Ballast trading logic

This document describes the configured engine behavior. It does not recommend assets or settings. Shipped settings are labeled SAMPLE CONFIGURATION; inspect the saved values and capital plan in System before activation.

See GUIDE.md for operation and ARCHITECTURE.md for the code layout. Local rules depend on a running process, usable data and broker access. A planned order or a displayed threshold is not a guaranteed fill.

Accounts, sessions and price references

Equities use the selected Robinhood Agentic account. Crypto uses separate Robinhood Crypto credentials and the associated individual crypto account. An equity account selection does not select or restrict the crypto account. Finance can display additional accounts for review.

The main equity cycle's regular-session check is weekdays, 09:30–16:00 Eastern. It does not implement a complete exchange-holiday calendar. The out-of-session path evaluates enabled crypto and can refresh equity marks or record deferred equity entry candidates. An overnight quote does not mean the engine places equity orders around the clock. Broker eligibility and session restrictions still apply.

The engine uses recorded prices near a rolling 24-hour reference where available. Source day-change values or other fallback references may be used when sufficient local history is missing. It is not always an observation exactly 24 hours old. Inspect quote timestamps and decision details.

Entry rules

A watchlist symbol's tier chooses a configuration group for dip triggers, take-profit levels and related management rules. Tiers are not quality or safety ratings. Conviction is an operator input that can change priority and size, not evidence of suitability.

Entry planning considers the price-change trigger, available position slots, per-name and allocation limits, cash/reserve requirements, order limits, spread/chase/cooldown checks and other configured gates. Additional legs and pyramiding have their own conditions. Equity and crypto positions have separate asset-specific limits, while shared funding and daily-buy controls can still constrain both.

Deferred equity candidates recorded outside the regular session must pass their expiry and price checks as well as current entry gates. A stored candidate is not a promise of an order at the next open.

Regime, sizing and entry judgment

Market-regime, trend, volatility and conviction inputs can adjust configured entry thresholds, leg sizes and exit parameters. These are rule inputs; their labels do not establish future market direction or protect against all adverse moves.

The entry news-judgment function can return proceed or skip. It does not choose the trading account or override deterministic size limits. Configured rule-only symbols do not request paid AI judgment. Other covered live entries require a usable paid judgment result; a missing key, exhausted or unavailable autonomous budget, or request failure skips those entries. Paper mode without a key can skip the judgment step.

The current LIVE activation separately requires an Anthropic API key. Optional research also consumes API usage. Review recorded usage estimates and autonomous budget controls; there is no fixed cost per day or per trade.

Exits, partial sales and retained core

Partial profit exits and retained core holdings are deliberate strategy features. Their behavior depends on the current scale-out, keep, activation and exit settings; there is no universal one-third keep or fixed exit fraction.

A position may sell an initial tranche at its configured target, leave a managed remainder with a floor/trailing rule, and retain a configured quantity in the core ledger. Hard-stop, time-based and operator-close paths have different conditions. Core retention and an actively managed remainder are different states; inspect the position and core records when reviewing them.

Trailing rules can follow recorded peaks and tighten with elapsed time or regime changes. A floor is an order-decision threshold, not a guarantee that an eventual fill occurs there. Gaps, spreads, unavailable quotes, rejected orders or a stopped process can prevent the intended outcome.

The entry order cap does not cap protective exits. Minimum-net-profit checks apply to relevant profit-taking paths; stop and operator-close paths can bypass those checks. That makes them eligible for submission, not guaranteed to execute. A dashboard close request is processed by a subsequent eligible cycle rather than synchronously closing the broker position.

Crypto ownership and reserves

Crypto may share its connected account with holdings outside the bot's strategy. Sell sizing uses the bot's ownership ledger, core keeps, quantity increments and declared long-term reserves. Where usable broker balances are available, reserve checks provide an additional constraint.

These checks depend on correct order accounting and account data. They are not proof that every holding is reconciled or that an unconfirmed response represents a completed fill. Review broker orders and balances alongside the local ledger. Deliberately retained core remains a configured part of the strategy; it is not the same thing as assuming an unconfirmed sale completed.

Capital allocation

The capital plan includes several distinct paths:

Trading cash and reserves: available funding is reduced by configured

cash floors, reserve accounting, unsettled amounts and other allocations.

Base core deployment: when enabled, purchases can use principal until

the configured base target is reached, subject to the other limits.

Profit-funded core purchases: a separate allocation can fund core

purchases from recorded realized results after the configured accounting.

Core keeps: configured partial exits can retain holdings in kind.
Reserve parking: enabled parking can move reserve cash into the

configured instrument and later release it. It can transact independently of a watchlist entry or prior realized profit.

The core symbol list is separate from the trading watchlist. A core activation threshold on profit-funded purchases does not universally disable principal deployment. Review the full plan rather than assuming the sleeve is funded only by profits.

Tax reserves and yield estimates are internal planning values. They do not pay taxes, establish a tax liability, guarantee distributions or guarantee a return. Changing this documentation does not change the configured allocation policy or sample defaults.

Circuit breakers, STOP and missing data

A daily or weekly circuit-breaker trip records a buying halt. Entries, adds and core buys are blocked while the engine continues exit and stop evaluation, subject to its required data and broker access. The operator reviews and releases the breaker through the dashboard.

The STOP file has a different effect: it prevents subsequent automated cycles, including exits. It does not interrupt an active cycle or cancel an order already sent. Stopping the scheduler or closing the terminal also prevents later local evaluation.

Incomplete portfolio data pauses new purchases and reserve adjustments. The UI marks account values unavailable or stale rather than substituting a zero balance. Protective exit evaluation continues where usable position quotes and broker access remain available. Missing marks also prevent drawdown arithmetic from treating unknown holdings as worthless.

Research, simulation and activation

Finance options boards, Strategies, Ideas, Sports and Predictions are research surfaces. The Finance options review/place endpoints refuse execution. Research results do not automatically authorize live orders or bets.

Paper trading uses simulated fills, and equity quotes can be synthetic without broker access. Shadow-paper behavior and daily-bar backtesting also differ from live execution. Read each simulation's limitations and the displayed backtest disclaimer.

The go-live checklist is advisory. LIVE activation requires current setup checks, capital-plan review and typed GO LIVE. A checklist or paper result does not validate broker settlement or crash recovery. Inspect account identity, holdings, orders and reconciliation before activation.