Guidelines for Reality Modelling

Author: AlexCatarino

01 Cloud Platform/13 Community/11 Strategies/04 Submission Guidelines.html

@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-<p>
-To keep community strategies reliable, readable, and easy to maintain, respect the following guidelines when submitting or updating strategies:
-</p>
+<p>To keep community strategies reliable, readable, and easy to maintain, respect the following guidelines when submitting or updating strategies:</p>
 
 <ul>
     <li>The backtest must run without throwing buying power or runtime errors.</li>
@@ -9,22 +7,16 @@
     <li>Use current QuantConnect LEAN APIs and patterns; avoid deprecated methods.</li>
     <li>Match scheduling cadence to data resolution (daily vs intraday vs monthly).</li>
     <li>The backtest period must be the last 5 years <code>self.set_start_date(self.end_date - timedelta(5*365))</code> backtest period.</li>
-    <li>
-        Follow
-        <a href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">PEP8-style</a>
-        readability with a maximum line length of 120 characters.
-    </li>
+    <li>Follow <a href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">PEP8-style</a> readability with a maximum line length of 120 characters.</li>
     <li>Add a leading underscore to private class members.</li>
     <li>Keep total backtest runtime under 1 hour.</li>
     <li>
-        Use the <a href="/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/reality-modeling/transaction-fees/key-concepts">default transaction fee model</a>.
-        Do not override fee models.
+        Use the <a href="/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/reality-modeling/key-concepts">default models</a>.
+        Do not override models to artificially improve performance. For example, do not override the <a href="/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/reality-modeling/transaction-fees/key-concepts">transaction fees model</a> to reduce/eliminate fees or the <a href="/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/reality-modeling/buying-power">buying power model</a> to increase leverage.
     </li>
     <li>
         Strategies must not add or modify <a href="/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/portfolio/cashbook">CashBook cash balances</a> during a backtest (no cash deposits or withdrawals).
-        Initial capital must be set only via <code>self.set_cash()</code>.
+        Initial capital must be set only via <code>self.set_cash()</code> or <code>self.set_account_currency()</code>.
     </li>
     <li>If the algorithm has regular rebalances (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc), call your rebalance logic in <a href='/docs/v2/writing-algorithms/key-concepts/event-handlers#07-Warmup-Finished-Event'>on_warmup_finished</a> so the start of the equity curve isn't flat.</li>
-</ul>
-
-
+</ul>