EpochOMS — User Guide

Overview

EpochOMS is a professional-grade Order Management System with integrated risk analytics, AI-powered signal generation, and automated trading capabilities. This guide covers every feature of the platform in detail.

Quick Start

Log in — Navigate to the EpochOMS URL and enter your credentials. First-time users are assigned the Analyst role by default.

Select your account — Click the account chip in the header (e.g. PAPER ACCOUNT) to switch between paper and live accounts. Always verify you are on Paper before testing.

Review KPI cards — The six cards at the top of the dashboard show Portfolio Value, Day P&L, Open Positions, Today's Trades, Win Rate, and Portfolio Beta at a glance.

Place your first order — The New Order Panel is on the right side of the main screen. Enter a ticker, choose order type, set quantity, and click Place Order.

Monitor signals — The Signals table shows AI-generated BUY / HOLD / SELL recommendations for every ticker in your watchlist.

Check compliance — Visit the Compliance tab to ensure no positions breach concentration limits or regulatory thresholds before end of day.

The Dashboard at a Glance

EpochOMS — Main Dashboard

Portfolio Value

$284,521

Day P&L

+$1,842

Open Positions

Today's Trades

Win Rate

68.2%

Portfolio Beta

0.87

The Dashboard Header — Icon by Icon

The top strip of the dashboard contains several controls. Here is what each one does.

Dashboard Header Bar

☰

🔔

Alerts

PAPER ACCOUNT

OPEN

●

Agent

Element	What it does
☰ Hamburger Menu	Opens the side navigation panel. Groups all secondary pages: Reports, Compliance, Analytics & Tools, Preferences, Admin. See "Navigation — Hamburger Menu Groups" below.
🔔 Bell / Notifications	Shows recent system alerts — price breaches, order fills, risk limit warnings, and agent trade notifications. A coloured dot appears on the bell when there are unread alerts. Click to open the alert drawer.
Account Chip (e.g. PAPER ACCOUNT)	Displays your currently active account. Click to open the account switcher. You can switch between Paper Trading and Live accounts. The chip turns amber when on a live account as a safety reminder.
OPEN / CLOSED Market Status	Shows whether the US stock market is currently open. Green = open for regular trading (09:30–16:00 ET). Red = market closed. Amber = pre-market or after-hours session active.
● Agent Status Dot	Green dot = the trading agent is running and healthy. Grey dot = agent is idle (between scheduled runs). Red dot = agent error — check the agent log in the AI & Auto section.

Watchlist & Favourites

The watchlist is your personal list of tickers you track closely. It appears across the Screener, Signals table, and Portfolio sections, making it your primary universe for signal generation and monitoring.

Default watchlist: 547 instruments across 13 GICS sectors, pre-configured by your administrator. This covers the full S&P 500 + NASDAQ 100 universe, 25+ ETFs (equity, bond, commodity, currency), and international ADRs spanning Europe (BP, SHEL, AZN, SAP, ASML, NVO) and Asia-Pacific (TM, SONY, TSM, INFY).
Custom tickers: Contact your admin to add or remove tickers. Custom additions are reflected within one market day.
Universe toggle: In the Screener tab, toggle between Watchlist view and the full 547-instrument universe. The full universe includes every S&P 500 + NASDAQ 100 member, all ETFs, and international ADRs. Use it for discovery; use Watchlist for daily monitoring.
Sector focus: Use the Screener sector filter pills to narrow results to specific sectors (e.g. Technology, Healthcare), then save the filtered view as a named screen for quick daily access.
Watchlist order: Tickers are sorted alphabetically by default. Signals with BUY ratings always appear at the top of the Signals table regardless of alphabetical order.

Navigation — Hamburger Menu Groups

Click the ☰ icon (top-left of the dashboard) to open the slide-out navigation panel. It is organised into collapsible accordion groups.

Each group expands and collapses independently. The active page is highlighted with an accent border. Groups you don't have permission to access are greyed out — contact your admin to request access.

Reports — generate and download performance and trade reports
Compliance — view breach status, audit trail, and regulatory summaries
Analytics & Tools — advanced tools: back-test, position sizing, options chain, FIX log
Preferences — configure your alert thresholds, watchlist, and display settings
Admin — manually trigger the trading agent, manage users, configure agent parameters (Admin role required)

Chat with Claude (AI Assistant)

EpochOMS includes a built-in AI chat powered by Claude Sonnet. Access it from the AI & Auto section at the bottom of the main dashboard. The panel is always visible — scroll down past the Signals table to find it.

AI Chat — Claude Sonnet

You

My TSLA position is down 8.6%. Should I cut it or average down?

Claude

Based on your current position: TSLA is at $228.40 vs your entry of $250.00 — a loss of $1,080 on 50 shares. Your portfolio beta is 0.87 and TSLA has beta 2.04, meaning it's contributing disproportionate volatility. Before averaging down, consider: (1) RSI is 61 — not oversold, so no technical bounce signal. (2) The $10k approval threshold means any add-on will require Risk Manager sign-off. Recommendation: reduce to half position at market open to cut portfolio beta, then reassess at next earnings.

You

What's my largest sector exposure?

Claude

Your largest sector exposure is Technology at 48.2% of portfolio ($137,098). Healthcare is second at 18.4%. The S&P 500 has Technology at ~29% — you're running 19 percentage points overweight. If you want to rebalance toward market weight, you'd need to sell approximately $54,000 of tech positions.

The AI assistant has read-only access to your current positions, P&L, recent orders, and risk metrics. It cannot place orders on your behalf — any trade action must be submitted manually through the New Order Panel.

Good questions to ask: "What's my biggest risk?", "Which positions should I review?", "Explain my drawdown this week", "What does my correlation matrix tell me?", "Which sector am I most exposed to?", "Give me a summary of today's agent trades"
The AI remembers the context of your conversation within the session but starts fresh each time you reload the page.
Responses reference live portfolio data pulled at the time you ask — the numbers are current, not cached.

Orders

The Orders tab shows your complete order history with real-time status updates. Every order placed — manually or by the automated agent — appears here.

Finding the New Order Panel

The New Order Panel (NOP) lives on the RIGHT side of the main dashboard screen. It is always visible — you do not need to navigate away from the dashboard to place a trade. Scroll right on smaller screens if it is not immediately visible.

New Order Panel

BUY

SELL

SHORT

Last: $189.20 | Bid: $189.18 | Ask: $189.22

MARKET

LIMIT

STOP

STOP-LIM

DAY

GTC

IOC

FOK

Est. Value: $18,920 | Commission: $0.00 | Requires Approval: No

PLACE ORDER

Enter a ticker — Type the stock symbol (e.g. AAPL, MSFT, TSLA). The system fetches the live quote instantly.

Choose BUY or SELL — BUY to open or add to a long position. SELL to reduce or close. SHORT to open a short position (requires Short Seller permission).

Select order type — MARKET executes immediately at best available price. LIMIT only executes at your specified price or better. STOP triggers a market order when price hits the stop level. STOP-LIMIT combines both.

Set quantity — Number of shares (whole numbers only for equities). The estimated order value updates in real time below.

Choose Time in Force — DAY: cancel at close if not filled. GTC: Good Till Cancelled (persists across sessions). IOC: Immediate Or Cancel (fill what you can, cancel the rest). FOK: Fill Or Kill (fill everything or cancel entirely).

Review pre-trade summary — Check estimated value, commission, and whether the order requires Risk Manager approval. Then click PLACE ORDER.

Pre-Trade Risk Gauges

Before you submit any order, the system runs an automatic pre-trade check and shows the results in the estimate bar beneath the order form.

Gauge	What it means
Est. Value	Quantity × current market price. This is the notional cost of the trade, not cash required (which may differ for margin accounts).
Commission	Estimated brokerage fee. EpochOMS uses a simulated zero-commission model in paper mode. Live mode fees depend on your broker configuration.
Concentration	What % of your total portfolio this position would represent after the trade. A warning appears if the resulting position exceeds 20% of portfolio value.
Market Impact	Estimated price slippage for large orders relative to average daily volume. Shown for orders exceeding 1% of ADV.
Requires Approval	"Yes" appears (in amber) when the order value exceeds $10,000. The order will be placed in PENDING APPROVAL status until a Risk Manager reviews and approves it.

Reading the Order Status

Each order in the Orders tab has a status badge. Here is what each status means.

◯

PENDING — The order has been submitted to the system and is waiting to be sent to the market. This status is usually momentary on market orders during trading hours.

PENDING

⚠

PENDING APPROVAL — The order value exceeds $10,000 and is waiting for a Risk Manager to review and approve it. The order will not be sent to the market until approved. You will receive an alert notification when it is approved or rejected.

PEND. APPR.

✓

FILLED — The order executed in full at the market. The fill price and timestamp are recorded in the order detail view.

FILLED

▶

PARTIALLY FILLED — Some shares have been filled but the remainder is still working in the market. Common for large orders or illiquid tickers. The order remains active until fully filled, cancelled, or expired.

PART FILL

CANCELLED — The order was cancelled. Reason may be: (1) you manually cancelled it, (2) the Time in Force expired (DAY orders cancelled at market close), or (3) the system cancelled it due to a pre-trade breach detected after submission.

CANCELLED

🚫

REJECTED — The order was rejected. This means either a Risk Manager declined the approval request, or the system's pre-trade risk check found a hard breach (e.g. position would exceed the portfolio concentration hard limit of 30%). Click the order to see the rejection reason.

REJECTED

Order History Table

Orders — History

Time	Ticker	Side	Type	Qty	Price	Value	Status	Source
14:02:31	AAPL	BUY	MARKET	50	$189.20	$9,460	FILLED	AGENT
14:02:29	MSFT	BUY	LIMIT	30	$415.00	$12,450	PEND APPR	AGENT
11:45:07	TSLA	SELL	MARKET	25	$228.40	$5,710	FILLED	MANUAL
09:31:22	NVDA	BUY	STOP-LIM	10	$875.00	$8,750	REJECTED	MANUAL

The Source column tells you whether the order was placed by the automated trading agent (AGENT) or by a human trader (MANUAL). This is important for audit and compliance purposes.

Order Types — Reference

Type	When to use
MARKET	You want to execute immediately at the best available price. Use for highly liquid stocks where slippage is minimal. Avoid for illiquid names or large quantities.
LIMIT	You want to buy at or below a specific price (or sell at or above it). The order may not fill if the market never reaches your price.
STOP	A market order that activates only when the stock hits your stop price. Commonly used as a stop-loss to exit a losing position automatically.
STOP-LIMIT	Like a stop, but instead of becoming a market order, it becomes a limit order at your specified limit price. Gives price control but risks non-fill if the stock gaps through your limit.

Portfolio

The Portfolio tab shows your current holdings, P&L breakdown, sector allocation, and position-level metrics. It is the primary view for understanding what you own and how it is performing.

Positions Table

Portfolio — Positions

Ticker	Sector	Qty	Avg Cost	Last	MktVal	Unrealised P&L	% Port	Beta
AAPL	Tech	150	$172.40	$189.20	$28,380	+$2,520 (+9.8%)	10.0%	1.12
MSFT	Tech	80	$390.10	$415.00	$33,200	+$1,992 (+6.4%)	11.7%	0.94
TSLA	Cons. Discr.	50	$250.00	$228.40	$11,420	-$1,080 (-8.6%)	4.0%	2.04
JNJ	Healthcare	60	$155.80	$162.40	$9,744	+$396 (+4.2%)	3.4%	0.58

Column Definitions

Column	What it means
Avg Cost	Your volume-weighted average purchase price across all fills for this position. This is your cost basis per share.
Last	Most recent traded price (real-time during market hours, 15-min delayed outside hours).
Mkt Val	Quantity × Last price. The current market value of your holding.
Unrealised P&L	(Last − Avg Cost) × Quantity. Profit or loss if you were to close the position right now. Only becomes "realised" when you actually sell.
% Port	This position's market value as a percentage of total portfolio value. Positions above 20% trigger a soft concentration warning.
Beta	How much the stock moves relative to the S&P 500. Beta 1.0 = moves with the market. Beta 2.0 = moves twice as much. Beta 0.5 = moves half as much. Negative beta = moves opposite to the market.

Sector Allocation

Below the positions table, a bar chart shows your sector weights versus the S&P 500 benchmark. Sectors where you are significantly overweight (>10 percentage points above benchmark) are highlighted in amber.

P&L Summary

Today's Realised

+$842

Unrealised Total

+$5,240

Total Return

+6.7%

Realised P&L is locked in — it is the profit or loss from positions you have already closed.
Unrealised P&L fluctuates with market prices. It is paper profit/loss until you sell.
Total Return = (Current Portfolio Value − Starting Capital) ÷ Starting Capital × 100.

Closing or Trimming a Position

Click any row in the positions table to expand its detail panel.

Click "Close Position" to sell all shares at market, or "Partial Close" to specify the quantity to sell.

Review the pre-trade summary (estimated proceeds, tax lot if applicable) and confirm.

The order appears in the Orders tab. If the value exceeds $10,000, it will require Risk Manager approval before execution.

Risk

The Risk tab provides a comprehensive view of your portfolio's risk exposure across multiple dimensions: concentration, volatility, factor exposure, drawdown, and correlation.

Key Risk Metrics

Portfolio VaR (95%, 1D)

$4,820

Max Drawdown (MTD)

-3.2%

Portfolio Beta

0.87

Sharpe Ratio (30D)

1.42

Metric Definitions

Metric	What it means and when to act
VaR (95%, 1D)	Value at Risk — the maximum loss you would expect to suffer on 95% of trading days. If VaR is $4,820, there is a 5% chance of losing more than $4,820 in a single day. If VaR is rising, your portfolio volatility is increasing.
Max Drawdown	The largest peak-to-trough decline over the period. A -3.2% MTD drawdown means your portfolio is currently 3.2% below its highest point this month. Drawdowns above 10% typically trigger a review meeting.
Portfolio Beta	The portfolio's sensitivity to the S&P 500. Beta 0.87 means if the S&P falls 1%, your portfolio would be expected to fall ~0.87%. Below 1.0 = defensive posture. Above 1.0 = aggressive.
Sharpe Ratio	Return per unit of risk (standard deviation). Above 1.0 is good. Above 2.0 is excellent. Below 0 means you are taking risk without being compensated by returns.
Sortino Ratio	Like Sharpe but only penalises downside volatility (ignores upside swings). More relevant for trading strategies. Above 1.5 is considered good.

Concentration Risk

The heatmap below the metrics shows position concentration by ticker and by sector. Cells turn amber when a single position exceeds 15% of portfolio, and red when it exceeds 25%.

Correlation Matrix

The correlation matrix shows how your positions move relative to each other. Highly correlated positions (above 0.8) do not provide true diversification — when one falls, the other will likely fall too. Aim for a portfolio where most pairs are below 0.6.

Correlation Matrix (sample)

—

AAPL

MSFT

TSLA

JNJ

AAPL

1.00

0.82

0.54

0.18

MSFT

0.82

1.00

0.49

0.22

TSLA

0.54

0.49

1.00

0.11

JNJ

0.18

0.22

0.11

1.00

High (>0.7) Moderate (0.4–0.7) Low (<0.4)

Risk Limits

Limit	Soft Warning	Hard Limit	Action at Hard Limit
Single Position	20% of portfolio	30% of portfolio	Order rejected by pre-trade check
Single Sector	40% of portfolio	60% of portfolio	Order requires approval regardless of size
Daily Loss	2% of portfolio	5% of portfolio	All new orders blocked until next day
Order Value	—	$10,000 per order	Order goes to Pending Approval queue

Screener

The Screener lets you filter and rank instruments from your watchlist or the full 547-instrument universe (S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, ETFs, international ADRs) based on technical, fundamental, and momentum criteria.

Using the Screener

Screener — Filters

Watchlist

S&P 500

Technology

Healthcare

Financials

Energy

Industrials

Utilities

Materials

BUY signals only

RSI < 30

RSI > 70

Above MA20

Score > 70

Symbol	Price	RSI	MA20	P/E	Mom 20D	Score	Signal
NVDA	$875.40	72.4	Above	34.2	+18.4%	91	BUY
AAPL	$189.20	58.1	Above	28.6	+7.2%	78	BUY
AMZN	$184.60	61.3	Above	40.1	+9.8%	74	BUY
META	$492.30	55.2	Above	24.8	+5.1%	62	HOLD
INTC	$30.20	28.4	Below	N/A	-14.2%	21	SELL

Column Reference

Column	What it means
Symbol	Stock ticker abbreviation — the unique identifier used on exchanges (e.g. AAPL = Apple Inc.).
Price	Last traded price. Real-time during market hours (09:30–16:00 ET), 15-minute delayed outside market hours.
RSI	Relative Strength Index (0–100). Below 30 = oversold (potential buy signal). Above 70 = overbought (potential sell signal). Between 30–70 = neutral range.
MA20	Whether the current price is Above or Below the 20-day simple moving average. "Above" = short-term bullish. "Below" = short-term bearish.
MA20 Cross	Whether a crossover happened recently — i.e. price just crossed the 20-day moving average within the last 3 trading days. A recent cross is a more significant signal than a sustained above/below condition.
P/E	Price-to-Earnings ratio (stock price ÷ earnings per share). Measures how expensive the stock is relative to its earnings. "N/A" means the company has no positive earnings (it is loss-making).
EPS	Earnings Per Share in dollars — the company's profit divided by the number of shares outstanding. Negative EPS = the company is losing money.
Mkt Cap	Total market capitalisation = share price × total shares outstanding. Large cap (>$10B), Mid cap ($2B–$10B), Small cap (<$2B).
Momentum 20D	Price return over the last 20 trading days (approximately one calendar month), expressed as a percentage. Strong positive momentum = stock has been trending up. Negative = trending down.
Volume	Number of shares traded today. When shown as a ratio (e.g. 1.8×), it means today's volume is 1.8 times the 20-day average volume. High volume confirms price moves.
Score	EpochOMS composite score from 0 to 100, combining RSI, MA position, momentum, volume, and P/E signals with the active strategy's weightings. Above 70 = BUY, 40–70 = HOLD, below 40 = SELL.
Signal	The actionable recommendation generated from the Score: BUY (score >70), HOLD (40–70), or SELL (<40). The agent only places orders on tickers with BUY or ADD MORE signals.

Saving a Screen

After applying filters, click Save Screen (top-right of the screener panel) to name and save your filter configuration. Saved screens appear in the Screener sidebar for one-click access. Your saved screens are private to your user account.

Options Trading

EpochOMS includes a full options trading module. Access it from Analytics & Tools → Options Trading in the hamburger menu. Options are derivatives — contracts that give you the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell a stock at a fixed price before a specified date.

Options in Plain English

A Call option gives you the right to buy a stock at the strike price. You buy calls when you expect the stock to rise.
A Put option gives you the right to sell a stock at the strike price. You buy puts when you expect the stock to fall, or as portfolio insurance.
The strike price is the price at which you can exercise the option — buy (call) or sell (put) the shares.
The expiry date is the last date the contract is valid. After expiry, the option is worthless if not exercised.
The premium is the price you pay for the option contract. One contract covers 100 shares.
Leverage: A $2.00 option premium controls $100 worth of stock (for a $100 stock). This leverage magnifies both gains and losses.

Maximum loss on a long option is always limited to the premium paid. You cannot lose more than what you paid for the contract.

Reading the Options Chain

The options chain lists all available contracts for a given stock and expiry date. Calls are on the left, puts are on the right, and strike prices run down the middle. The row highlighted in amber is the at-the-money (ATM) strike — closest to the current stock price.

Options Chain — AAPL | Exp: 21 Jun 2026 | Spot: $189.20

Last	Bid	Ask	Vol	OI	IV%	Delta	Strike	Delta	IV%	OI	Vol	Ask	Bid	Last
14.80	14.70	14.90	2,841	18,402	28.4%	0.72	180	-0.28	27.1%	12,100	980	5.50	5.40	5.45
10.20	10.10	10.30	4,120	24,800	27.8%	0.61	185	-0.39	27.2%	19,500	2,100	6.40	6.30	6.35
6.40	6.30	6.50	8,900	42,100	26.9%	0.50	190 ◀ ATM	-0.50	27.0%	38,200	7,400	7.20	7.10	7.15
3.60	3.50	3.70	5,200	31,000	27.3%	0.38	195	-0.62	28.1%	22,400	3,800	9.90	9.80	9.85
1.80	1.75	1.85	3,100	19,800	28.0%	0.25	200	-0.75	29.2%	14,600	1,900	13.40	13.30	13.35

Chain Column Definitions

Column	What it means
Strike	The fixed price at which you can buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying stock when exercising the option.
Last	The most recent transaction price for this option contract.
Bid / Ask	The current best buy (bid) and sell (ask) prices. The spread between bid and ask is your immediate cost of entry. Wide spreads = illiquid contract, avoid.
Volume	Number of contracts traded today. Higher volume = more liquid, tighter fills.
Open Interest (OI)	Total number of outstanding contracts that have not been settled. High OI = active market with many participants.
IV%	Implied Volatility — the market's expectation of future price movement, expressed as an annualised percentage. Higher IV = more expensive options (higher premiums). IV often spikes before earnings.
Delta	How much the option price changes per $1 move in the stock. Call delta ranges 0 to 1.0; put delta ranges -1.0 to 0. ATM options have ~0.50 delta. Delta also approximates the probability the option will expire in the money.

ITM / ATM / OTM Explained

In The Money (ITM)

For a call: strike is below the current stock price (it has intrinsic value — you could exercise and profit immediately). For a put: strike is above current price. ITM options are more expensive but have higher delta (move more with the stock).

At The Money (ATM)

Strike is at or very close to the current stock price. ATM options have the most time value and ~0.50 delta. These are the most actively traded and typically have the tightest bid-ask spreads.

Out of The Money (OTM)

For a call: strike is above current price (needs the stock to rise further to have value). For a put: strike is below current price. OTM options are cheaper but have lower probability of expiring with value.

The Greeks — Plain English

Greek	Symbol	What it means in practice
Delta	Δ	How much your option position makes or loses per $1 move in the stock. A delta of 0.60 means for every $1 the stock rises, the call option gains $0.60 (or $60 per contract of 100 shares).
Gamma	Γ	The rate of change of delta. High gamma means delta changes rapidly — your position becomes more sensitive as the stock moves toward your strike. ATM options have the highest gamma.
Theta	Θ	Time decay — how much the option loses in value per day just from the passage of time, all else equal. If theta is -0.05, the option loses $5 per day per contract. Theta accelerates as expiry approaches (the last 30 days are the steepest decay).
Vega	V	Sensitivity to implied volatility. If vega is 0.15, a 1% rise in IV increases the option's value by $0.15 ($15 per contract). Long options benefit from rising IV; short options benefit from falling IV.
Rho	ρ	Sensitivity to interest rates. Generally the least impactful greek for short-dated options. Matters more for long-dated LEAPS (options expiring 1–2 years out).

IV Surface

The IV Surface (or volatility surface) is a 3D heatmap showing implied volatility across all strikes (x-axis) and expiry dates (y-axis). Access it via the "IV Surface" button in the options module.

Volatility Smile: IV tends to be higher for deep ITM and OTM strikes than for ATM. This creates a "smile" shape when plotted.
Volatility Skew: For equity options, puts typically have higher IV than calls at the same distance from ATM — this is the put skew, reflecting demand for downside protection.
Term Structure: Near-term IV is often higher than long-term IV during market stress (inverted). In calm markets, longer-dated IV is typically higher (normal).
Use the surface to identify relatively cheap or expensive strikes before entering a position.

P&L Scenario Chart

The P&L Scenario chart (sometimes called a payoff diagram) shows the profit or loss of your option position at expiry for a range of stock prices. It is essential before entering any options trade.

Long call: Flat loss equal to the premium paid below the strike, then unlimited upside above (strike + premium).
Long put: Flat loss equal to premium above the strike, then increasing profit as the stock falls.
Covered call: Capped upside (you've sold the upside), but premium received reduces your effective cost basis.
The chart also shows the break-even price — the stock price at expiry where you neither profit nor lose.

Trading Strategies

EpochOMS has 7 built-in trading strategies. The AI agent runs them automatically on the configured schedule — weekdays at 14:00, 17:00, and 19:00 UTC. Each run fetches live prices, applies the active strategy, generates signals, and places qualifying orders.

Only one strategy is active at a time. The active strategy is shown in the Strategy Profile card on the dashboard. You can change the active strategy via Admin → Agent Config. The signal score threshold (default: 70) determines which signals become actual orders.

The 7 Built-In Strategies

1. Momentum

Aggressive

Ranks all watchlist stocks by their 20-day price return. Buys the top performers (top decile), trims or avoids the laggards (bottom decile). The underlying thesis is that recent outperformers tend to continue outperforming in the short term.

Best market: Trending, directional markets with clear sector leadership.
Worst market: Choppy, sideways, or mean-reverting markets where recent winners become tomorrow's losers.
Signal: 20D return rank in top 10% = BUY; bottom 10% = SELL.

2. Mean Reversion

Moderate

Buys stocks that have fallen sharply and are technically oversold (RSI below 30), expecting them to bounce back toward their historical average. Sells or avoids overbought stocks (RSI above 70). Contrarian by nature — it bets against recent price direction.

Best market: Range-bound, sideways markets where prices oscillate around a mean.
Worst market: Strong sustained downtrends — oversold stocks keep getting more oversold.
Signal: RSI < 30 = BUY candidate; RSI > 70 = SELL candidate.

3. MA Crossover

Moderate

Uses the relationship between the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages. When the faster MA50 crosses above the slower MA200, it signals a bullish trend change (Golden Cross). When MA50 crosses below MA200, it signals a bearish change (Death Cross).

Best market: Long-term trending markets with clear macro direction.
Worst market: Whipsaw markets that repeatedly cross and re-cross the MAs, generating false signals.
Signal: MA50 > MA200 and recently crossed = BUY; MA50 < MA200 and recently crossed = SELL.

4. Value

Conservative

Targets stocks with low P/E ratios relative to their GICS sector peers, assuming the market will eventually recognise undervaluation and reprice the stock higher. Patient strategy — rebalances infrequently (monthly). Avoids loss-making companies (N/A P/E).

Best market: Long-horizon investing, value rotation phases of the economic cycle.
Worst market: Growth-led bull markets where expensive stocks keep getting more expensive.
Signal: P/E in bottom 20% of sector = BUY; P/E in top 20% = overvalued, avoid.

5. Multi-Strategy

Moderate

Combines signals from Momentum, Mean Reversion, and MA Crossover with equal weighting (33% each). A stock must score positively on at least 2 out of 3 strategies to generate an actionable signal. Confirmation requirement makes it more conservative and reduces false positives.

Best market: Any — it adapts by requiring consensus across different signal types.
Worst market: Very fast-moving markets where individual strategies produce better timing alone.
Signal: 2 or 3 of the 3 sub-strategies agree = BUY or SELL; 1 or 0 = HOLD.

6. Volatility Sizing

Moderate

Uses ATR (Average True Range) to dynamically size positions so that each trade risks roughly the same dollar amount regardless of the stock's price or typical daily swing. High-volatility stocks receive smaller position sizes; low-volatility stocks get larger allocations. Does not generate buy/sell signals itself — it modifies the sizing of signals from other strategies.

Best market: Any — it is a risk management overlay, not a directional strategy.
Worst market: N/A — it complements other strategies rather than standing alone.
Signal: Adjusts position size of any trade; does not generate directional BUY/SELL signals independently.

7. Trend Following

Aggressive

Rides established trends using a stack of moving averages (MA20 > MA50 > MA200 = confirmed uptrend across all timeframes). Adds to winners as the trend extends; cuts losers quickly when the stack breaks. Higher portfolio turnover than Value but captures large sustained price moves.

Best market: Strong trending markets with clear macro momentum (bull or bear).
Worst market: Choppy, ranging markets that generate frequent false breakouts.
Signal: All three MAs aligned upward (MA20>MA50>MA200) = strong BUY; all aligned downward = strong SELL.

How to Switch Between Strategies

The currently active strategy is displayed in the Strategy Profile card on the main dashboard (in the AI & Auto section). To change it:

Open the hamburger menu (☰ top-left of dashboard).

Navigate to Admin → Agent Config. This requires the Admin role.

In the Agent Config panel, find the Active Strategy dropdown. Select the desired strategy from the 7 options.

Optionally adjust the Score Threshold (default 70). Orders are only placed for tickers scoring above this threshold.

Click Save Config. The new strategy takes effect on the next scheduled run or immediately if you trigger a manual run via Admin → Run Now.

Understanding the Signals Table

The Signals table is on the main dashboard, below the KPI cards and equity chart. It updates after each agent run and shows the active strategy's assessment of every watchlist ticker.

Signals Table — Active Strategy: Multi-Strategy

Ticker	Signal	Score	20D Mom	RSI	MA Signal	ESG	Sentiment
NVDA	ADD MORE	94	+18.4%	72.1	↑ Above	AA	BULLISH
AAPL	BUY	78	+7.2%	58.1	↑ Above	AAA	NEUTRAL
MSFT	HOLD	61	+4.1%	55.0	↑ Above	AA	NEUTRAL
TSLA	SELL	28	-8.6%	61.2	↓ Below	B	BEARISH

Column	What it means
Signal	ADD MORE (strong buy, score >90), BUY (score 70–90), HOLD (score 40–70), SELL (score <40). Only ADD MORE and BUY signals trigger automated orders.
Score	0–100 composite score from the active strategy. Higher = stronger positive signal. The score threshold in Agent Config determines the minimum to trigger an order.
20D Momentum	Price change over the last 20 trading days as a percentage. This is the raw momentum input to the Momentum and Trend Following strategies.
RSI	Current RSI value. Below 30 = oversold (green). Above 70 = overbought (shown in red as a caution, though high RSI can also mean strong momentum).
MA Signal	Whether the stock price is currently above or below its 20-day moving average. ↑ Above = short-term bullish. ↓ Below = short-term bearish.
ESG	Environmental, Social & Governance rating from the data provider. AAA = best-in-class. CCC = lowest rated. Used as a filter in compliance screens.
Sentiment	AI-powered news sentiment analysis (powered by Claude Haiku) reading the last 48 hours of news headlines for the ticker. BULLISH / BEARISH / NEUTRAL.

Agent Schedule

The trading agent runs automatically on weekdays (Monday–Friday) at three fixed times:

UTC Time	US Eastern	Purpose
14:00 UTC	10:00 AM ET	Opening analysis run — market has been open ~30 minutes, initial price discovery is complete. Agent generates the day's primary signals.
17:00 UTC	1:00 PM ET	Mid-day run — reassesses signals after the morning session. Captures any significant price moves or news that emerged after open.
19:00 UTC	3:00 PM ET	Pre-close run — final signal check before the 4:00 PM ET close. Agent may place closing trades for day-trading strategies.

Each run: fetches live prices → applies active strategy → generates signals → places orders exceeding the score threshold → sends Telegram notification with trade reasoning.

To trigger a manual run at any time: hamburger menu → Admin → Run Now. The run log is visible in AI & Auto section of the dashboard.

Analytics & Tools

EpochOMS includes three professional-grade analytical tools accessed from hamburger menu → Analytics & Tools. These tools help you size positions correctly, validate strategies on historical data, and monitor the FIX connectivity layer.

Position Sizer

Access from Analytics & Tools → Position Sizer. Calculates the optimal number of shares to buy based on your risk tolerance, portfolio size, entry price, and stop loss level. Takes the guesswork out of position sizing.

Position Sizer

Portfolio Value

$284,521

Risk Per Trade

1.00 %

Entry Price

$189.20

Stop Loss Price

$182.00

Recommended Position Size

395 shares

Position value: $74,734 | Capital at risk: $2,844 (1.00%) | Risk/share: $7.20

⚠ Position exceeds 20% concentration limit. Capped at 300 shares ($56,760).

The Formula

Account Risk ($) = Portfolio Value × Risk% = $284,521 × 1% = $2,845
Risk Per Share = Entry Price − Stop Loss = $189.20 − $182.00 = $7.20
Raw Position Size = Account Risk ÷ Risk Per Share = $2,845 ÷ $7.20 = 395 shares
If the resulting position exceeds 20% of portfolio ($56,904), the system automatically caps the recommendation and shows a warning.

Why 1–2% Risk Per Trade?

Professional money managers typically risk 0.5–2% of total capital per trade. At 1% risk, even 10 consecutive losing trades only draw down your portfolio by approximately 10%, preserving enough capital to continue trading. At 5% risk per trade, a 10-loss streak wipes out 40% of the portfolio — a psychological and financial position that is very hard to recover from. The Position Sizer defaults to 1% but allows you to adjust between 0.25% and 5%.

Back Test Engine

Access from Analytics & Tools → Back Test Engine. Tests any of the 7 built-in trading strategies against historical price data before committing real capital. Choose the strategy, the time period (up to 5 years of data), and the universe (watchlist or S&P 500).

What the Results Show

Metric	What it means and what to look for
Equity Curve	A line chart of simulated portfolio value over the test period. Should be generally upward-sloping. Large drawdowns (sharp drops) indicate periods where the strategy fails.
Sharpe Ratio	Risk-adjusted return: (annualised return − risk-free rate) ÷ annualised volatility. Above 1.0 = acceptable. Above 2.0 = excellent. Below 0 = strategy destroys value on a risk-adjusted basis.
Max Drawdown	Worst peak-to-trough portfolio decline during the test period. Below 15% is generally considered acceptable for a diversified strategy. Above 30% suggests the strategy is too risky for most investors.
Win Rate	Percentage of individual trades that were profitable. Note: a strategy can have a win rate below 50% and still be profitable if winners are much larger than losers (high reward-to-risk ratio).
CAGR	Compound Annual Growth Rate — the smoothed annualised return over the entire test period. This is the most comparable figure across different test lengths.
Monte Carlo	500 simulated equity paths generated by randomly shuffling the order of historical trade returns. Shows the range of possible outcomes. The shaded band covers the 10th to 90th percentile of simulated paths.
Walk-Forward IS/OOS	Splits historical data into In-Sample (the period used to select/fit parameters) and Out-of-Sample (a later period the strategy has never seen). Good strategies maintain strong performance in OOS. If OOS performance collapses, the strategy was over-fitted to the training period.

Back-testing caveat: All back-tests assume perfect fills at historical closing prices and do not account for market impact, slippage, or bid-ask spreads. Real-world performance will differ, especially for larger position sizes.

FIX Monitor

Access from Analytics & Tools → FIX Monitor. Displays the live FIX 4.2 protocol message log between EpochOMS and the broker simulator. FIX (Financial Information eXchange) is the industry-standard messaging protocol for order routing between trading systems and brokers.

In the current deployment, EpochOMS operates in SIMULATED mode — orders are sent to an internal broker simulator rather than a real exchange. The FIX Monitor shows the same message types you would see in a live production environment.

FIX Monitor — Session Active

Session Status

ACTIVE

Mode

SIMULATED

Fills Today

Time	Dir	Type	ClOrdID	Symbol	Detail
14:02:31	→	NewOrderSingle=D	ORD-20240517-001	AAPL	New
14:02:31	←	ExecReport=8	ORD-20240517-001	AAPL	Fill @ $189.20
14:02:29	→	NewOrderSingle=D	ORD-20240517-002	MSFT	New
14:00:00	SYS	Heartbeat	—	—	SeqNum 482
09:30:01	→	Logon	—	—	Session established

Column Reference

Column	What it means
Time	Message timestamp in HH:MM:SS (server time, UTC).
Dir	→ = outbound message sent to the broker. ← = inbound message received from the broker. SYS = internal system message (heartbeat, logon/logoff).
Type	FIX message type. Logon = session start. Heartbeat = keep-alive (sent every 30s). NewOrderSingle=D = a new order sent to broker. ExecReport=8 = broker's execution confirmation. CancelReq=F = order cancellation request.
ClOrdID	Client Order ID — your unique identifier for the order, generated by EpochOMS. Allows you to match outbound orders with inbound execution reports.
Symbol	The stock ticker for this FIX message.
Detail	Execution status detail: New (order acknowledged), PartFill (partially filled), Fill (fully filled), Canceled, Rejected.

Compliance

The Compliance tab provides a real-time view of all regulatory and internal risk limit monitoring. It is the authoritative record for audit purposes and must be reviewed before end of day by the compliance officer role.

Compliance Dashboard

Breaches Today

Positions Monitored

Last Audit Export

Today 08:00

Monitored Rules

●

Position Concentration — No single position may exceed 30% of total portfolio value (hard limit). Soft warning at 20%. Currently: Max position 11.7% (MSFT). PASS

AUTO

●

Sector Concentration — No single GICS sector may exceed 60% of portfolio. Soft warning at 40%. Currently: Technology 48.2%. SOFT WARN

AUTO

●

Daily Loss Limit — Trading halted if portfolio loses more than 5% in a single day. Currently: Day P&L +0.65%. PASS

AUTO

●

Order Approval Threshold — Orders above $10,000 require Risk Manager approval. All such orders today: approved. PASS

AUTO

●

ESG Minimum Rating — No new positions in stocks rated below B (CCC or CC). No violations today. PASS

POLICY

Role-Based Access

Role	Orders	Approval	Compliance	Admin	Reports
Admin	Full	Full	Full	Full	Full
Trader	Place/Cancel	None	View	None	Own only
Risk Manager	View	Approve/Reject	Full	None	Full
Compliance	View	None	Full + Export	None	Full
Analyst	View	None	View	None	View
Guest	None	None	None	None	None

Audit Log

Every action in EpochOMS is recorded in the immutable audit log: order placements, approvals, rejections, logins, settings changes, and agent runs. The log is accessible from Compliance → Audit Log and can be exported as a signed PDF or CSV.

Audit entries cannot be edited or deleted — they are append-only.
Each entry includes: timestamp, user ID, action type, affected entity (order ID, ticker, etc.), and the IP address of the request.
Agent-triggered actions are attributed to the SYSTEM_AGENT user ID with the run timestamp.
Exports for regulatory submission are date-range filtered and include a SHA-256 hash for integrity verification.

Alerts

EpochOMS delivers real-time alerts through three channels: the in-app notification bell (🔔), email, and Telegram. Configure your preferences in Preferences → Alert Config.

Alert Types

🔔

Order Filled — Triggered when any order (manual or agent) reaches FILLED status. Includes ticker, quantity, fill price, and P&L impact.

ORDER

⚠

Order Requires Approval — Triggered when an order exceeds the $10,000 threshold and enters PENDING APPROVAL. Sent to the placing trader and all Risk Manager accounts.

ORDER

🚫

Order Rejected — Sent when a Risk Manager rejects a pending approval or when the system rejects an order at the pre-trade check stage.

ORDER

📈

Agent Run Complete — Sent after each automated agent run (14:00, 17:00, 19:00 UTC) with a summary: number of signals generated, orders placed, tickers analysed.

AGENT

🔴

Risk Limit Breach — Sent immediately when any monitored limit is breached: daily loss limit, concentration limit, or sector limit.

RISK

📊

Price Alert — User-configured alerts when a ticker reaches a specified price level (e.g. "alert me when AAPL reaches $200"). Set via the watchlist context menu.

PRICE

📋

Compliance Breach — Sent to Compliance role accounts when any compliance rule changes from PASS to WARN or BREACH status.

COMPLIANCE

📊

Screener Signal (RSI / MA Crossover) — Fired by the live screener background thread every 60 seconds. Triggers when a ticker crosses RSI 30 (oversold), RSI 70 (overbought), or when price crosses the 20-day moving average. Alerts include the ticker, signal type, and a description of the crossing. Delivered via push notification, email (if enabled), and Telegram simultaneously.

SCREENER

Alert Channels

Channel	Setup	Best for
In-App Bell	Always active — no setup needed. Bell icon turns amber when unread alerts exist. Click to open the drawer.	Non-urgent notifications you check periodically throughout the day.
Email	Your registered email (set on account creation). Configure which alert types trigger email in Preferences → Alert Config.	End-of-day summaries, compliance reports, approval notifications when you are away from the platform.
Telegram	Link your Telegram account by entering your Chat ID in Preferences → Alert Config. The EpochOMS bot must be added to your Telegram.	Real-time trade notifications and agent run summaries — Telegram delivers within seconds. Ideal for monitoring the agent while away from your desk.
Push Notifications	Enable via Preferences → Push Notifications. Works in any browser that supports PWA web push. No app install needed — alerts appear as native OS notifications even when the browser tab is not open.	Screener crossings and trade fills when you are away from the dashboard. Combined with Telegram, gives full dual-channel real-time coverage.

Screener Alert Throttling

The live screener scans 547 instruments every 60 seconds. To prevent notification floods, the system applies a two-tier throttle:

Ticker type	Cooldown	Per-cycle cap
Regular tickers	4 hours — same ticker+signal cannot re-fire within 4 hours	10 alerts per 60s scan cycle (RSI signals prioritised over MA crossovers)
Favourited tickers with alerts on (🔔)	30 minutes — fires more frequently for tickers you care about	Separate 20-alert cap, independent of the regular cap

Favourites Alert Toggle

Click the ★ star icon in the top header to open your Favourites panel. Each starred stock has a bell icon (🔔/🔕) to the left of the star:

Star any ticker by clicking the ☆ icon in the Signals or Screener table. It appears in your Favourites panel.

Open the Favourites panel (★ star button, top right of the header).

Click 🔕 next to any ticker to enable alerts for it (turns to 🔔 in accent colour). The preference is saved to your server profile immediately.

With alerts on: that ticker bypasses the regular 10-alert cap and fires every 30 minutes when a signal is detected — no waiting 4 hours. Up to 20 favourited tickers can alert per scan cycle.

Click 🔔 again to disable alerts for that ticker (reverts to standard throttling rules).

Setting a Price Alert

In the Screener or Signals table, right-click (or long-press on mobile) on any ticker to open the context menu.

Select "Set Price Alert" from the menu.

Enter the target price and choose the direction: Above (alert when price rises to this level) or Below (alert when price falls to this level).

Optionally add a note (e.g. "AAPL breakout level"). Click Create Alert. The alert appears in your active alerts list.

When the price is reached, you receive a notification on all configured channels simultaneously. The alert auto-dismisses after triggering.

Reports

EpochOMS generates several standard financial reports. Access them from hamburger menu → Reports. All reports can be exported as PDF or CSV.

Available Reports

Performance Report

Comprehensive overview of portfolio performance over a selected date range. Includes: equity curve, benchmark comparison (vs S&P 500), CAGR, Sharpe ratio, max drawdown, best/worst months, and monthly returns heatmap.

Trade History

Complete list of every order placed, filled, or cancelled over the selected period. Filterable by ticker, date range, source (manual/agent), and status. Download as CSV for external analysis.

P&L Statement

Realised and unrealised profit and loss broken down by position, sector, and month. Useful for tax preparation and performance attribution analysis.

Risk Report

Snapshot of all current risk metrics: VaR, beta, correlation matrix, sector concentrations, and limit utilisation percentages. Standard report for end-of-day risk review.

Agent Activity Log

Detailed log of every automated agent run: which strategy was used, which tickers were scored, which signals passed the threshold, which orders were placed, and the reasoning summary for each trade.

Compliance Audit Export

Immutable audit trail export for regulatory submission. Includes SHA-256 hash for integrity verification. Date-range selectable. Only accessible to Compliance and Admin roles.

Generating a Report

Open hamburger menu → Reports and select the report type.

Set the date range using the date picker. Presets: Today, This Week, This Month, YTD, Custom Range.

Apply any filters (e.g. specific tickers, specific strategy, manual/agent orders only).

Click Generate. The report renders in-browser within a few seconds.

Click Export PDF or Export CSV to download. PDF is formatted for printing and sharing. CSV is for further analysis in Excel or Python.

Monthly Returns Heatmap

The Performance Report includes a calendar heatmap showing monthly portfolio returns. Green cells = positive months. Red cells = negative months. The intensity of colour scales with the magnitude of the return. This makes it easy to spot seasonal patterns or strategy weaknesses in specific market conditions.

Monthly Returns Heatmap (sample)

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

2024

+3.1%

+1.8%

-2.4%

+4.2%

+2.1%

-1.1%

+5.8%

-4.9%

+3.3%

+2.7%

+6.1%

+1.9%

Settings

Access Settings from hamburger menu → Preferences → Settings. This is where you configure the platform to match your workflow, trading style, and risk tolerance.

Display & Theme

EpochOMS uses a dark terminal aesthetic by default. There is no light mode — the dark theme is optimised for extended screen time during market hours and reduces eye strain on multiple monitor setups. Font size can be adjusted in Settings → Display (Small / Medium / Large).

Account Settings

Setting	Description
Default Account	Sets which account (Paper or Live) loads by default when you open the platform. Recommended: Paper Account for most users unless you are actively managing a live book.
Starting Capital	The notional starting balance for paper trading. Changing this resets the paper portfolio P&L calculation baseline but does not affect position holdings.
Timezone Display	All internal timestamps are stored in UTC. This setting controls how they are displayed in the UI. Default: UTC. Change to your local timezone for more intuitive time display.
Session Timeout	Automatically logs you out after the specified period of inactivity. Default: 60 minutes. Compliance-required minimum: 30 minutes for accounts with Trader or higher role.

AI & Auto Section

The AI & Auto section controls the behaviour of the automated trading agent and the AI chat assistant.

Setting	Description
Agent Enabled	Master on/off toggle for the automated trading agent. When disabled, the agent still runs its analysis on schedule but does not place any orders — it only updates the Signals table.
Auto-Approve Orders	By default, orders over $10,000 go to the manual approval queue. Enabling auto-approve bypasses this check. Only recommended for paper trading or when you fully trust the automated strategy and have validated it in back-testing. Live accounts should leave this off.
Score Threshold	The minimum composite score (0–100) required for the agent to place an order. Default: 70. Lower threshold = more trades, higher activity. Higher threshold = fewer, higher-conviction trades only. Adjust based on your back-test results for the active strategy.
Max Orders Per Run	Caps the number of orders the agent can place in a single scheduled run. Default: 5. Prevents the agent from deploying large amounts of capital in one shot if a sudden opportunity creates many buy signals.
Max Position Size	The maximum dollar value the agent can allocate to any single position. Works in conjunction with the Position Sizer formula. Default: $25,000.

Monitoring the Trading Agent

The agent log is accessible from the AI & Auto section of the main dashboard (scroll down past the chat panel to find the Agent Log table). It shows every decision the agent made during its run.

Agent Log — Run at 14:00 UTC

Timestamp	Action	Ticker	Score	Qty	Reason
14:02:31	BUY	AAPL	78	50	Score above threshold (78>70). RSI 58, above MA20, momentum +7.2%.
14:02:29	SKIP	MSFT	61	—	Score below threshold (61<70). HOLD signal — no action.
14:02:28	SKIP	TSLA	28	—	SELL signal. No existing position to reduce. Skipped.
14:02:27	BUY	NVDA	94	12	ADD MORE signal. Score 94. Capped at 12 shares to stay under 20% concentration.

Action	Meaning
BUY	Agent placed a buy order for this ticker. Order appears in the Orders tab.
SELL	Agent placed a sell/reduce order for an existing position.
HOLD	Score in the HOLD range (40–70). Agent assessed but took no action — existing position retained as-is.
SKIP	Agent had a signal but chose not to act. Common reasons: score below threshold, no existing position for a sell signal, concentration cap would be exceeded, max orders per run already reached.

Cron Agent Schedule

The automated runs are scheduled on the server cron. They happen at 14:00, 17:00, 19:00 UTC on weekdays.

UTC	US Eastern	UK (BST/GMT)	Session context
14:00	10:00 AM ET	15:00 BST / 14:00 GMT	Opening run — ~30 mins after NYSE open. Initial price discovery complete.
17:00	1:00 PM ET	18:00 BST / 17:00 GMT	Mid-session run — reassesses after morning moves and lunchtime news flow.
19:00	3:00 PM ET	20:00 BST / 19:00 GMT	Pre-close run — final pass before NYSE close (16:00 ET). May trigger closing trades.

Weekend & Holiday behaviour: The agent does not run on weekends or US federal holidays. On days when the market closes early (e.g. day before Thanksgiving), the 19:00 UTC run may find no market open — the agent detects this and skips order placement but still logs the analysis.

Notification Preferences

In Settings → Notifications, toggle each alert type on or off per channel (in-app, email, Telegram). For example, you may want order fill notifications on all three channels but only want the daily summary report on email.

Changing Your Password

Go to Settings → Account → Change Password.

Enter your current password to verify identity.

Enter and confirm your new password. Minimum: 12 characters, at least one number, one uppercase letter, one special character.

Click Save. You will be automatically logged out of all active sessions and must log in again with the new password.

PAD Mode — Personal Account Dealing Compliance

PAD mode is an optional compliance feature for users who need to follow Personal Account Dealing rules (common in regulated financial institutions). It is off by default — enable it only if your employer or regulator requires it.

Feature	Behaviour when PAD mode is ON
30-day holding period	The automated agent cannot generate a SELL signal for any position held fewer than 30 days since the last buy. Stop-loss and take-profit exits are exempt.
Pre-clearance required	Before placing a BUY order, the agent checks `/compliance/preclear` for an active clearance token. If no clearance exists, the order is blocked and logged to the compliance audit trail.
Compliance logging	Every blocked trade is written to the PAD compliance log, available in Menu → Compliance & Audit → PAD Pre-Clearance.

Toggle PAD mode on or off from Menu → Compliance & Audit → PAD Pre-Clearance. The toggle is instant — no restart required.

Important: PAD mode affects the automated trading agent only. Manual orders placed via the New Order panel are not blocked by PAD rules — you remain responsible for your own compliance obligations when placing manual trades.

Onboarding Tour

The onboarding tour walks you through every major feature of the dashboard when you first log in. It appears automatically after your first login and can be dismissed at any step by tapping Skip.

Step	What it covers
1 — Welcome	Overview and navigation tips.
2 — Live Portfolio Metrics	The KPI row: Portfolio Value, Total P&L, Sharpe Ratio, VaR.
3 — New Order	The + button: Market, Limit, Stop orders; 4-eyes approval for large trades.
4 — Favourites & Alerts	Star watchlist and RSI/MA alert bell.
5 — Max AI Assistant	Chat bubble for market analysis and support.
6 — Menu	Hamburger menu: Screener, Reports, Compliance, Tools.
7 — Settings	Gear icon: Strategy config, AI mode, scheduler, API monitor.
8 — All set	Support contacts and sign-off.

To restart the tour at any time: open ≡ Menu → Preferences → Restart Tour. You can also press Escape to dismiss the tour if the overlay ever gets stuck.

Tip: All header icon buttons have hover tooltips — hover over any icon (star, bell, chat bubble, menu, gear) to see its label without opening it.

Glossary

Financial and platform terms used throughout EpochOMS, explained in plain English.

ADV — Average Daily Volume

The average number of shares traded per day over a lookback period (typically 20 or 30 days). Used to assess liquidity. Orders above 1% of ADV may have meaningful market impact.

ATR — Average True Range

A measure of a stock's average daily price swing. Calculated as the rolling average of the True Range (the largest of: high-low, |high-prev close|, |low-prev close|). Used by the Volatility Sizing strategy to normalise position sizes.

ATM — At The Money

An options contract whose strike price is at or very close to the current market price of the underlying stock. ATM options have the highest time value and approximately 0.50 delta.

Beta

A measure of a stock's price sensitivity relative to the S&P 500. Beta 1.0 = moves exactly with the market. Beta 2.0 = moves twice as much. Beta 0.5 = moves half as much. Negative beta = moves opposite to the market (e.g. gold miners during recessions).

Bid-Ask Spread

The difference between the highest price a buyer will pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (ask). For highly liquid stocks the spread is typically $0.01. For illiquid or options contracts it can be much wider. The spread is an immediate cost when entering or exiting a position.

CAGR — Compound Annual Growth Rate

The smoothed annualised rate of return over a multi-year period, assuming returns are compounded. Formula: (Ending Value / Beginning Value)^(1/Years) − 1. The most useful single-number comparison of portfolio or strategy performance across different time periods.

Call Option

A derivative contract that gives the holder the right (but not obligation) to buy 100 shares of a stock at the strike price before the expiry date. Bought by investors who expect the stock to rise.

ClOrdID

Client Order ID — a unique identifier generated by EpochOMS for each order sent via the FIX protocol. Allows matching of outbound orders with inbound execution reports from the broker.

Covered Call

An options strategy where you sell a call option against shares you already own. You collect the premium but cap your upside at the strike price. Used to generate income on existing positions.

Death Cross

A bearish technical signal when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average. Indicates a potential shift from a bull to bear trend. Used by the MA Crossover strategy as a SELL signal.

Delta (Options)

The rate of change in an option's price per $1 move in the underlying stock. Call delta: 0 to 1.0. Put delta: -1.0 to 0. Also approximates the probability that the option will expire in the money.

Drawdown

The peak-to-trough decline in portfolio value from any high point before a new high is reached. Max Drawdown is the worst such decline over a given period. Critical risk metric — large drawdowns are psychologically difficult to recover from even when mathematically possible.

EPS — Earnings Per Share

A company's profit divided by the total number of outstanding shares. Formula: Net Income ÷ Shares Outstanding. Positive EPS = profitable. Negative EPS = loss-making. A core input to the P/E ratio.

ESG Rating

Environmental, Social & Governance rating assigned by a third-party data provider. Reflects how well a company manages its environmental impact, social responsibilities, and governance practices. Scale: AAA (best) → AA → A → BBB → BB → B → CCC (worst). EpochOMS compliance rules prevent investing in stocks below a configurable ESG minimum.

FIX Protocol

Financial Information eXchange — the industry-standard electronic messaging protocol for the real-time exchange of order and trade information between financial institutions, brokers, and trading systems. EpochOMS implements FIX 4.2.

FOK — Fill Or Kill

A Time in Force instruction that requires the entire order to be filled immediately in full, or it is cancelled entirely. No partial fills. Used when you need a specific quantity at a specific price and cannot tolerate a partial position.

Gamma

The rate of change of delta per $1 move in the underlying stock. High gamma means your option's delta (and therefore its price sensitivity) changes rapidly as the stock moves. ATM options have the highest gamma, especially close to expiry.

GICS — Global Industry Classification Standard

The industry sector classification system developed by MSCI and S&P Global. Divides companies into 11 sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Healthcare, Financials, Information Technology, Communication Services, Utilities, Real Estate. Used for sector allocation tracking in EpochOMS.

Golden Cross

A bullish technical signal when the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average. Indicates a potential shift from a bear to bull trend. Used by the MA Crossover strategy as a BUY signal.

GTC — Good Till Cancelled

A Time in Force instruction meaning the order remains active across trading sessions until it is filled or you manually cancel it. Contrast with DAY orders that expire at the close of the current trading session.

IOC — Immediate Or Cancel

A Time in Force instruction that fills as much of the order as possible immediately, then cancels any remaining unfilled portion. Unlike FOK, partial fills are accepted.

ITM — In The Money

An option that has intrinsic value. A call is ITM when the stock price is above the strike price. A put is ITM when the stock price is below the strike price. ITM options are more expensive but move more with the stock (higher delta).

IV — Implied Volatility

The market's expectation of future price volatility, derived from options prices. Expressed as an annualised percentage. High IV = options are expensive (the market expects large moves). IV typically spikes before earnings announcements and major macro events.

LEAPS

Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities — options with expiry dates more than 9 months away, sometimes up to 2–3 years. Because of their longer time horizon, they are less sensitive to short-term theta decay and more sensitive to changes in implied volatility (higher vega).

Limit Order

An order to buy or sell a security at a specified price or better. A buy limit order executes at or below the limit price. A sell limit order executes at or above the limit price. The trade-off: you control price but the order may not fill if the market never reaches your limit.

Market Order

An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available current price. Guaranteed to execute (in liquid stocks) but gives no price guarantee. Can result in slippage — the actual fill price may differ from the last quoted price, especially for large orders.

Max Drawdown

The largest peak-to-trough decline in portfolio value over a given period. Example: if your portfolio peaks at $100,000, falls to $82,000 before recovering, the max drawdown is -18%. A critical metric for assessing strategy risk and psychological tolerability.

Momentum

The tendency of assets that have recently outperformed to continue outperforming over the short term (and vice versa). One of the most well-documented market anomalies across asset classes and geographies. The EpochOMS Momentum strategy exploits 20-day price momentum.

Moving Average (MA)

The average price of a stock over a rolling window of trading days. MA20 = 20-day moving average, MA50 = 50-day, MA200 = 200-day. Longer MAs are smoother and slower to react; shorter MAs are more sensitive to recent price changes. When price crosses above a MA it is bullish; below is bearish.

Open Interest

The total number of outstanding options contracts that have not been settled or expired. Rising open interest with rising price confirms a trend. High open interest at a specific strike can act as a magnet for the stock price (a concept called "max pain").

OTM — Out of The Money

An option with no intrinsic value at the current stock price. A call is OTM when the strike is above the current price. A put is OTM when the strike is below the current price. OTM options are cheaper but have lower probability of expiring with value.

P/E Ratio — Price to Earnings

Stock price divided by earnings per share (EPS). A P/E of 25 means you are paying $25 for every $1 of annual earnings. Lower P/E = cheaper relative to earnings (Value strategy targets these). Higher P/E = more expensive, implying high growth expectations. Compare P/E within the same sector, not across sectors.

P&L — Profit and Loss

The financial result of your trading activity. Unrealised P&L is the gain or loss on positions you still hold. Realised P&L is locked in from positions you have closed. The two together give your total P&L.

Premium (Options)

The price paid to purchase an option contract. Composed of intrinsic value (how far ITM the option is) and time value (the remaining time until expiry multiplied by expected volatility). Premium = Intrinsic Value + Time Value.

Put Option

A derivative contract giving the holder the right to sell 100 shares at the strike price before expiry. Bought by investors who expect the stock to fall, or as portfolio insurance (hedging). A put on a stock you own acts like insurance — it caps your downside loss.

RSI — Relative Strength Index

A momentum oscillator ranging from 0 to 100, developed by J. Welles Wilder. Measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes. Below 30 = oversold (stock has fallen sharply; potential bounce). Above 70 = overbought (stock has risen sharply; potential pullback). Between 30–70 = neutral. Does not predict price direction with certainty — in strong trends, stocks can remain oversold or overbought for extended periods.

Realised P&L

The profit or loss that has been locked in by closing (selling) a position. Realised P&L affects your cash balance and is taxable (depending on your jurisdiction). Contrast with Unrealised P&L, which is still at risk of market fluctuations.

Sharpe Ratio

A measure of risk-adjusted return: (Portfolio Return − Risk-Free Rate) ÷ Portfolio Standard Deviation. Above 1.0 = acceptable. Above 2.0 = excellent. Below 0 = taking risk without compensation. The Sharpe Ratio penalises all volatility (both upside and downside), which is why some prefer the Sortino Ratio.

Sortino Ratio

Like the Sharpe Ratio but only penalises downside volatility (negative deviations from the mean), not upside. More relevant for trading strategies where large upside swings are desirable. Above 1.5 is generally considered good.

Stop Order

An order that becomes a market order when the stock price reaches a specified "stop" price. Commonly used as a stop-loss — you set the stop below your entry price, and if the stock falls to that level, it automatically sells to limit your loss.

Strike Price

The fixed price at which an option holder can buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying stock when exercising the contract. The strike is set at the time the option contract is written and does not change.

Theta

Time decay — the amount an option loses in value each day just from the passage of time, all else equal. Theta is negative for option buyers (time works against you) and positive for option sellers (time works in your favour). Theta accelerates dramatically in the final 30 days before expiry.

TIF — Time in Force

An instruction on an order specifying how long it should remain active if not filled. Options in EpochOMS: DAY (expires at market close), GTC (Good Till Cancelled), IOC (Immediate Or Cancel), FOK (Fill Or Kill).

VaR — Value at Risk

A statistical measure of the maximum expected loss over a given time period at a specified confidence level. "95% 1-Day VaR of $4,820" means there is a 5% probability of losing more than $4,820 in a single trading day. VaR does not capture tail risk — the losses beyond the confidence threshold can be much larger.

Vega

An option's sensitivity to changes in implied volatility. If vega is 0.15, a 1% rise in IV increases the option's value by $0.15 ($15 per contract of 100 shares). Long options have positive vega (benefit from rising IV). Short options have negative vega (benefit from falling IV).

Volatility Smile / Skew

The pattern of implied volatility across different strike prices. A "smile" occurs when IV is higher for both deep ITM and deep OTM options than for ATM. A "skew" (common for equity index options) occurs when puts have higher IV than equidistant calls, reflecting demand for downside protection.

Walk-Forward Testing

A back-testing methodology that divides historical data into multiple In-Sample (IS) and Out-of-Sample (OOS) segments. The strategy is fitted on IS data, then tested on OOS data it has never seen. If performance holds in OOS, the strategy is likely robust. If OOS performance is significantly worse, the strategy was over-fitted to the training data.

Win Rate

The percentage of trades that result in a profit. A 60% win rate means 6 out of every 10 trades are profitable. Note: win rate alone is insufficient — a strategy with 40% win rate but 3:1 average reward-to-risk ratio is more profitable than one with 70% win rate but 1:2 reward-to-risk.