Day 2 and beyond

Leaving your computer on

The robot trades only while your PC is awake and the app is running. It does not run on our servers — that is the trade-off for your money never leaving your own account.

In practice: leave the PC on during US market hours (9:30am to 4:00pm New York time), or leave it on permanently. The app asks Windows not to sleep while the market is open, and that setting is on by default under Preferences → General.

The PC sleeps	The robot pauses with it and resumes when the PC wakes. It re-checks your account with the broker before doing anything.
The PC reboots	The app starts with Windows and comes back in the state you left it. If it was trading, it resumes trading.
The internet drops	It waits and retries. Your protective exit orders already sit at the broker, so they still work even while your PC is offline.
The app crashes	A small watchdog restarts it automatically and reconciles with the broker before resuming.
You close the window	That only hides the window. The robot keeps running — reopen it from the icon near the clock.

// STOPPING SAFELY //

How to stop — three different things

Stop Trading	Opens no new positions. Everything already open stays managed to its target or stop. This is the normal way to pause.
Close All	Immediately sells everything at market. Anything sitting at a loss locks that loss in. Only use it when you mean it.
Just quit the app	Your positions stay at the broker with their protective orders. Nothing is managed until you open it again.

The usual answer is Stop TradingIf you want to step away, stop trading and let the open positions finish normally. Selling everything at once turns a temporary pause into a permanent decision.

// TAKING PROFITS OUT //

Reading “Available to Withdraw”

If you turned on Income Mode, the main screen shows an “Available to Withdraw” figure. That is your net realized profit set aside since you switched Income Mode on — money the engines never trade with. It only ever shows profit: if a trade loses, the loss is taken out of this figure first, so it can never quietly contain your starting capital.

The actual bank transfer happens at your broker, not in the app: log in to your own Alpaca dashboard and withdraw there, as with any brokerage account. The app notices the withdrawal and reduces “Available to Withdraw” to match. If you would rather put the set-aside money back to work, press “Reinvest this balance” in Preferences and it rejoins your trading capital.

The Strategy Guide's Growth Mode vs. Income Mode section explains the choice behind this setting.

The dashboard with the Available to Withdraw figure showing set-aside realized gains. — Set-aside gains stay visible until you withdraw them at Alpaca or reinvest them.

// UPDATES AND HOUSEKEEPING //

Updates, and what to check occasionally

When a new version is published, the app tells you. Updates never change a position you already hold — improvements only ever apply to new trades.

Once a week: glance at the Dashboard and Closed Trades. You are looking for “still running, still making sense”, not for a number to fixate on.
After any Windows update: confirm the app came back up — look for the icon near the clock.
When your licence approaches its end date: the dashboard warns you in advance. Renewing before it lapses avoids any interruption.
If you change your Alpaca password: nothing happens — the robot uses API keys, not your password. Only regenerating the keys requires an update in the app.

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