# Approvals and permissions

> The trading permission a deployment runs under, what a held trade is and how long it waits, where approvals arrive, and how an agent's own permissions apply.

Source: https://orbitalaip.com/docs/trade/approvals-and-permissions

> [!IMPORTANT] Disclaimer
> Backtest results are hypothetical and do not predict future performance. Nothing here is investment advice: Orbital computes the rules you supplied and recommends nothing. Orbital is not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Costs are as modelled by the chosen cost profile and may differ from live trading.

## The trading permission

Every [deployment](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/glossary#deployment) runs under one trading permission. You choose it in the deploy review and can change it later on the deployment's page, under **Trading permission**.

| Permission | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Deny | Places no trades at all, not even exits. |
| Ask | Asks you to approve every trade it makes, including exits. |
| Auto | Asks you to approve each new trade before it is placed. Exits are never held. |
| Always-approve | Trades on its own within its limits, shorts included, without asking you first. |

A Rules or Program strategy deploys under **Always-approve** only. The other three are locked, with **A Program or Rules strategy places its trades within its limits without asking, for now.**

For an Agent strategy the picker starts on **Ask**, unless the agent's own permission is narrower.

On a running deployment, a changed permission is saved with **Save limits** and applies from the strategy's next trade. See [Change the limits](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/trade/manage-a-deployment#change-the-limits).

## What a held trade is

Under **Ask** every trade, and under **Auto** every new trade, is held instead of going to the broker. **Activity** lists it as **Waiting for review** under **Needs attention**.

A held trade waits 24 hours for an answer. A deadline that would fall in a session's last minutes moves back. It becomes 5 minutes before the close for a new trade, or 15 minutes for an exit. One that would fall while the market is closed moves forward, to shortly before the next session's close.

A newer request from the same deployment for the same stock replaces the one waiting, which then shows as **Superseded**. An exit asked for again keeps its first deadline. **Stop** closes the deployment's open requests, and **Stop everything…** closes every open request on the account.

## Answer a held trade

1. **Open the request**
   
   Click the notification, and Trade opens on **Activity** for that account. Or open **Activity**: held trades wait at the top, in the **Waiting for you** card.

2. **Read the deadline line**
   
   A new trade reads **A new trade · answer by** a time **or it is dropped**. An exit reads **An exit · placed anyway at** a time **if nobody answers**.

3. **Approve it**
   
   **Approve…** opens **Approve this trade?** or **Approve this exit?**. Confirm with **Approve and place**, or **Approve and sell** for an exit. Orbital checks the limits, the account's positions and any hold again when you approve, so it can still be refused. If it is, **Activity** says why.

4. **Or refuse it**
   
   **Refuse** asks **Refuse this trade?**: nothing is placed, and the strategy may ask again at its next check. Confirm with **Refuse trade**, or **Refuse exit** for an exit, whose shares stay open. **Keep** leaves it waiting.

5. **Or place it yourself**
   
   **Manual…** on a new trade opens the **New order** ticket as a market order, with the request's stock, side and shares but not its price. Change anything, then place it. The order is yours and shows as **Manual**, and placing it closes the request. A held exit offers no **Manual…**.

A market order approved while the market is closed is not placed yet: approve it again once the market opens, before its deadline. An exit approved while the market is closed is sent at once and fills at the next open.

## When nobody answers

A new trade nobody answers is dropped at its deadline. Nothing is placed, and **Activity** shows the request as **Refused**.

An exit nobody answers is placed for you during market hours, after every check an approved trade goes through. The notification is titled **Exit placed for you** and names the order. If a check refuses it, the notification is titled **Your exit could NOT be placed** and says why; usually the position is still open.

## Exits and shorts

After you press **Stop**, the strategy's own exits are placed without asking, whatever its permission, until it holds nothing. **Stop** itself sells nothing; see [Stop](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/trade/manage-a-deployment#stop).

A short entry is treated like any new trade: placed under **Always-approve**, held under **Ask** or **Auto**, and refused under **Deny**.

> [!WARNING] A short needs a cap
> **Budget** and **Max per trade** bound a short's size only when a dollar figure or a percentage below 100 is set. With both at 100%, a short can be as large as the broker's margin buying power allows. See [The four limits](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/trade/capital-sleeves#the-four-limits).

## Where approvals arrive

Every held trade sends one notification to whoever deployed the strategy, titled **Approval needed** or **Approval needed to exit** and then the side and the symbol. Opening it from the **Notifications** inbox takes you to Trade, where you answer it.

These notifications file under the **Automations** row of **Settings** → **Notifications**, where you can route them to a channel outside the app. See [Where notifications are delivered](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/alerts-and-notifications/notifications#where-notifications-are-delivered).

## The agent's own permissions

An Agent strategy's agent has permissions of its own in **Agent settings** → **Permissions**. Two of them reach Trade, and only workspace owners and admins can change them; see [The four permissions](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/permissions-and-approvals#the-four-permissions).

**Make trading decisions** offers the same four modes with the same meanings; Agent settings spells the last one **Always approve**. The stricter of the agent's permission and the deployment's trading permission applies. In the deploy review, any option wider than the agent's permission is locked and reads that the agent **is not allowed this.**

A strategy whose agent has no permission cannot be deployed: the review says the agent **has no permission to make trading decisions yet**. A workspace owner or admin gives it that first.

**Supervise deployments** lets the agent pause, resume, stop or change the limits of a deployment, and only a workspace owner or admin can approve each act. See [Supervise deployments](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/permissions-and-approvals#supervise-deployments).