# Reading the parsed rules

> Why there are no hidden AI decisions.

Source: https://www.texttoquant.com/academy/parsed-rules
Level: Beginner · 4 min · lesson 2 of 12

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The single most important habit in the whole platform: before you trust any result, read the rules the engine parsed from your sentence. This is what makes a backtest here reproducible instead of a black box.

## Plain English is the source, the rules are the truth

Your sentence is the input, but the parsed rules are what actually run. Every condition (the indicator, the comparison, the timeframe, the direction) is spelled out explicitly. If the parse doesn't match what you meant, you edit the sentence, not some invisible setting.

## Ambiguity resolves conservatively

Where a sentence could be read two ways, the engine tells you how it read it, and where it will not guess (a 'breakout', say) it stops and asks you to pick. Run this two condition example and check the parse: it should require RSI(14) below 35 AND price above the 200 day average, a dip inside an uptrend, not either one alone. The 14 is an assumption you never typed, and the parse says so.

## Same input, same output, always

Because there's no randomness in the parse or the fill logic, the same sentence on the same data gives the same result every time. That determinism is what lets you compare two versions of an idea and trust the difference is your change, not noise.

## Try it

```
Buy BTC when RSI is below 35 and the price is above the 200 day moving average; sell when RSI rises above 65, on 1D, last 3 years.
```

Run it: https://www.texttoquant.com/terminal?q=Buy%20BTC%20when%20RSI%20is%20below%2035%20and%20the%20price%20is%20above%20the%20200%20day%20moving%20average%3B%20sell%20when%20RSI%20rises%20above%2065%2C%20on%201D%2C%20last%203%20years.&parse=1

**Takeaway:** If the result surprises you, read the parse first. Nine times out of ten the strategy did exactly what you wrote, just not what you meant.

## Check yourself

A run surprises you. What do you do first?

1. Add another indicator to make the rule stricter
2. Try other timeframes until the number improves
3. Read the parsed rules and compare them to what you meant

Answer: 3. Nine times out of ten the strategy did exactly what you wrote, just not what you meant. The parse shows you which.

Terms used: [rsi](https://www.texttoquant.com/academy/glossary#rsi), [moving-average](https://www.texttoquant.com/academy/glossary#moving-average)