How live Trading agent credits work (0.5% of fill)

Live Trading agent fills debit pay-as-you-go (PAYG) credits at 0.5% of notional per fill. Paper mode never spends credits. When the credit balance hits $0, live pauses automatically while paper keeps running. Breakflare is a daily hype-momentum tracker for CoinGecko ranks 51-200. It scores hype, 3d/7d momentum, Climb, Breakout Score™, and confidence. Core research does not place trades or publish price targets.

Key Takeaways

• Budget credits as an operating cost next to exchange fees; know the $0-credits pause behavior before you go live.
• Paper is included with Plus and never burns the credit balance.
• Do not treat credit packs as a return, yield, or “edge” product.
• Keep live off until paper mode fills match written gates (score floors, size, stops, kill switch).

Is paper Trading agent free with Plus?

Yes. Paper simulation is included so you can test rules against the same research fields you already see on the board: Breakout Score™, hype, Climb, confidence. Paper does not place exchange orders and does not debit credits.

That split is intentional. Breakflare’s core research remains an attention and breakout tracker. Trading agent is an optional autopilot layer. Confusing “I ran paper” with “I paid for alpha” is how operators misread both the scoring stack and the credit ledger.

Stay in paper until you can explain every fill from written gates. Re-read the paper-first guide and guardrails before any top-up. Credits cannot fix unclear rules.

Credits are a brake as much as a meter. The $0 pause exists so a forgotten live session cannot spend imaginary edge forever. If that pause surprises you, you were not ready for live.

What does 0.5% of fill notional mean?

For each live fill, Breakflare debits credits equal to 0.5% of that fill’s notional value. Notional is the size of the fill, not your whole account equity and not a prediction of profit.

Rough intuition:

• A live buy fill with $1,000 notional debits about $5 of credits.
• A later live sell fill with $1,000 notional debits about another $5.
• A round trip at similar size is about 1% in credit cost plus normal exchange fees, slippage, and any other venue costs.

Exact ledger lines live in the agent credit UI. Treat the 0.5% rule as the product mechanic; do not invent special cases in chat. Credits are not a spread Breakflare “earns from the market.” They are a PAYG meter for live automation on your own keys.

Live requires:

1. Plus (or another commercial path that includes agent live)
2. Connected Binance trade-only API keys (withdrawal permission rejected)
3. Positive credit balance

See trade-only key hygiene before you paste anything into settings.

How should you budget credits next to exchange fees?

Build a boring cost stack:

1. Exchange fees on the venue (maker/taker as applicable)
2. Slippage and partial fills (not modeled by research scores)
3. Credit debits at 0.5% of each live fill notional
4. Your time spent babysitting weak gates

Then ask whether your rule set trades too often for the research job. Mid-cap attention research often wants fewer, higher-quality touches, not a high-frequency credit burn. If paper already shows chatty entries on thin confidence, fix the gates before you fund the ledger.

Align sizing with research reality. A Breakout Score™ finalist with fading 7d momentum is usually a watch, not a reason to widen size so credits “get utilized.” Utilization is not a KPI. Process quality is.

Optional auto-recharge can keep live from pausing when you intend continuous operation. It can also keep a bad rule set alive longer. Prefer manual top-ups until the first live weeks are dull and controlled.

What happens with auto-recharge vs pause at $0?

Pause at $0 (default mental model): live stops; paper continues; research board continues. You still sort ranks 51-200. You just cannot automate live fills until credits return.

Auto-recharge (optional): the system tops up when balance is low so live can continue under your settings. Use only after:

• Paper log matched gates for a meaningful stretch
• Size caps and kill switch are tested (kill switch drill)
• You accept that credit top-ups and auto-recharges are non-refundable operating spend
• Someone is accountable for watching the desk that day

Do not treat credit packs as yield. There is no APY. There is no custody product inside Trading agent. Breakflare does not hold your exchange balances. Credits meter live automation; they do not grow themselves.

If you are still on the Plus trial first week, skip top-ups entirely. Learn the board and paper path first. Billing period choice (monthly vs yearly) is unrelated to whether you should fund live credits.

How do you forecast credit burn without fake precision?

You do not need a spreadsheet oracle. You need a bounded scenario.

1. Take your paper log’s typical live-intent fills per week under current gates.
2. Multiply by planned notional per fill.
3. Apply 0.5% per fill (and remember exits can debit too).
4. Add a buffer for retries, partials, or chatty days you have not fully muted yet.
5. Compare that opex to whether the research job even wants that many touches.

If the forecast only “works” when you assume constant winning round trips, you are budgeting fantasy. Credits meter activity, not edge. Quiet gates that skip often are usually healthier for mid-cap attention research than a busy ledger.

Cross-check burn forecasts against shortlist size limits. Unbounded starring is the upstream cause of unbounded automation attempts.

What governance rules keep credit spend from becoming stealth gambling?

Write desk rules before the first top-up:

• Max credit balance you are willing to hold idle
• Max weekly burn before a mandatory gate review
• Who can enable auto-recharge
• Who can raise size caps
• Mandatory revert-to-paper condition (kill switch trip, confidence regression, alert chaos)

Without governance, credits become a second casino chip stack sitting next to exchange balances. Breakflare’s non-custodial design keeps funds on your venue; it does not automatically install adult supervision. That part is on you. Re-read guardrails whenever burn accelerates.

How do credits relate to Plus subscription value?

Plus pays for the research terminal and paper agent. Credits pay for live automation minutes on your keys. Mixing those mental accounts creates bad decisions like “I already pay $399 so I should keep live running.” Subscription value shows up when the UTC sort is sharp. Credit spend shows up only when you intentionally automate fills.

If live is off and paper is on, you are still getting the product. Many strong operators never fund credits. That is a valid Plus outcome, not a failed upgrade path. Fund credits only when the paper graduation checklist is honestly complete.

If a teammate frames unused credits as “waste,” correct the frame. Idle credits are inventory. Forced live activity to “use the balance” is the waste. The research job does not owe the ledger entertainment.

Same logic applies after a pause at $0: the pause is a feature. Treat it as a scheduled review checkpoint, top up only if gates still deserve live, and keep the board habit running either way. A paused live session with a sharp UTC sort beats a funded live session with mushy floors every time you have to choose between pride and process.

Keep the credit ledger boring. Exciting credit charts usually mean the gates got chatty, not that research quality improved.

Want the live rank 51-200 board, whales, alerts, and paper Trading agent? Start a 14-day Plus trial at app.breakflare.com (Plus is $399/mo or $3990/yr).

Credit ops table

Frequently asked questions

Does paper burn credits?
No. Paper never spends the credit balance.

Is the 0.5% a bid-ask spread?
No. It is a PAYG credit debit on live fill notional, separate from exchange spreads and fees.

What if credits hit zero intraday?
Live pauses. Paper and the research terminal keep working. Top up if you still want live under the same written rules.

Are top-ups refundable?
Credit top-ups and auto-recharges are non-refundable. Treat them as operating cost.

Do credits change Breakout Score™?
No. Scores come from the attention pipeline. Credits only meter live automation.

Should I buy credits to “test” the product during week one?
No. Use paper. Fund live only after gates are boring and intentional.

Related reading

• Paper mode first: test Breakflare trading agent before live keys
• Introducing Breakflare trading agent
• Binance trade-only API keys for Breakflare
• Trading agent guardrails: stop, size, kill switch