Your rules. Your trades. Automated.

Ballast is two desks. The Trade Desk is automated trading software for Robinhood users that runs on a private server you own. The Sports Desk is sports research in your browser, hosted by Ballast.

Trade Desk

Your Trade Desk runs on a small server in your own DigitalOcean account. You pay DigitalOcean about $12 a month for it; Ballast charges nothing during the beta. Choose your watchlist, trade sizes and buying and selling rules. The bot performs repeated checks and can place stock and crypto orders when your settings and account checks allow. Ballast never holds your broker sign-in, your keys or your money.

Build the setup

You control the settings. Review the starting sample configuration, capital limits and selected account before enabling trading. Research is separate from execution: looking at a strategy or score does not automatically add an investment to the bot. Options execution is disabled in the current beta.

Test the rules

Your desk starts in PAPER: paper trading uses simulated money. Quotes may also be simulated when broker data is unavailable. Use it to learn the controls; practice results do not predict what you will earn. Real trading requires your review of the Terms, required checks and typing GO LIVE yourself.

Follow the activity

Review the bot's decisions and order status. Sending an order is not proof it filled. An uncertain broker result can hold further orders for review. Stops cannot guarantee a sale or a price, and trading can lose money.

Check the requirements

You need an invite code and a DigitalOcean account with a payment method. Live stock trading requires Robinhood Agentic access; crypto requires a separate connection. A regular Robinhood login alone is not enough. The Trade Desk also needs an AI key of your own, from Anthropic or OpenAI, for the engine's news check and research and for the Assistant. You choose which; it is a separate service that can charge for usage. Provider eligibility, terms and charges apply. Ballast is independent of Robinhood.

Sports Desk

The Sports Desk opens in your browser at sports.ballastdigital.xyz. It is a free, invite-only beta of an information, planning and practice tool, with its own terms. At sign-up you confirm you are 21 or older and choose your US state; the beta is open in some states only. It takes no wagers, holds no money and gives no advice, and Ballast never places a bet.