Bot Settings: Trading Strategy
The Trading Strategy section defines what the bot trades: the underlying, the position structure, and a few behaviors that shape how the structure is built and closed.
Settings in this section
Underlying Symbol
The symbol the bot trades options on. The dropdown lists every symbol available to your account. Once a bot has traded for the first time, its symbol is locked: the form tells you to copy the bot to a new bot if you want a different underlying, which keeps each bot's trade history tied to a single symbol.
Trade Template
The overall shape of the position. Your choice controls which legs the Position Legs section shows and how much of each leg you configure yourself.
| Template | What it builds |
|---|---|
| Single Leg | One option leg, long or short. |
| Vertical Spread | A two-leg spread: one short leg and one long hedge leg of the same option type. |
| Condor | A four-leg structure: a put spread and a call spread. |
| Custom | You define every leg yourself, up to four legs in any combination. |
Number of Legs
How many legs the position has: One, Two, Three, or Four. The Position Legs section shows a configuration block for each leg you enable here. Use it with the Custom template to build structures the named templates do not cover.
Skip AM Expirations
Tells the bot to ignore AM-settled expirations when selecting option chains and always pick PM expirations. This toggle only appears for indices that have AM expirations (SPX, NDX, RUT, and OEX) and it is enabled by default. Leave it on unless you specifically want AM-settled contracts.
Sell Bidless Longs After Exit
Controls what happens to long legs that have no active bid (a 0.00 bid) when the bot closes a trade for a stop, timed exit, or profit target. Bidless longs are always left out of the closing order itself. With this setting enabled, after the closing order fills the bot sends a market sell-to-close order for each bidless long that was left behind. If that sell-to-close order is canceled, the bot does not regenerate it. With the setting disabled, no sell-to-close order is sent and the bidless longs simply remain until they expire or you close them yourself.
Efficient Spreads
Dynamically improves your long hedge legs at entry. When enabled, the bot adjusts a long leg to the closest-to-the-money strike that has the same mark price as the strike your leg definition targeted. For example, if your definition selected a 4300 put but a 4340 put currently has the same mark price, the bot uses the 4340 strike instead: same cost, more protection.
Efficient Spreads adjusts long strikes only for the Premium with Max Width, Percent ITM/OTM, Points ITM/OTM, Vertical Width, and Exact strike target types. See Bot Settings: Position Legs for those target types.
How this section fits together
Trade Template and Number of Legs decide what appears in the Position Legs section, where each leg gets its own strike targeting and sizing. Skip AM Expirations, Sell Bidless Longs After Exit, and Efficient Spreads then shape how those legs are selected and unwound across every trade the bot takes.