Plans & Credits Explained

Two kinds of credit

Your plan gives you a monthly allowance of two different credits. They pay for different things, they run out in different ways, and it helps to keep them apart from the start.

A Strategy credit pays for a backtest of a Custom strategy. A backtest applies a strategy's rules to historical data to show how they would have behaved. One credit is spent each time you start a backtest for a Custom strategy. That covers the first run, every re-run after a change, and a strategy taken from an Experiment. Building a Quick Strategy does not use one.

A Simulation credit pays for a simulation, a paper portfolio run with virtual money. A simulation follows your strategy forward through the live market, one trading day at a time, and it spends one credit for each trading day it executes. A backtest looks back at the past; a simulation moves forward from today. Each draws on its own balance, and spending one kind of credit never touches the other.

How many of each you get is set by your plan. The current figures are on the Pricing page. They can change, so this guide explains the rules and leaves the numbers to Pricing.

What spends a Strategy credit

The rule is short: one Strategy credit for every backtest you start for a Custom strategy. Here is how that plays out across the app.

The middle row trips people up most. A Quick Strategy is free to build, but once you Customize it and re-run it, it is backtested as a Custom strategy and spends a credit like any other.

You are told before a credit goes. The app asks you to confirm with "This will spend 1 Strategy credit. You have X of Y left this month." On plans with a monthly cap, the Review step of the Custom Strategy Builder also shows how many you have left: "N Strategy credits left this month." Nothing is spent until you confirm.

How Simulation credits are used

A Simulation credit is spent for each trading day a running simulation executes. You don't spend it by hand. It is charged by the nightly run, so a simulation that isn't running doesn't draw on your balance.

What a month of simulation uses depends on how many simulations you keep running and for how many trading days. Two simulations running side by side draw about twice as fast as one.

Refills, and running out

Both kinds of credit refill monthly, on a date the app shows you. That date follows your own credit month, so look for it next to your balance rather than assuming a fixed day. Unused credits don't carry over: whatever is left when the month ends is gone, and the new month starts from your plan's allowance.

Running out works differently for each kind.

Two other messages can look like a credit problem, but they aren't. "Daily limit reached" (it resets at midnight IST) and "Too many requests" are temporary limits. They have nothing to do with your plan, which is why neither shows an Upgrade button. A brief rate limit is retried once for you automatically. Otherwise, wait and try again.

Where to see your balance

Your balance is always on screen, in a form that suits the device.

• On a computer, a strip in the header shows Strategy credits and Simulation credits, each in the form "{used} of {limit} used · {remaining} left · refills {date}". A credit your plan doesn't cap shows Unlimited, and one it doesn't include shows Not on your plan. Beside them sits Historical Data, covered in the next section.
• On a phone or tablet, the same balances are shortened to chips, in the form "Strategy {N} left · Simulation {N} left".
• In Account → Billing → Current Plan, the same rows appear with a reminder of the rules: a Strategy credit for every backtest you start for a Custom strategy, a Simulation credit for each trading day a running simulation executes, and no carry-over.

The figures in these images belong to one account on one plan on one day. Yours will match your own plan, as listed on Pricing.

Checking the refill date before a large round of re-runs can help you decide what to run now and what can wait until the new month.

Your plan's data window

NiveshBuddy uses historical data since 2021, adjusted for corporate actions, with end-of-day prices. Within that, each plan sets a historical data window: how far back a Custom backtest can reach.

You'll see the window in two places:

• Historical Data in the header strip shows it as a date range, or as Full history if your plan reaches all the way back.
• Backtest Period, in the Custom Strategy Builder, follows it. The presets Last 1 year and Last 5 years only appear if your window is long enough to hold them. Custom is always available, so you can choose your own dates inside the window. The default is the longest preset that fits.

This matters when you read results. A backtest over a shorter window covers fewer market conditions. It may miss a sharp fall or a long sideways stretch that a longer period would include. That doesn't make a short backtest wrong. It describes how the rules behaved over the dates tested, and past results, short or long, do not guarantee future performance.

What your plan includes

The Pricing page has the current plans, prices and allowances side by side, and it is the place to compare them. The Quick Strategy is available on every plan.

Some features depend on your plan, including Experiments and AI Connectors. Check Pricing for which plans include them before you plan around either.

If your plan ends, Billing shows an Ended chip with Choose a plan, and the Dashboard carries a banner: "Your plan has ended. Your strategies and simulations are all still here. Choose a plan to create, edit or run them again." Your work is not deleted. Choosing a plan lets you pick it up again.

Common questions

Key takeaways