Strategy specs & re-evaluation

A strategy's spec is its portable definition — a .vsb.json document containing the full rule spec plus provenance (source run, dataset, engine version, save-time metrics), hash-stamped so tampering is detectable. The spec is how a strategy outlives the run that found it.

Both panels live on the Export screen.

Save and load specs#

• Save spec… writes <strategy id>.vsb.json wherever you choose. Do this for anything you trade.
• Load spec… imports a saved document back into the catalog — on the same install or a fresh one. The spec hash is verified on import ("Imported … — spec hash verified."), then the strategy is available like any other.

Re-evaluate on new data#

Rebuild on new data re-backtests a saved spec on a freshly imported dataset and compares it against the original window:

1. Import a fresh dataset (same instrument and bar size — e.g. this week's export).
2. Pick it in the Dataset dropdown and press Re-evaluate.
3. Read the degradation table: each metric (net PnL, profit factor, max drawdown, trades, win rate) as Original vs Fresh, with the delta color-coded — green (held up), amber (moderate decay), red (severe decay — the curve-fit signal).

This is the cheapest possible check that a strategy still works before you keep risking money on it.

The weekly routine#

1. Export fresh bars from NinjaTrader (BarsExporter) and import them.
2. Re-evaluate every live strategy on the fresh dataset. Material decay in the degradation table → stand the strategy down.
3. Rebuild periodically — re-run the search on the extended dataset. A stable edge gets rediscovered; an edge that vanished won't, and that's the answer.
4. Keep .vsb.json snapshots of everything you trade — reproducible, re-checkable, restorable.

Markets drift. The strategies you trade should have to re-earn their place on a schedule.