Getting Started with Tradewink: Your First AI Trading Signals

Welcome to Tradewink

Tradewink is an AI-powered trading platform that monitors markets, identifies opportunities, and can autonomously execute trades through your broker. Whether you want AI-generated trade ideas or fully automated trading, this guide walks you through everything you need to know to get up and running — from creating your account to making your first live trade.

Step 1: Create Your Free Account

Sign up at tradewink.com — the free tier includes macro alerts, weekly digests, and market outlook signals. No credit card required.

Your account connects your subscription tier, broker credentials, and preferences. Everything is tied to your user ID so settings persist whether you access Tradewink through Discord, the web dashboard, or the API.

Step 2: Join the Discord

After creating your account, join the Tradewink Discord server where you'll receive real-time signals, interact with the AI, and manage your settings. Commands, alerts, and trade notifications flow through both Discord and the web dashboard.

Discord is the primary interface for interacting with the AI in real time. You can ask the bot to analyze a ticker, check your open positions, modify settings, or explain the reasoning behind a recent signal — all via slash commands or natural language messages in your personal DM channel.

Key Discord commands to know:

• /analyze AAPL — get an AI analysis of any ticker
• /portfolio — view open positions and today's P&L
• /settings — open your preferences panel
• /broker setup — connect a brokerage account
• /signal history — review past signals and their outcomes
• /watchlist add TSLA — add tickers to your personal watchlist

Step 3: Connect Your Broker

To enable autonomous trading or quick manual execution, connect your brokerage account:

1. In Discord, run /broker setup and select your broker
2. Tradewink supports 8 brokers: Alpaca, Tradier, IBKR, Schwab, Webull, Moomoo, TradeStation, and tastytrade
3. Enter your API credentials — they're encrypted with Fernet encryption and stored securely
4. Start with paper trading mode (enabled by default) to test without risking real money

Broker selection tips:

• Alpaca is the easiest to start with — free API, commission-free, works with fractional shares
• Tradier is a good option if you want options trading support
• IBKR has the widest asset coverage (stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto)
• Schwab, Webull, Moomoo, TradeStation, tastytrade are all supported if you already have accounts there

Not ready to connect a broker? That's fine — you can use Tradewink as a signal-only service and execute trades manually through your existing brokerage platform.

Step 4: Build Your Watchlist

Your watchlist tells Tradewink which stocks to prioritize. Tickers on your watchlist get scanned first and receive a score boost in the screener, so they surface as signals more often than tickers you haven't added.

To add tickers: /watchlist add AAPL MSFT NVDA

To view your current watchlist: /watchlist

The AI also monitors a default universe of 500+ liquid stocks, so you'll receive signals outside your watchlist too — but your list ensures your highest-conviction names get extra attention.

Step 5: Understand What Tradewink Monitors

Tradewink's AI monitors the following data streams continuously during market hours:

• Price and volume — Breakouts, momentum, volume surges, gap-and-go patterns
• Options flow — Real-time options orders including sweeps, blocks, and dark pool prints
• Technical indicators — RSI, MACD, VWAP, Bollinger Bands, ATR, moving averages, and 10+ more
• Earnings calendar — Upcoming earnings dates, historical beat/miss rates, guidance trends
• Insider transactions — Form 4 filings showing when executives buy or sell their own shares
• SEC filings — 8-K announcements, 10-Q quarterly reports, prospectus filings
• News and sentiment — Headlines analyzed with FinBERT for bullish/bearish tone
• Macro indicators — VIX level, sector relative strength, market regime classification
• Market regime — HMM-based detection of trending vs. choppy vs. high-volatility environments

When multiple signals align on a single ticker — say, a momentum breakout coinciding with insider buying and an upcoming catalyst — the composite score rises and you get an alert.

Step 6: Understanding Tradewink's Alerts and Signals

Tradewink generates several types of signals:

• Momentum Breakout: Stocks breaking above resistance on high volume
• Mean Reversion: Oversold stocks bouncing off support
• Options Flow: Unusual institutional options activity
• Insider Activity: Significant insider buying/selling
• Earnings Play: AI-analyzed earnings opportunities
• Macro Alerts: VIX spikes, regime changes, Fear & Greed extremes

Each signal includes: ticker, direction (bullish/bearish), entry zone, stop-loss, target price, risk/reward ratio, confidence score, and a full written analysis explaining the reasoning.

Don't just look at the ticker and direction. Read the full analysis. It explains:

• WHY the signal was generated
• What catalysts are driving the opportunity
• Where to enter, where to place your stop, and where to take profit
• What could invalidate the trade thesis

Understanding the "why" makes you a better trader over time.

Step 7: Configure Your Trading Preferences

Tradewink offers 50+ configurable trading preferences. Key settings to review when starting out:

Risk management:

• Risk per trade: How much of your account to risk per position (default: 1% — keep this at 1-2% until you've validated the system)
• Max daily trades: Limit how many trades the AI can take per day (default: 5)
• Max daily loss: Dollar or percentage limit that pauses trading for the day if hit

Strategy preferences:

• Enabled strategies: Toggle which signal types you want (momentum, mean reversion, options flow, etc.)
• Min confidence score: Minimum confidence required before a signal triggers (default: 65 — raise to 75+ when starting out)
• Regime filter: Only trade when the market regime aligns with the strategy type

Filtering:

• Excluded tickers: Block specific stocks from being traded (e.g., stocks you already hold manually)
• Excluded sectors: Block entire sectors if you want to avoid energy, biotech, or other volatile industries
• Quiet hours: Suppress trading during low-liquidity periods (first 5 minutes of open, final hour)

Adjust settings via Discord with /settings or through the web dashboard preferences panel.

Step 8: Paper Trading Mode Explained

Paper trading mode lets the AI run the full pipeline — scan, analyze, score, size, and "execute" — without touching real money. Orders are simulated at real market prices so results accurately reflect what would have happened.

Why paper trade first? Because seeing the system work (or stumble) in real time with zero risk is worth far more than reading documentation. You'll understand how signals are generated, how the AI reasons about exits, and how often the system actually fires before you commit capital.

What to track during paper trading (aim for 20-30 trades):

• Win rate (historical average: 55-65%)
• Average winner vs. average loser (target 2:1 or better)
• Maximum drawdown (how deep did the paper account go?)
• Confidence score accuracy (did higher-confidence signals outperform lower ones?)

Most new users spend 2-4 weeks in paper mode. There's no rush — building confidence in the system before going live is the most important thing you can do.

Step 9: Moving to Live Trading Safely

When you're confident in the system:

1. Switch from paper to live mode via /broker mode live
2. Start at 25-50% of your intended position size for the first week
3. Monitor the first few live trades — the AI handles execution, but you should verify fills match the expected entry
4. Check that stop-loss orders are being placed correctly by your broker
5. Scale up gradually — increase to full size only after 10+ successful live trades

Important safety checks before going live:

• Confirm your broker API credentials are working: /broker status
• Verify paper trading has been profitable for at least 20 trades
• Set a max daily loss limit as a circuit breaker
• Make sure you're on the correct plan for the signal types you want

Understanding Confidence Scores

Every signal has a confidence score (0-100):

• 80+: AI Conviction — highest confidence, multi-factor alignment, multi-agent debate consensus
• 70-79: Strong signal — high probability setup with multiple confirming factors
• 65-69: Standard signal — meets all minimum criteria but with fewer confirming signals

New users should start by following only 75+ confidence signals until they're comfortable with the system. The AI still logs all signals regardless of whether you act on them, so you can review the 65-69 signals in hindsight to understand what they look like.

Upgrading Your Plan

• Free: Macro alerts, weekly digest, market outlook
• Starter ($19/mo): Momentum, mean reversion, insider, SEC filings
• Pro ($79/mo): Options flow, earnings plays, sector rotation, regime change, volatility plays
• Elite ($149/mo): AI Conviction, pairs trades, autonomous execution, API access, priority support

Start on the tier that matches how actively you plan to trade. Most users who want autonomous execution upgrade to Elite; those who want to manually review signals and execute their own trades often find Starter or Pro sufficient.