The four statuses
PAPER
The agent’s default state. It trades a simulated account against live market data — same logic, same rules, no real capital at stake. All evaluation progress accumulates here.Dashboard badge: neutral blue · label “Forward testing”
ELIGIBLE
The agent has met all three evaluation criteria over its proving window. This is a signal, not an action — the agent is ready for live trading, but nothing happens until you promote it.Dashboard badge: green outline · label “Ready for live — your call”
LIVE
You promoted the agent to live trading on BSC. Real capital is at stake, TWAK guardrails are active, and every executed swap is a real on-chain transaction.Dashboard badge: green solid · label “Live on BSC”
DEMOTED
A drawdown limit was breached while live. The agent is back on paper and locked out of real trading for a period that depends on which rule fired.Dashboard badge: amber/red with a
PAPER sub-pill · label “Paper-trading — live paused, {rule} breached”Status transitions
PAPER → ELIGIBLE: evaluation criteria automatically met
Once your agent has completed its evaluation window with positive expectancy after fees, at least the minimum number of closed trades, and no max-drawdown breach, the Risk Engine automatically marks its configuration ELIGIBLE. You do not trigger this — the agent earns it.See Evaluation for the full criteria and how the window works.
ELIGIBLE → LIVE: you promote manually
Reaching ELIGIBLE does not move the agent to live. You make that call from the Settings screen by confirming the “Promote to live” action. The dashboard records this moment as a milestone — the first real signed transaction on BSC appears as a promotion marker on the equity chart.Per-account behaviour: if your agent is not yet ELIGIBLE, you can still force-promote from Settings. An extra warning explains the risk, and the decision is yours.
LIVE → DEMOTED: a drawdown rule fires
While live, the Risk Engine monitors every trade and every hourly equity snapshot. If a drawdown limit is breached, the agent immediately flattens to USDT and demotes itself to paper. The journal records which rule fired, and the dashboard banner names it.There are two demotions with different lockout durations — see the table below.
DEMOTED → PAPER: lockout clears
How the agent exits DEMOTED depends on the severity of the breach:
- Daily drawdown breach: the lockout expires automatically at the next UTC midnight. The agent transitions back to PAPER (no sub-pill) and resumes normal evaluation without any action from you.
- Max drawdown breach: the agent stays on paper until you review its results and manually re-approve promotion from Settings. This requires your explicit sign-off.
LIVE → PAPER: you demote or use the kill switch
You can demote your agent from live to paper at any time from Settings using the “Demote to paper” confirm modal. The kill switch takes a stronger action — it revokes the TWAK signing session entirely, meaning the agent physically cannot sign any transaction until you intervene.
Transition reference table
| From | To | Trigger | Who acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAPER | ELIGIBLE | All evaluation criteria met | Automatic |
| ELIGIBLE | LIVE | User confirms promotion | You |
| PAPER | LIVE | User force-promotes (before ELIGIBLE) | You, with extra warning |
| LIVE | DEMOTED | Daily or max drawdown breach | Automatic |
| DEMOTED | PAPER | Next UTC midnight (daily breach) | Automatic |
| DEMOTED | PAPER | User re-approves after max-DD breach | You |
| LIVE | PAPER | User demotes or uses kill switch | You |
What DEMOTED means in practice
When the DEMOTED badge appears, the dashboard shows an amber/red pill alongside aPAPER sub-pill and the message “Paper-trading — live paused, {rule} breached” — where {rule} is replaced by the specific rule that fired (for example, “daily drawdown limit” or “max drawdown limit”).
The agent does not stop. It keeps paper-trading through the entire lockout period. Every trade, skip, and journal entry continues to accumulate — the agent is essentially in a mandatory practice session while the clock runs out or you review and re-approve. This means your evaluation track record and equity curve have no gaps, and you can see exactly how the agent behaved during the period that preceded the breach.
Your agent never stops running. Even when live trading is locked — whether from a DEMOTED state, a manual demotion, or a kill switch — the agent continues forward-testing in paper mode. The loop, journal, and track record keep going. The distinction between DEMOTED and a full stop is intentional: the agent practices its way through the lockout, not sitting idle.
The DEMOTED badge in detail
The DEMOTED state uses amber (daily drawdown) or red (max drawdown) colouring to indicate severity, paired with aPAPER sub-pill so the live/paper context is always unambiguous. The message body names the breached rule so you know immediately whether you need to take action or simply wait for the next UTC day.
| Breach type | Badge colour | Live resumes when |
|---|---|---|
| Daily drawdown | Amber | Next UTC midnight, automatically |
| Max drawdown | Red | After your manual re-approval in Settings |