What happens between your idea and the order
BrokerBridge watches the market for setups, asks its AI to look at each one, and checks the result against your rules. If everything passes, a trade plan is ready. What happens next depends on how you chose to approve trades for that strategy: you approve it yourself, you tap to confirm from an alert, or the strategy already has your standing approval to trade on its own inside limits you set. Either way, your rules run on every trade, every time.
The section below covers the same flow in full technical depth, including the exact pipeline steps, the fields on a trade plan, and every rule BrokerBridge checks before an order can reach Interactive Brokers.
The pipeline
Scan
Data source plugins scan configured symbols for signals at regular intervals (default: every 5 minutes).
Score
The scorer ranks signals by composite score, combining evidence strength, setup quality, and how sure the AI is.
AI Decision
Top-ranked setups are sent to your AI provider for analysis. The AI returns approve/reject with reasoning.
Your rules
Eight rules evaluate the trade plan against your portfolio state and the limits you chose.
How you approve
Supervised: a trade plan waits for your approval. I confirm from the alert: BrokerBridge sends an alert and waits for your tap within the time window (default ~15 minutes). I approve the strategy up front: the strategy must still match its configured money limit, your rules, allowed instruments, schedule, and broker mode, and the current safety state, before it can trade without a tap.
Execution
Only an approved trade plan that still clears your rules can be submitted to Interactive Brokers, either as a scheduled plan that fires when conditions hit, or immediately. Eligible trades can use linked protective orders.
Trade plans
A trade plan is the core unit of the pipeline. It represents a candidate trade that has been identified and analyzed. A trade plan tied to a connected broker can go through the approval flow (Supervised), wait for a tap to confirm (I confirm from the alert), or run automatically under a strategy set to I approve the strategy up front, as a scheduled trade plan that scans conditions and submits the order when they hit, without another manual click.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| proposal_id | Unique identifier (e.g. prp-a1b2c3d4e5f6) |
| symbol | Ticker symbol (AAPL, TSLA, etc.) |
| direction | "long" or "short" |
| setup_type | Category: breakout, reversal, pullback_buy, breakdown, etc. |
| conviction | How sure the AI is, from 0.0 to 1.0 |
| entry_price | Suggested entry price |
| stop_price | Stop loss level (the price where you get out if the trade goes wrong; a stop order does not guarantee that price, since a fast market can fill it lower) |
| target_price | Take profit level (the price where you take the gain) |
| thesis_summary | AI-generated explanation of why this trade was proposed |
| composite_score | Overall signal strength from 0.0 to 1.0 |
| status | pending, approved, rejected, executing, executed, or expired |
How you approve
How you approve is set separately from your choice of AI model, per strategy. Choose the level that fits the strategy and the broker connection; you can turn on multiple strategies at once, each with its own choice:
Supervised, I approve every trade
BrokerBridge writes the trade and waits. Review each one, then approve, modify, or reject it. Nothing goes to Interactive Brokers until you press approve on that exact trade.
I confirm from the alert
When the conditions you named happen, BrokerBridge alerts you (phone, Discord, or Telegram) and holds the trade. One tap sends it within the time window (default ~15 minutes). No tap and it expires.
I approve the strategy up front
You approve one specific strategy in writing, including the money it may use, what it may trade, and the hours it may run. Every trade still runs your rules, and you can withdraw the approval at any moment. A strategy set this way trades on its own, once you give it your standing approval in writing and it has passed a review. It stays inside its configured capital allocation, your rules, allowed instruments, schedule, and broker mode.
Kill switch
One control pauses all trading instantly, across every strategy you have turned on and every approval choice. You can turn any strategy off any time; expiration, a rule that blocks the trade, or an unavailable broker also blocks new submissions.
The continuous Arena competition runs in simulation only and never grants broker access. Turning on I approve the strategy up front for one strategy is not blanket permission for the account. Every trade still passes your rules (position size, max loss, daily loss cap, sector concentration, portfolio exposure).
Bracket orders
An authorized trade can be submitted with a bracket order (one entry order with a stop and a target attached, so both exits are placed at the same time) when the selected execution plan supports that structure.
Entry Order Stop Loss Take Profit ──────────── ──────────── ──────────── BUY 50 AAPL SELL 50 AAPL SELL 50 AAPL @ $189.50 @ $185.00 @ $198.00 (market/limit) (stop order) (limit order) All three are submitted together. If entry fills, stop and target become active. If stop or target fills, the other is cancelled.
Post-entry management
After entry, the trade manager monitors the position and applies the management plan.
- •Fixed stops and targets. Default mode. Stop and target stay where they were set.
- •Trailing stops. Stop follows price by a configured offset as the trade moves in your favor.
- •Breakeven stops. Stop moves to entry price after reaching a configurable profit threshold.
- •Scale-out. Partial position exit at intermediate targets (configurable in management plan).
Your rules
Your rules check every trade plan before it reaches the broker. They keep applying to I confirm from the alert and I approve the strategy up front strategies; no approval choice skips them. The AI Arena competition uses separate, practice-money accounting.
Position Size
Blocks if the proposed trade exceeds max_position_pct of account value.
Maximum Single-Trade Loss
Checks the proposed loss at the stop against your configured limit.
Required Stop
Requires a defined stop before the trade plan can clear this rule.
Minimum Risk / Reward
Checks the trade plan against your configured minimum reward-to-risk ratio.
Max Open Trades
Blocks if you already have max_positions open trades.
Daily P&L Cap
Halts all trading if daily losses exceed max_daily_loss_pct.
Sector Concentration
Blocks if too many positions are in the same sector.
Portfolio Exposure
Blocks if total exposure would exceed portfolio_max_exposure_pct.