> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.turtlemetrics.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Trading Setups

> Create and assign trading setups to track which strategies make you money.

A setup is a label for the trading strategy or pattern you used on a trade. By assigning a setup to every trade, you build a performance record for each strategy — letting you see exactly which ones make money and which ones don't.

## Why use setups?

Most traders have a handful of strategies they trade regularly — breakouts, pullbacks, failed breaks, opening range plays, etc. But without tracking which setup each trade used, you're guessing at which strategies actually work for you.

Setups turn that guessing into data. After a few weeks of consistent tagging, you can open [Setup Analysis](/features/setup-analysis) and see the win rate, P\&L, and profit factor for every strategy you trade.

## Creating setups

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to Management → Setups">
    Open the Setups page from the sidebar navigation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new setup">
    Click **Create Setup** and give it a name that matches how you think about your strategies. Keep names short and descriptive.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Repeat for each strategy">
    Add all the setups you regularly trade. You can always add more later as you identify new patterns.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Example setups

The right setups depend entirely on how you trade. Here are some examples to get you started:

| Setup Name             | Description                                             |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Failed Break           | Price breaks a level then reverses back through it      |
| Pullback to EMA        | Trend continuation after a pullback to a moving average |
| Opening Range Breakout | Breakout above or below the first 15/30-minute range    |
| Support/Resistance     | Trade off a key price level                             |
| Gap Fill               | Fade a gap back toward the previous close               |
| Trend Continuation     | Entry in the direction of the dominant trend            |

<Info>
  Start with 3–5 setups that cover your main strategies. You can always add more as your trading evolves. Too many setups from the start makes tagging feel like a chore.
</Info>

## Assigning setups to trades

You assign setups from the [Calendar Day](/features/calendar) view:

1. Navigate to a trading day and click on a trade
2. Select the setup from the dropdown
3. The setup is saved immediately

Each trade gets **one setup** — the primary strategy or pattern you used for that entry. This keeps the data clean and makes setup-level analytics meaningful.

## Setups vs. tags

Setups and [tags](/features/tags-and-categories) serve different purposes:

|               | Setups                            | Tags                                                 |
| ------------- | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Per trade** | One setup                         | Multiple tags                                        |
| **Purpose**   | What strategy you used            | Observations about execution, conditions, behavior   |
| **Example**   | "Pullback to EMA"                 | "Perfect entry," "Trending market," "Held to target" |
| **Answers**   | "Which strategies make me money?" | "Which behaviors help or hurt my trading?"           |

Use both together for the fullest picture — setups tell you *what* you traded, tags tell you *how* you traded it.

## Next step

<Card icon="chart-bar" href="/features/setup-analysis" title="Setup Performance Analysis">
  See how your setups are performing once you've tagged enough trades.
</Card>