Archer Terminal is a quant research and paper-trading desk where strategies earn their way to capital. Deterministic signals, honest backtests, a Risk Engine with a veto, and an AI that explains but never pulls the trigger.
The platform
Most tools stop at a backtest chart. Astra carries a strategy through validation, paper execution, risk, and review, and records every step so you can trust the number at the end.
Version a strategy, run in-sample and walk-forward tests over the same bars the desk trades, and read a report that names every warning: survivorship, look-ahead risk, zero trades.
Nothing skips a rung. Idea → experiment → backtested → validated out of sample → paper → live approval. Each step is a recorded transition with a reason and an actor.
Twenty checks on every plan: size, heat, sector, theme, correlation, drift, spread, stale data, kill switch. The engine's word is final and the AI cannot overrule it.
Fills at the next open with a cost model, or through your Alpaca paper account during the session. The book follows the account balance, whether that is $1,000 or $1,000,000.
Themes, expectation gaps, revision momentum, regime snapshots, earnings and macro calendars, all timestamped by when they became knowable so research stays honest.
Opt in to fills, exits, risk events, and P&L texts at the times you pick. Notification only, never control. Every message is deduped per order and confirmed by the broker first.
How it works
Every strategy version sits on one rung of a seven-step ladder. Moving up requires evidence; the Promote panel checks it, records it, and refuses when it is not there.
A walk-forward run over sessions the in-sample test never saw, priced without hindsight, must clear every line before Paper is offered. The same numbers are printed on the strategy page so there is nothing to take on faith.
Principles
Most trading losses are not clever. They are a stale feed, a fat finger, a backtest that peeked, or a model that got to press the button. Astra is designed around the rule that none of those get a path to an order.
Models draft, rank, and explain. A person or a named engine submits. Every order carries who did it.
A broken feed, an unreadable account, or a missing check blocks new positions. Nothing defaults to trading.
A strategy is a hashed definition. Same inputs, same signals, on any day, in any replay.
Every intelligence row carries an available-at timestamp. Backtests only see what the desk could have seen.
Clone a template, run the standard, promote to paper, and let the desk tell you the truth.
Alerts are opt-in. Read the alert terms before you tick the box.