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From one sentence to an order: TonyTrade's five steps
This page answers: what happens between telling the AI your idea and an order filling on the exchange, and who is responsible for each step.
The AI thinks and explains. The rule engine calculates and blocks. The executor places orders and stops. The three are kept apart, so the AI never gets your keys and can't go past your limits.
Step 1: Chat
Describe your idea the way you'd normally say it. It can be rough: "What's the structure on BTC right now?" Or specific: "I want to buy in three parts on a pullback to the middle band, no more than 500 USDT in total, stop if it breaks the lower band."
When you ask about the market, the AI reads candles on several timeframes and common indicators, tells you in plain words what it sees, and says which data it based that on. It won't say "this will go up", because it doesn't know. For where market data and indicators come from, see "Market data and scans" in Features.
You pick the model the AI uses: enter your own model API key, or connect a model running on your computer. Your chat goes only to the provider you chose, not through us. See Privacy.
Step 2: Plan
Once the idea is clear, the AI writes it as a plan in a fixed format. Every plan has these fields:
| Field | What it says |
|---|---|
| Market | Which exchange, which coin, spot or USDT-margined futures |
| Side | Long or short (spot is long only) |
| Size | How much to put in, and in how many parts |
| Entry | When to enter, for example a pullback to a moving average or a break out of a range |
| Stop-loss | Where you admit you're wrong. A plan without a stop can't be submitted |
| Take-profit | Where to exit in parts or in full. Can be a trailing take-profit |
| Adding rules | Whether adding to the position is allowed, how much, and when |
| Expiry | How long before an untriggered plan is cancelled, or what makes it void |
You see the plan line by line. If something's off, just say "give the stop more room" or "make it two entries", and the AI shows you the new version. You can run a plan through backtesting and paper trading before deciding whether to use real money.
Step 3: Rule check
A submitted plan goes to the rule engine first. It is fixed code, not AI. It can't be talked round, and it never decides "this time is an exception". It compares the plan with limits you set in advance:
- Maximum size per trade, per coin, and in total
- Maximum leverage
- Maximum daily loss: once reached, no new positions
- Whitelist of coins you allow
- Maximum orders per day
There are only two results. Within what you allowed, it moves to the next step automatically. Outside it, it pops up and waits for you to confirm. If you don't, nothing happens. How to set the limits and why it's built this way: Safety design.
Step 4: Execute
The executor uses your keys to place orders directly from your computer to the exchange. It supports market, limit, stop-loss, take-profit and conditional orders. Per-exchange details: Exchanges and markets.
Each time a position opens, its stop-loss and take-profit are placed on the exchange at the same time, using the exchange's own conditional orders. If the stop can't be placed, the position is not opened. That way the position stays protected if your computer shuts down, the network drops or the app fails. Why this matters: Why stop-losses should sit on the exchange.
Keys need only read and trade permissions, never withdrawals. See API key setup.
Step 5: Follow up
After a position opens, the AI reviews it at the interval you set: has the market changed, does the plan still hold? It can only suggest the few actions the engine knows:
- Add
- Reduce
- Close
- Move the stop up (down for a short)
Every suggestion comes with its reason, and goes through the rule engine too. Within what you allowed, it runs automatically. Outside, it waits for you. The AI can't invent new actions, and it can't loosen a stop to "give it more time" unless you confirm.
Every step is recorded
When it happened, what the AI said, what the plan looked like, the rule check result, which orders went out and how the exchange replied: all of it is stored on your own computer. You can look back by time or export it. Daily and weekly summaries include fees and any place you broke your own rules. See "Review" in Features.
If the computer is off or offline
- Open positions: the stop is on the exchange and still works.
- Plans not yet triggered: paused. Nothing gets placed while you can't see it.
- When the app opens again: it reconciles with the exchange first. Positions, open orders and records must match before it continues.
Phone systems stop background apps, so strategies that watch the market all the time run on the computer. Your phone connects to TonyTrade on your own computer, to watch, confirm and use the stop-all button. Other questions: FAQ.
In extreme markets a stop can still fill at a worse price. See Wicks: what they are and how to handle them and the Risk notice.