Handbook / How the server works
How to read a trade post
What each line of a trade post means, and how a trade shows up when it closes.
What a system alert is: a trade idea our engine finds and posts on its own. No person picks it.
Where it's scored: every closed alert goes on the proof page, win or lose. Those results are hypothetical, because nobody placed the trades.
How it differs from Sage's trades: Sage's own real stock and ETF trades are a separate record, on the trade log. See Trade log vs proof.
In one sentence
Every system trade card shows where to get in, where the idea is wrong, where to take profit, and how big the reward is next to the risk.
Why it matters
A post is only useful if you can read it fast. The numbers tell you the whole plan in a few lines.
Knowing how to read a post also helps you judge it. You can check the reward and risk yourself before you decide anything.
Do this
Read a post from top to bottom. The numbers match the example card below.
- Top line. The stock ticker, the side, and a grade with its score. LONG means a buy. SHORT means a sell. The grade shows how strongly the setup scored. It is not a chance of winning.
- Entry. The price to get in.
- Stop. The price where the idea is proven wrong. This is where you get out.
- Target. The price to take profit.
- Reward : Risk. How far the target is compared to the stop. "2.5 : 1" means the target is two and a half times as far as the stop.
- Setup and timeframe. The name of the pattern, and whether it is a day, swing, or long-term idea.
- Class. Four tags: the timeframe, the kind of setup, the size of the company, and the side.
- Why it's moving. A news headline, when there is one. Many cards also show a chart with the entry, stop and target drawn on it.
- The note at the bottom. Every post says it is education, not advice. You make the final call.
Real example
This is how to read an alert. It is the layout of a real system alert card, with the ticker and prices left out. The field names are the ones the server uses.
🟢 TICKER · LONG · A+ SIGNAL score
- Entry
entry price- 🛑 Stop
stop price- 🎯 Target
target price- Reward : Risk
- 2.5 : 1
- Setup
- Consolidation Breakout
- Timeframe
- day
- Class
Day·Breakout·Large-Cap·Long- 📰 Why it’s moving
- A news headline, linked, and its source
These cards are system alerts, our engine's trade ideas. They are scored on the proof page and are hypothetical, not Sage's own trades.
The colored dot shows the grade. Green is the top grade. Blue is a normal signal. Yellow means "watch", not a trade yet.
While the trade is open, updates post in a thread under the card. For example, "🔒 TICKER stop → breakeven" means the stop moved up to the entry price.
When the trade closes, a short update posts under the original post. R means the amount risked on the trade. So:
- ✅ TICKER hit target — closed +1.85R (made 1.85 times the risk)
- 🛑 TICKER stopped — closed −1.00R (lost the amount risked)
- ⏱ TICKER closed — +0.40R (closed early, for example at the end of the day)
These lines only show the format. They are not results. Every closed trade idea is scored on the proof page, win or lose.
Common mistakes
- Only reading the entry. The stop matters most. It tells you how much you could lose.
- Treating the grade as a promise. A high grade means the setup scored well. It can still lose.
- Entering late. If price has already moved far from the entry, the reward and risk are no longer what the post says.