The bot places limit buy orders at regular intervals below the current price. When TSLA dips, orders fill automatically. Each position has a take profit set to return a fixed GBP amount. Positions close automatically at take profit.

Many small £1.00 profits compound over time
Deeper dips = more positions open = more profit potential on recovery
Grid self-adjusts as equity grows (tighter spacing = more frequent fills)
Designed to survive a 60% drop from highest open position (builds toward this)

Project structure

maxbot/
  bot.py         Main entry point — run this
  config.py      ALL settings — edit this for day-to-day changes
  client.py      Capital.com API calls
  state.py       Account state snapshot + field access helpers
  calculator.py  Grid maths, survival check, gap detection
  grid.py        Order management (gap-filling, TP rules)
  actions.py     dry/confirm/live action handler
  bot.log        Activity log (auto-created on first run)
  README.md      This file

When making changes: each file has one job. Bug in order placement → grid.py. Change a setting → config.py. API field name changed → client.py and state.py.

Setup

1. Requirements

Python 3.8+ and requests:

pip install requests --break-system-packages

2. Capital.com API key

Log into Capital.com
Go to Settings → API integrations
Enable 2FA if not already done (required for API key)
Generate API key

3. Set credentials as environment variables

# Add to ~/.bashrc so they persist across reboots
echo 'export CAPITAL_API_KEY="your_key_here"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER="your@email.com"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export CAPITAL_PASSWORD="your_password_here"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

4. Verify credentials work

cd ~/maxbot
python3 bot.py --mode dryrun

Should connect, read your positions and orders, print the audit. No actions taken.

Running the bot

Step 1 — Dry run (safe, always start here)

python3 bot.py --mode dryrun

Reads everything, prints what it would do. Zero actions. Run this first.

Step 2 — Confirm mode (approve each action)

python3 bot.py --mode confirm

Asks y/n before every order placement, cancellation, or TP change. Run this for several days until you trust the behaviour completely.

Step 3 — Live mode (autonomous)

python3 bot.py --mode live

Fully autonomous. Only switch here after thorough testing.

Running as a system service (auto-start on boot)

Create the service file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/maxbot.service

Paste this (adjust paths/credentials):

[Unit]
Description=TSLA Grid Trading Bot
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=0

[Service]
Type=simple
User=george
WorkingDirectory=/home/george/maxbot
Environment=CAPITAL_API_KEY=your_key_here
Environment=CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER=your@email.com
Environment=CAPITAL_PASSWORD=your_password_here
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/george/maxbot/bot.py --mode live
Restart=always
RestartSec=30

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable maxbot
sudo systemctl start maxbot

Check status and logs

sudo systemctl status maxbot          # current status
sudo journalctl -u maxbot -f          # live systemd logs
tail -f ~/maxbot/bot.log              # bot's own log file

Stop / restart

sudo systemctl stop maxbot
sudo systemctl restart maxbot

Day-to-day configuration

All settings are in config.py. Common changes:

Increase survival threshold as equity grows

# In config.py — increase this as equity grows:
SURVIVAL_DROP_PCT = 30.0   # current (£640 equity)
# → 35.0  at £900
# → 40.0  at £1200
# → 50.0  at £1500
# → 60.0  at £1800 (target)

Adjust queue depth

QUEUE_DEPTH = 10  # default

Toggle demo mode for testing

USE_DEMO = True   # points to demo.capital.com

Margin call stages (Capital.com UK retail)

Margin level	What happens
> 100%	Normal — bot operates
≤ 100%	Warning 1 — bot stops placing new orders
≤ 75%	Warning 2 — urgent alert in logs
≤ 50%	Auto closeout — Capital.com closes positions

Planned future enhancements

Telegram alerts — ping on fills, closures, margin warnings
Profit tracker — log every closed position, running total
Automatic survival threshold stepping (reads equity, updates config)
Claude AI integration — consult Claude on edge cases
Web dashboard — view positions and grid on homelab browser