| 1 | The job it does | Trades a repeatable rule set on your markets | Quotes both sides continuously so a market has depth | Closes a price difference between venues or markets | Lets a user follow a provider or an external signal | Works one large order without moving the price |
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| 2 | Where the result comes from | The rule being right more often than it is wrong | Spread captured over many round trips | A gap that survives fees, transfer cost and slippage | The provider's decisions, resized to each follower | Cost avoided against a benchmark, not profit generated |
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| 3 | What the operator configures | Strategy families, parameter ranges, per-tier visibility | Ladder, spread floor and ceiling, inventory band, hedge rules | Path types, minimum edge, leg timeout, unfilled-leg policy | Provider eligibility, allocation ceilings, fee share, cut-offs | Tactic, schedule, participation cap, venue set, price limits |
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| 4 | Runs on its own | Yes, inside its allocation; stoppable at four scopes | Yes, continuously; quoting stops at the hard inventory limit | Yes, per scored path; blocked when a leg cannot be covered | Yes, per follower; copying halts at that follower's limit | Yes, on schedule; the order stops at its price and size bounds |
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| 5 | What a human still decides | Approving a custom strategy before it trades live | Parameter changes, which can require a second operator | Raising an exposure ceiling or a cost limit | Listing a provider and setting the ceilings around them | Approving a rebalance after seeing its cost preview |
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| 6 | Capital it puts at risk | A directional position, bounded by the bot's allocation | Inventory that drifts either side of a target position | Two legs held briefly, hedged by construction where possible | Each follower's own balance, sized by their allocation limit | The parent order only, worked down over its schedule |
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| 7 | Typical operator | An exchange adding a self-serve automation product | A desk or venue responsible for its own book quality | A proprietary desk with capital on more than one venue | A retail-facing exchange or broker growing engagement | An institutional desk moving size it cannot show |
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