---
title: "Insights"
canonical: https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference/backtest-management/read-backtest/insights
markdown: https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference/backtest-management/read-backtest/insights.md
language: python
source: https://github.com/QuantConnect/Documentation/tree/master/01%20Cloud%20Platform/99%20API%20Reference/05%20Backtest%20Management/02%20Read%20Backtest/05%20Insights
modified: 2026-10-28
index: https://www.quantconnect.com/llms.txt
---

# Insights

[Documentation](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2.md) > [Cloud Platform](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform.md) > [API Reference](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference.md) > [Backtest Management](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference/backtest-management.md) > [Read Backtest](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference/backtest-management/read-backtest.md) > Insights

> Code examples are shown in Python. Append `?lang=csharp` to this URL for the C# version of this page.

## Introduction

Read out the insights of a backtest.

## Description

This endpoint returns a page of insights. To get all the insights of the backtest in one request, call the [/backtests/export/insights](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/api-reference/backtest-management/read-backtest/export-insights.md) endpoint, which returns them as a JSON file.

## Request

Fetch the insights of a backtest for the project Id, backtest Id and steps provided. The `/backtests/read/insights` API accepts requests in the following format:

| `ReadBacktestInsightsRequest` Model - Request to read insights from a backtest. |  |
| --- | --- |
| start | `integer required example: 0` Starting index of the insights to be fetched. |
| end | `integer required example: 100` Last index of the insights to be fetched. Note that end - start must be less than 100. |
| projectId | `integer required example: 23456789` Id of the project from which to read the backtest. |
| backtestId | `string required example: 26c7bb06b8487cff1c7b3c44652b30f1` Id of the backtest from which to read the insights. |
| Example | `{ "start": 0, "end": 100, "projectId": 23456789, "backtestId": "26c7bb06b8487cff1c7b3c44652b30f1" }` |

## Responses

The `/backtests/read/insights` API provides a response in the following format:

### 200 Success

| `BacktestInsightsResponse` Model - Contains insights and the number of insights of the backtest in the request criteria. |  |
| --- | --- |
| insights | `Insight Array` Collection of insights. |
| length | `integer` Total number of returned insights. |
| success | `boolean` Indicate if the API request was successful. |
| Example | `{ "insights": [ { "id": "81ff7c1daf404ee39d612df321df5931", "groupId": "string", "sourceModel": "952d6ff7-e513-4971-aa50-cbe13bf56898", "generatedTime": 1753714506, "closeTime": 1753800906, "symbol": "BTCUSD 2XR", "ticker": "BTCUSD", "type": "price", "reference": 118159.19, "referenceFinal": 0, "direction": "down", "period": 0, "magnitude": 0, "confidence": 0, "weight": 0, "scoreFinal": true, "scoreDirection": 0, "scoreMagnitude": 0, "estimatedValue": 0, "tag": "string" } ], "length": 0, "success": true }` |

| `Insight` Model - Insight struct for emitting new prediction. |  |
| --- | --- |
| id | `string example: 81ff7c1daf404ee39d612df321df5931` Id of the insight. |
| groupId | `string` Id of the group of insights. |
| sourceModel | `string example: 952d6ff7-e513-4971-aa50-cbe13bf56898` An identifier for the source model that generated this insight. |
| generatedTime | `integer example: 1753714506` Gets the Unix time this insight was generated. |
| closeTime | `integer example: 1753800906` Gets the Unix time this insight was closed. |
| symbol | `string example: BTCUSD 2XR` Gets the symbol Id this insight is for. |
| ticker | `string example: BTCUSD` Gets the symbol ticker this insight is for. |
| type | `string Enum` Gets the type of insight. Options : ['price', 'volatility'] |
| reference | `number example: 118159.19` Gets the initial reference value this insight is predicting against. That is, the price of the asset when the insight was created. |
| referenceFinal | `number` Gets the final reference value, used for scoring, this insight is predicting against. |
| direction | `string Enum` Gets the predicted direction. Options : ['down', 'flat', 'up'] |
| period | `integer` Gets the period, in seconds, over which this insight is expected to come to fruition. |
| magnitude | `number` Gets the predicted percent change in the insight type (price/volatility). This value can be null. |
| confidence | `number` Gets the confidence in this insight. This value can be null. |
| weight | `number` Gets the portfolio weight of this insight. This value can be null. |
| scoreFinal | `boolean` Gets whether or not this is the insight's final score. |
| scoreDirection | `number` Gets the direction score. |
| scoreMagnitude | `number` Gets the magnitude score. |
| estimatedValue | `number` Gets the estimated value of this insight in the account currency. |
| tag | `string` The insight's tag containing additional information. |
| Example | `{ "id": "81ff7c1daf404ee39d612df321df5931", "groupId": "string", "sourceModel": "952d6ff7-e513-4971-aa50-cbe13bf56898", "generatedTime": 1753714506, "closeTime": 1753800906, "symbol": "BTCUSD 2XR", "ticker": "BTCUSD", "type": "price", "reference": 118159.19, "referenceFinal": 0, "direction": "down", "period": 0, "magnitude": 0, "confidence": 0, "weight": 0, "scoreFinal": true, "scoreDirection": 0, "scoreMagnitude": 0, "estimatedValue": 0, "tag": "string" }` |

### 401 Authentication Error

| `UnauthorizedError` Model - Unauthorized response from the API. Key is missing, invalid, or timestamp is too old for hash. |  |
| --- | --- |
| www_authenticate | `string` Header |

## Examples

The following example demonstates creating, reading, updating, deleting, and listing backtests of a project through the cloud API.

```
from base64 import b64encode
from hashlib import sha256
from time import time
from requests import get, post
BASE_URL = 'https://www.quantconnect.com/api/v2/'

# You need to replace these with your actual credentials.
# You can request your credentials at https://www.quantconnect.com/settings/
# You can find our organization ID at https://www.quantconnect.com/organization/
USER_ID = 0
API_TOKEN = '____'
ORGANIZATION_ID = '____'

def get_headers():
    # Get timestamp
    timestamp = f'{int(time())}'
    time_stamped_token = f'{API_TOKEN}:{timestamp}'.encode('utf-8')

    # Get hased API token
    hashed_token = sha256(time_stamped_token).hexdigest()
    authentication = f'{USER_ID}:{hashed_token}'.encode('utf-8')
    authentication = b64encode(authentication).decode('ascii')

    # Create headers dictionary.
    return {
        'Authorization': f'Basic {authentication}',
        'Timestamp': timestamp
    }

# Authenticate to verify credentials
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/authenticate', headers = get_headers())
print(response.json())

# --------------------

### Create Backtest
# Define placeholder compilation ID (replace with actual value)
compile_id = "compile_id..."
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/create endpoint to create a backtest
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/create', headers=get_headers(), json={
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project to backtest
    "compileId": compile_id,  # Compilation ID for the backtest
    "backtestName": f"Backtest {int(time())}"  # Unique name for the backtest using current timestamp
})
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Extract the backtest ID from the response
backtest_id = result['backtest']['backtestId']
# Check if the request was successful and print the result
if result['success']:
    print("Backtest Created Successfully:")
    print(result)

### Read Backtest Statistics
# Prepare data payload to read backtest statistics
payload = {
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest to read
}
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/read endpoint to get statistics
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/read', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Check if the request was successful and print the statistics
if result['success']:
    print("Backtest Statistics:")
    print(result)

### Read Backtest Logs
# Prepare data payload to read the first 200 log lines
payload = {
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "backtestId": backtest_id,  # ID of the backtest to read
    "start": 0,  # Start line (inclusive)
    "end": 200,  # End line (exclusive), at most 200 lines per request
    "query": None  # Keyword to filter the lines, or None to read all of them
}
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/read/log endpoint to get the logs
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/read/log', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Check if the request was successful and print the logs
if result['success']:
    print("Backtest Logs:")
    print(result)

### Update Backtest
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/update endpoint to update backtest details
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/update', headers=get_headers(), json={
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "backtestId": backtest_id,  # ID of the backtest to update
    "name": f"Backtest_{backtest_id}",  # New name for the backtest
    "note": "The new backtest name is awesome!"  # Additional note
})
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Check if the request was successful and print the result
if result['success']:
    print("Backtest Updated Successfully:")
    print(result)

### Delete Backtest
# Prepare data payload to delete the backtest
payload = {
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest to delete
}
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/delete endpoint to delete the backtest
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/delete', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Check if the request was successful and print the result
if result['success']:
    print("Backtest Deleted Successfully:")
    print(result)

### List Backtests
# Prepare data payload to list backtests with statistics
payload = {
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "includeStatistics": True  # Include statistics in the response
}
# Send a POST request to the /backtests/list endpoint to list backtests
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/list', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
# Parse the JSON response into python managable dict
result = response.json()
# Check if the request was successful and print the list
if result['success']:
    print("List of Backtests:")
    print(result)

### Export Orders
# Download the orders of the backtest as a CSV file
payload = {
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest
}
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/export/orders', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
with open(f'orders-{backtest_id}.csv', 'w', newline='') as file:
    file.write(response.text)

### Export Trades
# Download the closed trades of the backtest as a CSV file
payload = {
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest
}
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/export/trades', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
with open(f'trades-{backtest_id}.csv', 'w', newline='') as file:
    file.write(response.text)

### Export Insights
# Download the insights of the backtest as a JSON file
payload = {
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest
}
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/export/insights', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
with open(f'insights-{backtest_id}.json', 'w', newline='') as file:
    file.write(response.text)

### Export Logs
# Download the logs of the backtest as a text file
payload = {
    "projectId": project_id,  # ID of the project
    "backtestId": backtest_id  # ID of the backtest
}
response = post(f'{BASE_URL}/backtests/export/logs', headers=get_headers(), json=payload)
with open(f'logs-{backtest_id}.txt', 'w', newline='') as file:
    file.write(response.text)
```