How we decide
to enter a trade
A qualified coin is not automatically traded. Every five minutes, TradeMind ONE runs each coin through four real-time stages. Most coins are held or skipped. Only those that clear every stage result in an order.
← Continues from Part 01 — Coin Selection (Stage 1–3)Most trading systems react when a signal fires. TradeMind ONE first asks whether conditions are right to act on that signal at all.
Four stages evaluate each coin independently, every cycle. Stage 4 checks the environment. Stage 5 scores the opportunity. Stage 6 protects the portfolio. Stage 7 places the order. A coin can have a perfect score and still be held — if the environment is wrong.
The Gatekeeper
Before any model evaluates a coin, four real-time checks must all pass. This prevents the scoring models from running in conditions they were not designed for — and protects capital from being deployed at the wrong moment.
Is the broader crypto market in an environment that supports new long positions? The system reads market structure on the 4-hour timeframe. When conditions are clearly deteriorating, no new entries are opened — for any coin, on any profile.
Is this specific coin moving against the direction of entry? The 1-hour and 15-minute timeframes are checked together. A coin with strong opposing momentum is skipped, regardless of what its score would be.
At this exact moment, is there more selling pressure than buying pressure in the order book? Live Kraken data is read every cycle. A coin with dominant active sell-side volume is not entered.
Is the current bid/ask spread too wide relative to where the stop-loss would be placed? If the cost of entry is more than half the stop distance, the trade cannot be profitable before it even starts.
Conservative applies the strictest thresholds — it is blocked by more conditions. Aggressive tolerates more uncertainty in each filter, but still cannot bypass them. All three profiles respect the same four checks; the tolerance levels differ.
Model routing
The scoring models are not run in every market condition. The combination of current market regime and coin-level trend direction determines which models are even allowed to evaluate a coin in this cycle.
A trend-following model in a falling market will find setups that do not exist. A reversal model in a rising market will miss its only legitimate use case. Routing keeps each model in the context it was designed for.
Conservative is blocked in 7 of 12 possible market conditions. This is not a limitation — it is the profile doing exactly what it was designed for. Safety over participation. When conditions are not right, Conservative makes no entries.
Microstructure intelligence
Most trading systems react to charts. Charts show what prices did. TradeMind ONE also reads what is actually happening in the market right now.
A price chart can look constructive while active selling is already in progress. Candles close every 5 minutes — but selling can intensify in seconds. Microstructure intelligence captures what charts miss.
TradeMind ONE's data collector continuously monitors live transaction flow across all universe coins. It does not look at price. It looks at behaviour — who is actually buying, who is actually selling, and whether that flow is accelerating or reversing.
Of the last 20 and 50 actual trades executed on Kraken, what fraction were buy orders? This is not estimated — it is counted from live transaction data.
Is the buying or selling intensifying? Comparing the short-window and long-window ratios reveals whether the current pressure is building or fading.
How much real volume sits on the buy and sell side of the order book right now? A thin book means price can move sharply against a new position.
When live transaction data shows that nearly all recent trades are sells, no entry is placed regardless of what the chart shows. The market is telling the system something the chart has not yet reflected.
Moderate selling pressure affects profiles differently. Conservative is blocked. Balanced applies a penalty to the model score. Aggressive trades through it with reduced confidence — but only if every other condition is met.
When transaction flow confirms the model signal — active buying, accelerating inflow — microstructure adds confidence to the entry. The system is not just defensive; strong conditions are actively rewarded.
Without microstructure intelligence, a technically valid signal in an active selling environment results in an immediate loss. The chart did not lie — the system just did not know what was happening underneath it. Microstructure closes that gap.
Scoring models
Coins that clear Stage 4 are handed to the scoring layer. Four independent models each evaluate the coin from a different angle. They do not combine their results — the highest-scoring eligible model wins, and its signal drives the entry decision.
Waits for confirmed directional momentum across multiple timeframes. Enters established trends — not at the start. Reliable in persistent directional markets.
Buys structured pullbacks within an existing uptrend. Enters on weakness, not strength — when the pullback stalls and momentum begins recovering.
Identifies explosive price moves with volume confirmation. Designed to capture the impulse phase and exit before the move fades. High selectivity.
Enters counter-trend — when a coin shows signs of exhaustion and reversal. Requires the highest confidence threshold of all four models. Rare, intentional entries.
Aggressive evaluates 272 model-coin combinations every 5 minutes. Conservative evaluates 20. That is not just more trades — it is 13× more analytical work per cycle, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Risk engine
A high model score is not enough. Stage 6 asks a different question: is it safe to take this trade right now, given everything else in the portfolio?
A coin can have a perfect score and still be blocked — because the account already holds too many positions, or because opening this trade would double exposure to a risk already present in the portfolio.
Each profile has a hard limit on simultaneous open positions. When that limit is reached, no new entries are opened — regardless of signal quality.
If the portfolio already holds a position in a coin that moves nearly identically to the candidate, the new entry is blocked. Two correlated positions are not diversification — they are doubled exposure.
After a losing trade on a specific coin, the system waits before re-entering that coin. The conditions that caused the loss may still be present.
If cumulative losses in the current day exceed a threshold, all new entries are suspended for the rest of that day. Existing positions continue to be managed.
When all checks pass, the risk engine calculates position size using the coin's own volatility — not a fixed EUR amount. A volatile coin gets a smaller position; a stable coin gets a larger one. Every trade risks approximately the same EUR amount, regardless of which coin is being traded or what its price is.
Execution
A coin that clears Stages 4 through 6 results in an order placed in your Kraken account via the API connection you configure. Every parameter — entry price, stop-loss, take-profit levels, and position size — is calculated before the order is sent.
Every decision — entry, hold, or skip — is logged with its complete reasoning chain. Which model scored. What the score was. Which filters passed or failed. What the portfolio state was. No decision is a black box.
Charts alone are not enough
TradeMind ONE reads live transaction flow, order book depth, and market regime alongside price. A signal that looks valid on a chart but is happening into active selling is rejected.
No decision is arbitrary
Every entry, hold, and skip is the result of a defined, repeatable process. The same conditions produce the same decision. There is no discretion, no intuition, no override.
The system protects the portfolio, not just the trade
Stage 6 operates at portfolio level. It is not enough for a single trade to look good — the trade must also be safe within the context of everything currently open.
Your profile controls the boundaries
Conservative moves through fewer conditions and takes fewer, higher-confidence trades. Aggressive operates in more contexts but still cannot bypass the same fundamental checks.
Coin selection narrows the market to what is worth evaluating. The execution pipeline determines what is worth trading, right now.
Together, these seven stages form a single, continuous system. Not a collection of indicators. Not a set of rules that can be selectively followed. A deterministic process that runs the same way, every cycle, for every coin — and that can explain every decision it makes.
Part 03 — How we manage and exit a position
Stop-loss · Take-profit · Trailing · Model exits · Coming soon