Auto Trading
The Auto Trading page is the monitoring hub for forward runs on your local workstation — algorithms and agents running forward in time against live or paper market data. It lists the single global bulk (batch) job (if any), optional agent bulk job, plus every chart-attached forward run, with timers that update every second.
Forward runs continue only while the app is running on your machine. To keep runs going while your workstation is off, use Quant Cloud.
Agent surfaces on this page appear when the Agents feature is enabled for your build. See Agents.
Toolbar
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| New Bulk Run | Opens the New Run modal to configure an algorithm batch job. Shown only when no algo bulk job is currently listed. |
| New Agent Bulk Run | Opens the agent bulk-forward modal (when Agents are enabled and no agent bulk job is listed). |
| Refresh | Reloads the chart-attached runs from disk. |
Chart-attached Agents live runs are also started from the Trade chart Agents menu; their chips and cards appear alongside algo chart runs.
The New Run modal (algorithm bulk)
Configure a batch run across three tabs. (The same modal is used for cloud runs on the Quant Cloud page.)
Algorithm
- Pick an algorithm bundle — a chart-attached algo or a workspace
.qcraftartifact. - Review and edit the script input parameters discovered in the bundle (name, type, value), with per-parameter validation. See Input parameters.
- Fundamentals and Factors toggles are Premium / free-data gated (disabled otherwise).
- A Load / Save run-config row lets you reuse settings — see Run presets (.qcs).
Targets
Choose the scope: All stocks, All crypto, or Selected (then pick stocks and crypto from multi-select lists).
Schedule & data
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Tick mode | Timer cycle (runs a cycle every N minutes) or Live tick stream (streams live). A rate-limit note warns that live streams compete for your broker connection limits, so Timer cycle is safer. |
| Period | Minutes per cycle (periodMinutes) for Timer cycle mode. |
| Timeframe | Primary OHLCV bar size, plus optional secondary timeframes. |
| Timer interval | Optional milliseconds for strategy on_timer (timerIntervalMs) — independent of the cycle period. |
Paper vs live is decided by the trading account you select — there is no separate toggle. Submitting requires a trading account with Alpaca API keys or Alpaca sign-in. The footer has Cancel and Run (or Save & restart when editing).
Run cards
Per-chart run card — shows the symbol (or "Chart (no symbol)"), timeframe, and a RUNNING badge, plus the tab id, any fundamentals-symbol override, and an Open chart button. Expand it for algo details: the algo label, forward run id, bundle path, time on chart, timer interval, input parameters, fundamentals files, and any error.
Bulk run card — titled "Bulk forward (batch)" with a status badge (RUNNING, STOPPED, or PENDING RESUME). A summary grid shows Scope, Symbols (how many are in rotation), Period, Paper (Yes/No), Algorithm, and Mode. Expand for Details and Logs tabs; the Logs tab streams output and cycle events with Download logs (CSV) and Clear logs.
Agent bulk card — similar monitoring for the agent bulk-forward job when one is active (status polled separately from algo bulk).
Monitoring and stopping
- The page polls algo bulk status roughly every 1.5 seconds and updates timers every second.
- Stop bulk run asks for confirmation (work already in flight may finish; progress is saved so you can resume later).
- Edit run reopens the modal; saving stops the current job and restarts it with your changes.
- Delete run (available only when stopped) clears the saved state on your machine and removes the job from the list.
- A pending-resume job stays listed until you delete it; you can resume it or start fresh from New Bulk Run.
See also
- Agents — building agents and forward execution notes
- Quant Cloud — run batch jobs on cloud runners
- Run presets (.qcs) — save and load run configurations