What is TheoryCraft used for?

TheoryCraft is an AI research lab for traders that builds, backtests and validates trading strategy ideas on years of market data before any capital is risked. It is a good fit for checking whether a trading edge holds up statistically, comparing investing approaches on historical data and testing ideas before using real capital.

How much does TheoryCraft cost?

Paid plans for TheoryCraft start at $29.90 per month, and there is no free plan.

Is TheoryCraft open source?

No. TheoryCraft is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. In the Finance & Accounting category, open-source options include Ghostfolio, GnuCash and Portfolio Performance.

What are some alternatives to TheoryCraft?

Other SaaS products in the Finance & Accounting category include Alphalog, Chart Nomads Edge and Trade Pilot.

TheoryCraft: features, pricing and alternatives

About TheoryCraft

TheoryCraft is a quantitative research environment for testing trading ideas. You bring a strategy idea and the AI assistant helps build, test and validate it on historical market data, with spread, slippage and commission modeled. The page says it covers more than 1,600 instruments and over 15 years of data.

Results appear in validation notebooks that report metrics such as profit factor, Sharpe ratio, maximum drawdown and win rate, along with an overfitting score and out-of-sample checks. The approach is framed as the scientific method for markets: isolate a repeatable edge, measure how reliable it is, then add filters and risk rules, validating each layer separately. Exploration notebooks can compare approaches such as dollar-cost averaging against lump sum investing.

It works with large language models from many providers and offers a bring-your-own-key option or a managed one. A release offer lists 50 percent off the BYOK plan and 30 percent off Managed. This is a research tool, not investment advice.

Key features

AI-assisted strategy building and backtesting
Validation notebooks with risk metrics
Overfitting score and out-of-sample testing
Spread, slippage and commission modeling
Exploration notebooks for comparing strategies
Bring-your-own-key or managed AI access

Good fit for

Checking whether a trading edge holds up statistically
Comparing investing approaches on historical data
Testing ideas before using real capital

Tags: trading; backtesting; quantitative-research; ai-research; strategy-validation; finance

TheoryCraft: questions and answers

What is TheoryCraft used for?: TheoryCraft is an AI research lab for traders that builds, backtests and validates trading strategy ideas on years of market data before any capital is risked. It is a good fit for checking whether a trading edge holds up statistically, comparing investing approaches on historical data and testing ideas before using real capital.
How much does TheoryCraft cost?: Paid plans for TheoryCraft start at $29.90 per month, and there is no free plan.
Is TheoryCraft open source?: No. TheoryCraft is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. In the Finance & Accounting category, open-source options include Ghostfolio, GnuCash and Portfolio Performance.
What are some alternatives to TheoryCraft?: Other SaaS products in the Finance & Accounting category include Alphalog, Chart Nomads Edge and Trade Pilot.