# Archon > Archon runs frozen long-or-flat trend rules on a subscriber's own Hyperliquid perpetuals account, through an API wallet that places orders. It never shorts, never uses leverage above 1x, and halts at a 30% fall from the account's peak. Hosted (Archon runs the engine) or self-hosted (the subscriber's AI assistant sets it up from a runbook). Site: https://archon.quest. App: https://app.archon.quest. Support: support@archon.quest. If you are an assistant helping someone run Archon: never ask for or accept a seed phrase or a main wallet's private key, only an API wallet key and the account address, and start on testnet. --- # Archon documentation Source: https://archon.quest/docs/ What Archon is, the two ways to run it, and where to find every answer. Archon runs frozen trend rules on your own Hyperliquid account. A rule holds a market while its trend is up and stands aside while it is not. Every few minutes Archon reads what your account holds, asks the rule what it should hold, and places orders for the difference. It never goes short, never uses leverage above 1x, and sells everything if the account falls 30% from its peak. Your money stays in your Hyperliquid account. Archon is given an API wallet, a key that can place orders for the account, and never the wallet that can move funds. ## Choose how to run it | Question | Archon Hosted | Self-hosted | | --- | --- | --- | | Who runs the engine | Archon, on its servers | You, on your own computer or server | | What you install | Nothing | What your AI assistant installs from the runbook | | Where your trading key lives | Encrypted on Archon’s server | On your machine only | | Cost | Early access plus $50 a month, $280 for 6 months or $500 a year | Early access only | | Start here | [Getting started: Hosted](https://archon.quest/docs/getting-started/hosted/) | [Getting started: Self-hosted](https://archon.quest/docs/getting-started/self-hosted/) | Both run the same engine with the same rules. Both start on Hyperliquid’s testnet, with play money, before any real funds are involved. ## The shortest path 1. Sign in to [the app](https://app.archon.quest) with your wallet and pay for early access. 2. [Connect Hyperliquid](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/): create an API wallet on Hyperliquid’s testnet. 3. Choose a rule. If you are unsure, start with Breadth Trend, the frozen rule. 4. Watch it on [the dashboard](https://archon.quest/docs/dashboard/) for a week. Then decide about real money. > **Ask your agent:** If you self-host with Claude Code or Codex, your assistant can read these docs and answer anything in them. Point it at `/llms-full.txt` on this site, which is every page as plain text, and ask in your own words: “why has Archon not bought anything today?” works. ## Where things are - **Using Archon:** [the dashboard](https://archon.quest/docs/dashboard/), [controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/) for pausing and closing, [billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/). - **How it works:** [the engine](https://archon.quest/docs/engine/) in technical detail, [the strategies](https://archon.quest/docs/strategies/) and their evidence, [safety and custody](https://archon.quest/docs/safety/). - **Help:** [troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/) has an entry for every message Archon can show you. Then the [FAQ](https://archon.quest/docs/faq/) and the [glossary](https://archon.quest/docs/glossary/). > **Before you start:** On prices it had never seen, the frozen rule kept most of holding’s return and fell a third as far. Like any trading, it can lose money. Read [Strategies](https://archon.quest/docs/strategies/) before you put real funds behind one. --- # Getting started: Hosted Source: https://archon.quest/docs/getting-started/hosted/ From signing in to a running account on testnet, with Archon running the engine for you. With Archon Hosted, the engine runs on Archon’s servers around the clock. You install nothing and you do not need to keep a computer on. Setting up takes about fifteen minutes, most of it on Hyperliquid’s site. ## What you need - **A crypto wallet** you can sign in with, such as MetaMask, Rabby or Coinbase Wallet, holding ETH or USDC on Ethereum or Arbitrum One to pay with. - **A Hyperliquid account** opened with a wallet. To use the testnet faucet, Hyperliquid requires that the same address has deposited on mainnet at least once. - **About fifteen minutes.** ## 1. Sign in Open [the app](https://app.archon.quest) and connect your wallet. The app asks you to sign a short message to prove the wallet is yours. Signing it is free and moves nothing. Your wallet address becomes your Archon account; there is no password and no email. ## 2. Pay for early access Early access is $500, once, paid in ETH or USDC from the wallet you signed in with. The app reads the payment from the chain and opens your account after two confirmations. Hosting on testnet is free during the preview, so that is all you pay to start. [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/) covers every detail, including what to do if your wallet cannot pay from the page. ## 3. Connect a testnet account On Hyperliquid’s testnet site, create an API wallet named `archon` and copy its private key. In the app, choose **Archon runs it for you**, then paste that key and your Hyperliquid account address. [Connect Hyperliquid](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/) walks through it screen by screen. > **Note:** The key you paste is an API wallet key: it can place orders for your account. It is not your wallet’s own key and it is never your seed phrase. If anything ever asks you for a seed phrase, stop. ## 4. Choose a rule and how to size it On the same screen, pick a rule from the catalogue. If you are not sure, choose **Breadth Trend**: it is the frozen rule, it trades the fewest times, and it has the shallowest falls of the listed rules. Under **Advanced** you can choose how many positions it holds at once. The default is one for every market the rule trades, which spreads the account evenly across them. Fewer positions mean larger ones and deeper falls; see [sizing](https://archon.quest/docs/engine/#sizing). You can also limit Archon to part of the account. Archon checks the account before it accepts the connection: the key must be approved for that account, and the account must hold enough for every position to clear Hyperliquid’s minimum order. ## 5. Watch it work The rule decides on 4-hour candles, so the first trade can take hours, and on a quiet day nothing may happen at all. That is normal. The [dashboard](https://archon.quest/docs/dashboard/) shows what the account holds, what the rule wants, and a plain-language line for everything Archon did. ## 6. Moving to real money Hosting on mainnet opens after the testnet soak. Once it is open, and after seven days on testnet without an incident, you can move to mainnet. Nothing moves automatically: you choose it. 1. Pay for a hosting pack: $50 a month, $280 for 6 months or $500 a year. Mainnet hosting is prepaid; [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/) explains renewals and what happens when a pack runs out. 2. Disconnect the testnet account from the dashboard. One wallet hosts one account at a time. 3. On Hyperliquid’s main site, create a new API wallet for your mainnet account. Testnet keys do not work on mainnet. 4. Deposit USDC into your Hyperliquid account, if you have not already. 5. In the app, connect again, choose mainnet and paste the new key. 6. Optionally approve Archon’s builder fee, up to 0.01% of each order’s value. Until you approve it, it is zero. Start with a smaller amount than you intend to use, and limit Archon to part of the account if you want it to manage only some of it. ## If something looks wrong [Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/) has an entry for every message the engine can write on your dashboard. The [controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/) let you pause new trades or close everything at any time. If neither helps, write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) with the time and the exact message you saw. --- # Getting started: Self-hosted Source: https://archon.quest/docs/getting-started/self-hosted/ Run the same engine on your own computer or server, set up by Claude Code or Codex from Archon's runbook. Self-hosting runs the same engine as Archon Hosted, on a machine you control. Your trading key never leaves that machine. You do not need to know how to program: an AI coding assistant, such as Claude Code or Codex, does the setup by following Archon’s runbook, and asks you only for what it cannot find itself. Self-hosting costs nothing beyond early access. ## What you need - **Early access** to Archon. See [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/). - **A machine that stays on.** The engine only protects your account while it runs. A small cloud server is the right home. A desktop that never sleeps works. A laptop that closes at night does not. - **An AI coding assistant**: Claude Code or Codex, installed on that machine or able to reach it. - **A Hyperliquid account and an API wallet** for it. [Connect Hyperliquid](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/) shows how. ## 1. Get your personal prompt Sign in to [the app](https://app.archon.quest), choose a rule, and open the **Run it** page. It gives you a one-line prompt for your assistant and a runbook written for your account. The prompt tells the assistant where the runbook is. ## 2. Paste it into your assistant Open Claude Code or Codex in an empty folder on the machine that will run Archon, paste the prompt, and let it work. It reports after each step, in one line, what it did and what it saw. It will stop and ask you for exactly two things: 1. **Your Hyperliquid account address**, which starts with `0x` and has 40 characters after it. 2. **Your API wallet’s private key**, which starts with `0x` and has 64 characters after it. > **Never your seed phrase:** The runbook forbids the assistant from asking for, accepting or storing a seed phrase or your main wallet’s private key. If it ever asks for 12 or 24 words, refuse and tell it to read the runbook’s rules again. ## 3. Testnet first The runbook starts on Hyperliquid’s testnet and will not move to mainnet unless you tell it to, in your own words, after the engine has run cleanly. Give it the testnet API wallet first. ## 4. Keep the machine awake If the machine sleeps, your positions stay open on Hyperliquid with nothing watching them, and the 30% halt is not enforced. On a Mac that must do the job, ask your assistant to keep it awake while plugged in. On a server, nothing to do. ## 5. Check it is running Your dashboard in the app reads the account straight from Hyperliquid, so you can see positions and fills from any device. The first trade can take hours: the rules decide on 4-hour candles. > **Ask your agent:** Your assistant can read these docs. Give it the address of this site’s `/llms-full.txt`, which is every page as plain text, and ask it anything: “is the engine running?”, “why did it sell ETH?”, “what does UNDERSIZED mean?”, “pause new positions until Monday”. ## Day to day You do not need to remember any commands. Ask your assistant, in plain words, to: - show what the engine did today, - pause new positions, or resume them, - close everything, - re-arm after a halt, once you have looked at why it halted, - update Archon to the latest rules, - move the engine to another machine. Stop it on the old one first: two engines on one account double every position. [Controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/) explains what each of these does. [Self-hosting with your AI assistant](https://archon.quest/docs/self-hosting/) goes further. --- # Connect Hyperliquid Source: https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/ Create an API wallet on Hyperliquid, step by step, on testnet and then on mainnet, and give it to Archon safely. Archon trades through an **API wallet**: a separate key that your Hyperliquid account authorises to place orders on its behalf. You create it on Hyperliquid’s own site, with the wallet that owns your account. Archon never sees that wallet. You will do this twice: once on testnet, where the money is pretend, and later on mainnet. The two networks are separate, and a key made on one does not work on the other. ## Before you start - Use the **same wallet** you trade Hyperliquid with. The API wallet is tied to whichever account was connected when you created it. - If you signed in to Hyperliquid **with an email address**, Hyperliquid creates a different wallet address on testnet and on mainnet. Its docs suggest exporting the mainnet email wallet into a wallet extension and connecting that to testnet, so both use the same address. - To get testnet USDC from the faucet, Hyperliquid requires that your address has **deposited on mainnet** at least once. The faucet then gives 1,000 mock USDC. ## On testnet ### 1. Open Hyperliquid’s testnet and connect Go to `https://app.hyperliquid-testnet.xyz` and connect your wallet, the same one you use on mainnet. [Screenshot to come: Hyperliquid testnet with a wallet connected, the account address visible at the top right] ### 2. Claim testnet USDC Open `https://app.hyperliquid-testnet.xyz/drip` and claim. Your balance should show 1,000 USDC within a minute. If the faucet refuses, see [the faucet entry in Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/#the-testnet-faucet-will-not-pay). [Screenshot to come: The testnet faucet page with the claim button] ### 3. Open the API page In the top menu, open **More**, then **API**. [Screenshot to come: The More menu open, with API highlighted] ### 4. Create the API wallet 1. Type `archon` as the name. Using the same name later replaces this key, which is how you retire it. 2. Generate a new key on the page. 3. Choose how many days it stays valid. Archon cannot trade after it expires, and Archon Hosted will not accept a key that expires within a day. The dashboard warns you 14, 7, 3 and 1 days before it expires. 4. Authorise it. Your wallet asks you to sign: this is your main wallet approving the new key. It costs nothing. [Screenshot to come: The API page with the name filled in as archon, the generated address shown and the validity in days set] ### 5. Copy the private key Hyperliquid shows the new key’s **private key** once. Copy it. It starts with `0x` and has 64 characters after that. [Screenshot to come: The private key shown after authorising, with its copy button] > **Copy the private key, not the address:** The page shows two long values. The **address** of the API wallet has 40 characters after `0x`; the **private key** has 64. Archon needs the private key, together with your **account** address, which is your main wallet’s address. ### 6. Give it to Archon - **Hosted:** in the app, choose **Archon runs it for you**, then paste the private key and your account address. Before accepting it, the app asks Hyperliquid whether that key is approved for that account. It stores the key encrypted, and only uses it to trade. - **Self-hosted:** paste both into your AI assistant when it asks for them, and nowhere else. [Screenshot to come: Archon's connect step with the account address and API key fields] Once connected, the dashboard shows your testnet balance within a few minutes. ## On mainnet After at least seven days on testnet without an incident, and only if you choose to: 1. Deposit USDC to your account on `https://app.hyperliquid.xyz`, if it is not funded already. 2. Repeat steps 3 to 5 on `https://app.hyperliquid.xyz`. Name it `archon` again. This is a new key for mainnet; the testnet one does not carry over. 3. **Hosted:** pay for a hosting pack, disconnect the testnet account from the dashboard, then connect again with the new key and choose mainnet. **Self-hosted:** give your assistant the new key and ask it to move the engine to mainnet. 4. **Optional:** approve Archon’s builder fee from the app. Hyperliquid will then add up to 0.01% of each order’s value as a fee to Archon. Until you approve it, the fee is zero and nothing else changes. > **Start smaller:** You can limit Archon to part of the account. Many people start with part of what they intend, watch a few weeks, and raise the limit later. ## Retiring a key To cut Archon off at any time, create a new API wallet on Hyperliquid **with the same name**. Hyperliquid deregisters the old one immediately, and Archon can no longer sign anything for your account. Your positions stay where they are, and you can manage them yourself in Hyperliquid’s app. ## Account types Archon works with both of Hyperliquid’s account modes, standard and unified. It reads your account value the way Hyperliquid does for each mode. Vaults and sub-accounts are not supported: connect the main account. ## Common mistakes | What happened | What to do | | --- | --- | | The key was made on testnet and given to a mainnet account, or the other way round | Make a key on the network you want and connect that one | | The key was made while a different wallet was connected to Hyperliquid | Reconnect the right wallet on Hyperliquid and make the key again | | You pasted the API wallet’s address instead of its private key | Use the 64-character value. If it is gone, make a new key with the same name | | The key has expired | Make a new one with the same name and connect it | | You opened Hyperliquid with an email login | Testnet and mainnet give you different addresses; see “Before you start” | [Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/) lists the messages each of these produces. --- # The dashboard Source: https://archon.quest/docs/dashboard/ What the dashboard shows for a hosted account and for a self-hosted one, where each number comes from, and how to read the engine's notes. The dashboard is the one place to see what Archon is doing with your account. Every balance on it is read from Hyperliquid, so what you see is what the venue holds, not what Archon believes it holds. ## A hosted account **Status.** One line at the top of the account card, with a coloured dot: | Status | What it means | | --- | --- | | Starting | Archon is checking the account for the first time. It takes a few minutes. | | Running | Archon watches the account and trades when a 4-hour candle closes. Nothing for you to do. | | New trades paused | Nothing new opens. Held positions still close on their rule. Shown after a pause, while close-all is on, and after hosting runs out. | | Closing everything | You disconnected and asked Archon to close first. It is selling, and deletes the key once the account is flat. | | Stopped by your safety limit | The 30% halt. Everything was sold and nothing opens until you [re-arm](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/#re-arm-after-the-stop). | | Stopped: hosting has run out | Archon can no longer trade: either the plan ended and, once the account was flat, the key was deleted, or the API wallet itself expired. [Renew](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/#renewing-hosting) if the plan ended, then [connect a new API wallet](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/). | | Needs attention | The last check did not finish. The reason is shown, and Archon tries again at the next check. | **The figures.** Account value on Hyperliquid; performance since you connected, not counting deposits and withdrawals; the strategy; and when Archon last checked the account. **The buttons.** Pause or resume new trades, close everything, turn trading back on, re-arm after the stop, and disconnect. Only the ones that apply right now are shown. [Controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/) explains each. **Plan.** The date hosting is paid until, with a Renew button. On testnet it says hosting is free during the preview. **View on Hyperliquid.** Opens your account on Hyperliquid’s own site, where every position and fill is listed. **What your bot did.** The engine’s notes, newest first. After each check that does something, the engine writes what it did in plain words: `ETH: sold 0.54 at 3402.1 (close 3402.1 below SMA(200) 3511.7)`. Payments, reminders and every change you make are listed here too. Notes that need your attention start with a capital word, such as `HALT:` or `UNDERSIZED:`. Every note is explained in [Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/). **Settings.** The strategy, how many positions it holds at once, how much of the account it trades, and the safety limit. **Change strategy or size** opens the form. **Banners** across the top say when something needs you: practice mode on testnet, hosting that ends within 30 days, and an API wallet that expires within 14 days. ## A self-hosted account A self-hosted engine reports to the app, and the dashboard reads the account it trades from Hyperliquid: - **Account value**, with a line of its history since the first reading, and the change since then. - **Open profit or loss, positions, margin in use** and **free to withdraw**. - **Positions**: each one’s market, side, size, entry price, profit or loss and liquidation price. - **What your strategies say right now**: whether each rule is long, and in which markets. - **Activity**: fills from Hyperliquid and the rules’ signals, newest first. If the engine stops reporting, or stops at its safety limit, a red line at the top says so, and says whether positions are open with nothing watching them. ## Reading the halt The engine keeps the highest value your account has reached, adjusted for deposits and withdrawals. If the account falls 30% below that peak, it halts. The settings card shows the limit; when it trips, the status line shows how far the account fell, and the re-arm button shows what happened and when. ## How fresh it is The rule only changes its mind when a 4-hour candle closes, so most checks find nothing to do and place no orders. A quiet dashboard is normal. > **Note:** The rules decide on candles that close at 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 UTC. Trades, when there are any, usually follow within minutes of those times. ## When the numbers look wrong - **Account value jumped after a deposit.** Expected. Deposits and withdrawals move the halt’s peak too, and performance leaves them out, so they never count as a gain or a loss. - **A position you opened by hand disappeared.** If it was a short in a market the rule trades, the engine closed it: the rules only hold longs. If it was a long the rule did not want, the engine sold it. Trade other markets by hand, or use a separate account. - **The rule says long but nothing was bought.** See [The engine opens nothing](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/#the-engine-opens-nothing). --- # Controls Source: https://archon.quest/docs/controls/ Pause new trades, close everything, re-arm after a halt, change the rule or its sizing, and disconnect. What each one does, and when. Archon has three switches, a few settings and a way to leave. On Archon Hosted they are buttons on the dashboard’s account card. None of them touches positions in markets your rule does not trade. Two kinds of timing apply. Anything that sells takes effect within about five minutes, because the hosted engine checks every account that often between candles. Anything that buys waits for the next 4-hour candle close, because the rules only decide on closed candles. ## Pause new trades The engine stops opening positions. **Exits keep running**: a held position is still sold when the rule says so, and the 30% halt still applies. Nothing is left unattended. Use it when you want to stop adding risk without selling anything: before a holiday, while you think, or while you move money in or out. **Resume new trades** and the engine opens whatever the rule wants at the next 4-hour close, up to your slots. ## Close everything The app asks you to confirm. Then the engine sells every position in the markets it trades, within about five minutes, and opens nothing while close-all stays on. Orders are the same fill-now-or-cancel orders the engine always uses; if one does not fill completely, the next check sells what is left. Use it when you want to be flat now. **Turn trading back on** clears close-all and any pause, and the engine buys whatever the rule wants at the next 4-hour close. Leave close-all on for as long as you want to stay flat. ## Re-arm after the stop When the account falls 30% from its peak, the engine **halts**: it sells everything it manages and opens nothing, even if the rules turn long again. A halt never clears by itself, and a restart does not clear it. The dashboard shows how far the account fell. Re-arm is how a person says “I have looked at why it fell, carry on”. It starts a new peak from the account’s value at that moment, so the next halt is measured from there. The engine trades again from the next 4-hour close. > **Look before you re-arm:** A 30% fall is large. Check the dashboard’s notes and fills, read [what the halt means](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/#halt), and decide whether the rule, the sizing or the market is the reason. Re-arming is the right call when the answer is “the market fell and the rule did its job”. ## Changing the strategy or its size Open **Change strategy or size** on the account card. Each change is written on the dashboard as a note. **Strategy.** Which rule the engine runs. Within about five minutes the engine sells what the new rule does not hold; at the next 4-hour close it buys what the new rule does hold. Expect some trading on the switch. **How many positions at once.** The number of slots the account is divided into. Empty means one for every market the rule trades. Fewer slots mean larger positions and deeper falls. A position keeps its size until the rule exits it, so a change affects new positions only. **Limit to part of my account.** The capital cap: the most of the account, in US dollars, that the engine sizes from. Empty means the whole account. Use it to keep part of the account for yourself, but do not trade the same markets by hand. It also affects new positions only. ## Disconnect **Disconnect** asks what to do with your open positions: - **Close my positions first.** The engine sells what it trades, then deletes its copy of your API wallet key once the account is flat. - **Leave them open.** The key is deleted at once and Archon places no more orders. Your positions stay on Hyperliquid for you to manage. You can also [replace the API wallet](https://archon.quest/docs/safety/#cutting-archon-off) on Hyperliquid, which cuts Archon off on Hyperliquid’s side. ## Self-hosted A self-hosted engine has the same switches, as files and one command: | Control | What your assistant does | | --- | --- | | Pause new trades | Creates the file `STOP_ENTRIES` in the engine’s state folder; deleting it resumes | | Close everything | Creates the file `CLOSE_ALL`; deleting it turns trading back on | | Re-arm after a halt | Stops the engine, runs it once with `--rearm`, starts it again | | Change the strategy or its size | Stops the engine, sets it up again with the new choice, starts it | A self-hosted engine checks every minute, so a close or a pause takes effect within about a minute. You do not need to remember any of this. Ask your assistant in plain words, “pause new trades”, “close everything”, “re-arm, I have checked”, and it uses the runbook’s commands. > **Ask your agent:** Not sure which switch you want? Describe the situation to your assistant, for example “I want to stop trading for two weeks but keep my positions”, and ask which control fits. It can read these docs. --- # Billing Source: https://archon.quest/docs/billing/ What Archon costs, how to pay in ETH or USDC, how payments are checked on chain, and what happens when a hosting plan ends. Archon is paid in crypto, in advance. Every payment is a transaction you send from your own wallet; nothing is ever pulled from it. ## Prices | | Price | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Early access | $500 once | Your membership. Needed for hosted and self-hosted alike | | Archon Hosted | $50 a month, $280 for 6 months, or $500 a year | Added to early access. The longer the pack, the lower the monthly price | | Self-hosted | $0 | Beyond early access | Over a first year, self-hosting costs $500 and hosting on a yearly pack costs $1,000. After that, hosting is $500 a year. **Hosting on testnet is free during the preview.** The hosting packs pay for hosting on mainnet, with real money. A monthly pack runs for 30 days, a six-month one for 182 and a yearly one for 365. ## Other costs - **Hyperliquid’s trading fees**, on every fill, on Hyperliquid’s own schedule. - **Funding.** Perpetual positions pay or receive funding every hour while open. Longs usually pay. Archon’s published results do not include it. - **Archon’s builder fee**, on mainnet only, and only after you approve it on Hyperliquid: up to 0.01% (1 basis point) of each order’s value. Before approval it is zero. It is never charged on testnet. ## How to pay 1. Sign in to [the app](https://app.archon.quest) with the wallet you want your account tied to. 2. Choose ETH or USDC, on Ethereum or Arbitrum One. Arbitrum costs far less in network fees. 3. Confirm the payment in your wallet. It goes to `securepath.eth`. 4. The app reads the transaction from the chain and opens the account after two confirmations, usually within a minute. **What counts as paid.** A payment counts if it is worth at least 99% of the price when the app checks it. USDC is counted at face value. ETH is valued at the ETH price at the moment the app checks, and the amount the app asks for is a little over the price, so a small move between paying and checking never leaves you short. Paying more is accepted; the app does not return the difference. Each payment is checked on its own, so two short payments do not add up to one. **If your wallet cannot pay from the page**, send the amount yourself to `securepath.eth` from the same wallet you signed in with, then paste the transaction hash into the app. It is checked the same way. ## Checking where your money goes `securepath.eth` resolves to `0x67683ea19559aee0f6cefc2997ec9cf31ff8ecac`. The app checks on every start that the name still points there and refuses to take payments if it does not. You can check it yourself on any ENS lookup or block explorer before you pay. Your receipt is the transaction itself. Etherscan (Ethereum) or Arbiscan (Arbitrum One) shows the amount, the time and the destination for anyone to see. ## Renewing hosting The dashboard shows the date your hosting is paid to. It writes a reminder on the dashboard 30, 14, 7, 3 and 1 days before that date, and shows a renewal banner for the last 30 days. Nothing is sent by email. To renew, pay for another pack the same way, at any time. The new time starts when the current period ends, so renewing early loses nothing. ## When hosting ends If the paid period ends without a renewal, **nothing is sold for you**: 1. The engine stops opening new positions. The dashboard shows the account as paused. 2. Everything already held keeps being managed. Each position is sold when the rule says to exit, exactly as it would have been. The 30% halt still applies. 3. Once nothing Archon trades is open, Archon deletes your API wallet key and stops checking the account. 4. When you pay again, new positions resume at the next 4-hour close, if the key is still held. If it was already deleted, [connect a new API wallet](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/). If you would rather run the engine yourself from then on, early access already covers [self-hosting](https://archon.quest/docs/getting-started/self-hosted/). ## Payment problems The app tells you exactly why a payment was not accepted. [Troubleshooting: sign-in and payment](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/#sign-in-and-payment) explains each message. If a payment was short or went wrong, write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) from any address, with the transaction hash and the wallet you signed in with. --- # How the engine works Source: https://archon.quest/docs/engine/ The target-position planner in technical detail. Inputs, sizing, the halt, order handling, transfers, restarts and what is persisted. This page is the technical description of Archon’s engine, for readers who want to know exactly what runs against their account. The code is `platform/archon/engine.py` (the planner, pure and without I/O) and `platform/archon/app/trader.py` (one cycle against Hyperliquid). Hosted and self-hosted accounts run the same two files. ## The idea in one paragraph The engine is a **target-position planner**. Each cycle it reads the account from Hyperliquid, reads the rule’s stance for each market from the same evaluation the platform shows, and computes the orders that move the account toward what the rule holds. It does not remember orders. Orders are immediate-or-cancel, so by the next cycle each one has filled, partly filled or died, and the next plan starts again from what Hyperliquid says is held. **The venue is the state.** ## One cycle 1. **Market metadata.** Size precision and the market list are refreshed from Hyperliquid at most once an hour. 2. **The account.** Equity and open positions, read from Hyperliquid’s public info endpoint. For a unified account equity comes from the spot USDC balance; for a standard account, from the perpetuals account. 3. **Mid prices** for every market. 4. **Transfers since the last cycle**, from the account’s non-funding ledger: deposits, withdrawals, internal and sub-account transfers, spot USDC transfers on unified accounts, spot/perp class transfers on standard accounts, and vault deposits and withdrawals. Their net is passed to the planner so the halt’s peak moves with them. 5. **The rule’s stance** per market, from the strategy’s latest evaluation: long or flat, the reason, and the time of the candle it was decided on. 6. **Plan.** The pure function described below returns a list of orders, the updated book, and notes. 7. **Send.** Each order goes to Hyperliquid as an immediate-or-cancel limit. The result of each is written as a note in plain words. ## Inputs to the planner | Input | What it is | | --- | --- | | `Settings.markets` | The markets the rule trades. Positions in any other market are ignored entirely | | `Settings.slots` | How many equal slots the account is divided into. `0` means one per market | | `Settings.capital_usd` | A cap on the equity sized from. `0` means the whole account | | `Settings.halt_drawdown_pct` | The halt threshold, 30 by default. `0` disables it | | `Settings.stop_entries` | Pause: exits run, nothing opens | | `Settings.close_all` | Flatten and open nothing | | `Signal` per market | `long`, `ready` (enough history and a fresh candle) and a reason | | `View` | Equity and positions as Hyperliquid reports them | | `Book` | What must survive a restart: the halt’s peak and, if halted, when and at what drawdown | ## The order of decisions The planner decides in a fixed order. Earlier steps take precedence over later ones. 1. **Peak and halt.** The peak becomes `max(previous peak + net transfers, equity)`. If the account is not already halted and `equity / peak - 1` is at or below minus the halt threshold, the book records a halt. 2. **Shorts.** A short in a traded market is closed with a reduce-only buy. The rules only ever hold longs, so a short there was not opened by them. 3. **Halt or close-all.** If either applies, every long in a traded market is sold, reduce-only, and the plan ends there. Nothing opens. 4. **Exits.** A held long whose market is ready and flat is sold. A held long with no fresh signal is kept, with a note. 5. **Pause.** If new positions are paused, the plan ends here. 6. **Entries.** Markets that are ready, long and not held are filled into free slots in name order, each at `min(budget / slots, cash left)`, where `budget` is equity or the capital cap, whichever is smaller, and `cash left` is the budget minus the value of held positions. If a position would be under the venue minimum of 10 USDC, the planner stops and writes `UNDERSIZED`. ## Sizing A new position takes one slot, sized from equity at the moment it opens, and keeps that size until the rule exits it. Positions are never topped up or trimmed while held. Because each entry is limited by the cash left, the sum of positions never exceeds the account: gross exposure is at most 1x. This is the same construction as the research’s `portfolio.slot_curve`. The engine’s tests drive a simulated account over the frozen candle capture and require the planner to reproduce `slot_curve` exactly at 2, 4 and 6 slots over 4,794 bars. With one slot per market, each position is `equity / 32` for the frozen rule’s 32 markets. Hyperliquid refuses orders under 10 USDC, so that needs an account of at least 320 USDC. Fewer slots need less. ## The halt - **Measured from a persisted peak.** The peak is stored in the account’s book after every cycle, so a restart cannot lower it. - **Adjusted for transfers.** A deposit raises the peak by the amount deposited and a withdrawal lowers it by the amount withdrawn, so moving money is never read as a gain or a loss. - **Sticky.** Once halted, the engine sells what it manages and opens nothing until a person re-arms it. Re-arming sets the peak to the equity at that moment and clears the halt. - **First.** The halt is decided before anything else in the cycle, including exits and pauses. ## Readiness and stale data Each market’s signal carries the time of the candle it was decided on. If that candle is more than 2.5 candle-lengths old (10 hours on 4-hour candles), the signal is not ready. A market without a ready signal is **held as it is**: an open position stays open and a flat market does not open. That market does not block the others, the halt, or close-all. A market with too little history to evaluate has no signal at all, and is treated the same way. ## Orders - **Immediate-or-cancel limits** priced 1% through the mid, so each order fills at the best available prices up to that limit, or dies. Nothing is left resting on the book. - **Entries are sized in USDC** and converted to coins at the mid, rounded down to the market’s size precision. If rounding takes it under the venue minimum, it is skipped with a note. - **Exits are sized in coins**, the full position, and sent reduce-only, so an exit can never open a position the other way. - **Leverage is set to 1x cross** on a market before every entry, whatever it was before. - **Builder code.** On mainnet only, and only after the account owner has approved Archon’s builder for at least the configured fee, orders carry Archon’s builder code. Otherwise none is attached and the fee is zero. ## Restarts Nothing the engine needs to continue is held only in memory: - What is held comes from Hyperliquid each cycle. - What the rule wants comes from the evaluation of closed candles. - The halt’s peak and halt state come from the stored book. - The point up to which transfers have been counted is stored with it. So a restart neither sells a trend the rule still holds nor swaps which markets fill the slots. A cycle that dies halfway leaves nothing to clean up: the next one reads the venue and carries on. ## What the engine does not do - It does not go short, use leverage above 1x, or rebalance a held position. - It does not touch positions in markets outside its rule. - It does not place resting orders, stop orders or take-profit orders. - It does not move money: no withdrawals, transfers or deposits. - It does not act between cycles. If the engine is not running, nothing watches the account. ## Messages Every note the planner and the order sender can write is listed, with its cause and what to do, in [Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/#engine-notes). --- # Strategies Source: https://archon.quest/docs/strategies/ The listed rules in plain words, how they were chosen, what the evidence shows, and how to pick one. Every rule Archon offers is **long or flat**: it either holds a market or holds nothing in it. None of them shorts, borrows or uses leverage. They read one thing, the closing prices of 4-hour candles, and they are frozen: the code that decides is the same code that was tested, and it does not change without a new test. The [Strategies](https://archon.quest/strategies/) page shows the numbers and charts, and [The method](https://archon.quest/method/) every test behind them. This page explains the rules and how to choose. ## The rules ### Breadth Trend > Enter a market when its 4-hour close is a new N-candle closing high. Exit when the close falls below the N-candle average. Run across all 32 markets at once, an equal share each. The idea is that across many markets a few strong trends pay for the many small losses, and no single market decides the result. | Rule | N | In days | Character | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Breadth Trend** (the frozen rule) | 200 | about 33 | Slowest, fewest trades, shallowest falls of the listed rules | | Breadth Trend 150 | 150 | 25 | Enters a little sooner, exits a little sooner | | Breadth Trend 100 | 100 | about 17 | The fastest breakout that still cleared the bar | > **Being upgraded by the research desk:** The desk is hunting a version that beats holding outright. This one keeps trading until a stronger rule passes every gate and replaces it. ### Retired by the gates The textbook trend filters, on the same 4-hour candles and the same 32 markets, were listed until the research desk’s daily recheck retired them on 28 Oct 2026. Accounts already running one keep it until they switch; nobody new is offered it. | Rule | Holds a market while | | --- | --- | | Above the 200 | its close is above its 200-candle simple moving average | | Momentum 150 | its close is above the close 150 candles ago | | Momentum 200 | its close is above the close 200 candles ago | | Momentum 320 | its close is above the close 320 candles ago, about 53 days | | Golden Cross 50/200 | its 50-candle average is above its 200-candle average | | Slow Cross 100/200 | its 100-candle average is above its 200-candle average | ### Volatility Harvest Two older recipes on SUI that buy a red candle below a band and sell a green one above it. They do well in markets that chop sideways and badly in strong trends. The app shows their signals for reference; the engine trades the trend rules above. ## How a rule gets listed A listed rule beats **holding the same coins**, charged the same fees and funding, on return by **5 points**, and its worst fall is no deeper than holding’s. It is not carried by its winners: its median market and its average without the top two markets are both positive. The research desk rechecks this on the newest prices every day. A rule that falls short keeps trading, marked as being upgraded, until a stronger rule passes every gate and takes its place. Rules are ranked by their **median** market, and by their average with the **top two markets removed**, never by the plain average, which one runaway market can dominate. ## What the evidence says The fairest test is the **walk-forward**: rules picked on prices before 1 Mar 2026, then run once on prices from 1 Dec 2025 that they were never tuned on. On that slice the frozen rule made **+41.5%**, within 3.3 points of holding all 32 markets, and its worst fall was **−13.9%** against holding’s −41.8%. Most of the upside, a third of the downside. - **Every one of the 38 rules fell less than holding.** Worst falls ranged from −25.1% to −12.6%, against −41.8% for holding. - **For every 1% it fell at worst, the frozen rule made 3.0%.** Holding made 1.1%. - **In the months the rules were chosen on, holding lost 11.1%** with a worst fall of −65.4%, and the frozen rule made +56.8% with a worst fall of −23.3%. That is what trend rules are built for: be in a market while its trend runs, and be in cash before a collapse takes most of it. The research desk works every day to push returns higher, and its target now is rules that beat holding outright. The fine print - The full-history figures on the [Strategies](https://archon.quest/strategies/) page come from the history the rules were chosen on, so they flatter them. The walk-forward above is the fairer test. Its two slices overlap until 1 Mar 2026 so every rule is warmed up before it is scored. - All figures are before funding, with fees of 5 bps a side and no slippage, on the 32 markets liquid at the freeze on 15 Sep 2026, which favours any test. - A forward window, fixed in advance, closes on 14 Nov 2026, and its result will be published whether it passes or fails. - Source: `docs/evidence/walk-forward-2026-10-23.json`, measured 22 Oct 2026. ## Choosing a rule - **If you are unsure, choose Breadth Trend.** It is the frozen rule, the one the forward test measures, and the one with the most evidence behind it. - **Slower rules trade less.** Fewer trades mean lower fees and fewer false starts. They also enter later and exit later. - **Do not pick by the biggest number.** The highest full-history returns belong to rules that also fell further. Compare worst falls, and compare the unseen months. - **Sizing matters as much as the rule.** One slot per market is the default and the measured construction. Fewer slots raised both returns and falls in testing, and most 4- and 8-slot books would have hit the 30% halt. > **Ask your agent:** If you self-host, your assistant can compare rules for you from these docs. Try: “which listed rule had the smallest worst fall out of sample, and how did its return compare with holding?” --- # Safety and custody Source: https://archon.quest/docs/safety/ Who holds what. The API wallet and what it can do, how hosted keys are stored, what the engine will and will not do, and how to cut Archon off. Archon never holds your funds. They stay in your Hyperliquid account the whole time. What Archon is given is narrower: an API wallet, which your account authorises to sign orders for it. ## The two keys **Your main wallet** owns the Hyperliquid account. It deposits, withdraws, transfers, and creates or replaces API wallets. Archon never asks for it, never sees it and never stores it. Neither does the self-host runbook: it forbids your assistant from asking for, accepting or storing a seed phrase or a main wallet’s private key. **An API wallet** is a separate key that your main wallet authorises on Hyperliquid’s API page. It signs orders for the account. That is the key Archon uses. ### Can an API wallet withdraw? We tested it. On 28 October 2026, on Hyperliquid’s testnet, we signed three money-moving actions with an API wallet authorised for a funded account: a bridge withdrawal (`withdraw3`), a USDC transfer (`usdSend`) and a spot transfer (`spotSend`). Each asked to move 1 USDC to the account’s own address. Hyperliquid refused all three with `Must deposit before performing actions`, naming the API wallet’s own address, which has never held funds. The account’s balance did not change. That is consistent with how Hyperliquid describes API wallets: money-moving actions are signed by the account owner, not by an agent. What this does **not** show yet: - It was on testnet, one account, one date. We will repeat it on mainnet before any real-money account goes live, and publish the result. - It covers those three actions. It does not mean the key is harmless: an API wallet can trade your account, and a careless program could trade it badly. That is what the engine’s limits, the halt and close-all are for. The record is `docs/evidence/agent-key-withdraw-2026-10-28.md` in Archon’s repository. ## What the engine will and will not do The engine’s limits are written into its code (`platform/archon/engine.py` and `platform/archon/app/trader.py`) and described in [How the engine works](https://archon.quest/docs/engine/). | It will | It will not | | --- | --- | | Trade only the markets your rule trades | Touch positions in any other market | | Hold longs only, at 1x cross margin | Go short, borrow, or use leverage above 1x | | Size each position as one equal slot of the account | Let total positions exceed the account | | Use orders that fill immediately or cancel | Leave orders resting on the book | | Sell everything and stop at a 30% fall from the peak | Clear a halt by itself, or on restart | | Attach a builder fee on mainnet once you approve it | Charge a builder fee you have not approved | | Read balances, positions and fills for the dashboard | Withdraw, transfer, bridge or deposit | ## Where the key is stored ### Archon Hosted - The API wallet key is stored only as **AES-256-GCM ciphertext**. - Each ciphertext is **bound to your account address**. A record copied onto another account will not decrypt. - The master key lives in the **server’s environment**, never in the database. A copy of the database alone yields nothing. - The key is decrypted only inside the engine, when an order needs signing. ### Self-hosted The key stays on your machine. Archon’s platform never receives it. The runbook tells your assistant to keep it out of logs, out of chat transcripts and out of any file it might share. ## If Archon’s servers were compromised We think you should know the worst case. Someone who took both the database and the server’s master key could decrypt hosted API wallet keys and place trades on those accounts until the keys were replaced. They could not withdraw or transfer funds with them, as far as the testnet evidence above shows. The halt would not stop trades placed outside Archon’s engine. Your defence, hosted or not, is the same: replace the API wallet, which takes a minute on Hyperliquid and takes effect at once. ## Practice first - **Testnet opens on 30 October 2026.** Hyperliquid’s testnet uses play USDC. The engine runs exactly as it would on mainnet. - **Mainnet comes per account, after a seven-day soak** on testnet without an incident, and only when you choose it. - Start mainnet with Archon **limited to part of the account** if you want to watch it with less at stake. ## Cutting Archon off From gentlest to final: 1. **Pause new trades.** Exits keep running. 2. **Close everything.** Archon sells what it manages and opens nothing. 3. **Disconnect** (hosted). Archon deletes its copy of the key, after closing your positions or straight away, as you choose. 4. **Replace the API wallet.** On Hyperliquid’s API page, create a new API wallet with the same name, `archon`. Hyperliquid deregisters the old key immediately, and Archon can no longer sign anything for your account. 5. **Let it expire.** Every API wallet has an expiry you chose when you made it. Whatever you do, your positions stay on Hyperliquid and you can manage them yourself in Hyperliquid’s own app. ## Payments Payments go to `securepath.eth`, which resolves to `0x67683ea19559aee0f6cefc2997ec9cf31ff8ecac`. The app re-resolves the name on every start and refuses to take payments if it no longer matches, so a hijacked or mistyped name cannot redirect a payment. Signing in costs nothing and asks for no transaction; the only transaction Archon ever asks you to send is the payment you choose to make. ## What no software can protect you from - **Losses.** The rules can lose money. The halt limits a fall; it does not prevent one. - **Hyperliquid itself.** Your funds sit on Hyperliquid. An outage or failure there is outside Archon’s control. - **Fast markets.** Orders cross up to 1% to fill. In a sharp move an order can miss, and the next cycle tries again from a worse price. - **A machine that sleeps.** A self-hosted engine protects nothing while it is not running. --- # Self-hosting with your AI assistant Source: https://archon.quest/docs/self-hosting/ How to run Archon on your own machine with Claude Code or Codex, what the assistant will and will not do, and how to get answers from it. Self-hosting means the engine runs on a machine you control and your trading key never leaves it. You do not set it up yourself. You give an AI coding assistant Archon’s runbook, a step-by-step instruction file written for assistants, and it does the work, telling you after each step what it did. ## Which assistant Any assistant that can run commands on the machine works. Archon’s runbook is written and tested for: - **Claude Code**, from Anthropic. - **Codex**, from OpenAI. Install one on the machine that will run Archon, or on a machine that can reach it over SSH. ## Which machine The engine only protects the account while it runs. Choose, in order of preference: 1. **A small cloud server.** Always on, always online, nothing to remember. The smallest size any provider offers is enough. 2. **A desktop that never sleeps.** 3. **A Mac laptop**, only if it stays plugged in and awake. Ask your assistant to keep it awake while on power. Run one engine per Hyperliquid account. Two engines on one account each think they own it, and every position doubles. ## Getting the runbook Sign in to [the app](https://app.archon.quest), choose a rule, and open **Run it**. It shows a one-line prompt for your assistant. That prompt points the assistant at a runbook personalised to your account and your chosen rule. Paste it into the assistant in an empty folder and let it start. ## What the assistant will ask you Two values, and only these: 1. Your **Hyperliquid account address**: `0x` followed by 40 characters. 2. Your **API wallet private key**: `0x` followed by 64 characters. [Connect Hyperliquid](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/) shows where to get it. It checks the format of each before using it. ## The rules it follows The runbook gives the assistant rules that override everything else in it: - **Never ask for, accept, store or print a seed phrase or a main wallet’s private key.** If you offer one, it refuses. - **Testnet first.** It does not move to mainnet unless you tell it to, in your own words, after the engine has run on testnet. - **Secrets stay on disk.** The API key goes where the engine reads it and nowhere else: not in logs, not echoed back, not committed anywhere. - **No promises of profit.** If you ask whether it will make money, it tells you the truth: the rules were tested on past data, and that is not a forecast. ## Ask your agent anything This is the main advantage of self-hosting with an assistant: you have a patient expert on hand who can read the whole of these docs in seconds. Give it the plain-text version of the docs: ``` Read https://archon.quest/llms-full.txt and use it to answer my questions about Archon. ``` Then ask in your own words. For example: - “Is the engine running right now? What did it do today?” - “Why did it sell ETH this morning?” - “The dashboard says UNDERSIZED. What does that mean and what should I do?” - “I’m away for three weeks. Should I pause, close everything, or leave it?” - “Walk me through moving to mainnet with only $5,000 of the account.” - “Explain the 30% halt like I’ve never traded before.” > **Ask your agent:** When something looks wrong, paste the exact line from the engine’s output into your assistant and ask what it means. Every line the engine can write is explained in [Troubleshooting](https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/), and your assistant can read that page too. ## Day to day Ask the assistant, in plain words, to: | You want to | Say something like | | --- | --- | | See what happened | “Show me what the engine did since yesterday” | | Stop adding positions, keep exits | “Pause new positions” | | Be flat now | “Close all positions and keep them closed” | | Carry on after a halt | “I’ve looked at why it halted. Re-arm it” | | Change the rule or the slots | “Switch to Breadth Trend 150 with 16 slots” | | Update Archon | “Update Archon to the latest version and restart it” | | Move to a new machine | “Stop the engine here; I’m moving it” first, then set up on the new one | [Controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/) explains exactly what each of these does to your account. ## When the assistant is not enough If your assistant cannot resolve a problem from the docs, ask it to collect the engine’s recent output and the exact error, without the API key, and send that to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) with the wallet you signed in with. --- # Troubleshooting Source: https://archon.quest/docs/troubleshooting/ Every message Archon can show you, what caused it and what to do, plus the questions people ask when nothing seems to be happening. Find the message you are seeing on this page with your browser’s search (Ctrl+F, or ⌘F on a Mac). Each entry says what it means and what to do. Messages are shown exactly as Archon writes them; parts in angle brackets, such as ``, stand for a value. > **Ask your agent:** Self-hosting? Paste the exact line into your assistant and ask “what does this mean and what should I do?”. It can read this page. Never paste your API key into a chat, only the message. ## First checks ### The engine opens nothing This is the most common question, and usually nothing is wrong. Check in this order: 1. **Is it halted?** The dashboard status says so, and a `HALT:` note explains when. See the HALT entry. 2. **Is close-all on, or are new trades paused?** Both stop entries by design. See [Controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/). 3. **Is there an `UNDERSIZED` note?** The account is too small for the number of slots. See UNDERSIZED. 4. **Are all the slots full?** A new signal waits until a held position exits. 5. **Is the rule flat?** The dashboard shows each market’s stance and why. Trend rules spend long stretches flat, especially after a fall. That is the rule working. 6. **Is it between candles?** The rules only change their mind when a 4-hour candle closes, at 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 UTC. 7. **Has the hosting plan ended?** A lapsed plan stops new entries on mainnet. See [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/#when-hosting-ends). ### A position I opened myself was closed The engine owns the markets its rule trades. A **short** in one of them is closed, because the rules only hold longs. A **long** in one of them is kept only while the rule is long, and counts as one of the slots. Trade other markets by hand, or keep a separate Hyperliquid account for your own trading. Positions in markets the rule does not trade are never touched. ### The account value jumped or dropped and I did nothing Check the account’s transfer history on Hyperliquid. A deposit or withdrawal moves the account value; the engine moves the halt’s peak by the same amount, so a transfer is never treated as a gain or a loss. A drop with no transfer is the market. ### Nothing has happened for days Possible and often correct: a trend rule can stay flat for weeks after a fall. If the dashboard’s “Last checked” time is more than about ten minutes old, the engine is not running. Hosted: write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) with the time it last checked. Self-hosted: ask your assistant to check whether the engine process is running and whether the machine went to sleep. ## Engine notes These are the lines the engine writes after a cycle. Hosted accounts see them on the dashboard; self-hosted engines also print them to their log. ### HALT `HALT: equity is % from its peak of ; flattening and opening nothing until a person re-arms it` **What happened.** The account fell 30% or more from its highest value, adjusted for deposits and withdrawals. The engine sold every position it manages and will open nothing, even if the rules turn long, until a person re-arms it. A restart does not clear it. **What to do.** Look at the fills and notes leading up to it. Ask whether the market fell, whether the sizing was too concentrated (few slots), or whether something unexpected happened. When you are satisfied, **re-arm** from the dashboard (or ask your assistant). The peak then restarts from today’s value. See [Controls: re-arm](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/#re-arm-after-a-halt). ### UNDERSIZED `UNDERSIZED: is long but a position would be USDC, under the venue minimum of 10; fund the account or use fewer slots` **What happened.** The rule wants a new position, but one slot’s share of the account (or the cash left) is under the 10 USDC minimum that Hyperliquid accepts. The engine stops opening positions for this cycle rather than send an order that would be refused. **What to do.** Either deposit more, or reduce the number of slots so each is larger. With one slot per market across 32 markets, the account needs at least 320 USDC. If it appears only when the account is almost fully invested, it can also mean the cash left is small; it clears when a position exits. ### Holding, no fresh signal `: holding; no fresh signal to act on` **What happened.** The engine holds a position in this market but has no up-to-date stance from the rule: the newest candle for it is more than 10 hours old (2.5 four-hour candles), or the market has too little history. The position is kept as it is. Nothing new opens in that market. **What to do.** Usually nothing; it clears when fresh candles arrive. If it persists for many hours across many markets, the candle collector has stalled. Hosted: write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) with the time it started. Self-hosted: ask your assistant to check the collector and the machine’s internet connection. ### Bought `: bought at ()` Normal. The rule is long in that market and a slot was free. The part in brackets is the rule’s own reason, for example `new 200-bar closing high at 3402.1` for Breadth Trend, `close 98.2 above SMA(200) 91.4` for Above the 200, or `SMA(50) 1.02 above SMA(200) 0.97` for a crossover. ### Sold `: sold at ()` Normal. The rule went flat in a market the account held. The reason says why, for example `close 135.49 below SMA(200) 158.85` for Breadth Trend, or `close 0.41 below the close 150 bars ago, 0.44` for a momentum rule. ### Sold after a halt or close-all `: sold at (halted)` or `(close all is on)` Normal after a halt, or after you turned on close-all. Each position is sold; nothing is bought. ### Short closed `: bought at (a short in a traded market; the rules only hold longs)` The account held a **short** in a market the rule trades. The engine closed it with a buy that can only reduce the position. If you opened that short yourself, trade it in a market the rule does not use, or in a separate account. ### Not filled `: not filled: ` **What happened.** The order reached Hyperliquid but did not fill. Orders are immediate-or-cancel and priced up to 1% through the market, so in a fast or thin market there may be nothing to fill against at that price. **What to do.** Nothing. Nothing was left on the book, and the next cycle reads the account and tries again if the rule still wants the change. If the same market misses many cycles in a row, write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) with the reason shown (hosted), or show it to your assistant (self-hosted). ### Order refused `: order refused: ` **What happened.** Hyperliquid rejected the order outright. The response is Hyperliquid’s own wording. Common causes: - **The API wallet is not authorised for this account any more**: it expired, was replaced by a newer key with the same name, or was made on the other network. When an API wallet is not authorised for an account, Hyperliquid treats it as its own empty account; you may see `Must deposit before performing actions` with the API wallet’s address. Create a new API wallet and connect it. See [Connect Hyperliquid](https://archon.quest/docs/connect-hyperliquid/). - **Not enough margin.** Something else in the account is using the margin, such as positions you opened by hand. Free some margin, or set a capital cap below the account value. - **The order is under the minimum value.** Usually after a big price move between planning and sending. It resolves on the next cycle. **What to do.** Fix the cause above. The engine retries automatically on the next cycle; there is nothing to clean up. ### No price or size rule `: no price or size rule from the venue; skipped` **What happened.** Hyperliquid did not return a price or a size precision for this market, typically because the market was delisted, renamed or paused. **What to do.** Nothing for one cycle. If it persists, the market may have left Hyperliquid; Archon will remove it from the rule’s universe. ### Rounds below the minimum `: USDC rounds below the venue minimum; skipped` **What happened.** The position’s share, once rounded down to the market’s size precision, fell under 10 USDC. It happens in markets with large minimum size steps. **What to do.** The same as UNDERSIZED: a larger account or fewer slots. ## Connecting Hyperliquid ### The testnet faucet will not pay Hyperliquid’s testnet faucet requires the same address to have **deposited on mainnet** at least once. If you signed in to Hyperliquid with an email address, testnet and mainnet give you different addresses: export the mainnet email wallet into a wallet extension and use that on testnet. ### The dashboard shows a zero balance - The account address you entered is the **API wallet’s** address rather than your main account’s. Hyperliquid returns nothing for an API wallet’s own address. Enter your main wallet’s address. - The account is on the **other network**: a testnet balance does not show on mainnet, or the reverse. - On testnet, the faucet has not paid yet. ### The key is rejected when I paste it - An API wallet private key is `0x` followed by exactly **64** hexadecimal characters. If yours has no `0x`, add it. - If you pasted a value with 40 characters, that is an **address**, not a key. - If you were asked for 12 or 24 words, **stop**: that is a seed phrase, and nothing in Archon ever needs it. ## Sign-in and payment These messages come from the app. | Message | Meaning and what to do | | --- | --- | | `sign in with your wallet` | Your session ended or never started. Connect your wallet and sign the sign-in message again. | | `sign-in expired, try again` | The sign-in message was signed too long after it was issued. Start sign-in again and sign promptly. | | `signature came from a different wallet` | Your wallet switched accounts between requesting and signing. Pick the same account in your wallet and try again. | | `early-bird payment required` | This wallet has not paid for early access yet. See [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/). | | `that is not a transaction hash` | A transaction hash is `0x` followed by 64 characters. Copy it from your wallet’s activity or a block explorer. | | `transaction not found yet` | The network has not seen it yet, or it was sent on a different chain from the one selected. Wait a minute, check the chain, try again. | | `transaction is still pending` | It has not been included in a block. Wait, then try again. | | `waiting for confirmations (/2)` | Included, but not yet two blocks deep. It completes on its own within a minute or so. | | `the transaction reverted` | The transaction failed on chain, so nothing was paid. Your wallet may have run out of gas. Send it again. | | `no ETH or USDC transfer from your wallet to securepath.eth in this transaction` | The hash is a real transaction, but not a payment to Archon from this wallet. Check you pasted the right hash. | | `ETH sent is worth $, below the $ price` | At the ETH price when the app checked, the payment was worth less than 99% of the price. Each payment is checked on its own, so a top-up will not combine with it. Send a new payment for the full amount, and write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest) about the short one with its transaction hash. | | `USDC sent is $, below the $ price` | The USDC amount was less than 99% of the price. As above. | | `That transaction has already been counted.` | That payment already bought a hosting pack. Each payment counts once. | | `no such hosting pack` | The page asked for a pack that is not on sale. Reload the app and choose again. | | `that payment was sent from a different wallet than the one signed in` | Sign in with the wallet that sent the payment. Payments are tied to the wallet that sent them. | | `that transaction already unlocked another wallet` | Each payment pays for one account. Use a new payment for this wallet. | | `unsupported chain` | Pay on Ethereum or Arbitrum One. | | `could not read the chain: ` | Every public endpoint for that chain failed to answer. Your payment is not lost; try again in a few minutes. | ## Connecting a hosted account These come from the app when you connect an account to Archon Hosted. Nothing has been stored when you see one; fix the cause and connect again. | Message | Meaning and what to do | | --- | --- | | `The account must be a Hyperliquid address: 0x followed by 40 characters.` | The account field needs your main wallet’s address, not a key and not a name. | | `That is the private key of the account itself, which can withdraw funds. ...` | You pasted your main wallet’s own private key. Archon refused it and did not keep it. Make an API wallet on Hyperliquid’s API page and paste that key instead. If you think the main key may have been exposed, move your funds to a new wallet. | | `This API wallet is not approved for on Hyperliquid . ...` | Hyperliquid does not list this key as an API wallet of that account on that network. Check the network, check you made it while the right wallet was connected, and check you authorised it. | | `This API wallet expires within a day. ...` | Make a new API wallet with a longer validity, with the same name, and connect that. | | ` can hold positions and Hyperliquid refuses any under 10 USDC, so it needs at least USDC to trade. ...` | The account is too small for that many positions. Deposit more, or choose fewer positions at once under Advanced. | | `This wallet already hosts on . Disconnect it first.` | One wallet hosts one account at a time. Disconnect the other one from the dashboard first. | | `Another Archon wallet already hosts this account. Disconnect it there first.` | Sign in with the wallet that connected it and disconnect it there. | | `Mainnet hosting is prepaid. Pay for a hosting pack first.` | Pay for a pack, then connect. See [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/). | | `Hosting runs on Hyperliquid testnet for now.` | Mainnet hosting has not opened yet. Connect a testnet account. | | `Hosting is not switched on for this server yet.` | Hosting is not running on Archon’s side. Nothing is wrong with your account; try later, or write to us. | | `Could not reach Hyperliquid to check the account. Try again in a minute.` | Hyperliquid did not answer. Try again shortly. | | ` is a signal-only recipe. Archon hosts the trend rules.` | Volatility Harvest recipes are signals only. Choose a trend rule. | ## Self-hosted setup If you self-host, your assistant reports each step. These are the problems it is most likely to bring you, and what they mean. | What it reports | What it means | | --- | --- | | The account holds nothing | The account is empty on the chosen network. On testnet, claim USDC from the faucet; on mainnet, deposit USDC. Then continue. | | A position size under the venue minimum of 10 USDC | The account is too small for the number of slots. Fund it, use fewer slots, or trade fewer markets. | | Positions already open in the markets it would trade | The engine owns the markets it trades. Close those positions on Hyperliquid first, or tell your assistant you want the engine to manage them. | | None of these markets trade on the chosen network | Some markets exist on mainnet but not on testnet. Your assistant will choose the markets that exist. | | The machine went to sleep | Positions stayed open with nothing watching them. Ask your assistant to keep the machine awake, or move to a small server. | | Two engines on one account | Every position doubles. Stop one immediately, then ask your assistant to check what the account holds against what the rule wants. | ### Older Docker kit Before the current engine, Archon shipped a Docker kit built on Hummingbot. If your assistant set that up and you see these, here is what they mean. The current engine replaces it; ask your assistant to move you over. | Message | Meaning | | --- | --- | | `docker: command not found` or `Cannot connect to the Docker daemon` | Docker Desktop is not installed or not running. | | `REFUSED: the account holds nothing.` | The account is empty. Claim testnet USDC or deposit, then run again. | | `REFUSED: USDC per position is under the venue minimum of 10.` | The account is too small for the market count. Fund it, cap positions, or trade fewer markets. | | `REFUSED: this account already holds , in markets this bot would trade.` | Close those positions first, or pass the option that says the engine should manage them. | | `REFUSED: none of these markets trade on .` | The chosen markets do not exist on that network. | | `NOT READY after minutes` | The API wallet is not this address’s on this network, or the network is down. No order is placed until it clears. | | `RECONCILE:` lines on start | Expected after a restart with positions open. | | `UNMANAGED:` every 30 minutes | A position in a market the bot does not trade. It is never touched. | | `MQTT bridge disconnected ... Reconnecting in 5.0s` | Harmless in that kit’s headless mode. | | `that password does not unlock the existing conf/.password_verification` | The kit’s settings file changed after setup. Ask your assistant to redo the credential step. | | `this export is a 'recipe' strategy` | Volatility Harvest recipes are signals only. Choose a trend rule. | ## Hosting service messages These are written by Archon’s own hosting service, not by your account’s engine. You should never need to act on them, but if support quotes one: | Message | Meaning | | --- | --- | | `ARCHON_VAULT_KEY is not set; hosted trading is off` | The hosting server started without its master key, so it cannot open any stored API key. Hosted trading pauses until it is fixed. Your positions are untouched. | | `ARCHON_VAULT_KEY must be 32 random bytes, base64-encoded` | The master key was misconfigured. Same effect as above. | | `the stored key does not open with this master key and account` | A stored API key could not be decrypted for this account. Reconnect your API wallet from the app. | ## Still stuck Write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest). Say which wallet you signed in with, the time, and the exact message you saw. Never put a key or a seed phrase in an email. Nobody at Archon will ask for one by email; the only key Archon takes is an API wallet key, pasted into the app. Self-hosted: ask your assistant first. If it cannot solve it, ask it to gather the engine’s recent output with the API key removed, and send that with your message. --- # FAQ Source: https://archon.quest/docs/faq/ Straight answers to the questions people ask before and after they start. ## Before you start ### What is Archon, in one sentence? Software that runs a published trend rule on your own Hyperliquid account: it holds a market while its trend is up and nothing while it is not, at 1x, and stops itself if the account falls 30% from its peak. ### Will it make me money? On the months it had never seen, from 1 Dec 2025, the frozen rule made +41.5% against +44.8% for holding the same 32 markets, and its worst fall was −13.9% against holding’s −41.8%. That is most of the upside for a third of the downside, and the research desk works every day to push returns higher. Like any trading, it can lose money. [Strategies](https://archon.quest/docs/strategies/) has the full picture. The fine print On the full history Hyperliquid serves, the frozen rule made +150.0% against +101.7% for holding the same 32 markets. It was chosen on that history, so those figures flatter it. The unseen months above are the fairer test. ### Who is it for? People who want exposure to crypto’s big trends without sitting through its collapses, and who prefer a written rule to their own judgement in the moment. ### Do I need to be technical? Not for Archon Hosted. You connect a wallet, create one key on Hyperliquid and paste it in. Self-hosting needs an AI assistant such as Claude Code or Codex, which does the technical part and can answer questions from these docs. ### Is Archon affiliated with Hyperliquid? No. Archon is independent software that trades on Hyperliquid through its public interface, like many other tools. Hyperliquid has not reviewed or endorsed it. ### Why Hyperliquid? It is a fully on-chain exchange: your funds sit in your own account, every trade is public, and it lets you give a program a key that can trade without being able to withdraw. That is what makes Archon possible without ever holding your money. ## Money and safety ### Does Archon hold my money? No. Your funds stay in your Hyperliquid account. Archon is given an API wallet, which signs orders for the account. ### Can Archon withdraw my funds? On testnet, on 28 Oct 2026, a withdrawal and two transfers signed with an API wallet were refused and the balance did not move. We will repeat the test on mainnet before real-money accounts go live. Your main wallet, which can withdraw, is never shared. See [Safety and custody](https://archon.quest/docs/safety/). ### What happens if Archon’s servers go down? Your positions stay on Hyperliquid exactly as they were. Nothing watches them until the engine is back, and then it carries on from what the account actually holds. ### What if Archon goes out of business? Your funds were never with Archon, so there is nothing to recover. Your positions are on Hyperliquid and you can close them yourself in Hyperliquid’s app at any time. ### Can I lose more than I put in? The engine never uses leverage above 1x and never shorts, so its own positions never exceed the account’s value. Your losses are limited to what is in the account; the 30% halt is designed to stop the fall well before that. ### How do I stop it? Pause new trades, close everything, disconnect, or replace the API wallet on Hyperliquid, which cuts Archon off at once. See [Controls](https://archon.quest/docs/controls/). ## How it trades ### How often does it trade? The rules decide on 4-hour candles. In the unseen slice, from 1 Dec 2025 to 22 Oct 2026, the frozen rule averaged about 8 buys and sells per market. Days with no trades at all are normal. ### Why does it buy after a market has already gone up? That is what a trend rule does. It waits for evidence that a trend has started, a new 200-candle high for the frozen rule, and accepts missing the first part of the move in exchange for not buying every dip in a falling market. ### Why did it sell, and then the price went up? The rule sells when the trend breaks by its definition. Sometimes the trend resumes; the rule will buy again if it makes a new high. Those false exits are the cost of getting out early when a fall is real. ### Can I choose which markets it trades? The listed rules trade the 32-market universe they were tested on. You can limit how much of the account they use with the capital cap, and choose fewer slots for larger positions. ### Does it use stop-losses? Not per position. The rule’s exit is its stop: below the 200-candle average, Breadth Trend sells. Above every market sits the account-wide 30% halt. ### What about funding? Perpetual positions pay or receive funding every hour while they are open; longs usually pay. Archon’s published results leave it out. The one funding rate the research observed was BTC at 10.95% a year, and it is only paid while a position is held. ## Hosted or self-hosted ### Which should I choose? Hosted if you want nothing to install and nothing to keep running. Self-hosted if you want your trading key to never leave your own machine, and you have, or are happy to set up, an AI coding assistant and a machine that stays on. ### Can I switch later? Yes, either way. Early access covers both. ### Is the self-hosted engine the same as the hosted one? Yes. The same code runs both. ## Paying ### Why crypto only? You already hold it to trade on Hyperliquid, and an on-chain payment can be checked by anyone. There is no card on file to be charged by mistake. ### Does hosting renew by itself? No. Crypto cannot be pulled from your wallet, and we would not want it to be. You send each payment yourself, for one, six or twelve months, and the dashboard reminds you before the paid period ends. ### What happens if my hosting runs out? Nothing is sold for you. New positions stop, and each held position leaves when the rule exits it. Once the account is flat, Archon deletes its copy of your key. See [Billing](https://archon.quest/docs/billing/#when-hosting-ends). ### Is hosting free on testnet? Yes, during the preview. You pay for a hosting pack only to be hosted on mainnet, with real money. ## Testnet and mainnet ### What is testnet? Hyperliquid’s practice network. It works like the real one with play money from a faucet. Archon runs on it exactly as it would with real funds. ### When can I use real money? After your account has run on testnet for 7 days without an incident, and only when you choose to. Testnet opens on 30 Oct 2026. ## Getting help ### How do I reach a person? Write to [support@archon.quest](mailto:support@archon.quest). Say which wallet you signed in with, the time, and the exact message you saw. Never put a key or a seed phrase in an email. Nobody at Archon will ask for one by email; the only key Archon takes is an API wallet key, pasted into the app. ### Can my AI assistant answer my questions? If you self-host, yes, and it is usually the fastest way. It can read every page of these docs from [llms-full.txt](https://archon.quest/llms-full.txt) and look at your engine directly. Archon Hosted customers can write to us instead. --- # Glossary Source: https://archon.quest/docs/glossary/ Every term these docs use, in plain words. **4-hour candle.** A summary of four hours of trading in one market: the price it opened at, its high, its low and where it closed. Archon’s rules read only the close, and only once the candle has finished. **Account value (equity).** What the Hyperliquid account is worth right now: its cash plus the value of open positions. **API wallet.** A separate key that a Hyperliquid account authorises to sign orders for it. It is what you give Archon. Your main wallet stays with you. Hyperliquid also calls it an agent wallet. **Basis point (bp, bps).** One hundredth of a percent. 5 bps is 0.05%. **Builder fee.** A fee Hyperliquid lets an app attach to orders it sends, paid to the app. Archon’s is up to 1 bp of each order’s value, on mainnet only, and only after you approve it. **Buy and hold, holding.** Buying the same markets the rule trades on the same day it starts, and doing nothing after. Every Archon result is compared with it. **Capital cap.** The most of your account, in US dollars, that Archon sizes positions from (“Limit to part of my account” in the app). Empty means the whole account. **Channel high.** The highest close over the last N candles. Breadth Trend buys when the close sets a new one. **Close all.** A control (“Close everything” in the app) that sells every position Archon manages and opens nothing until trading is turned back on. **Cross margin.** A Hyperliquid margin mode where every position shares the account’s collateral. Archon sets 1x cross before each entry. **Crossover.** A rule that holds a market while a faster moving average sits above a slower one. **Cycle.** One pass of the engine: read the account, read the rule, place the difference. It runs every few minutes. **Drawdown, worst fall.** How far an account has fallen from its highest point so far, as a percentage. The worst fall is the largest drawdown over a period. **Early access.** The one-time $500 membership that opens the app, the catalogue, the dashboard and the self-host runbook. **Flat.** Holding nothing in a market. **Forward test.** A test on prices that did not exist when the rule was frozen, with the dates fixed in advance. Archon’s closes on 14 November 2026. **Funding.** A payment between longs and shorts on a perpetual, every hour, that keeps its price near the underlying market. Longs usually pay. Archon’s published results leave it out. **Halt.** The engine’s account-wide stop: at a 30% fall from the peak, it sells everything it manages and opens nothing until a person re-arms it. **Immediate-or-cancel (IOC).** An order that fills at once, fully or in part, and cancels whatever does not fill. Archon uses only these, so nothing is ever left on the book. **In sample.** The prices a rule was chosen on. Results there flatter the rule. **Leverage.** Holding positions worth more than the account. Archon never does: 1x means positions worth at most the account. **Listing bar.** The test a rule must pass to be offered: beat holding the same coins, charged the same fees and funding, on return by 5 points, with a worst fall no deeper than holding’s. A listed rule that falls short is marked as being upgraded and keeps trading until a stronger rule replaces it. **Long.** Holding a market, to profit if its price rises. **Mainnet.** Hyperliquid’s real network, with real money. **Median.** The middle value when results are sorted. Archon ranks rules by their median market, because an average can be carried by one runaway market. **Momentum rule.** A rule that holds a market while its price is above where it was N candles ago. **Moving average (SMA).** The average close of the last N candles. A simple moving average weights each one equally. **Out of sample.** Prices a rule was not chosen on. The fairer test. **Pause.** A control (“Pause new trades” in the app) that stops new positions while exits keep running. **Peak.** The highest value the account has reached, adjusted for deposits and withdrawals. The halt is measured from it. **Perpetual (perp).** A futures contract with no expiry date, which tracks a market’s price through funding. Hyperliquid’s main product. **Re-arm.** Clearing a halt after looking at why it happened. The peak restarts from the account’s value at that moment. **Runbook.** A step-by-step instruction file written for an AI assistant. The self-host runbook tells Claude Code or Codex how to install and run Archon safely. **Seed phrase.** The 12 or 24 words that control a wallet. Nothing in Archon ever needs it. Never share it. **Short.** A position that profits if the price falls. Archon’s rules never hold one. **Slippage.** The difference between the price a model assumes and the price a real order gets. Archon’s published results assume none; live orders cross up to 1% to fill. **Slot.** One equal share of the account. A new position takes one slot and keeps its size until the rule exits it. **Soak.** A period of running on testnet without incident before mainnet. Seven days for each Archon account. **Survivorship.** The bias from testing only on markets that still exist and are still liquid today. Archon’s tests have it, and say so. **Testnet.** Hyperliquid’s practice network, with play money from a faucet. **Unified account.** A Hyperliquid account mode where spot and perpetual balances share one USDC balance. Archon works with it and with the standard mode. **Walk-forward.** Choosing rules on earlier prices, then running them once on later prices they were not chosen on.