Enable live trading

Flipping from paper to live is the most consequential click in SleeveFolio — so it’s deliberately the hardest one to make. This page walks the whole ceremony: the safety gate, the type-to-confirm, and the authenticator code that arms the switch.

Before you start

You’ll need all of the following already in place:

• A Pro subscription — Free is paper-only, and the server re-checks your tier and billing status at the moment of the flip
• A connected Alpaca account with live API keys saved under Settings → Broker
• Two-factor authentication enrolled, with your authenticator app at hand
• Zero unresolved reconciliation drift (no unexplained mismatch between SleeveFolio’s records and your broker’s)

What the gate verifies

The Paper → Live gate runs two safety checks. Both must be green before the Enable Live panel appears — there is no override, including for support staff.

That’s the whole list — deliberately. SleeveFolio does not gate live trading on strategy performance: it’s your money on your own broker, and that call is yours. We suggest paper-testing a strategy before going live, but we don’t block on it.

Flip the switch

1. 1
   Pass both gate checks

   Open Paper → Live from the side menu. Both checks are evaluated fresh from your account’s current records when the page loads — there’s no “run checks” button to press or report to wait on. If a row is red, the row tells you which screen fixes it; fix it and come back.
2. 2
   Type ENABLE LIVE

   When both rows are green the Enable Live panel appears. Type ENABLE LIVE — exactly, case-sensitive. The confirm button stays disabled until the text matches.
3. 3
   Enter your authenticator code

   Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app (recovery codes don’t work here — this prompt wants the live code). On success the environment badge flips to a pulsing LIVE and the audit log records the event:

   {
     "event_type": "LIVE_ENABLED",
     "payload": { "confirmedAt": "2026-06-11T14:21:08Z" }
   }

SleeveFolio re-checks everything at the moment of the flip — Pro tier, active subscription, 2FA enrollment, saved live keys, your authenticator code, and the gate itself. The on-screen gate is a preview; the real guard runs on SleeveFolio’s own systems, where every requirement must pass at once.

What changes when you’re live

Three things make LIVE unmistakable, on every screen and at every window size:

• A striped orange stripe pinned across the very top of the app
• A 2px orange outline around the entire viewport
• The pulsing LIVE badge in the top bar

If you don’t see all three signals, you’re not live. (With reduced motion enabled the stripe and badge stop animating but stay visible.)

If something goes wrong

Pause (reversible) stops auto-execution instantly and keeps positions. Returning to paper is always available from Settings → Broker — no gate, no waiting. And the kill switch trio is one click from every screen: Pause, Cancel open orders, Liquidate.