What you will build
A golden cross on SPY. Buy when the 50-day simple moving average crosses above the 200-day. Exit when it crosses back below, with a 10% stop loss and a 15% trailing stop. Each position takes 95% of equity, and a regime filter allows entries only while SPY trades above its 200-day average.
In Orbital a Rules strategy is a workflow built from rule cards.
Before you start
The Backtesting app must be on in your project. If the Backtesting page says Backtesting is turned off in this project, click Manage apps in Settings and turn it on. You also need edit access to the project.
Create the workflow
Open Workflows
Click Workflows in the sidebar.
Create a blank workflow
Click Create workflow, then Blank workflow. The editor opens with an Untitled Workflow.
Name it
Click the name at the top left and rename it, for example SPY golden cross. The strategy takes this name.
Add the nodes
Click the shapes button at the top left of the canvas (its tooltip reads Show nodes) to open the Nodes panel, then click a node to add it or drag it onto the canvas; see How the panel is organised. Add eight nodes:
From Data Sources, add Input
It holds the tickers to trade.
From Strategy, add six nodes
Add Indicator twice, one for the 50-day average and one for the 200-day. Then add Entry Rule, Exit Rules, Position Sizing and the optional Regime Filter.
From Core, add Output
It declares the signal columns a strategy must have.
Set each node
Click a node to open its settings on the right. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
Input
Set Source to Universe (a screener candidate pool), Universe preset to Custom list (use field below), and Custom tickers (preset = "Custom") to SPY.
Indicator (first)
Leave Indicator at SMA (simple moving average) and set Period (bars) to 50.
Indicator (second)
Set Period (bars) to 200.
Entry Rule
Type golden-cross in Rule name. Keep Direction at Buy (long), First value at The wired indicator (input A), Fires when the first value… at Crosses above and Compare against at The second indicator (input B).
Exit Rules
Set the Signal exit field to Crosses below and keep Compare against at The second indicator (input B). Set Stop loss to Percent below entry, keep Stop distance (%) at 10, and set Trailing stop (%) to 15.
Position Sizing
Keep Sizing method at Percent of equity and set Amount to 95.
Regime Filter
Keep Only trade when at Price is above the moving average (uptrend) and Moving average period (bars) at 200.
Output
Untick Use upstream schema, click Add column three times, and name the columns symbol, action and asOf with the types string, string and timestamp.
Wire the nodes
Drag from a node's output handle to another node's input handle. A node's settings list its ports under Ports.
Wire the indicators into the Entry Rule
The 50-day Indicator is input A (its First value) and the 200-day Indicator is input B (its Compare against value).
Wire both into the Exit Rules the same way
Chain the rest
Wire the Entry Rule's Strategy output to the Exit Rules, the Exit Rules to Position Sizing, and Position Sizing to the Output's Data input.
The Input and the Regime Filter need no wires. A backtest reads its tickers from the Input node and applies the regime gate to every entry.
Timeframe
Each Indicator node has a Timeframe. It defaults to Daily bars (one per trading day), so this strategy decides once a day. Hourly or minute bars make the strategy intraday: it then backtests on the minute tape and cannot be deployed to alerts. The Regime Filter always reads daily closes.
Save
The editor saves on its own about two seconds after each edit, and the Save button reads Saved once everything is stored; click it to save at once. Once the graph qualifies, a Strategy badge appears beside the name and Backtesting lists it under Strategies as Draft; see how a workflow becomes a strategy.
Versions
Save version… saves the graph as a numbered version, v1, v2 and so on, and a first backtest also makes v1; see Versions. The first version whose backtest you run to completion becomes main, marked Main, and Make main later moves it to another version with a completed backtest; see Main.
Two other ways in
- Ask Chat. Open Chat and describe the strategy. Chat answers with a proposal card, Create workflow “…”; click Apply to create it.
- Connect Claude. With the Orbital AI connector, Claude builds the same nodes through tools in your project. See Connect Claude to Orbital and Rule cards and Programs.
The New strategy menu on the Backtesting page also offers Write code, which starts a Program instead.
Next
Run the strategy against history: Your first backtest.