# Handing over to the desk (skill 1.8.0) Desk words below are quoted from the Trade Desk server at commit `f495571152c5`. ## How to pass the person to their desk - Run `next`. When it prints `Next: nothing more to run.`, the helper's part is over. - Give the person their desk address (https://.ballastdigital.xyz/, shown by `status`) and remind them that they sign in with their passkey. - Tell them the desk opens in PAPER and that its header button Resume setup returns to the desk's own setup list at any time. - Offer the tour first, then the lessons under Start here. Offer once; let them choose the pace. - Remind them once to delete the DigitalOcean token they made for setup, if they have not. ## What you can still help with - Explain any screen, lesson or setting in the desk's own words. Quote the help line; do not add a view on what value is right. - Check where setup stands with the read-only helper commands (`status`, `next`). - Through the Trade Desk connection: read the desk with the person, explain what it did and why, and change a setting when they ask for that change. The section Using the Trade Desk connection says how. - Read-only diagnostics, if the person wants: in the desk they create an expiring, revocable read-only token for one trading mode and put it in their assistant's configuration themselves. CODEX.md and CLIENTS.md show where it goes; the token never passes through the chat. - Help them find things: every desk screen has an anchor the desk's own assistant and lessons link to. ## What waits for a later release - Placing or cancelling an order, releasing STOP, accepting the Terms and the switch to real trading. These stay with the person, always. - Writing a note on a symbol, and anything about the person's keys, passkeys, sessions or exports. These stay with the person. - A connection made from a phone or a cloud session. Today the Trade Desk connection needs the helper on a computer. ## The desk tour The desk's own tour starts from the link `#tour=start` added to the desk address, or from the tour button in the desk. Its stops, in order: 1. Core: the discipline engine 2. The Trade Desk: your private server and dashboard 3. PAPER first 4. Where positions and orders show 5. Your rules, to review 6. Connections and Check connection 7. What GO LIVE does and does not do 8. The brake, and where help lives The desk says of its shipped values: "Shipped values are a SAMPLE CONFIGURATION to review and edit, not a recommendation." ## The lesson index The desk's Tutorial and guide. Lessons are selectable in any order; reading one does not mark it complete, the person does that. Use the titles to point at the right lesson rather than explaining from memory. ### Start here Know what runs, what trades, and what stays simulated. - Start with the core portfolio bot (`foundations.orientation`, about 4 min) - Practice with a paper account (`foundations.paper`, about 3 min) - Find your way around the tabs (`foundations.walkthrough`, about 3 min) - Core and the Trade Desk (`foundations.core-and-desk`, about 4 min) ### Connect accounts and data Make each provider connection deliberately. - Connect and select the trading account (`connections.broker`, about 4 min) - Your AI provider, news checks and spending (`connections.ai`, about 3 min) - Optional sources and permissions (`connections.feeds`, about 2 min) ### Build and inspect your rules Understand entries, exits, sizing and limits before live use. - Choose core holdings and target weights (`strategy.core`, about 4 min) - Watchlists, tiers and conviction (`strategy.watchlist`, about 3 min) - Legs, capital plan and exposure caps (`strategy.sizing`, about 4 min) - Stops, profit-taking and retained core (`strategy.exits`, about 3 min) - Local diagnostics and OpenAI requests (`system.assistant`, about 3 min) - Use historical simulations carefully (`strategy.backtest`, about 3 min) - Draft, compare and apply your own rules (`strategy.drafts`, about 4 min) - After hours, market events and saving settings (`strategy.after-hours`, about 4 min) ### Crypto risk and execution Learn historical volatility stops, re-entry delays and order reconciliation. - Stops based on historical volatility (`crypto.stops`, about 4 min) - A 48-hour wait after a stop sale (`crypto.cooldown`, about 2 min) - Pending orders and your existing holdings (`crypto.orders`, about 3 min) - Fast moves and consolidation runners (`crypto.runners`, about 4 min) ### Use the research desks Explore context, sources and costs without automatic enrollment. - Finance, Markets and Crypto (`research.markets`, about 3 min) - Ideas, Strategies and Cloner (`research.ai`, about 3 min) - Topic news, Sports and prediction boards (`research.context`, about 3 min) ### Privacy and safe operation Know where data lives and which background behavior you enable. - Review a download before opening it (`security.review`, about 3 min) - Encrypted keys and safe support reports (`security.keys`, about 2 min) - Private data, backups and cloud folders (`security.storage`, about 2 min) - Choose whether Ballast starts at logon (`security.startup`, about 2 min) - Community features and privacy choices (`security.sharing`, about 2 min) ### Operate and recover Understand live controls, breakers and what stopping does. - Review before switching to live (`operations.live`, about 3 min) - Stop controls and circuit breakers (`operations.stop`, about 3 min) ### Updates and continuing learning See the version, review changes and keep your progress. - Review and apply an available update (`updates.install`, about 3 min) - Track learning and improve time estimates (`updates.progress`, about 2 min) ## A short glossary Plain meanings, in the product's words. They describe what a control does, not what to choose. - PAPER: simulated money and simulated fills. Every desk starts here. Paper results show how the rules behave; they do not establish live readiness. - LIVE: the person's real account. It is reached only when the person types the confirmation phrase themselves in the desk; an assistant never asks for it. - Core: the engine that follows the saved rules: when it may buy a dip, how large each leg may be, staged profit exits, stops, and when a circuit breaker halts buying. It does not predict prices. - Trade Tuner: the tab that holds the person's trading settings. Each slider explains what moving it changes and is clamped to hard bounds in code. - Leg: one buy within a position; the engine may enter in several legs within the person's sizing limits. - Circuit breaker: an automatic halt on buying after a set daily or weekly loss. Exit checks continue where data and broker access allow, until the person releases it. - STOP: the total brake: while it is on, no later cycle runs, exits included, until the person releases it. - Sample configuration: the shipped values are a sample to review and edit, not a recommendation. Settings, with the desk's own help line (Trade Tuner): - Per-leg size (% of account) (Entries): leg = this % of account value; 0 switches to the absolute $ slider - Per-name cap (% of account) (Entries): max invested in one symbol as % of account value; 0 = absolute $ - Max legs per position (Entries): how many times the bot may average down - Extra drop for next leg (Entries): leg N+1 only if price fell this much below leg N's fill - Chase guard (pullback off high) (Entries): first leg only when price sits this far below the rolling 24h high - Breather between legs (Averaging-down guards): minimum hours since the last leg (applies from the tier set below) - Hard stop (Exits): from average cost — sell everything (the FLOOR while the vol stop is on) - Equity trail distance (Exits): equities: sell after price retraces this % from the peak - Cash floor (Risk rails): never spend below this cash balance - Earnings guard (Risk rails): no new entries this close to earnings (0 disables) - Max daily loss (Circuit breakers): day P&L drop as % of account value that halts the bot (0 = use $) - Max weekly loss (Circuit breakers): same from Monday's anchor, % of account value (0 = use $) - Stop-loss re-entry cooldown (Crypto trading): wait after a confirmed stop-loss sale before buying that coin again - Tax reserve (Money & taxes): share of net realized gains held back as untouchable cash - Cash anchor (Portfolio anchor): cash held as a deliberate position, % of account value For any other setting, open it in Trade Tuner and read its own help; do not paraphrase from memory.