Trade Approvals

In MANUAL_APPROVAL mode, the system generates buy/sell signals and creates proposed orders, but every order requires your explicit approval before execution. This gives you full control while delegating research and analysis to the system.

How It Works

  1. System analyzes market: Strategies run on schedule and generate signals based on technical indicators, fundamentals, or ML predictions
  2. Orders proposed: System creates orders for top signals with status “PENDING APPROVAL”
  3. You review: Orders appear on the Trades page with full details
  4. You decide: Approve or reject each order
  5. Execution: Approved orders are submitted to the broker; rejected orders are logged but not executed

Viewing Pending Orders

Navigate to the Trades page in the dashboard.

Pending orders are displayed at the top of the page with:

  • ⏳ Status badge: “PENDING APPROVAL” in yellow/amber
  • 📊 Order details: Symbol, side (BUY/SELL), quantity, price, order type
  • 🎯 Strategy info: Which strategy generated the signal, signal strength (0.0-1.0)
  • 💡 Signal metadata: Key indicators or features that drove the decision
  • ⏰ Created timestamp: When the order was generated

Example pending order:

Symbol: AAPL
Side: BUY
Quantity: 15 shares
Order Type: LIMIT
Limit Price: $178.45
Strategy: ml_xgboost_signal
Signal Strength: 0.72
Features: RSI=42, MA_cross=bullish, earnings_growth=12%
Created: 2026-03-12 09:34:22 ET

Approving an Order

To approve an order:

  1. Review the order details carefully
  2. Click the green Approve button next to the order
  3. The order status changes to “SUBMITTED”
  4. The order is sent to the broker for execution
  5. You’ll see real-time updates as the order fills

What happens after approval:

  • Order passes through risk checks (position limits, portfolio limits, PDT guard, circuit breakers)
  • If risk checks pass, order is sent to broker via IBKR API
  • Order executes at market or limit price (depending on order type)
  • Position appears on Portfolio page once filled
  • Trade record created for performance tracking

If risk checks fail:

  • Order is rejected with reason (e.g., “Would exceed 5% position limit”)
  • Status changes to “REJECTED”
  • You see the rejection reason on the Trades page
  • No order is sent to the broker

Rejecting an Order

To reject an order:

  1. Click the red Reject button next to the order
  2. Optionally, add a rejection reason (logged for future analysis)
  3. The order status changes to “REJECTED”
  4. The order is not sent to the broker

Why reject orders:

  • You disagree with the signal (e.g., news not captured by the system)
  • You want to reduce exposure to a particular sector
  • Market conditions changed since signal was generated
  • You’re preserving capital for a higher-conviction opportunity

Rejected orders are logged but do not affect your account.

Approval Best Practices

1. Review Signal Strength

  • High confidence (≥0.70): Strong signals, consider approving
  • Medium confidence (0.55-0.69): Moderate signals, use judgment
  • Low confidence (<0.55): System shouldn’t generate these, but reject if you see them

2. Check Signal Metadata

For ML signals, review top features:

  • Do the features make sense for the current market environment?
  • Are there contradictory indicators (e.g., RSI overbought but system says BUY)?

For rule-based strategies:

  • Swing Momentum: Check MA crossover and RSI values
  • Mean Reversion: Verify Bollinger Band position and RSI oversold
  • Value Factor: Review PE/PB/EV-EBITDA ratios

3. Cross-Reference Market News

  • Check recent news for the stock (earnings, FDA approvals, lawsuits, etc.)
  • System may not have the latest news, especially for breaking events

4. Monitor Position Limits

  • Review Portfolio page to see current positions and sector exposure
  • Ensure new order won’t over-concentrate your portfolio
  • System enforces limits, but you may want tighter personal limits

5. Check Market Conditions

  • High VIX (>25): Consider reducing position sizes or rejecting high-risk orders
  • Market close approaching: Be cautious of orders that may not fill before close
  • Stale data warnings: Reject orders if data feed is interrupted

Approval Workflow Tips

Batch Review

  • Review all pending orders once or twice per day (morning and mid-day)
  • Don’t feel pressured to approve immediately—pending orders remain until you act
  • Sort by signal strength to prioritize highest-conviction trades

Approval Rate

  • Don’t approve every order—be selective
  • A 50-70% approval rate is reasonable (rejecting 30-50% shows critical thinking)
  • If you’re approving >90%, consider moving to BOUNDED_AUTONOMOUS mode

Tracking Performance

  • Compare performance of approved vs. rejected orders over time
  • If rejected orders would have been profitable, adjust your criteria
  • If approved orders are underperforming, tighten approval standards

Order Expiration

Pending orders do not expire automatically. They remain pending until you approve or reject them.

Implications:

  • Old orders may become stale (market conditions changed)
  • You should review pending orders at least daily
  • System may generate duplicate signals if you don’t act on pending orders

Recommended: Set a personal policy (e.g., “reject all orders older than 4 hours”).

Transitioning to Autonomous Trading

MANUAL_APPROVAL mode is ideal for:

  • Learning: Understand how strategies generate signals
  • Building trust: Verify the system makes good decisions before going autonomous
  • Testing: Try strategies in live market conditions with human oversight

When to transition to BOUNDED_AUTONOMOUS:

  • You’ve approved 2+ weeks of trades with satisfactory results
  • Your approval rate is >70% (you agree with most signals)
  • You’re confident in the system’s decision-making
  • You understand what drives signals and when to override

See Autonomy Modes for the recommended progression path.

Configuration

Set autonomy mode in config/risk_limits.yaml:

autonomy_mode: MANUAL_APPROVAL

Restart the backend:

./scripts/restart-backend.sh

HTTP API (Advanced)

Approve/reject orders programmatically:

Approve an order:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/trades/{order_id}/approve

Reject an order:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/trades/{order_id}/reject \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"reason": "Disagree with signal"}'

This site uses Just the Docs, a documentation theme for Jekyll.