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Private user guide

How To Use Qadam

Logged in as . This guide explains what Qadam is, how to read the cockpit, how paper trading works, what members can do, and which safety boundaries must never be crossed.

The Short Version

Qadam is a local-first macro intelligence and paper-trading system. It watches world events and markets, builds trade hypotheses, checks them against evidence and risk rules, runs paper trades only when the gates allow it, and logs outcomes for review.

Qadam is not a public financial-advice product, not a signal channel, and not a live-capital trading bot. In the first-release workflow, live capital is disabled and the cockpit is a read-only operating mirror.

Who Can Use Qadam

First-release access is limited to the founding Fund Managers: Ramin, Troy, Akber, Anas, and Ion. The dashboard, guide, and settings routes are protected by Supabase login plus the Qadam allowlist. If your email is not allowlisted, you cannot use the private cockpit.

The Fund Team Inside Qadam

Human oversight

Fund Managers

Review evidence, challenge assumptions, comment on outcomes, and improve the process.

Orchestrator

Python Orchestrator

Coordinates modules, checks health, writes logs, and routes work through the system.

Research

Local LLM

Filters noisy information locally before anything escalates to deeper research.

Strategy

Frontier LLM

Builds and challenges strategy packets when enough evidence exists.

Quant

Quantum / Classical Oracle

Runs bounded modelling checks. It informs decisions but cannot override risk controls.

Risk

Risk Agent

Blocks oversize, stale, low-evidence, or unauthorized ideas before execution.

Memory

Event Log

Append-only system memory. If it is not logged, it did not happen.

Dashboard

Cockpit

The readable operating view for members. It is not a command shell.

The Five States

Qadam separates the lifecycle so the dashboard does not exaggerate.

ObservationSomething happened in a feed, chart, source, or market.
Worldview priorQadam's private lens says the event may matter. Context only, not proof.
HypothesisQadam thinks the observation could become meaningful.
Trade intentQadam has a structured trade idea.
Execution stateQadam has permission to stage, submit, hold, close, or postmortem a paper trade.

A hypothesis is not a trade. A candidate is not an order. A blocked trade means the control system is working.

Current Operating Mode

Qadam is operating in paper mode with GBP 100,000 available in the paper account. The operating target is to grow that paper portfolio to GBP 200,000 over 60 days. The mindset is not to spray small trades; it is to wait for evidence-gated mispricing opportunities and take selective larger paper positions only when strategy, risk, Q-CTRL, and Alpaca Paper gates agree.

The paper-live control plane is certified, visible, and guarded for paper trading. It can submit only through Alpaca Paper when the backend route, risk controls, and quantum/classical consultation pass. Live capital and broker live endpoints remain disabled.

First Login

  1. Open qadam.trade.
  2. Click Login.
  3. Sign in with your allowlisted email.
  4. If you do not have an account yet, use the sign-up route with your allowlisted email.
  5. After login, open /dashboard/.
  6. Open /guide/ from the dashboard whenever you need this guide.

Do not paste API keys, broker secrets, Telegram tokens, or private credentials into comments, forms, chats, docs, or prompts.

First 10-Minute Tour

  1. Start in the Overview view.
  2. Read Safety Status first: it should say OK - paper only, OK - read-only, OK - live capital off, Dashboard cannot place orders, and AI cannot bypass risk checks.
  3. Use Overview's health readout and mini-map to understand whether Qadam is watching sources, forming hypotheses, seeing trade candidates, or blocked.
  4. Open Evidence to inspect source health, setup evidence, and supplemental context.
  5. Open Reasoning to separate private priors, factual evidence, hypotheses, missing corroboration, Strategy Lead review, and quant annotations.
  6. Open Trades to inspect observed signals, candidates, blocked trades, paper order state, and paper-account performance.
  7. Open Operations only when you need the full expandable system map, event trail, Telegram state, governance comments, or technical diagnostics.
  8. Treat a blocked/no-trade state as potentially healthy until the evidence says otherwise.

How To Read The Dashboard

The dashboard now has five primary views. Do not hunt for old standalone panels; those implementation names have been consolidated into the views below.

Default view

Overview view

Shows the operating readout, current review state, compact system mini-map, and Safety Status.

Trade review

Trades view

Shows signals, trade ideas, blocks, paper order state, paper-account performance, and verified records.

Sources

Evidence view

Shows source posture, setup evidence, supplemental context, and whether corroboration is strong enough.

Reasoning

Reasoning view

Separates private priors, factual evidence, hypotheses, blockers, Strategy Lead review, and quant annotations.

Diagnostics

Operations view

Shows the full system map, event trail, safety diagnostics, Telegram state, and governance comments.

Safety Status

Safety Status is the dashboard's global authority summary. Read it before interpreting any panel.

OK - paper onlyQadam is healthy for paper mode, not live-capital mode.
OK - read-onlyThe dashboard reads backend-derived status; it is not a command surface.
OK - live capital offNo live money trading authority is available from the dashboard.
Dashboard cannot place ordersThe browser cannot place, approve, modify, close, or resize broker orders.
AI cannot bypass risk checksModels can inform reasoning, but cannot bypass risk gates or submit trades.

Old Implementation Terms

You may still see older module names in code, event logs, or status metadata. Use this mapping when reading old notes.

Mission ControlOverview.
System mapOverview mini-map or Operations full map.
WatchingEvidence.
CognitionReasoning.
Worldview / Private EdgeReasoning prior context.
Trade LayerTrades.
Money / Paper Account TimelineTrades paper account and 60-day growth trial area.
ForbiddenOperations safety diagnostics plus Safety Status.
Process ConsoleOperations event trail.
Fund Manager CommentsOperations governance.
Communications / TelegramOperations communications.

Status Labels

Important labels:

OnlineThe module or source is available in the current snapshot.
PendingThe module exists but is waiting for a credential, process, or later phase.
DegradedThe module is partially available but has a known limitation.
BlockedQadam is deliberately prevented from using that path.
Local-onlyThe capability exists on the MacBook but is not exposed to the web.
Read-only readyThe bridge can serve dashboard status, but cannot run commands or write trades.
Dry-runQadam can render or queue a message locally, but no live send is allowed.
Notify-onlyA module can communicate status but cannot approve or create trade actions.
CertifiedA phase gate has passed its explicit checker.
EligibleA stage can proceed under guardrails. It is not live trading approval.
Paper modePaper account mode with live capital disabled.
Paper-live control plane certifiedThe guarded route, logs, checks, and dashboard visibility exist. This is not active submission.
Paper-live certifiedFull paper-live operation is allowed only when PT-10 reports paper_live_certified=true.
Q-CTRL holdPaper submission remains held while Q-CTRL product access or consultation is unresolved.
Paper growth proofVerified account-performance evidence for the 60-day paper growth trial.

Trade States

Observed signalSomething was seen. No trade exists yet.
CandidateA structured idea exists. No order exists yet.
BlockedQadam rejected or paused the idea.
Staged paper orderQadam is allowed to prepare a paper order.
Submitted paper orderA paper order has been sent to the paper broker.
Open positionA paper trade is live.
Closed tradeA paper trade has ended.
Postmortem dueThe result needs review.
Postmortem completeThe lesson has been logged.

How Qadam Makes A Trade

How To Review A Trade Idea

  1. Identify the catalyst.
  2. Identify the affected market or instrument.
  3. Check the expected time window.
  4. Check which sources support and contradict it.
  5. Separate private worldview context from live evidence.
  6. Check the market's current pricing or implied probability.
  7. Check Qadam's entry logic, invalidation, risk cap, and exit logic.
  8. Confirm the exact trade state before assuming anything can be traded.

Demo-Proof Rules

  • 30 consecutive calendar days.
  • 3 proof trades per week only where qualified setups exist.
  • No forced trades.
  • No manual trade-level overrides during the proof sample.
  • 100 closed proof trades is the maturity benchmark.
  • Postmortems are required for closed proof trades.
  • Live capital remains disabled.

If a day has no qualified setup, the correct action is to record the no-trade rationale.

Daily Operating Routine

  1. Start with Overview.
  2. Read Safety Status and confirm paper-only, read-only, live-capital off, Dashboard cannot place orders, and AI cannot bypass risk checks.
  3. Scan the Overview mini-map and review card for the current operating posture.
  4. Open Evidence and review degraded, missing, stale, or supplemental-only sources.
  5. Open Reasoning and separate priors, evidence, hypotheses, missing corroboration, and analyst review.
  6. Open Trades and separate observations, trade ideas, blocked ideas, paper order state, paper-account state, and verified records.
  7. Open Operations only for the full system map, event trail, safety diagnostics, Telegram communications, or governance comments.
  8. Record a no-trade rationale when there is no qualified setup. Do not force a paper trade to satisfy cadence.
  9. Add a comment if something looks wrong, unclear, or strategically important.

What Members Can And Cannot Do

Allowed

Members can

  • Review the dashboard.
  • Read trade reasoning.
  • See blocked actions.
  • Comment on modules, sources, signals, trades, and postmortems.
  • Challenge assumptions and suggest improvements.
  • Review Telegram communications once configured.
Not allowed

Members cannot

  • Use the dashboard to place live trades.
  • Use Telegram to place trades.
  • Use Telegram to approve, reject, modify, close, or resize trades.
  • Use the Secure Live Bridge to run commands or trade.
  • Bypass the Risk Agent or Signal Integrity Gate.
  • Bypass the Event Log.
  • Treat a trade idea as an order.
  • Turn worldview priors into trade evidence.

Data Source Rules

Qadam watches conflict, physical / OSINT, macro, market, and narrative / social pipelines. Supplemental capabilities such as Yahoo Finance and Preference/PREF MCP are read-only context unless Qadam's registry and trust policy explicitly promote them.

  • One source is rarely enough.
  • Stale data should block or degrade a trade.
  • Private priors are not evidence.
  • Raw payloads and secrets must not appear in the dashboard.
  • Broker data and order receipts are separate from market context.

Local Operator Instructions

Most members do not operate the code. The local operator keeps real secrets out of Git, starts the runtime, refreshes the paper trading routine, and validates the dashboard with the repo check scripts. The local operator must not backfill calendar days, simulate elapsed time, force trades, load live credentials, enable live capital, call broker live endpoints, or mark paper performance as mature without verified records.

Communications / Telegram

Telegram is Qadam's outbound member notification rail. Telegram cannot place, approve, reject, modify, close, or resize trades. It should never show bot tokens, handles or chat IDs, raw message payloads, or local paths.

Troubleshooting

Dashboard will not loadConfirm login, allowlist status, and the static snapshot or read-only bridge.
Sources look staleCheck Evidence for degraded reasons and treat affected signals as lower confidence.
Trade state looks wrongCheck Trades, Safety Status, and Operations before assuming anything traded.
Telegram contradicts dashboardTrust the backend-derived dashboard and inspect Operations communications.

Red Flags

Escalate or comment if:

  • A dashboard panel looks hardcoded or stale.
  • A source says online but has no recent heartbeat.
  • Qadam implies a trade without a trade state.
  • A blocked trade looks mislabeled as a failure.
  • A candidate has no catalyst or invalidation.
  • The paper balance changes without a logged trade.
  • Telegram sends a message that does not match the dashboard.
  • The bridge claims write authority, broker authority, shell access, or local orchestrator exposure.
  • Any secret, token, chat ID, local path, or credential appears in the UI.
  • Any screen implies live capital is enabled.

First Release Success

Qadam is usable when a new founding member can clearly answer:

  • What is Qadam watching?
  • What is Qadam thinking?
  • Why does Qadam care?
  • What is Qadam forbidden from doing?
  • Which trades are ideas, blocked, staged, submitted, open, closed, or ready for postmortem?
  • How is the paper account performing?
  • What did Qadam learn?
  • What should a human challenge or comment on next?

Qadam should feel understandable before it feels powerful.