The concept

A grid is a set of buy and sell limit orders placed above and below the current price at regular percentage intervals (the "spacing"). When price drops and hits a buy order, the bot buys. When price rises and hits the paired sell order, the bot sells — completing a buy-sell cycle. The profit per cycle is the price difference minus exchange fees.

Grid trading can generate returns from price oscillation in ranging and sideways markets. Results vary based on market conditions, coin selection, and fee tier.

Dynamic grid placement

Tessara uses adaptive grids, not fixed price ranges. Every cycle it recalculates:

• Grid center — based on VWAP and current price percentile
• Spacing — based on ATR (Average True Range) volatility, adjusted per fee tier
• Level count — 4B/7S to 7B/4S depending on momentum regime
• Position size — scaled to portfolio allocation and Signal Score

Fee tier & minimum spacing

Grid spacing must exceed the round-trip exchange fee to produce a net-positive cycle. Tessara auto-detects your Coinbase fee tier on connection and sets the minimum safe spacing accordingly. As trading volume grows and fee tiers improve, spacing can be tightened — this happens automatically.

Capital allocation

Capital is distributed across all active grids. The capital router rebalances allocations periodically based on recent performance — coins completing more profitable cycles receive proportionally more capital.

Auto-discovery (default: on)

When enabled, Tessara scans Coinbase-listed coins periodically and scores each using statistical and ML signals:

• Volume — minimum $200k 24h volume required; higher volume scores better
• Age — coins listed for fewer than 90 days are excluded
• Price behaviour — oscillating, range-bound patterns score higher
• Spread — wide spreads reduce effective profit per cycle
• ML confidence score — 0–20 scale; minimum threshold configurable (default: 12/20)
• Sector diversity — limits concentration within correlated coin categories

Coins above the ML threshold are added automatically. Grid count is managed relative to available capital.

Manual coin selection

To trade specific coins, go to Settings → Auto-discover coins and toggle it off. A coin picker appears — select coins and save. Alternatively, any coin can be added manually from the Coins tab → Browse section regardless of whether auto-discovery is on or off.

Probation & auto-cull

New coins enter a probation period (default: 7 days). If a coin doesn't produce enough profitable cycles within that window — or falls below the configured win rate threshold — it is automatically removed. The auto-cull setting controls whether this removal is automatic or flagged for manual review.

The Coins tab

All coin management happens in the Coins tab: Active view (current grids with signal health), Queue (newly discovered candidates), Browse (full 500+ coin universe), and Removed (history with re-add option).

Circuit breaker (daily loss cap)

If realized losses in a single day exceed the configured percentage of portfolio value, the bot pauses all new buy orders for the rest of that day. Existing open positions and sell orders are unaffected. Resets at local midnight.

Portfolio heat halt

Tracks net unrealized loss across all open positions as a percentage of total portfolio. When this exceeds the heat threshold (default: 15%), new buys are paused until the portfolio recovers. Separate from the daily loss cap — this activates on open drawdown before it becomes realized.

Per-coin drawdown stop

Each coin has its own drawdown limit (default: 15%). If a single coin's open position drops more than this percentage from its average cost basis, the grid for that coin is halted. The coin card shows a "Halted" status. The grid can be re-enabled manually or the position drained.

Stop loss

A configurable hard stop that exits all or selected positions if total drawdown from starting capital exceeds the threshold. Off by default for most tenants. Threshold and scope are configurable per bot.

Max position stop

Stops adding to any single coin's position once it exceeds the configured percentage of total portfolio (default: 10%). Prevents any one coin from dominating capital allocation.

Overnight scale-down

Reduces position sizes during configurable overnight hours when liquidity is typically lower. Controlled by a multiplier (e.g. 0.5× = half normal size). Off by default.

Smart Signals auto buy pause

When 2 or more defensive signals trigger simultaneously (negative CVD, weak relative strength, poor liquidity, adverse macro), all new buys are automatically paused. Requires multi-signal confirmation — a single noisy signal cannot trigger a portfolio-wide halt. Resumes automatically once conditions clear.

Pump protection

Detects rapid price spikes on individual coins. When a coin surges above the pump detection threshold in a short window, new buys for that coin are held for a cooldown period.

Signal Score & entry sizing

Before every buy, four real-time signals are scored and combined into a 0–100 composite:

• CVD (order flow) — 35 pts — is more money flowing into or out of this coin right now?
• Relative Strength — 30 pts — is this coin outperforming or underperforming BTC?
• Liquidity — 20 pts — how deep is the order book?
• Macro — 15 pts — what is the broader BTC trend doing?

The score drives a sizing multiplier: 0.35× (weak) → 1.0× (neutral) → 1.25× (strong). The bot always buys — Signal Sizing adjusts how much based on conditions. On by default.

Automatic buy pause

When 2+ defensive signals trigger simultaneously, all new buy orders are cancelled and new buys halted. Two levels: Buy Pause (moderate conditions, 2h minimum) and Full Defensive (severe conditions, 4h minimum). Both auto-resume when conditions clear. Manual override available via dashboard banner. On by default.

Relative Strength Rotation Off by default

The bot continuously ranks held positions by relative strength vs BTC. When a weak position underperforms by more than the exit threshold, and a stronger opportunity exists with a sufficient Signal Score, the weak position is exited and capital redeployed.

Rotation can result in intentional loss exits. This is by design. Read the Smart Signals guide ↗ before enabling.

Anti-churn safeguards: 2% daily rotation loss cap, 12-rotation daily hard cap, 12-hour pause after 3 consecutive rotation losses, minimum 2-hour hold time before any position is eligible.

Conviction Decay Off by default

Each position has a conviction score (starts at 100) that decays when the coin is underwater with no recovery signals. Low-conviction positions become eligible for rotation without needing an incoming coin with a high Signal Score. Decay is dynamic — faster when CVD and relative strength are also negative, slower when buying pressure is present despite a negative price move. Only active when Rotation is also enabled.

Correlation Limits Off by default

Identifies clusters of correlated coins (threshold: 0.75 correlation) and caps any one cluster at 25% of portfolio capital. Affects new entries only — no existing positions are force-exited when this is enabled.

What's included

✅ 14-day free trial — full access, no credit card required
✅ All features — risk controls, Smart Signals, coin discovery, Arena
✅ No artificial limits — no grid count caps, no coin limits
✅ Full trade history & analytics
✅ Fee on realized profit only — open positions and unrealized amounts never count
✅ Fee waived on months under $50 profit — 10% of <$50 = <$5, automatically waived
✅ $149.99 hard cap — no surprise bills on strong months
✅ Cancel anytime from the Billing tab

How billing works

After the 14-day free trial, billing is monthly. Net realized profit from bot-completed cycles is calculated and a 10% performance fee applied, capped at $149.99. Months where 10% of net profit falls below $5.00 are automatically waived — no invoice, no pause. Open positions and unrealized amounts are never counted.

Invoice issued on the 1st of each month via Stripe. 7-day grace period before bot pauses on non-payment. Resumes immediately on payment.

What counts as billable

Any grid cycle the bot places after your launch counts — including trades on coins you held before Tessara if you chose to grid them during onboarding. Excluded: the one-time protective sell placed at onboarding (1.5% above cost basis), fills that settled before your launch timestamp, and orphan reconciliation recoveries. The Billing tab shows exactly which trades are billable.

v1.2.0 — June 2026 Current

• Smart Signals — CVD engine, relative strength scoring, liquidity analysis, macro overlay
• Signal Score drives 0.35×–1.25× buy size multiplier per entry
• Automatic buy pause (2 levels: Buy Pause + Full Defensive) with multi-signal requirement
• Relative Strength Rotation with anti-churn safeguards (off by default)
• Conviction Decay — tracks per-position confidence over time (off by default)
• Correlation Limits — caps exposure to correlated coin clusters (off by default)
• Portfolio lifecycle — prunes underperformers, manages grid count vs capital
• Coins tab — dedicated coin management with Active / Queue / Browse / Removed views, fitness scoring, rotation suggestions
• Arena — XP/bot levels, daily quests, Achievement Codex (110+), Hall of Printers leaderboard, Bot Racing League, Buff Shop, referral system
• This Month P&L added to summary bar
• Billing tab: estimated fee correctly reflects trial status
• User Guide — full beginner-friendly reference at /docs/user-guide.html
• Beta launch — open signup with 14-day free trial

v1.1.0 — May 2026

• Billing system — performance fee, Stripe integration, 14-day trial
• Onboarding rework — holdings decision modal, protective sells, legal acceptance, launchConfirmedAt hard floor
• Finance tab — capital tracking, recurring expenses, quarterly tax estimates, P&L statement
• Admin panel — user management, bot controls, audit log, revenue, health monitoring
• Downtime recovery — reconciler catches all missed fills after restart
• Dual P&L — bot-managed vs total portfolio view
• Per-coin stop loss and drawdown halt
• Pump protection with configurable threshold
• Trailing grid exit
• Win rate calculation fixed — uses billable cycle denominator only

v1.0.0 — May 2026

• Initial launch on tessara.trade
• Multi-tenant architecture — each user runs an isolated bot process
• Adaptive spacing (per-coin, blended ATR + historical data)
• Auto-discovery with ML scoring and probation
• Manual coin selection
• Regime detection (Ranging / Trending Up / Trending Down / Extreme Risk)
• Daily loss cap and portfolio heat halt
• Real-time dashboard with SSE live updates