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🚀 Quick Start Guide - Trading System v2

Get your AI-powered trading system up and running in minutes!

🎯 What You'll Achieve

By the end of this guide, you'll have:

  • ✅ A fully operational trading system running in Docker
  • ✅ Paper trading enabled with $100k virtual portfolio
  • ✅ 3 AI strategies actively monitoring markets
  • ✅ Real-time monitoring dashboards
  • ✅ API access for system control

📋 Prerequisites Checklist

Before starting, ensure you have:

🔑 Get Your API Keys

Required (Free Tier Available)

  1. Alpaca (Stock Trading - Paper Account)

    • Sign up at alpaca.markets
    • Go to "Paper Trading" → "API Keys"
    • Copy your API Key and Secret Key

  2. Polygon (Market Data)

    • Sign up at polygon.io
    • Get your free API key (2 calls/minute)

Optional (Enhanced Features)

  1. News API (Sentiment Analysis)

  2. Financial Modeling Prep (Fundamental Data)

🚀 5-Minute Setup

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd trading_system_v2

Step 2: Configure Environment

# Copy the example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit with your API keys (use any text editor)
nano .env  # or vim .env, or code .env

Minimal .env configuration:

# Required for basic functionality
ALPACA_API_KEY=your_alpaca_key_here
ALPACA_SECRET_KEY=your_alpaca_secret_here
ALPACA_BASE_URL=https://paper-api.alpaca.markets
POLYGON_API_KEY=your_polygon_key_here

# System settings
TRADING_MODE=paper
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

Step 3: Launch the System

# Start all services (this will take 2-3 minutes on first run)
docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up --build

What's happening:

  • 🐳 Building Docker containers
  • 🗄️ Starting PostgreSQL database
  • 🔄 Starting Redis cache
  • 🤖 Initializing AI agents
  • 📊 Starting monitoring services

Step 4: Verify Everything Works

# In a new terminal, check system status
curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/status

# Expected response:
{
  "status": "running",
  "trading_active": false,
  "portfolio_value": 100000.00,
  "active_strategies": 3,
  "system_health": "healthy"
}

🎉 You're Live!

Access Your Dashboards

  1. Main API: http://localhost:8000

    • System status and control

  2. Grafana Dashboard: http://localhost:3000

    • Username: admin
    • Password: admin
    • Real-time system metrics

  3. Prometheus Metrics: http://localhost:9090

    • Raw system metrics

What's Running Now

Your system is now:

  • 🟢 Monitoring Markets: 24/7 across stocks, crypto, and forex
  • 🧠 AI Analysis: 7 specialized agents analyzing opportunities
  • 📊 Paper Trading: Safe virtual trading with $100k portfolio
  • 🛡️ Risk Management: Automatic position sizing and stop losses
  • 📈 Strategy Execution: 3 active strategies (Covered Calls, Momentum, Mean Reversion)

🎮 Try It Out

Check Your Portfolio

curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/portfolio

View Active Strategies

curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/strategies

Monitor System Health

curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/health

View Recent Activity

# Check logs
docker-compose logs -f trading-system

# View specific service logs
docker-compose logs -f trading-redis
docker-compose logs -f trading-postgres

🔧 Common First-Time Issues

Issue: "Connection refused" on API calls

Solution:

# Check if containers are running
docker ps

# If not running, restart
docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up --build

Issue: "Invalid API key" errors

Solution:

  1. Double-check your .env file has correct API keys
  2. Ensure no extra spaces around the = sign
  3. Restart containers: docker-compose down && docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up --build

Issue: High CPU usage

Solution:

# Check resource usage
docker stats

# Reduce log level in .env
LOG_LEVEL=WARNING

📚 Next Steps

1. Explore the System

2. Customize Your Setup

  • Modify config/strategies.yaml to adjust trading strategies
  • Update config/agents.yaml to configure AI behavior
  • Edit config/data_sources.yaml for data source preferences

3. Monitor Performance

  • Set up alerts in Grafana
  • Review daily performance reports
  • Analyze strategy effectiveness

4. Go Live (When Ready)

⚠️ Important: Only switch to live trading after thorough testing

  1. Get live API keys from your brokers
  2. Update .env with TRADING_MODE=live
  3. Start with small position sizes
  4. Monitor closely for the first few days

🆘 Need Help?

  • Documentation: Check README.md and DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md
  • Logs: docker-compose logs -f trading-system
  • System Status: curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/status
  • Health Check: curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/health

🎯 Success Checklist

  • System responds to API calls
  • Grafana dashboard loads
  • Portfolio shows $100k starting value
  • 3 strategies are active
  • No error messages in logs
  • All Docker containers are "healthy"

Congratulations! Your AI trading system is now operational! 🎉

Remember: This system is running in paper trading mode with virtual money. Always test thoroughly before considering live trading.