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Pro Subscriber Guide

Get Up and Running in 15 Minutes

Follow these steps in order. By the end you'll have the scanner configured, your risk rules set, and optionally auto-execute running on a paper account.

Video Walkthroughs
1 — Platform Overview & Settings Start here — configure risk settings and connect your API keys.
2 — Running Scans & ALEX Auto-Execute Run the scanner manually or let ALEX handle it automatically.
3 — Dashboard & Trade Tracking Understand your P&L, win rate, and open positions at a glance.
4 — Backtest & Journal Track your trades and simulate exit strategies to improve your results.
🛡️
Step 1 — Risk Settings
Account size & max risk %
⚡
Step 2 — First Scan
Run the AI scanner
🤖
Step 3 — Ask ALEX
Understand your trades
📄
Step 4 — Paper Trading
Connect Alpaca (free)
🚀
Step 5 — Auto-Execute
Hands-free paper trades
📒
Step 6 — Track Trades
Journal & backtest
Foundation
1
Set Your Risk Management Rules
Settings tab → 🛡 Risk Management section

This is the most important step. Every scan result and auto-execute decision is based on your risk settings.

  • Trading Capital ($) — The bankroll you're actively sizing risk off. This does not have to match your Alpaca balance. Alpaca gives you $100,000 in paper money by default, but if you want to trade as if you only have $25,000, enter $25,000. The system will risk at most max_risk_% of this figure per trade — keeping your position sizing realistic for your intended account size.
  • Max Risk Per Trade (%) — How much of your account you'll risk on a single trade. Start at 2%. On a $25k account that's $500 max loss per trade.
  • Max Open Trades — How many positions you'll hold at once. Start at 3–5.
  • Min Rate of Return (%) — Minimum credit as a % of max loss. 8–10% is a good starting point.
  • Close At Profit (%) — Auto-close suggestion when you've captured this % of max profit. Standard is 50%.
💡 Tip: Click Save Risk Settings after filling in values. These persist across sessions.
2
Run Your First AI Scan
Scanner tab → Run Scan button

The scanner reads live VIX and SPY data, then asks Claude AI to generate high-probability credit spread setups based on current market conditions.

  • Direction — BULLISH (bull put spreads), BEARISH (bear call spreads), or NEUTRAL (mixed). When VIX is normal and SPY is trending up, BULLISH is standard.
  • Number of trades — 3–5 is ideal. More gives you options; fewer gives faster, higher-quality results.
  • Score 8.0+ — Look for trades with a green TAKE verdict. Score 8+ means the AI rates it highly.
  • Auto-Scan — Once you understand the basics, turn on Auto-Scan (1hr or 2hr) so you never miss a good setup during the trading day.
⚠ Note: Scans use the Claude AI API. Each scan costs a small amount of API tokens. The daily limit prevents runaway usage.
3
Ask ALEX to Explain Any Trade
ALEX AI Coach tab (bottom of scanner)

ALEX has full context: your current VIX, SPY price, open trades, and risk settings. You don't need to paste anything — just ask naturally.

  • "Why did you pick the SPY 550/545 bull put spread?"
  • "Is now a good time to sell credit spreads with VIX at 18?"
  • "What happens if SPY drops 10 points before expiry?"
  • "Compare the SPY and QQQ setups — which is better?"
  • "Explain what a bull put spread is in simple terms." (ask in Spanish for Spanish reply)
💡 Tip: ALEX knows your trade history too. Ask "how are my open positions doing?" for a portfolio summary.
Paper Trading Setup
4
Connect Your Free Alpaca Paper Account
Settings tab → 📄 Paper Trading (Alpaca) section

Alpaca is a free brokerage with a paper trading simulator. No real money involved. You get $100,000 in simulated funds to practice with.

How to get your paper API keys:

  • Go to app.alpaca.markets and create a free account
  • In the top-left dropdown, switch from Live to Paper
  • Click Overview → API Keys → Generate New Key
  • Copy the Key ID (starts with PK...) and the Secret Key
  • Paste both into Settings → Paper Trading, then click Save API Settings
  • Click 🔍 Test Connection — you should see your $100,000 equity appear
⚠ Important: You must use your Paper trading keys — not your Live keys. They are different. If the connection fails, make sure you switched to the Paper account in Alpaca before generating keys.
5
Enable Auto-Execute (Optional)
Settings tab → 🤖 Auto-Execute section

Once your paper account is connected and Auto-Scan is running, you can enable Auto-Execute to have the scanner automatically submit the top-rated TAKE trade to your paper account.

  • Contracts Per Trade — Start with 1 contract while you learn. Each contract controls 100 shares.
  • Toggle ON — the system will now auto-submit the best trade after each scan.

The 10 safety guards that run automatically:

  • 🕐 Market Hours Gate — Only trades 9:30am–3:45pm ET, Mon–Fri
  • 🔁 No Duplicates — Won't open a second position in the same ticker
  • 📊 Max Positions — Respects your max open trades limit from Risk Settings
  • ⛔ Circuit Breaker — Auto-disables if your account equity drops more than 20%
  • 💰 Risk Budget — Auto-reduces contracts to stay within your max risk % per trade
  • 🏦 Buying Power — Verifies you have 110% of the spread width available before submitting
  • 📈 Portfolio Risk Cap — Total open max-loss across all trades stays under 15% of account size. On a $25k account that's a $3,750 portfolio risk ceiling — no matter how many trades are open
  • 🔄 Live Price Refresh — Re-fetches current bid/ask from Alpaca right before submission so the order reflects real market prices, not stale scan data
  • 📅 Minimum DTE Guard — Requires at least 3 days to expiry — no last-minute gamma traps
  • 📉 Support/Resistance Cushion — Short strike must be confirmed below support (PCS) or above resistance (CCS) by a technical level. Blocks the trade if the cushion isn't verified.
💡 Tip: Run auto-execute on paper for at least 2–4 weeks before considering live trading. Track your results in the Journal.
Track & Improve
6
Use the Journal and Backtest
Journal tab & Backtest tab

Every trade you execute (manually or via auto-execute) is logged in your Journal automatically.

  • Journal — View open positions, close trades manually, log P&L, add notes. Use the edit button to update trades as they close.
  • Dashboard — Your overall P&L, win rate, average credit collected, and open position summary.
  • Backtest — Simulate different exit strategies (50% profit, 75% profit, hold to expiry) against your historical trades to see which approach works best for you.
💡 Weekly Routine: Monday night — run a scan and review the watchlist. Tuesday morning — pick 1–2 setups from the watchlist. Friday — review open positions, close anything near expiry at a profit.

You're all set 🎉

Have a question? Ask ALEX inside the app — he knows your account, your trades, and market conditions in real time.

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