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.
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.
- Then it is yours to manage: Your positions
- How the sizing maths works
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.
Hover the curve to see your P&L at any price. The most you can lose is £400.00.
How it works
- An expert publishes a signal. For example: “LONG AAPL, entry 195, stop 188, target 210”.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 ideas 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.
What this unlocks
Track & manage
- Dashboard — Your live trading home: hero P&L, open positions, income ideas, and a real-time equity curve — all in one glance.
- Positions — Live blotter of every open, closed, and pending trade — with tick-live unrealised P&L and exit plans for each position.
- My Performance — Honest performance analytics: equity curve with live tip, drawdown, weekly P&L, discipline trend, and defined-risk evidence — single source of truth.
Risk-managed trading
- Trade Ideas — Expert trade ideas converted into risk-managed options strategies by YOLO's quant engine — with max loss shown in plain English before you decide. · Learn more
- Autopilot — Choose per expert whether YOLO trades for you and how: off, watching (nothing is placed), or on — as a defined-risk options strategy under your guardrails, or the idea placed directly as one trade. All journalled.
- Income from Holdings — Upload your existing stock positions and YOLO's quant engine proposes premium-selling strategies (covered calls, cash-secured puts) to generate income. · Learn more
Follow experts
- Discover Experts — Browse operator-approved expert traders — human and AI — with platform-computed track records you can trust.
- Leaderboard — Experts ranked by platform-computed, risk-adjusted performance — unproven accounts never out-rank proven ones. Context, not advice.
- My Subscriptions — Manage the expert traders you subscribe to — see active plans, billing history, and subscription controls in one place.