Your own trading research lab. Test it on paper first.
Build, test and watch your own US stock strategies on paper, with built-in risk controls and checks, and it's designed so a strategy stays out of live trading until it earns a Scorecard PASS and you confirm it.
Source code is included so you can inspect it; the license allows settings changes only.
- 1Strategy signalAn agent spots a setup in its own walletpaper
- 2Council voteRisk, data, calendar and execution checks, plus one ML filter votechecked
- 3Risk layerLoss limits, kill switch, health monitorchecked
- 4ScorecardPaper results compared with the backtestmeasured
- 5Live tradingYour Alpaca account, your decisionlocked until PASS
How every trade idea moves through the lab.
Built like a small trading firm, not a single agent
Many trading tools are one strategy and a buy button. Ascent Trading Systems surrounds every strategy with a team that votes, checks, tests and audits it, and records why. Here's what each part does. The exact rules and settings inside come with your copy.
Every new entry goes to a vote
Seven rule-based support agents (Market Brain, Risk Officer, Data Steward, Calendar Guard, Execution Coach, Portfolio Balancer and Night Watch) and one ML Breakout Filter review each new entry. Each vote shows its numbers, and the Risk Officer can veto.
No single signal acts alone, and you can read exactly why a trade happened or didn't.
It grades itself against its backtest
The Scorecard compares paper results with what the backtest predicted, with confidence ranges. An agent that falls short is automatically benched to a smaller budget. It's designed so automatic changes can only reduce size, never increase it.
Drift gets caught early, before it becomes a habit.
Live trading is locked until paper results check out
Live mode is designed to stay locked until a strategy earns a Scorecard PASS on paper, then passes a pre-flight checklist, a written risk acknowledgement and a typed confirmation.
Going live is designed to be a deliberate decision.
Built to resist curve-fitting
Tests are written down before they run, and walk-forward tests check whether settings picked on past data still hold up on periods the strategy has never seen.
Most backtests flatter the strategy. These are built to try to break it.
Tested the hard way
Crisis replays drive the real engine through historical market crashes. Soak tests run years of simulated sessions while injecting broker outages, lost connections, delayed fills and restarts.
The goal: find failures in testing, before they reach your account.
It works while the market sleeps
Night Shift drills the live code overnight. The nightly audit replays the day's trades, sorts the mistakes and tests other settings on them, then reports what it found. It changes nothing by itself; you decide. You get an Opening Bell briefing and a plain-English Friday report card.
It's designed to surface problems for you to review.
Adjusts, within fixed limits
It records every decision, including the trades it passed on, and scores them against what happened. A ticker that keeps losing gets ranked lower (never higher), and an opinion voter's weight moves a little with its record. These are fixed, logged rules you can read in the source, not an AI model, and they never touch position size, risk limits, exits or the veto. New strategies run in the Paper Lab first and are promoted only with your approval.
Adjustments are small, bounded and written down.
Built to be transparent
Plain-English thought logs, recorded votes, a live 3D city of every agent, and a CSV of closed trades for your records, to compare with your broker's 1099-B. It is not tax advice. One council vote is a pre-trained machine-learning model, and the optional Ask the Agents page uses AI; the disclaimer explains both.
Its logs are written so you can understand what it did and why.
What you get
One download with everything below. No hidden extras and no required subscriptions.
The trading engine
- Several strategies run side by side, each with its own virtual wallet and records
- Paper-trades US stocks and ETFs through your free Alpaca account
- Four options strategies you can test on paper
- A Risk Officer with a veto and a voting council that checks every buy
- One ML Breakout Filter vote: a small model trained before release on past prices (no veto, never places trades)
- A News Desk that groups live headlines (look only: news never places a trade)
Risk and go-live controls
- Kill switch, daily and weekly loss limits
- Over a dozen health checks with watchdog restarts
- Go-live Scorecard: PASS, WAIT or FAIL against the backtest
- Pre-flight check, written risk acknowledgement and typed confirmation before any live order
- Small-account mode for accounts under $2,000
Research tools
- Backtester with pre-registered tests, so you test ideas instead of curve-fitting
- Paper Lab: dozens of virtual strategy variants competing on live prices
- Nightly audit (optional, off until you switch it on) that sorts the day's mistakes and reports which settings would have done better (it changes nothing)
- Crisis drills that replay historical market shocks
- Trade post-mortems and challenger strategies
Dashboard and 3D city
- A 12-page dashboard in your browser (full list below)
- A live 3D Research Lab: every agent is a building you can click into
- Plain-English thought logs: why each agent did or didn't trade
- Optional alerts to your own Discord channel
- Optional Ask the Agents page (off by default): ask about your own logs with your own Anthropic key; AI answers can be wrong, are not trade recommendations, and the page can't change settings or place orders
Install and updates
- One-click Windows installer (START_HERE) that sets up Python and everything else
- Guided Alpaca paper-account setup and a desktop shortcut
- One-click updater with automatic backup and rollback
- Linux server setup and an Oracle Cloud guide for running 24/7
- A support-info tool that gathers diagnostics without your keys
Docs, source code and support
- 15 guides: user guide, going live, health checks, operations and more
- The full Python source code, included so you can see exactly how it works
- About 900 automated tests you can run yourself with a double-click
- 30 days of email installation help
- In-app Help & Feedback page that reaches us directly
The dashboard, page by page
| Command Center | Account, open positions, today's activity and engine status at a glance |
|---|---|
| Cyber City | The 3D city, updated live from the engine |
| Agent Floor | One desk per agent: status, signal, position and thought log |
| Health | Every health check in green, yellow or red |
| News | Live headlines grouped into stories (never trades) |
| Scorecard | PASS / WAIT / FAIL with confidence ranges |
| Paper Lab | Virtual strategy variants side by side |
| Learning | How a few opinion voters' council weights move, within fixed limits, with their record, plus trade post-mortems |
| Nightly Audit | Mistakes found overnight and the settings tested on them (report only) |
| Ask the Agents | Optional: questions about your own logs, answered by Claude with your own key |
| Wallets | Equity curves, holdings and report cards per strategy |
| Help & Feedback | Send a bug report or suggestion straight to us |
What's not included
- Trading signals, advice or a track record. You test and decide everything yourself.
- An "AI that trades for you". One council vote uses a fixed, pre-trained model; the optional chat page only explains.
- A broker account. You open your own free Alpaca account (the installer shows you how).
- Hosting. It runs on your own PC or server, not on our website.
- A Mac version or a phone app.
- Setting it up or running it for you. We help you install it; you run it.
Delivered as a download of about 1 MB, stamped with your order number. Your license doesn't expire and needs no subscription.
A look inside
Real screens from the software, captured in simulator mode on a fresh install. The numbers are simulated: they are not trading results.
The 3D Research Lab
Every agent is a building in a living city, updated live from the engine. Trading agents are towers, support agents have their own buildings, and the Risk Officer sits at HQ with a veto over every trade. The fountain shows the day's result, and the panel on the right lets you inspect any agent.
The Agent Floor: every agent explains itself
Each agent has its own desk with its status, signal strength, position and evidence grade, plus a plain-English thought log of why it did or didn't trade. When an agent wants to trade, you see each council member's vote and reason, for example 7 approved and the ML filter abstaining.
Fly through the city
Jump between views (Riverside, Towers, Risk HQ, Uptown) or take the guided tour. Click a tower for its details, or double-click to go inside. Calm mode, glow, labels and sound are all adjustable.
Health checks you can read at a glance
Over a dozen checks run all the time: engine heartbeat, market data, broker connection, clock, open orders, restarts, errors and disk space. Each row says what it means right now. Green is fine, yellow means keep an eye on it, and red is designed to stop new trades until it's fixed.
The Go-live Scorecard
Compares your paper results with what the backtest predicted and answers PASS, WAIT or FAIL. Live trading is designed to stay locked until it says PASS. Every check shows its evidence: sample size, average trade, win rate, costs, trade frequency and drawdown, each with a confidence range. Example with sample data, not real results. A fresh install says WAIT until you've gathered enough paper trades.
How it works
No accounts to create. Your license key is all you need.
Buy securely
Checkout is handled by Lemon Squeezy. Card, PayPal and taxes are taken care of there.
Get your key
Your license key arrives by email right after payment, with a download button.
One-click install
Download your copy, extract it and double-click START_HERE. It installs Python and everything else, and walks you through a free Alpaca paper account.
Test on paper
Run strategies with virtual money, study the results, and decide for yourself what's next.
Before you buy: is it right for you?
This is a digital download with full source code, so sales are final except for our installation guarantee. Please check these first.
A good fit if you
- Have a Windows 10/11 (64-bit) PC or an Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 server
- Can follow simple on-screen steps (the installer sets up Python and everything else for you)
- Are comfortable editing a settings file
- Can open a free Alpaca paper-trading account
- Want to research and test strategies yourself, on paper first
Not a fit if you
- Want an agent that makes money for you, or trading signals or advice
- Want a phone app, a Mac app or a hosted website (it runs on your own Windows PC or Linux server)
- Don't want to install anything or follow technical steps
- Need a broker other than Alpaca
- Want someone to set it up or run it for you
- Live outside the United States (we sell to US residents only)
Not sure? Ask before you buy. We'd rather answer a question than refund an order.
What $199 gets you
You're not paying for a promise of profits. Nobody can honestly sell that. You're paying for a finished, tested research lab that would take months to build yourself, with no monthly fee from us.
Early Access pricing
Ascent Trading Systems is over 31,000 lines of code and 12,000 lines of tests, plus months of research and risk-control engineering. It's priced for Early Access, and we plan to raise prices for new buyers as major features are added.
Months of engineering, ready on day one
Over 31,000 lines of Python plus 12,000 lines of tests (about 900 checks you can run yourself). The engine, the risk layer, the backtester, the dashboard and the 3D city are already built and working together.
No fee from us to run it, plans optional
It runs on your own computer with Alpaca's free paper account. No monthly fee and no per-trade fee from us, and bug fixes are free. The Yearly plan and the Founders Edition are optional, for new systems and big updates: your license doesn't expire and needs neither. Your own computer, internet and any paid data are yours to cover. The optional Ask the Agents page uses your own Anthropic API key, billed to you by Anthropic.
Runs on your machine, open to inspect
Your broker keys, trades, settings and results stay on your computer, unless you switch on an optional connection (alerts or Ask the Agents). We only receive what's needed to check your license and deliver downloads, as described in our Privacy Policy.
Learn without risking your savings
Mistakes on paper don't cost real money. Test ideas with virtual money, measure them against the backtest, and live trading is designed to stay locked until a strategy earns a Scorecard PASS. Even then it's your choice.
| Building it yourself | Hosted subscription tools | Ascent Trading Systems | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Months of your time | A monthly fee, for as long as you use it | $199 once; update plans optional |
| Source code | Yes, once you write it | Usually closed | Full source included |
| Your data | On your machine | On their servers | On your machine |
| Risk controls | Only what you build | Varies | Kill switch, loss limits, health checks, go-live lock |
| Tests | Only what you write | Not visible to you | About 900 you can run with a double-click |
| Updates | Your own work | While you keep paying | Bug fixes free; new systems with a plan |
A general comparison of approaches, not of any specific product. Results from any trading software, including this one, are never guaranteed.
Early Access pricing
Pay once and the software is yours. Every purchase includes a full year of new systems and big updates, and bug fixes are free for as long as we release them.
Standard
- The full software and source code
- The standard 3D Research Lab
- Step-by-step docs for Windows and Linux
- First year of new systems and big updates included
- Free bug fixes for your version, for as long as we release them
- 30 days of email install help
- Lifetime license, no subscription needed
Founders Edition
Limited to 1,000 buyers.
- Everything in Standard
- Your own Custom City, designed to your request and built in the order requests arrive and delivered within 30 days (up to 90 in very busy periods). Only Founders get one.
- Every new system, newly tested strategy and big update we release, for as long as we release them (planned through 2.0 and beyond). Never renews.
- Early access: we aim to give Founders each new feature version up to 30 days before other buyers
- Planned for version 1.1: your Founder number and a gold Founders city theme in the app
Standard plus four yearly renewals would be $515, without a Custom City. Founders is $449 once.
Founders Edition is limited to 1,000 buyers, or until version 2.0, whichever comes first. After that it won't be offered again.
Available soonAfter your first year: $79/year, optional
Standard includes a year of new systems and big updates. To keep them coming after that, add the yearly renewal: it renews automatically at the same price until you cancel, and its price stays locked while it's active. Start it when your included year ends; we'll email you before then, and at least 30 days before every yearly charge after that. Without it, your copy keeps working and bug fixes stay free. Cancel anytime online from your Lemon Squeezy orders page.
Available soonThe Ascent ladder: priced to climb with the system
Prices for new buyers go up when major versions ship. What you've already paid never changes. Prices for new buyers climb one step with each release, on its release day, to a planned $999 for the complete version 2.0. The next three steps are binding price commitments; later steps are planned and may change. See the roadmap. Your license is yours to keep, a yearly plan keeps its price for as long as it stays active, and the Founders Edition is paid once.
- $1991.0Now
- $2491.1Committed
- $2991.2Committed
- $3491.3Committed
- $3991.4Planned
- $4491.5Planned
- $5491.6Planned
- $6491.7Planned
- $7491.8Planned
- $8491.9Planned
- $9992.0Planned
Standard price for new buyers at each version. Gold: now and committed. Outlined: planned.
No countdown timers or fake deadlines. When prices change, we simply update this page.
License: one person, up to two of their own computers. Sold to US residents only. Prices in USD; tax is added at checkout where required. By buying you agree to the License Agreement, including binding individual arbitration, a class action waiver and a jury trial waiver (section 16, with a 30-day opt-out), the Refund Policy and the Risk Disclaimer. Please read Before you buy first. How updates work.
Common questions
The questions buyers ask most. Licensing, risk, updates and more are on the full FAQ page.
What is Ascent Trading Systems?
Ascent Trading Systems is self-hosted research software for designing, testing and monitoring your own US stock and ETF strategies. It runs on your own Windows PC or Linux server and paper-trades through your free Alpaca account by default.
You get the trading engine, a 12-page dashboard, a 3D city view of every agent, risk and go-live checks, documentation and the full source code. It is a research and simulation model, not a trading service, a signal provider or investment advice.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. On Windows you double-click START_HERE and follow the prompts. Day-to-day use happens in the dashboard. Changing settings means editing a clearly commented text file. You never need to touch the code, and the license allows settings changes only, so every copy stays supported and updatable.
What do I need to run it?
- A Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) PC, or an Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 server. A free Oracle Cloud server works, and a step-by-step guide is included.
- An internet connection.
- A free Alpaca paper-trading account. The installer walks you through creating one.
- To live in the United States: we sell to US residents only.
Everything else, including Python, is installed for you.
Will Ascent Trading Systems make money for me?
We make no promise of profits or wins, and no honest seller can. The software ships with no track record; you configure, test and validate it yourself, and you are responsible for the results. Please read the risk disclaimer before buying.
Can it trade with real money?
Only if you choose to, through your own Alpaca live account. Paper trading is the default. Live trading is designed to stay locked until a strategy earns a Scorecard PASS and a full pre-flight check passes. You must also accept a written risk acknowledgement and type a confirmation phrase. Going live is entirely your decision and your risk.
What if I can't get it installed?
Email us within 14 days of purchase. We'll help you get it running on a supported system, and if we can't, you receive a full refund. See the refund policy.
About the developer
Ascent Trading Systems is a one-person company (Ascent Trading Systems LLC). I'm a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and like many traders, I've lost money in the market myself. That experience is why I built this: not to promise profits, but to give traders a disciplined, evidence-based way to test strategies before risking real money.
Every part of it was designed, tested and is supported by me, from a home office, with my dog Stevie keeping me company. He's a Rottweiler-Husky mix, and a very good boy. I built it with the help of AI coding tools and back it with more than 900 automated tests. When you email support, you reach the person who built it.
Thank you for considering Ascent Trading Systems. Your support helps keep it growing.