desk-tick · git:20261025.ae26611 · 2026-10-25 · sha256 a892145df8acd6a4

desk-tick git:20261025.ae26611A

Immutable. This exact content never changes and is served at /api/v1/blob/a892145df8acd6a4.

---
name: desk-tick
description: One tick of a desk's trading loop on pathiel, for the desk id given as the argument (oil, metals, ai, gas). Sweep, levels, brief, one decision, one log line. Run on a schedule with /loop 15m /pathiel:desk-tick oil. Live money on the connected Hyperliquid account.
---

# desk-tick $ARGUMENTS

One tick for desk `$ARGUMENTS` (default `oil` if empty). One position per
account until the wallet is funded for more (the risk profile's
`max_open_positions`). Leverage up to the risk profile's `max_leverage`
(20x since 2026-10-24; `place_bracket` caps it and runs the 20x rule: the
stop must use under half the distance to liquidation). Never chase. Never
add to an open position: the operator wants the whole stake in ONE
position, so the NEXT bracket sizes full-port, and a filled position is
left alone until its stop or target fires. Every number comes from a tool
or a script, never from mental arithmetic.

## Steps, in order

0. **Slot first, before anything else.** `"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/pathiel-py" scripts/desk_slot.py --desk $ARGUMENTS`.
If `slot` is `held` and `mine` is false, another desk's coin holds the
account's one slot: write the log line
`DESK-TICK $ARGUMENTS <utc> action=SKIP slot held by <holder>` and STOP.
No brief, no levels, no MCP calls. The desk that holds the slot is the
only desk that ticks (operator rule, 2026-10-23).
1. **Thesis first.** `desk_brief {desk: "$ARGUMENTS"}` (quick). The call's
instrument is COIN for the rest of the tick (oil: xyz:BRENTOIL, metals:
xyz:GOLD or xyz:SILVER, ai: whichever equity the call names, gas:
xyz:NATGAS). The card shows "Pays X.XR"; a call under 1.5R never trades.
Call `desk_refresh` only when the brief says the thesis is stale or
expired, a headline moved the market more than 1.5%, or the thesis's
target has already been hit (the card would otherwise keep describing
a trade that is over); at most once an hour per desk (about one dollar
a rewrite with the current model).
2. **Housekeeping.** `bracket_sweep {coin: COIN}`. Cancels the sibling left
after a stop or target fired; reports a resting entry with its attached
stop and target; says whether an open position is covered. "NOT FULLY
COVERED" means a 10x position is naked: `close_position` it in the same
tick, sweep again, report to the operator at once.
3. **Levels.** `"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/pathiel-py" scripts/oil_levels.py --coin COIN`: mid, last closed
1h candle, 8h/24h/48h range, ATR14, 15m micro range.
`"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/pathiel-py" scripts/oil_levels.py --check ENTRY STOP TP --lev 20` judges a
level: the R gate and the 20x line.
4. **Account slot.** Step 0 already answered it: a free slot or ours.
(`place_bracket` refuses a taken slot on its own as well.) The only
wallet this loop tracks is the active account's own (the one
`account_overview` reports).
5. **Decide.** Exactly one of:
- **In a position on COIN:** HOLD. `close_position` only if the thesis
invalidation triggered on a CLOSED hourly candle, or a headline from
the brief's `what_changes_my_mind` landed. After any close, sweep again.
**Top-up (operator, 2026-10-24: "add to position when possible"):** if
the position is under the full-port size (the brief's "Your size" is
bigger than the position) and nothing is resting on COIN, rest ONE
top-up at the thesis's own entry level with `place_bracket {coin,
entry_px, stop_px, tp_px, add: true}`: the stop is the position's
current stop (never wider), the target the position's target. The tool
sizes the top-up as full-port minus what is held and leaves the live
stop and target orders alone. Never top up at market above the thesis
entry: that is chasing. A resting top-up is re-judged each tick like
any resting entry (within one ATR of the mid or on a structural edge,
else cancel).
- **Flat with a resting entry on COIN:** keep it if `--check` still
passes AND the entry is within one ATR14 of the mid or still on a
current structural edge (within 0.25 ATR of the 8h or 24h range low
for a long, high for a short). Otherwise `cancel_order {order_id, coin}`
and fall through.
- **Flat, slot free, nothing resting:** one setup in the thesis
direction, anchored on structure: a pullback to the 8h or 24h range
edge, or a breakout retest. Stop beyond the structure, target at the
next structure, `--check` must say ok. `place_bracket {coin, entry_px,
stop_px, tp_px}` with `entry_px` set (resting limit). Let the tool
size it. No setup: no trade, one clause why.
6. **Log.** Append one line to `/tmp/oil-loop/progress.log` and print it:
`DESK-TICK $ARGUMENTS <utc> coin=<COIN> mid=<mid> pos=<size@entry or flat> action=<HOLD|PLACED|CANCELLED|CLOSED|NONE> <reason, under 15 words>`

## Operator asks between ticks

- **"Set leverage to Nx" on an open position:** `set_leverage {coin,
leverage}`. The tool keeps the position's own margin type (isolated on
HIP-3) and reports a venue refusal as an error; confirm with
`get_asset_positions {coin}` that `leverage.value` changed. Hyperliquid
keeps the isolated margin in place, so the liquidation price does not
move. Run `--check ENTRY STOP TP --lev N` first: the stop must still
clear the 20x line at the new leverage.
- **"Where is my position":** the Desk page (`http://localhost:8000/`),
Wallets card, the account marked Active: entry, mark, P&L, R, leverage,
margin in use, stop, target. A flat watch-only wallet shows no card.
- **Dashes or "No open positions" on the page while the venue shows a
position:** read `GET /api/health/system` -> `hl_budget`. It lists the
weight granted and refused per request type and caller; a refused
`frontendOpenOrders` means the server's venue budget is starved. Fix the
spender, never the page.

## Hard rules

- A market entry only when `--check` with the live mid as ENTRY passes.
- Never widen a stop. Never add. One position per account until funded.
- If `place_bracket` or `bracket_sweep` is missing from the tool list, do
nothing and log `action=NONE reconnect pathiel MCP (/mcp)`.
- Any tool error on a live-money call: stop the tick, report it verbatim.
- Report to the operator only when something changed. A HOLD tick is the log
line only.