Trading automation with risk checks and broker-side stops

Two switches on every connection

Each exchange or broker connection in PatternX has two independent settings: one decides who pulls the trigger, the other whether real money moves.

In manual mode, a signal waits for you. Approve or reject it in the app or with the buttons in PatternX's Telegram bot (Telegram alerts come with Starter and above); if you do nothing, it expires after 15 minutes. In auto mode, signals are executed without waiting for you, but every order still passes the full risk check first (risk controls). Auto removes the approval step, not the safeguards.

Paper first, then live

Paper mode starts with a $10,000 balance plus whatever paper profit or loss you realise. It fills at the live ask or bid, estimates fees at 0.05% per side, and simulates your take-profit and stop-loss in the same 5-second loop that manages live positions. It's the place to watch a configuration for a while before money is involved (paper trading).

Live mode needs three things:

1. the platform's live trading switch to be on;
2. a connection that has passed its connection test;
3. an API key that is not known to allow withdrawals.

PatternX never holds your funds; custody stays with your exchange or broker. Setup steps for each venue are in the connection guide.

How a live order is placed

1. Entry. A market order. On Interactive Brokers, PatternX sends a marketable limit order at the bid or ask ±0.5% and falls back to a market order.
2. Venue stop. Straight after the fill, PatternX places the stop at the venue (up to three attempts) with that venue's own mechanism: reduce-only trigger orders on most crypto exchanges, Bybit's native trading stop, position TP/SL on Bitget and Hyperliquid, a stop or stop-limit with an OCO take-profit on IBKR, an OCO order on Alpaca and an attached stop and limit on IG.
3. No stop, no position. If the venue refuses the stop, PatternX closes the position at market immediately (recorded as no_stop_protection) and alerts you. If that close also fails, the position is flagged and an UNPROTECTED alert is sent.

The position manager

While trades are open, a loop runs every 5 seconds. It marks each position to market and ignores any single-cycle jump of more than 25% as a bad tick. It also runs the break-even move, which shifts the stop to entry after a set favourable move, and the trailing stop, which only ever tightens. Both are managed by PatternX's software rather than changed at the venue, so they work only while PatternX is running and can reach the venue. When either is hit, PatternX exits with a reduce-only market order.

Every 60 seconds the manager reconciles live positions with the venue. A watchdog alerts you when a live position can't be priced: after 3 minutes without a venue stop, or 10 minutes with one. With IBKR, PatternX also checks every 2 minutes that the broker stop is still resting and re-places it if it has gone missing. Alpaca, OANDA, Saxo, Tradier and IG don't get this check yet, so confirm the stop in your broker's own platform.

For example, say a long fills at $50.00 with its venue stop at $48.00 and a trailing stop enabled. Price climbs to $54.00 and the software trail tightens behind it. If price then falls back to the trail, PatternX closes the trade at market. The $48.00 stop at the venue never moved, so had PatternX been unreachable during that fall, $48.00 would have been the protection in force.

Brokers you trade by hand

Seven brokers are manual-execution only: eToro, Plus500, Webull, Robinhood, TradeStation, Charles Schwab and CMC Markets. PatternX sends the signal with its entry, stop and target, and you place the order yourself (see stocks, ETFs and FX). Momentum Lab, the Elite premarket engine for US stocks, has its own execution and exit rules.

Limitations and risks

• Market orders take the price available, which can be worse than the signal price, especially in thin markets (slippage).
• A venue stop limits risk but doesn't fix the exit price: in a gap a stop can fill well beyond its level, and a stop-limit may not fill at all.
• Trailing stops and break-even depend on PatternX running and reaching the venue.
• Automation executes rules faithfully, including in conditions they don't suit. Read the risk disclaimer before going live.

PatternX is software, not a broker or investment adviser, and nothing it sends is financial advice.