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Bot Modes

ForgeAlpha bots operate in two modes: Live (real broker execution) and Paper (simulated trading). Both modes run the same strategy engine — the only difference is where trades execute.

Live Mode

Live bots connect to your MT5 account and execute real trades:

  • Real-time price feeds from your broker
  • Actual order execution with real spreads and slippage
  • Automatic trade recording
  • Automatic reconnection on connection drops

Paper Mode

Paper bots simulate trading on your connected MT5 account's live price feed — perfect for testing strategies risk-free before committing real capital:

  • Simulated order execution with realistic slippage and commission
  • SL/TP stop level simulation
  • Floating P&L recalculated every tick
  • Full position management (open, close, partial close, modify)

Paper trades are stored alongside live trades so you can review simulated performance in the same interface.

Bot Lifecycle

  1. Create — assign a strategy, MT5 account, symbol, capital allocation, and mode (live/paper)
  2. Start — connect to broker (live) or start paper feed, begin strategy execution
  3. Running — processing ticks, evaluating rules, opening/closing positions
  4. Stop — close all open positions, free capital for reallocation
  5. Delete — return capital to pool, remove trade history

Virtual Capital Isolation

Multiple bots can share a single MT5 account. Each bot tracks its own virtual balance and equity separately from the shared account — so one bot can't spend another bot's capital.

A multi-layer margin guard prevents any bot from over-trading beyond its allocation, including a hard equity floor, virtual margin checks, and total exposure caps.

Equity SL/TP

Set bot-level stop-loss and take-profit based on equity percentage:

  • Stop-Loss — automatically stop the bot if equity drops a set percentage below assigned capital
  • Take-Profit — automatically stop the bot if equity gains a set percentage above assigned capital

These are checked continuously and evaluate even when no positions are open, so realized losses are always accounted for.

Position Isolation

Each bot is assigned a unique identifier used to filter MT5 positions. Only positions belonging to that bot are managed by it — preventing bots from interfering with each other on shared accounts.