Documentation
Core Concepts
Astral connects research, inspectable strategy rules, historical simulation, ongoing monitoring, and optional broker operations. The product is easier to reason about when you separate the records, data sources, and authorization steps involved.
The product loop
Research
Ask a factual market question, inspect charts and supported datasets, or begin from a public Explore item. Record dates and uncertainty before turning a finding into a rule.Specify
Define assets, interval, conditions, sizing, and risk behavior. Astral produces an inspectable strategy representation rather than an opaque promise.Test
Run a historical simulation, then use Analysis, orders, and Replay to understand the path behind the headline metrics.Save or share
Keep a private reusable version, or explicitly publish selected work to Explore and your public profile.Operate
Choose notifications-only monitoring, Astral Paper, or an eligible broker-connected deployment. Each mode creates different records and responsibilities.Monitor and revise
Use Dashboard, Terminal panels, notifications, and broker account views. Revisions should be reviewed and tested as new assumptions.
The records are distinct
| Record | Where it lives | Key boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal session | Terminal history | Conversation and workspace context; not automatically a saved strategy. |
| Backtest | Terminal or strategy detail | Historical simulation with fixed inputs and dates. |
| Saved strategy | Private strategy library | Reusable private record; not public or active by default. |
| Publication | Explore and public profile | Public snapshot associated with an author. |
| Deployment | Strategy and monitoring surfaces | Ongoing notifications, paper, or connected operation. |
| Broker account | Dashboard and broker settings | External account data and authorization; broker remains authoritative. |
| Notification profile | Settings and alert/deploy flows | Reusable delivery configuration, not a trigger by itself. |
Saving, publishing, deploying, and submitting an order are separate confirmations. Deleting one record does not guarantee the others are removed. For example, stopping a deployment does not close an existing broker position, and editing a private copy does not silently update a public author’s item.
Three operation modes
Notifications only
Astral evaluates an eligible strategy and emits configured signals. It does not maintain a paper portfolio or imply broker order execution. This mode is useful when a user wants decision support without simulated or live orders.
Astral Paper
Astral maintains a simulated portfolio using configured starting cash and the product’s current simulation behavior. Paper trading helps observe ongoing logic but cannot reproduce market impact, queue position, partial fills, every fee, or every broker rule.
Broker connected
An eligible strategy can route orders through a supported, verified connected account after plan, account, strategy, and deployment checks. The broker controls acceptance, fills, buying power, positions, fees, and restrictions. Connected operation requires active monitoring by the user.
Four kinds of truth
Astral surfaces can display related values from different systems:
- Market data describes quotes, bars, events, and company or macro information from supported providers.
- Simulation data describes a backtest or Astral Paper ledger under stated assumptions.
- Astral application state describes sessions, saved records, publications, alerts, access, and deployment health.
- Broker state describes live balances, positions, orders, fills, fees, and restrictions.
These systems do not update atomically. Compare timestamps, source labels, currency, symbol, account, and adjustment basis before treating a difference as an error. For live money, the broker is authoritative.
Entitlements and availability
Capabilities can depend on plan, daily usage, capacity, temporary grants, account verification, broker support, asset class, provider coverage, region, and staged rollout. A visible menu or accepted symbol does not guarantee that every downstream action is available.
The account-specific feature-access response and the final review screen are more authoritative than a cached marketing summary. See Plans & Limits.
Public versus private
Terminal sessions, broker accounts, balances, orders, billing details, and private saved work remain authenticated account data. A publication is public only after an explicit publishing action. Public strategies and indicators can be viewed, discussed, saved, or copied by others.
Following affects discovery, not execution. Copying creates a separate editable record; it is not a synchronized subscription to the author.
A useful mental checklist
Before interpreting any important value or action, ask:
- Which record am I viewing?
- What is the data source and timestamp?
- Is this historical, paper, or live?
- Which symbol, interval, strategy version, and account are selected?
- Has an action only been proposed or previewed, or was it explicitly confirmed?
- Where can I verify the resulting state?