Backtesting Arena — Agent Skill

Skill package for AI agents and LLMs that need programmatic access to the Backtesting Arena API: daily Bitcoin / crypto cycle scoring, on-chain indicators, aggregated strategy insights, and on-demand backtests.

Three channels, one product:

Channel	Auth	Use case
Public	none, fair-use cache	quick reads, no signup
REST + MCP	Bearer API key (Free tier available)	full surface, higher quotas
x402 pay-per-call	EIP-3009 wallet signature (USDC on Base)	autonomous agents, no account

The full capability descriptor an agent should load is skill.md.

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Install for Claude Code / Claude Desktop

# Coming soon when /install-skill GA's; for now clone + reference manually:
git clone https://github.com/Schoasch/skill-backtesting-arena.git

Reference skill.md as a context document in your agent runtime, or use the MCP server directly (see below).

Quick start

1. Cycle-aware trading bot (Bearer)

curl https://tradingstrategies.work/api/arena-pulse/today
# → { "score": 35, "band": "risk-off", ... } — no API key required

Want higher quotas + full surface? Get a free Bearer key.

2. Autonomous agent with USDC wallet (x402)

# First call returns HTTP 402 + payment instructions:
curl -i https://tradingstrategies.work/api/v1/agent/btc-cycle/latest
# → 402 Payment Required, body has accepts[] with payTo, asset, amount, network

# Discovery descriptor lists all paid endpoints + pricing:
curl https://tradingstrategies.work/.well-known/x402

Full Python client showing the EIP-3009 sign + retry pattern: examples/python-x402-client.py.

3. MCP server (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)

Two transports — HTTP (recommended, requires Bearer key) or stdio.

HTTP variant (drop into claude_desktop_config.json → mcpServers):

{
  "backtesting-arena": {
    "url": "https://tradingstrategies.work/api/mcp",
    "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sk-arena-…" }
  }
}

Full example incl. stdio variant + Cursor config: examples/claude-desktop-config.json.

Examples folder

File	What
examples/curl-snippets.sh	Bash snippets for public + Bearer endpoints
examples/python-x402-client.py	Python EIP-3009 signing + retry for x402 endpoints
examples/typescript-mcp-client.ts	Connect to MCP server, list 44 tools, call one
examples/claude-desktop-config.json	Drop-in config for Claude Desktop / Cursor

Discovery files (machine-readable)

For AI tooling that auto-discovers APIs:

• /openapi.json — full OpenAPI 3.1 spec, ~70 paths, x-x402 extension on agent endpoints
• /skill.md — this skill (canonical, kept in sync with this repo)
• /llms.txt — LLM-friendly summary
• /.well-known/api.json — cross-tool discovery hub
• /.well-known/x402 — Bazaar-v2 descriptor of paid endpoints (alias .json)
• /.well-known/ai-plugin.json — OpenAI-style plugin manifest

Pricing

• Free — public endpoints + Free Bearer tier (30 req/h, 200/d)
• API Pro €9,99/mo — 300 req/h, 3k/d, backtest triggers, larger windows
• API Power €29,99/mo — 2000 req/h, 30k/d, universe-backtests (50 pairs)
• x402 pay-per-call — $0.01-$0.50 USDC per call, no subscription

One subscription covers both REST and MCP channels. Pricing is reviewed quarterly against agent-economy benchmarks (changelog).

License

MIT (this skill package). The Backtesting Arena API itself follows the Terms.

Operator

Solo-built crypto strategy backtesting platform from Germany/Austria. Public since 2026. Educational and research focus, not signal-selling.

Contact: info@tradingstrategies.work · Issues: github.com/Schoasch/skill-backtesting-arena/issues