HOW IT THINKS

Thirteen steps, one argument you can actually read.

Every ticker you analyze runs through the exact same sequence — four independent analysts, a structured debate, a risk check, a final call, and a live-price sanity check on that call before you ever see it.

Nothing here is simplified for the sake of a demo. This is the real sequence, in the real order, every time.

From a tap to a verdict

What actually happens between picking a ticker and getting an answer.

1

You pick a ticker and tap Execute

The desk starts immediately — you're not left staring at a blank spinner with no idea what's happening.

2

Each phase appears as it completes

You can watch the analysts brief in, watch the bull and bear actually disagree, and see the transcript build in real time.

3

The grounding gate reviews the final call

Before anything is shown to you as a finished verdict, its own target and stop are checked against the live price.

4

You get a verdict — with its own argument attached

Not just a decision. The debate that produced it stays open for you to read, disagree with, or dig into.

Phase 1–4 · Four independent analysts

Each analyst briefs in separately, before anyone argues — so the debate starts from four honest, uncorrelated opinions rather than one model talking to itself.

ANALYST BRIEFINGSPHASES 1–4
1

Technical Analyst

Reads the price action itself — trend, volatility, momentum, where price sits in its own recent range. Backed by real computed factors, not just a general impression.

2

Fundamental Analyst

Judges valuation, growth, margins, and balance sheet strength — using real P/E, revenue growth, and margin figures pulled fresh for the ticker, not memory of the company.

3

Sentiment Analyst

Reads how the market is currently feeling about the name — separate from what the numbers themselves say.

4

News Analyst

Surfaces what's actually been reported recently that could move the thesis either way.

Phase 5–9 · The debate

This is where TradingAgents stops resembling a single model with an opinion, and starts resembling an actual desk arguing about a trade.

STRUCTURED DEBATEPHASES 5–9
5

Bull vs. Bear

Two full rounds arguing the thesis from opposite sides — not a token counterpoint, an actual back-and-forth.

6

Risk Manager

Weighs the debate and synthesizes it into one working thesis, rather than just picking a winner.

7

Trader

Turns the thesis into something concrete — an entry, a target, and a stop.

8

Risk Team

Stress-tests that trade plan before it goes any further — the last check before a call is made.

9

Portfolio Manager

Issues the final call — BUY, SELL, or HOLD — as the one voice accountable for the decision.

Phase 10–13 · After the verdict

The desk doesn't stop at a decision. It widens the lens, then checks its own work.

CLOSING & VERIFICATIONPHASES 10–13
10

Round-Table Debate

A closing summary of where the desk agreed, and where it didn't.

11

Multi-Horizon Desk

Separate short, medium, and long-term calls — because a stock can be a good trade this week and a bad hold this year, and collapsing that into one answer would hide something real.

12–13

Grounding Gate

Checks the verdict's own target and stop against the live quote — on the correct side of price, a plausible distance away, a reasonable risk-to-reward. Flags what doesn't hold up. Never rewrites the verdict to make it look better.

Example — what actually comes out the other endGROUNDED
DecisionBUY
Target sits above live price
Stop sits below live price
Risk / reward≥ 1
Full debate transcriptattached

This is what "grounded" means in practice — every number in the final call has actually been checked against something real before you see it.

Why a debate, not one model with an opinion

A single model producing a confident number is easy to build and easy to trust for the wrong reasons — there's no way to tell whether it reasoned well or just sounded certain. Splitting the work across roles that have to argue with each other, and then checking the result against reality, makes the reasoning visible and the output checkable. That's the whole premise this desk is built on.