Why can’t I enable live trading?

4 min read · updated 2026-07-10

When you try to enable live trading, SleeveFolio re-checks every requirement itself, on its own systems, in this order. Whichever message you hit, this is the full list it’s drawing from:

MessageCauseRemedy
“Live trading requires a Pro subscription”You’re on FreePro upgrades are paused for now while we finish the safety groundwork, so only paper trading is open and this can’t be cleared yet. When live trading opens, you’ll upgrade under Settings → Billing.
“Subscription is not active”Payment failed or the subscription lapsedUpdate your card in the billing portal (Settings → Billing, which opens Stripe, our payment processor)
“Enable 2FA before enabling live trading”No authenticator enrolledSet up 2FA
“Save your live Alpaca keys…”No live keys storedSave live keys in Settings → Broker
“Too many incorrect codes. Wait a few minutes, then try again.”Five wrong authenticator codes in a row locked this session’s attempts for a short cooldown (a brute-force guard)Wait a few minutes, then enter a fresh code
“That code is wrong or expired”Authenticator code didn’t match, often a phone clock that’s off by a minute or moreRe-enter a fresh code; check device time sync
“The live-trading safety checks are not all passing”The gate: usually unresolved driftInvestigate and acknowledge on Reconciliation

Drift special cases

Two non-obvious ways the drift check blocks: a reconciliation check whose results couldn’t be read (the gate blocks rather than trust a broken check; run a fresh re-check from the Reconciliation page), and an acknowledgment that no longer applies (each acknowledgment covers only the exact mismatch you reviewed; if the drift grows or changes shape, it alerts again and needs a fresh review).