Risk disclosure

Crypto trading risk

Trading crypto assets involves substantial risk of loss, and you can lose your entire balance. Crypto markets are extremely volatile and trade 24 hours a day, every day, so prices can move sharply while you are away and gap past any limit. Many crypto assets are thinly traded, and liquidity can disappear without warning. Margin and borrowing magnify losses and can lead to forced liquidation. Crypto is largely unregulated compared with traditional markets, protections that exist for other assets may not apply, and an exchange can fail, freeze withdrawals or be hacked. Only trade with money you can afford to lose entirely.

What Turtle Terminal does

Turtle Terminal checks the orders you place through it against rules you set, before sending them to your exchange, and re-checks your account after each synchronisation. It refuses orders that break a rule and records why. It is a tool for discipline. It is not a guarantee, a hedge, a stop-loss or an insurance policy.

What Turtle Terminal cannot do

• Stop orders you place elsewhere. An order entered directly at your exchange or through other software is executed by your exchange without any check by Turtle Terminal. Turtle Terminal detects such fills later and records them as unguarded. It cannot undo them.
• Enforce limits in real time. Post-trade checks depend on data from your exchange and run on a schedule, normally every 60 seconds, around the clock. Between synchronisations your account can move past a limit. A daily loss limit is enforced when the loss is observed, not when it happens.
• Guarantee prices or fills. The prices Turtle Terminal uses to estimate an order's effect may be delayed or wrong. Whether, when and at what price an order fills is decided by the market and your exchange.
• Prevent losses from open positions. Turtle Terminal can refuse new orders. It does not close positions for you. When the kill switch is armed it also refuses closing orders through Turtle Terminal, and you must manage positions at your exchange.
• Protect your assets or their custody. Your crypto is held by your exchange, not by Turtle Terminal. If your exchange fails, is hacked or freezes withdrawals, Turtle Terminal cannot recover your assets.
• Replace your judgement. Rules are only as good as the numbers you put in them. Turtle Terminal does not recommend settings and cannot know your financial situation.

Failure modes

When market data is stale, your exchange is unreachable, the circuit breaker is open or the engine fails, Turtle Terminal refuses orders that add exposure and allows orders that reduce it. This can stop you from placing an order you wanted. When an order's outcome is unknown, Turtle Terminal never resubmits it; check your exchange before retrying. Turtle Terminal may be unavailable for maintenance. Your exchange's platform is always available to you independently of Turtle Terminal.

Paper and live accounts

Paper and testnet accounts simulate trading with no money at risk and may fill differently from a live market. Results in a paper account do not predict results in a live one. Live trading must be switched on explicitly, per account, after you acknowledge this disclosure.

No advice

Nothing in the terminal, the documentation or this website is investment, legal or tax advice. Turtle Terminal is not a crypto exchange, broker, money transmitter or investment adviser.