Risk and protection: The kill switch

It is at the top of the Account lock page. One press, after you confirm it, acts on every broker connection, account, strategy and copy group you have, then lists what happened on each account.

What one press does

1
Everything that trades for you is paused
Every strategy endpoint is paused and every copy group is switched off. An alert that reaches a paused endpoint is refused — an exit alert included — so no alert and no leader trade becomes an order.
2
New entries are held
Any new order that would open or add to a position is held on every account for as long as the switch is on: from the copier, from an alert on a strategy you resume, and from Submit on a parked order.
3
Parked orders are discarded
Every order that was waiting for your confirmation on a manual subscription is discarded, and each one gets its own line in the event log. See Automatic and manual.
4
What is open is closed
Every open position on every account is closed at market, where the broker lets Tradeus close. Your broker connections are worked through side by side, and the accounts under one connection one after another. An order Tradeus sent a moment before the press is waited for, so the account is read after it lands. After sending the close, Tradeus reads the account again and waits a few seconds for the broker to show it flat before calling it closed.

The result, account by account

The panel lists every account you own, each with one of three outcomes, and each account appears as soon as its broker has answered — a slow broker does not leave the panel blank. The same outcome is written into the event log, one line per account. The list stays on the panel until you press the switch again — releasing the switch does not clear it.

Closed

The broker showed the account flat after the close. The number beside it is how many positions were open before — one per instrument, not contracts.

Already flat

Nothing was open on the account when it was read, so nothing was sent.

NOT closed

Something is still open there, or may be. The reason is printed beside it. Close it on your broker's own platform.

Close every NOT closed account yourself

The switch does not keep trying by itself. Every account on the list that is NOT closed needs you at your broker. The list is only done when every line says Closed or Already flat.

Why an account is NOT closed

Not connected

The broker connection is down, so Tradeus can neither see the account nor close it. Nothing is attempted.

Order routing is switched off

Sending orders to that broker is switched off on this server. For Tradovate, Rithmic and TopstepX that is one switch for the whole server, and while it is off nothing can be closed there. Nothing is attempted.

No longer listed

The broker no longer lists the account — it was closed or removed at the broker. Nothing is attempted.

Refused

The broker declined the close. Its own reason is shown, word for word.

Still open

The close was sent, and a few seconds later the account still showed a position. The symbols still open are named.

No answer

The broker did not confirm the close in time — Tradeus waits about twenty seconds, Rithmic itself gives up on a fill report after fifteen — and the account did not read flat afterwards. The close may still reach it — check the account at your broker.

Earlier close still working

A close sent earlier for this account — by a previous press, or by the account's lock — had not finished. Tradeus waited for it instead of sending a second one, which could have left the account reversed. Check it at your broker.

Connection dropped

The connection to the broker went down while the close was out, so whether it landed is unknown. Check the account at your broker.

Stopped answering

A position read on the same connection did not answer within about twenty seconds, so the accounts after it on that connection were not asked. Close them at your broker.

Could not confirm

The account could not be read back, so Tradeus cannot say it is flat. It may be; check it at your broker.

Released

You released the switch before the close reached this account, so it was left alone.

What it cannot do

Stop a trade you place by hand in your broker's own platform. That click never passes through Tradeus, and the switch closes once per press — it does not watch the account afterwards.
Cancel orders you placed directly at your broker. Check for resting limit and stop orders there yourself.
Close an account whose broker is not connected, or one on a broker whose order routing is switched off on this server. Tradovate, Rithmic and TopstepX cannot close anything while trading is switched off on the server.
Close a live (brokerage) account or a copy-follower account on TopstepX: TopstepX itself refuses the close for both. TopstepX is listed but not yet selectable; this is what will happen once it is.
Choose the price. Each close is a market order, and in a fast market it fills where it can — which may be well past where you pressed.

Running it again

While the switch is on, the panel shows since when and why, and a Run the close again button. That repeats the whole press — it pauses anything you resumed in the meantime, discards anything parked since, closes what is still open — and prints a fresh result list. Use it after reconnecting a broker, or when an account came back NOT closed. A close from the earlier press that is still working at the broker is waited for, never sent twice. The time the switch was first engaged stays as it was.

Releasing it

Release sits beside it, and like the switch it asks you to confirm. Releasing lifts the hold on new entries, and that is all it does. Every strategy endpoint and copy group stays paused until you resume each one yourself, so nothing starts trading again because of one click. Discarded orders stay discarded, and the last result list stays on the panel. Released while a close is still running, the close stops before the accounts it has not reached. Unlike a lock, the switch can be released whenever you choose.

It outlasts a restart, and a lapsed subscription

The switch is stored with your account on the server, not held in its memory, so a restart or an update of the server does not lift it — only Release does. A restart in the middle of a close ends that close; the panel then says it did not finish. The switch also needs no subscription. When one ends, a strategy or copy group you set up may still be trading, so the screen that asks you to subscribe carries the same switch, as long as a broker account is still attached to your login or the switch is on.

One account, or one connection

The kill switch is for everything at once. To close one broker connection or one copy group and leave the rest running, use Flatten all on it, under Broker setup or Trade copier. A limit on one account is the lock — see What the lock is for.