Related:
Requires: Regular edition or above (not available in the Free edition)
This guide explains rule sets: a way to keep two or three versions of the rules for the same trade, such as a tight version and a relaxed one, and switch between them with one click. You should already have used a template on one trade (see the Beginner's Guide). Nothing here needs maths.
Rule sets are new (BETA). Like all of Trade Rules, they only report and recommend. SOAP2 never places, changes or cancels an order.
Your plan for a trade is not always the same from one week to the next. On a quiet Monday you may be happy to let a short strike drift within 3% of the market. After a scary Thursday you may want an alert at 5%, and to be out at 2%.
Without rule sets you would have to retype the levels each time. With rule sets you write each version of the plan once, give it a name, and pick the one that matches your mood today.
A rule set is simply one complete list of rules for a trade, with a name. A trade always has at least one (called Default until you rename it). It can have more.
| Word | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Rule set | A named list of rules for one trade | Conservative |
| Active set | The one SOAP2 is watching right now | Balanced (while you are calm) |
| Parked set | A set that is saved but not being watched | Conservative and Aggressive (waiting) |
The golden rule: only the active set is watched. Only its rules appear on the dashboard, fire alerts and are reported to the AI assistant. Parked sets are kept exactly as you left them and wait to be switched on.
Switching rule set changes the rules. It does not change the trade.
| Belongs to each rule set | Shared by all the trade's sets |
|---|---|
| The trade-level rules | Planned Capital |
| The rules of each leg group (hybrid trades) | The leg groups themselves (their names and legs) |
| Its "validated" tick from Check rules | Strategy and Tags |
One consequence worth knowing: if you create a leg group while one set is active, that group has no rules in the other sets. After a switch the editor's status line tells you so, for example Leg group 'Put side' has no rules in this set. Add rules to it (for instance by copying them across, or applying a template to the group) if you want it covered.
We will take a trade that already has a template applied and add a tighter version of it.
Right-click the trade in the Trade List and choose Trade rules..., or press Alt+X. In an Options Analysis window use the Rules... button on the position strip, or Alt+X.
Click More ▾ ▸ Rule sets ▸ New rule set – copy of this one.
Look at the small text box just above that menu item. It already holds a suggested name: the first of Conservative, Balanced, Aggressive that this trade does not use yet. Leave it, or type your own name (for example After the Fed) before you click.
The editor now works on the new set. The status line reads something like Rule set 'Conservative' created as a copy. Not saved yet. The rules look identical, because it is a copy.
Why a copy and not an empty set? Because the quickest way to make a "tighter" plan is to start from the plan you already trust and nudge the numbers. New empty rule set is also in the menu if you really want to start from nothing.
Click a level in the Level column and type. For example, change a cushion rule from 5 Alert, 3 Adjust, 1.5 Close to 7 Alert, 5 Adjust, 3 Close. The Now column updates immediately so you can see what the new levels say about your trade today.
Save is what makes it real, exactly as for any other change. Until then the new set exists only on screen. After you save, the new set is the active one: that is the set being watched.
Now that the trade has two sets, a Rule set: Conservative button appears in the editor toolbar. (With only one set the button is hidden, to keep the toolbar quiet. The menu under More ▸ Rule sets is always there.)
Click it and choose the set you want. The grid, the Now column and the tree all change to that set. Press Save and SOAP2 starts watching it.
That is the whole workflow: copy, tune, save, switch.
You do not need the editor for day-to-day switching.
It switches at once and is saved. A trade that is on a set other than its first one shows the set's name in square brackets after the trade name, for example Iron condor 12 [Aggressive]. Hover over the row to see the set name and the tags.
You will not be flooded with alarms. After a switch:
[Rules].The practical advice: after switching to a tighter set, look at the dashboard once. If several rows are already red, the new set is telling you the trade is outside the stricter plan right now. That may be exactly the information you wanted.
You hold an SPX iron condor with 30 days left. You applied the Iron condor template.
3 Alert, 1.5 Adjust (the short strike's distance from the market, in %). You are comfortable with that. Save. This is your Default set.5 Alert, 3 Adjust, 1.5 Close and the time rule from 21 Alert to 28 Alert. Save.A put credit spread is doing well. You create Aggressive as a copy and raise the profit target from 50% to 75% while loosening the time exit. You switch to it while the trade is comfortably profitable, and back to Default if the market turns.
You want a very small "just watch the clock" version. Choose New empty rule set, name it Time only, add a single Days to expiry rule, and save. It is quick to switch to when you do not want price-based rules to bother you.
The Check rules button looks for mistakes in the active set (duplicates, contradictory levels, ladders written back to front). If you press Mark as validated in that menu, SOAP2 remembers a tick for that set.
You cannot leave a set while it contains an invalid rule (for example a level that has no number). The status line says Fix 'Balanced' before switching and names the problem. This prevents a broken rule from sitting unnoticed in a set you will not look at for a month.
| Where | What it shows about rule sets |
|---|---|
| Dashboard Filter | A tick list "Rule set": show only trades currently on, say, Conservative. The filter changes only what you see; every trade stays monitored. |
| Account rules | Account-wide rules (margin to equity, and so on) have rule sets too, switched the same way. |
| AI assistant | If you use the AI bridge, the rules it reads (get_trade_rules) name the active set. |
| Templates | Applying a template goes into the active set only. |
Can two sets be watched at once? No. Only one is active. That is deliberate: two sets watching the same trade would fire twice for the same event.
I switched but the dashboard did not change. In the editor, a switch only becomes real when you press Save. On the dashboard it is immediate.
The Rule set button is missing from the editor toolbar. The trade has only one set. Create a second under More ▸ Rule sets and the button appears.
Will I lose my other set if I edit the active one? No. Parked sets are untouched until you switch to them.
Do I need rule sets at all? No. Most trades need only one. Use them when you find yourself changing the same levels back and forth.
Can I undo a change? Yes. In the editor Undo (or Ctrl+Z) steps back through every change since the last save, including creating, renaming, deleting and switching rule sets.
[Rules]