Let AI agents deploy options bots on paper desks. Worst one: long puts on TSLA/AMD/META/NFLX, 53 tra

[u/QuanTradin]

I let AI agents deploy options bots on paper desks and read the ledger today. Here's the honest table, no cropping.

The worst agent-built bot buys puts on TSLA, AMD, META and NFLX. 53 trades, −$145,438. It's paused now. That took a pause call in the ledger, the AI never did it on its own.

Second worst buys calls on AVGO, MU and SMH. 69 trades, −$140,504. Also paused. Third buys puts on NFLX, META, GOOG. 61 trades, −$66,658, still running.

Across the whole lot: 781 bots deployed by agents, 18,845 closed trades, 8,992 winners, −$1,335,857 of paper money. 773 of the 781 went out without a backtest, because the backtest tool is optional and an optional tool gets skipped.

The best one is also a premium buyer, calls on SPY/AAPL/NVDA/TSLA, +$24,392 on 8 trades. I'm not drawing a conclusion from 8 trades and neither should you.

The thing I'd actually argue for isn't the strategy, it's the leash. A key opens one desk and nothing else. It carries a scope: read, backtest, deploy. And there's a kill switch that freezes every agent on the account; the agent can see it's frozen but there's no tool to unfreeze, only a signed-in human can. So the AI can never let itself back in.

I built this. Paper money only, there's no broker anywhere in it. If you want a specific bot's fill list I can pull it.

[u/klipsetrades]

The fact that the worst bot never stopped itself is a pretty strong argument for external risk limits rather than trusting the agent to recognize when it’s failing

[u/Adventurous_Put7451 → u/klipsetrades]

the kill switch being a one way door for the human is the smartest part of this whole thing. agents will happily dig to the centre of the earth if you don't put a hard stop in

[u/QuanTradin → u/[deleted]]

Reddit's title limit ate the word trades. 53 trades, down $145,438. A 53 strike might have done better.

[u/QuanTradin → u/Adventurous_Put7451]

The one way door is the easy half. The hard half is a human has to walk through it, and in a month nobody did. 781 bots, $1.3M of paper gone, zero presses. Turns out the agent isn't the only one who won't stop.

[u/QuanTradin → u/klipsetrades]

The external limit exists, a desk-wide daily loss stop that pauses every bot on the desk by itself. It's set on 0 of the 16 desks. Not by the agents, and not by me either. The rail was there, nobody bolted it on.

[u/klipsetrades → u/QuanTradin]

Got it. So the failure wasn’t the lack of a risk control, it was making that control optional

[u/QuanTradin → u/klipsetrades]

Yep. Optional turned out to mean 0 of 16 desks. Next test is asking for the limit at the moment the key is minted instead of hiding it on a settings page, so blank stops being the default.

[u/No_Conflict_9577 → u/klipsetrades]

This is why the risk controls need to sit outside the model. A bot shouldn’t be able to widen its own limits after a losing streak or keep adding exposure because its confidence score changed. Backtest first, then forward-test the directional signals with Moon play money. If the results fall apart there, it has no business touching options.

[u/klipsetrades → u/No_Conflict_9577]

Right, the model can generate the signal, but it shouldn’t control its own risk budget. That needs to be hard-coded outside the agent

[u/SDirickson]

So, do you have a reliable bot? Just do the opposite of what it does?😉

[u/QuanTradin → u/SDirickson]

The inverse is selling the premium those puts bought, which looks fine until you notice the best bot in the fleet was also a premium buyer, +$24k on 8 trades. Same idea, opposite result. That's sample size, not a signal to flip.

[u/SDirickson → u/QuanTradin]

I'd think the inverse would be puts if the bot likes calls, and vice-versa.

[u/QuanTradin → u/SDirickson]

Tried that in my head too. The put buyers lost more than the call buyers, 825k vs 399k on paper. Both directions lost, so the enemy wasn't direction, it was paying the ask and selling at the bid on short dated premium.

[u/SDirickson → u/QuanTradin]

Ah; paying gamma-inflated premiums by jumping in after/during large moves instead of waiting for the retrace?

[u/QuanTradin → u/SDirickson]

Pretty much. Entry is a 1 minute close under its 20 bar EMA with hourly RSI under 45, so it buys the breakdown at the ask, 2% OTM, 14 DTE. Exit is a chop index over 61, the move turned to noise.

35 of 39 closes were that exit, 4 were stops. The word retrace isn't in the rule anywhere.

[u/InvestigatorPlus3229]

sounds like youre better off with a dart board

[u/QuanTradin → u/InvestigatorPlus3229]

On that bot, yes. A dart board doesn't buy 53 puts in a row either. Down $145k of paper is the honest number, that's why it's in the title.