Quick Start (5 min)

This guide helps you get to know Pluto’s core features in about 5 minutes and complete your first strategy creation, backtest, and trading.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure the system is deployed and running and you have a valid user account.

If this is your first time, we recommend reading the Introduction and Feature Overview first.

Quick Workflow Overview

We’ll walk through three simple steps for your first quantitative trading experience. You can also do these via the AI Agent (e.g. “Create a dual-MA strategy”, “Run a backtest”, “Analyze backtest results”); try chatting with AI Agent in the system.

Step 1: Create a Strategy

The strategy is the core of quantitative trading. We’ll create a simple Dual MA Crossover strategy. You can also describe your need in the AI Agent (e.g. “Create a dual-MA golden/death cross strategy”) and have it guide or create it for you.

  1. Go to the Strategy page
  2. Click Create Strategy
  3. Choose From template and select "Moving Average Strategy"
Strategy logic

This strategy uses two moving averages (fast and slow) to judge trend:

  • Buy condition: when the fast line (MA5) crosses above the slow line (MA20), treat as uptrend and buy.
  • Sell condition: when the fast line (MA5) crosses below the slow line (MA20), treat as downtrend and sell.

The strategy itself is now configured—just "under what conditions do I buy or sell?". Capital, stops / targets, and the trading pair go into the next step inside the backtest, per pair.

Step 2: Run a Backtest

Once the strategy is created, replay it over historical K-lines to validate behavior. Backtests use a "task level + per-pair level" two-layer configuration: create a task first, then configure each pair separately. You can also tell the AI Agent, e.g. "Backtest this strategy on Binance spot BTC/USDT over the last 3 months", and let it fill in the configuration and run it.

  1. On the strategy card click Backtest, or go to "Backtest" and click Create Backtest
  2. Task-level config: name the task, pick the exchange (e.g. Binance) and market type (spot / futures), set the backtest time range (e.g. last 3 months), and optionally configure fee rate and slippage
  3. Add a pair: add BTC/USDT under the task (you can also add multiple pairs to compare side-by-side)
  4. Per-pair config: for this pair, set timeframe and initial capital, pick the strategy you created, and fill in the execution config (position, stops, targets, etc.)

Suggested values:

ItemSuggestedDescription
Timeframe1HThe pair's main K-line period
Initial capital10000Simulated starting capital (USDT)
Position size10%Fraction of capital used per trade
Stop-loss5%Max loss tolerance per trade
Take-profit10%Target profit ratio
  1. Click Start Backtest

After a few seconds the system produces a per-pair backtest report. You can also ask the AI Agent to interpret the metrics.

Step 3: Paper Trading

Once the backtest looks good, don't rush into real money—run Paper Trading first. You can also tell the AI Agent to start paper or live, and let it walk you through creating a trading bot and picking the mode.

  1. Open the Trading page and click Add Trading Bot
  2. Pick Paper Trading mode and select the exchange
  3. Add a trading pair to the bot, bind the strategy you created in the previous step, and configure the K-line timeframe, initial capital, position, stop / target, and other execution-config items as needed
  4. Confirm and start the bot
Risk notice

Live trading risk

Even with good backtest results, live trading faces real risks such as slippage, liquidity, and exchange API latency. We strongly recommend running paper trading for at least a few days to see how the strategy behaves in current market conditions.

AI conversation example: When chatting with AI Agent in the system, you can follow the demo below to experience the flow: create strategy → backtest → interpret.

AI AgentExample
You
Help me create a dual MA golden cross / death cross strategy with MA5 and MA20
AI Agent
Strategy created. Pick a market and trading pair, and let me know whether it's spot or futures—I'll run a backtest for you.
You
Use Binance BTCUSDT spot
AI Agent
Done. Configured for Binance BTCUSDT spot. Want me to run a backtest using the last 3 months of data?
You
Yes, run the backtest
AI Agent
Backtest finished. Last 3 months: ~12.3% total return, 8.2% max drawdown. Want me to walk through the metrics, or kick off paper trading?

Next steps