Ballast 0.4.0-beta · Windows · invited beta

Ballast operator course

Open 📘 Guide to choose a module and lesson. Study in any order. Each lesson and module shows an estimated duration; the header shows total and remaining time, completed lessons and overall progress.

Only Mark complete records completion. Reading a page, closing the guide or finishing the optional screen tour does not complete the course. Progress is saved in your local user profile. Updated lessons have revision numbers: a changed lesson needs fresh completion, while unchanged lessons keep yours. Reset completion clears course progress only.

Optional actual-minute feedback refines your local estimate using the median of recent reports for that lesson revision. Notes and timings stay on this computer; they are not sent to Ballast or other beta testers. Review any feedback you choose to share.

Choose a module

These are reading and practice estimates, not required waiting periods or evidence of trading readiness. Provider authorization and troubleshooting can take additional time.

Start with paper mode

Ballast begins in paper mode, using simulated money. Equity prices may also be synthetic without broker access. Paper records can teach you how controls and rules behave; they do not establish live performance.

Open Paper Trading to inspect the simulated account. Reset paper account replaces its history, so review that action deliberately. On Trading Bot, inspect the mode, positions, orders and decision log. A blocked decision tells you which rule prevented a trade.

Connect accounts and providers

System → Setup & connections authorizes Robinhood through the broker's own browser flow. Select the intended agentic account and verify its identifier. Crypto authorization is separate and can trade in your main crypto account alongside coins you already own.

Save an Anthropic key in its dedicated field for supported AI news checks and research. Review the provider's current pricing and limits; there is no guaranteed daily cost. Ballast's spend ledger shows recorded calls and cost estimates. System → Data sources lists optional providers. Add what you need, review the terms, and grant only required permissions.

Never put a key in a research prompt, screenshot, shared archive or support message. Verify AI claims against underlying sources.

Review trading rules together

Shipped assets and settings are sample configuration, not recommendations. Watchlist tiers determine configured dip and profit thresholds; conviction can affect sizing. Neither label establishes safety.

Review leg size, maximum legs, per-name exposure, cash reserves, daily entry limits and crypto allocation together. A price can keep falling after every leg. Adding to a position is a new risk decision.

Review the capital-plan preview before Start or Run now, including principal deployment, cash, permanent core and parking. Its confirmation is tied to the current account, mode and settings; a later change can require another review. Ledger readiness diagnostics identify missing attribution or reconciliation evidence without rewriting old records.

Finance loads account information independently from options research and shows partial/unavailable data honestly. Options execution remains disabled. Markets uses the provider's actual crypto categories. News, Sports and Predictions provide context; Map and Events are retired from navigation.

Hard stops, trailing exits, partial profit-taking and permanent core holdings are different rules. Read each position's active settings. A stop requests an exit; it cannot guarantee the execution price. Distinguish confirmed partial sales from a closed position.

Backtests use daily history and supported saved settings. They omit parts of the live engine and are not exact replays. Read the limitations and the hypothetical-performance disclosure displayed with results. Favorable simulated results do not predict returns.

Crypto stops and re-entry

The automatic stop compares recent ATR14% with the 90th percentile of daily ATR14% observations over the previous 180 completed UTC days. At least 90 observations are required for the historical baseline. The larger measurement is multiplied by your configured crypto ATR stop multiplier.

The engine captures the percentage for a position. Later volatility declines or added legs do not tighten it. A per-coin percentage override is an explicit choice and can affect an open position immediately. Wider stops allow greater losses; historical volatility is not proof of recovery.

Positions without a saved policy capture one at their next eligible evaluation; their entry-era policy cannot be reconstructed. The displayed policy identifies historical, recent-ATR or fixed fallback bases. A captured stop does not narrow because a data request fails. A modeled width at or beyond a 100% loss blocks new risk instead of creating an impossible stop.

Existing installs may require System → crypto risk review before the new policy governs live behavior. Read and acknowledge it there if you accept it. Opening or completing a tutorial never accepts it for you.

After a confirmed hard-stop sale, the default 48-hour cooldown blocks new entries and adds in that coin. It persists through restarts and is separate for paper and live trading. Exit management continues. A recent legacy reported stop can conservatively block buying until its original cooldown expires; this does not turn an uncertain old record into a confirmed fill.

Pending orders and owner holdings

The crypto pending journal distinguishes submission from execution. Known orders are checked again in later cycles. Another order in that symbol is blocked until the first is reconciled. Confirmed partial stop fills leave the remaining position open.

If submission failed before an order ID was received, or local settlement was interrupted, compare broker orders and executions with the local ledger. Do not clear safety records or retry repeatedly to force a trade. The warning identifies cases requiring manual reconciliation.

Review owner reserves for long-term coins. The bot's recorded holdings and the broker account's total holdings are different quantities.

Research without automatic enrollment

Finance, Markets and Crypto provide account and market context. Ideas and Strategies offer research with displayed cost estimates. Cloner shows disclosed trades, which can be delayed. None of these rankings establishes what you should buy or automatically enrolls a symbol in trading.

News, Events and World provide sourced context. Sports and Predictions are research displays and do not place bets. Check dates, sources and feed availability. Whole-account holdings may include assets the bot does not manage.

Privacy and optional background operation

Credentials use protected local storage; Windows protection is tied to your Windows user. It does not protect against malware already running as that user. Revoke exposed keys with their providers and save replacements.

Private state belongs in local per-user application data, separate from program files. Inspect the effective path in System. If an older install used OneDrive or a shared folder, review old copies and cloud history: local migration cannot erase a cloud provider's retained backups. Protect the device and database backups.

Use System → Private data → Move private data for an eligible older program-folder ledger. The app handles its background shutdown, verified copy and restart; STOP remains engaged for your review. See Private data and migration.

Automatic startup is optional. System lets you enable or disable startup at Windows logon. Background helpers should not flash terminal windows. Review the mode and bot status after startup. Local automation requires the computer to remain powered and connected.

Community insights is optional; review what it shares before opting in. Tutorial completion, timing feedback and notes remain local.

Operate and recover

Review the account, mode, keys, watchlist, limits and any required policy acknowledgment before live trading. The explicit GO LIVE confirmation concerns real orders. Course completion and green paper checklist items do not guarantee readiness.

The STOP file prevents subsequent cycles, including automated exits. It does not cancel an order already sent or interrupt an in-progress cycle. Review broker orders directly after stopping automation.

System → Quit Ballast exits the background engine as well as the server after checking that no cycle or update is active. Closing the app window alone leaves the background engine running.

Circuit breakers block new buying after configured loss limits while allowing exits. Review the cause before releasing one. Pending orders, missing feeds and connection problems can need separate attention.

Updates and release lessons

The installed version appears in the title and System tab. The update prompt offers Update now or Update later; if deferred, System keeps its update control. Eligibility depends on the selected public or beta channel.

Updates patch program files and preserve local user state and credentials. Individual files can be replaced, and the download need not be a small binary delta. Verify the displayed version after restarting.

After a version change, the release summary lists fixes and changes and links to optional short lessons about critical changes. New users see the full current curriculum. Unchanged completions survive updates; new or revised lessons add to remaining work. Required risk-policy acknowledgment remains a separate explicit action in System.

*Ballast is self-directed software, not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss.*