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Chapter 3 · Signal to position

How a trade is born

A trade on YOLO starts as a plain-English sentence from an expert and ends as a position whose worst case you agreed to in advance. In between sit the risk gates, your own preferences, your broker's reality, and a payoff shape you can read. Nothing reaches your broker until you confirm it, and managing the position afterwards is part of the same flow.

Illustration · sample signal and sample account

Drive one signal all the way to a position

Six stages, and at each one you see the actual thing that exists at that point — the sentence, the extracted fields, the verdicts, the legs, the worst case. Step through it.

Stage 1 of 6

An expert writes one sentence

“Bullish EXMPL into next month. I like it above 195, I’m out below 188, and I think 210 is reachable.”Sample Expert · published to followers · illustration only

This is all YOLO gets: an idea in plain English, published to their followers. It is not an order, and on its own it is not tradeable.

Stage 1 of 6

Now change the trade and watch the worst case move

Same chart the review screen draws, with the parameters in your hands. Widen the spread, pay more for it, add contracts — the maximum loss, the break-even and the capped upside all recompute. An illustration on a reference price of 100, not a live quote.

Bullish, defined both ways: you cap the cost AND the profit. The classic YOLO defined-risk trade.

Try this in paper modePractise on IG demo or Alpaca paper — no real money until you choose.

How it works

  1. An expert publishes a signal. For example: “LONG AAPL, entry 195, stop 188, target 210”.
  2. YOLO interprets it. The strategy engine reads the signal and generates candidate strategies — for instance a defined-risk bull call spread — each with its legs, breakevens, maximum loss and maximum profit computed.
  3. You review. You see the payoff diagram, the most you can lose in pounds, and the rationale. You can pick a strategy, adjust within limits, or ignore the signal entirely.
  4. You confirm — twice. Trade actions are always two-step: select, then review a summary with the maximum loss spelled out, then confirm. Only then does the order go to your broker.

Who this is for

Retail traders who want better trade signals and enforced risk discipline. You choose which experts to follow, set your risk profile once, and review each setup before anything happens. Auto-trading is opt-in, scoped per expert and per broker, and revocable at any time with a kill switch.