Zerodha Streak Review - Algo Trading for Retail Investors

Streak by Zerodha is one of India's most popular no-code algorithmic trading platforms. It enables traders to create, backtest, scan, and deploy rule-based trading strategies without writing a single line of code. Integrated with Zerodha Kite, Streak helps traders automate their decision-making process, test strategies on historical data, and receive real-time trading signals.

What makes Streak stand out is its accessibility. While traditional algorithmic trading often requires programming knowledge, Streak allows retail traders to build sophisticated technical strategies using a simple visual interface. With the platform now available free of cost to Zerodha customers, it has become one of the most attractive tools for traders looking to adopt a systematic approach to the markets.

What is Streak?

Streak is a no-code trading strategy platform designed for traders who use technical analysis and systematic rules. Rather than watching charts and indicators by hand, Streak allows you to:

• Create trading strategies using technical indicators and price/volume conditions

• Backtest those strategies on historical data
• Scan markets to find stocks or contracts that match your rules
• Deploy strategies virtually to see how they would behave in live markets, with detailed logs and P&L
• Place orders on Kite directly from scan or strategy signals (with confirmation, as per regulations)

The main goal is to encourage discipline and good money management. Nithin Kamath points out that successful traders use clear stop-loss levels, manage position sizes, trade with the trend, and set limits on exposure and on overtrading.

Platforms and Access: New vs Pro

There are effectively two Streak platforms

1. New “Unlimited” Streak platform (free for Zerodha users)
   • Web:https://www.streak.tech
   • Android app: available on the Play Store
   • iOS app: launched in early 2024.
2. Legacy paid platform – Pro (pro.streak.tech)
• Was subscription‑based, with more advanced features (Dynamic Contracts, live deployments, technical baskets, etc.)
• New subscriptions are discontinued; it remains temporarily available only to existing paid users during transition

For Zerodha users:

• You get full access to the new Streak platform without subscription fees
• You may still see Pro (or trial prompts) if you log into the old URLs or old app versions
• All new updates are focused on the free “Unlimited” Streak platform, while the Pro version is being phased out.

Streak Pricing and Subscription Plans

Plan	Price
Streak Unlimited	Free for Zerodha Clients
Legacy Streak Pro	Discontinued for New Users

The free plan includes:

• Strategy Builder
• Backtesting
• Scanner Library
• Virtual Deployment
• Multi-Timeframe Strategies
• Kite Integration

Supported Markets and Instruments

Currently, Streak supports:

• NSE Equity Stocks
• Equity Futures
• Stock Options
• Index Futures
• Index Options
• Currency Futures

Support for some advanced commodity deployment features remains limited compared to the legacy Pro platform.

Key Features of the Free Streak Platform

The current free offering for Zerodha users includes:

1. Strategy Creation (No Coding)

• Build strategies using indicators, price, volume, and candle logic
• Supports multi‑timeframe logic by default (you can specify different timeframes for different indicators in the same strategy)
• Up to 30 conditions for entry and 30 for exit per strategy
• Position sizing options (e.g., fixed quantity, capital‑based sizing)
• Support for Stocks, Futures, and Options (directly on individual contracts)

2. Backtesting

• Unlimited backtests on equities and manually added options/futures contracts
• For dynamic options contracts, there is a daily cap (e.g., 50 backtests per day, as mentioned in one response)
• Backtest statistics include:
• Number of trades
• Wins vs losses
• Average gain/loss
• Drawdown
• P&L with transaction costs (slippage modelling is not yet built‑in)
• Maximum backtest duration depends on the timeframe (e.g., up to 5 years on a daily timeframe)

3. Scanners

• Library of 250+ pre‑built scanners based on technical indicators
• You can:
• Run pre‑built scanners as‑is
• Copy and edit existing scanners
• Create your own scanners from scratch
• Scanners target predefined groups, such as the Nifty 500 and other indices. Currently, creating custom watchlists on the new platform isn't possible, but many users have requested this feature.
• Scan results update in real time with prices.

4. Virtual Deployment (Paper Trading)

One of Streak’s most powerful features, heavily emphasised in the article, is virtual deployment:

• You deploy a strategy virtually on live markets
• Streak tracks every signal (entry and exit) as if orders were placed
• No real trades are executed, but Streak creates a detailed order log and P&L as if you had traded
• Multiple strategy cycles and concurrent positions are supported

This gives traders a realistic, low‑risk way to:

• Validate that a strategy behaves as expected in live conditions
• Understand drawdowns, streaks of losses, and execution characteristics
• Fine‑tune rules before going live manually in Kite

The team describes it as “the world’s best virtual deployment feature” because it tracks signals in real time with live market conditions.

5. Integration with Zerodha Kite

• Streak is tightly integrated with Kite, Zerodha’s trading platform
• You can:
• Place orders on Kite directly from scanner results or strategy notifications.
• View a quick TA summary of a security from Streak before placing an order

Important regulatory point:

Streak does not provide fully automatic order placement. For live trading, it generates actionable notifications and opens a pre‑filled order window, but you must confirm the buy/sell. This is due to current SEBI/regulatory guidelines.

What “Unlimited” Actually Means (And What It Doesn’t)

The term “unlimited access” in marketing has caused some confusion. Here, “unlimited” mainly means you can use the main features without paying a subscription, but it doesn’t mean there are no limits at all.

Current usage limits (as per Streak’s own replies and fair‑usage policy):

• Backtests: Effectively very high; more than 1000 backtests/day mentioned
• Scans: Around 300 scans/day
• Virtual deployments: Up to 25 strategies at a time (some places mention 15 earlier; later replies clarify 25)
• Live deployments: On the free platform, live strategy deployment is limited to 5 concurrent positions, confirmed by comments, which some see as restrictive compared to the older Pro limit of 50.
• Scanners live at a time: Typically, 5 live scanners concurrently.

You don’t have to pay for these features, but there are fair usage limits to keep the service reliable for everyone.

Zerodha Streaks Limitations

The comment section on the page is effectively a live product backlog. The most common points:

1. Dynamic Contracts for Options (DYC)

Probably the single biggest complaint.

• In the Pro platform, traders could define dynamic contracts like ATM/ITM/OTM options on Nifty/Bank Nifty/Fin Nifty
• In the new free platform, this is missing.
• Users must manually select individual option contracts for backtesting and deployment
• Streak’s response: dynamic contracts may be added in the future, no ETA

For intraday/index options traders, this is critical: without dynamic contracts, a lot of automated options strategies become impractical.

2. Live Deployment Limits

• Pro users previously had up to 50 live deployments.
• The new free platform offers 5 live and 15 virtual deployments at a time (later comments say 5 live / 15 virtual; some newer replies mention 25 virtual and 5 live)
• Many users want at least an option to pay and increase limits
• Streak’s stance: limits are part of a fair usage policy, and they may be increased in future versions, but there is no confirmed timeline

3. No Fully Automated Trading

• Several users ask for full auto (no click) order placement
• Streak clearly states this is not allowed under current regulations; they can only offer one‑click notifications that open a pre‑filled order window in Kite

4. Missing or Reduced Features vs Pro

Commonly cited:

• No Dynamic Contracts (for now)
• No Renko charts (only Candlestick and Heikin‑Ashi supported currently)
• No commodity (MCX) deployment yet
• No technical watchlists or fully custom scanner universes
• Some differences in syntax and behaviour (e.g., how “higher than” vs “crosses above” conditions are interpreted)
• Some users perceive discrepancies between Pro and new platform backtest results; Streak attributes this to syntax differences and encourages sharing logs with support

The Streak team recognises most of these issues and often says this is just the first version of the new platform. More features will be added over time.

How Streak Works with Zerodha?

If you’re a Zerodha client, here’s how you can practically use Streak today:

1. Exploring and Learning

• Log in to streak.tech with your Kite credentials
• Browse the pre‑built strategies (250+ templates) to understand how conditions are written
• Read through the help docs and blog posts linked by the Streak team (they mention help.streak.tech and blog.streak.tech)

2. Building and Testing a Strategy

1. Click Create /and define:
• Instruments (stocks, futures, or specific options contracts)
• Timeframe (e.g., 5‑minute, 15‑minute, daily)
• Entry conditions (e.g., Close(0) > 50 EMA, RSI(14) crossing above 60, etc.)
• Exit conditions / stoploss / target (e.g.,RSI crossing below 60, percentage or point‑based SL/TP)
2. Run backtests over your chosen period
3. Study:
• Hit rate
• Drawdowns
• P&L consistency
• How many trades per day/week

3. Virtual Deployment (Paper Trading)

• Deploy the strategy in virtual mode during market hours
• Let it run for days or weeks
• Compare:
• Live virtual P&L vs backtest P&L
• Execution timing, number of trades, and slippage effects

4. Transitioning to Manual Live Trading

• Once you’re comfortable, you can:
• Keep using Streak for signals and alerts.
• Place the actual orders in Kite (or via Streak’s one‑click notifications) with your own discretion
• Many serious traders will:
• Maintain a watchlist of strategies
• Limit capital per strategy
• Review and iterate every few weeks based on data

This is exactly the behaviour Zerodha and Streak are trying to encourage: test, validate, and scale gradually instead of gambling.

Common Questions and Issues Faced by Streak Users

The comments also surface many practical questions that matter if you’re just starting:

• It still asks me to subscribe! Almost always caused by logging into the old Pro platform (pro.streak.tech) or the old app instead of streak.tech / latest app. Fix: use the new URLs/apps.
• I can't see my old strategies from Pro in the new platform
  The two platforms have different syntax and architecture; automatic migration isn't supported. You need to recreate strategies manually in the new system.
• Streak support repeatedly advises:
• You must log in once daily on the app and/or web for alerts to be delivered
• Ensure scanners/strategies are actually taken live and alert frequency is set
• For persistent issues, they ask users to email support@streak.tech with logs/screenshots
• Is it safe to log in with my Zerodha account?
  Streak explicitly confirms that it is safe, and permissions are needed to read your positions and place pre‑filled orders via Kite.
• Refunds for existing paid users
  Multiple users ask about refunds when their paid plan overlaps with the new free offering. The standard instruction is to email support; individual cases are handled there.

Strategic Impact for Retail Traders

By making both Sensibull (options analytics) and Streak (strategy/backtesting/scanning) free for Zerodha users, Zerodha is effectively:

• Lowering the cost of experimentation for retail traders
• Pushing users toward data‑driven, systematic trading instead of pure discretion
• Giving easy access to tools that were previously used more by professional or semi‑professional traders

However, Zerodha and Streak are drawing a clear line:

• They will support research, testing, and rule‑based discipline
• They will not, under current regulations, offer fully automated fire‑and‑forget algos inside a retail platform

For anyone serious about trading, this is a big step forward. You can now try out strong trading systems without paying platform fees. The only risk you need to manage is your own capital.

Conclusion

• Streak is a no‑code strategy, backtesting, scanning, and virtual trading platform, tightly integrated with Zerodha Kite
• It is now free to use for all Zerodha customers via the new Unlimited streak.tech
• Core features include unlimited backtests, 250+ strategies, 150+ scanners, multi‑timeframe logic, and virtual deployment for stocks, futures, and options
• Fair‑usage caps exist (e.g., 5 live, ~15&ndash- 25 virtual deployments; scanner and backtest daily limits), and some advanced features from the old Pro platform (Dynamic Contracts, higher deployment limits, Renko charts, etc.) are still missing
• The Pro platform is in sunset mode, available only to existing subscribers while they transition
• The roadmap is driven heavily by user feedback, but timelines for big features like Dynamic Contracts and extended live deployments are not yet committed

For Zerodha users, Streak is now one of the easiest ways to start systematic, rule-based trading, as long as you have realistic expectations, patience, and respect for risk.