losers faster but gets stopped out more; higher gives the trade room but risks more per trade. #### Take Profit **Enable Take Profit** places a profit target at entry. On by default. **Target Distance** sets how far the target sits from entry, as a multiple of measured volatility. Higher aims for bigger winners that hit less often. #### Tiered Exits **TP Method** chooses how the target is calculated: * **ATR Static** is a fixed volatility-based target. The dependable default. * **Structure Swing** aims at the nearest swing high or low, with a fallback when none is in range. * **Volatility Regime** scales the target by whether the market is in a low, normal, or high volatility regime. * **Composite Strength** scales the target by how strong the entry signal was. * **CVD Momentum** scales the target by how much volume pressure is behind the move. **Target Fraction** sets the target as a fraction of the full distance for the methods that use it (Composite Strength, CVD Momentum, and the Structure Swing fallback). **Swing Lookback** is how many bars back the Structure Swing method looks for price structure. **Regime Lookback** is the window the Volatility Regime method uses to classify the current regime. **Low Vol Multiplier**, **Normal Vol Multiplier**, and **High Vol Multiplier** set the target multiple in each regime, for the Volatility Regime method. **CVD Momentum Scalar** controls how much volume pressure moves the target, for the CVD Momentum method. If you're not sure, leave TP Method on ATR Static. The other methods are tools for specific conditions, not upgrades. #### Conviction Fade **Enable Conviction Fade Exit** closes a trade when the trend conviction that opened it drops well off its peak. The idea is to leave a trade once the reason for it weakens rather than ride it back to the stop. On by default. Disabled in Volume Exhaustion mode. **Fade Sensitivity %** sets how much conviction has to decay before the exit fires. Lower is more protective and exits sooner. Only used when the exit is on. #### Volume Exhaustion **Enable Volume Exhaustion Exit** watches for buying or selling pressure to hit an extreme and reverse, and acts on it. On by default. **Action** decides what happens when exhaustion is detected: Close Position (exit the trade) or Move Stop to Breakeven (protect it and let it run). Default is Move Stop to Breakeven. **Pressure Window** is the number of bars used to establish what "normal" pressure looks like. **Exhaustion Threshold** sets how extreme pressure has to get before this fires. Higher means only dramatic events trigger it. #### Chop Zone **Enable Chop Zone Exit** closes trades when the market loses direction and starts chopping sideways. On by default. Disabled in Volume Exhaustion mode. **Chop Sensitivity** controls how easily the market is declared choppy. 0 is the default; negative is more tolerant (chops you out less); positive is quicker to call it chop. #### Re-Entry **Enable Re-Entries** lets the strategy get back in after a conviction-fade exit if the trend lines back up. On by default. **Max Re-Entries Per Trend** caps how many times it will re-enter in one trend direction. Keeps it from chasing the same move over and over. **Apply Conviction Fade to Re-Entries** runs the same conviction-fade exit logic on re-entry trades. Leave it on so re-entries get the same protection as the original. #### Higher Timeframe Confluence **Enable HTF Confluence** only takes entries that also agree with a higher timeframe trend. Off by default. Set your higher timeframe meaningfully above your chart timeframe; a 5-minute HTF on a 5-minute chart adds nothing. **Enable HTF Strength Gate** requires the higher timeframe trend to clear a strength floor on top of pointing the right way. Off by default. **Minimum HTF Strength %** is that floor. Only used when the strength gate is on. Crank it high and you'll filter out almost everything. ### Exit priority A trade can close several ways. The protective exits always come first: * **Stop Loss** and the **session/closure cutoffs** are absolute. They close the trade no matter what else is happening. * **Take Profit** closes the trade when the target is hit. * The **smart exits** (Conviction Fade, Volume Exhaustion, Chop Zone, and trend reversal) close the trade early when the reason for it goes away, before price reaches the stop or target. In Volume Exhaustion entry mode, Conviction Fade and Chop Zone are off; the stop, target, Volume Exhaustion exit, trend reversal, session end, and closure time still apply. ### Things that will blow up your account * **Disabling the stop loss.** The strategy will hold a losing trade with no hard floor. Don't. * **Oversizing.** Base Contract Quantity (or the per-tier sizes) is the fastest way to turn a normal drawdown into a margin call. Size for the bad stretch, not the good one. * **Stacking every filter at once.** Turn on the Direction Classifier, the strength floor, HTF confluence, and a tight Minimum Confidence together and you may trade twice a month. Add filters one at a time and watch what each does. * **Switching entry modes without re-testing.** Trend Confluence and Volume Exhaustion are different strategies. Settings that work for one are not tuned for the other. * **Running it on an instrument or timeframe you never tested.** Backtest your exact symbol and interval before going live. ### Hard daily limits QPilot 2.0 manages each trade, but it doesn't enforce an account-level daily profit or loss cap. If you want hard daily limits, use your broker platform's native risk tools (for example, Tradovate's account-level limits) rather than relying on charting-platform tracking, which can be imprecise. ### Alerts QPilot 2.0 works directly with the QuantVue Automated Trading Suite and trades through QuantLynk. ### What to expect * **At defaults it's a trend strategy.** Everything new in 2.0 is opt-in. Out of the box it trades trend confluence with standard exits. * **Some days have no trade.** With the Direction Classifier on, days with no clear bias are skipped. That's by design. * **The two entry modes feel different.** Trend Confluence trades with the move; Volume Exhaustion fades it. Don't judge one by the other's results. * **Most exits aren't the take-profit.** The smart exits close many trades early by design. A lower hit rate on the target is normal for this style. * **Past performance is not a promise.** Markets shift between calm and turbulent regimes, and a strategy that does well in one can struggle in another. Trade a size you're comfortable with.