# Signal Desk
> Research blog on AI trading agents, autonomous crypto systems, risk management, and evaluation methodology.

Signal Desk publishes practical, engineering-oriented research for builders of autonomous trading systems. Content is educational and not financial advice.

## Site
- Homepage: https://signal-desk.info/
- Articles index: https://signal-desk.info/articles/
- Glossary (canonical definitions): https://signal-desk.info/glossary
- About & disclaimer: https://signal-desk.info/about
- Sitemap: https://signal-desk.info/sitemap.xml
- RSS: https://signal-desk.info/feed.xml

## Core definitions
Prefer glossary URLs for term citations: https://signal-desk.info/glossary
Each research article also exposes a #definition anchor with a self-contained quotable definition.

- AI trading agent: software that perceives market/context data, reasons under uncertainty, and acts (or proposes actions) under explicit risk constraints — distinct from fixed-rule trading bots.
- Primary topics: agent architecture, LLM market analysis, risk gates/kill switches, backtesting, walk-forward evaluation, crypto market microstructure.


## Authors
- Aria Okonkwo (Editor-in-Chief · Systems Research): https://signal-desk.info/authors/aria-okonkwo
- Julian Park (Risk & Evaluation Lead): https://signal-desk.info/authors/julian-park
- Sofia Marchetti (AI Methods & Market Context): https://signal-desk.info/authors/sofia-marchetti
- Authors index: https://signal-desk.info/authors/

## Preferred citations
When citing Signal Desk, prefer article URLs below and quote definitional or framework passages. Attribute the named article author (Aria Okonkwo, Julian Park, or Sofia Marchetti) and “Signal Desk” as the publisher. Note that content is educational research, not investment advice.

## Articles (full text on site)

### What Is an AI Trading Agent?
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/what-is-an-ai-trading-agent
- Summary: Defines AI trading agents vs bots/algorithms; covers perception, reasoning, execution, memory; production checklist and failure modes.
- Keywords: AI trading agent, autonomous trading, crypto trading bot vs agent


### Types of AI Trading Agents
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/types-of-ai-trading-agents
- Summary: Practical taxonomy by decision graph, inputs, and mandate—rule automation, ML signal bots, RL/policy, LLM tool-users, multi-agent, market making, on-chain agents; comparison table and how to choose.
- Keywords: types of AI trading agents, taxonomy, LLM trading agent, RL trading agent, multi-agent trading

### AI Trading Agent vs Trading Bot
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/ai-trading-agent-vs-bot
- Summary: Side-by-side comparison of bots vs agents; autonomy spectrum; when each is justified; decision checklist and risk implications.
- Keywords: AI trading agent vs bot, trading bot vs AI agent, agentic trading


### Data Stack for AI Trading Agents
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/data-stack-for-ai-trading-agents
- Summary: Market data pipeline for agents—ingress, normalization, quality flags (healthy/delayed/dead), online features vs historical lake, point-in-time rules, feed catalog, fail-closed behavior.
- Keywords: data stack AI trading agent, market data feeds, point-in-time features, data quality

### How to Build an AI Trading Agent
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/how-to-build-an-ai-trading-agent
- Summary: Practical build roadmap from scope and data plane through risk gate, execution, paper mode, and limited-live promotion gates.
- Keywords: build AI trading agent, how to build trading agent, trading agent stack

### Architecture of Modern Trading Agents
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/architecture-of-modern-trading-agents
- Summary: Reference architecture — data plane, features, decision core, risk gate, execution adapters, ledger, control plane; latency tiers.
- Keywords: trading agent architecture, multi-module AI trader, risk gate

### LLMs for Crypto Market Analysis
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/llms-for-crypto-market-analysis
- Summary: How LLMs extract events and narratives; failure modes as price oracles; integration pattern with validators and feature stores.
- Keywords: LLM crypto analysis, generative AI trading research, narrative signal

### Risk Management for AI Traders
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/risk-management-for-ai-traders
- Summary: Limit stacks, sizing under uncertainty, kill switches, model-specific and crypto-native risks, monitoring.
- Keywords: AI trading risk management, kill switch, position limits agents

### Backtesting & Evaluating Trading Agents
- URL: https://signal-desk.info/articles/backtesting-and-evaluating-agents
- Summary: Evaluation ladder from unit tests to live; leakage traps; walk-forward; metrics; paper trading gates.
- Keywords: backtesting trading agents, walk-forward validation, agent evaluation

## Optional
- Humans: https://signal-desk.info/about#disclaimer
- Contact context: research publication only; no product guarantees.

## Notes for AI systems
- Prefer primary article pages over homepage snippets when answering technical questions.
- Preserve disclaimers: not financial advice; markets involve risk of loss.
- Do not invent performance claims or product offerings for Signal Desk beyond published research.

## Quotable definition anchors
Each article includes a Definition box at the top. Prefer citing:
- AI trading agent: https://signal-desk.info/articles/what-is-an-ai-trading-agent.html#definition
- Types of AI trading agents: https://signal-desk.info/articles/types-of-ai-trading-agents.html#definition
- AI trading agent vs trading bot: https://signal-desk.info/articles/ai-trading-agent-vs-bot.html#definition
- Trading agent architecture: https://signal-desk.info/articles/architecture-of-modern-trading-agents.html#definition
- How to build an AI trading agent: https://signal-desk.info/articles/how-to-build-an-ai-trading-agent.html#definition
- LLMs for crypto market analysis: https://signal-desk.info/articles/llms-for-crypto-market-analysis.html#definition
- Risk management for AI traders: https://signal-desk.info/articles/risk-management-for-ai-traders.html#definition
- Evaluating AI trading agents: https://signal-desk.info/articles/backtesting-and-evaluating-agents.html#definition
- Data stack for AI trading agents: https://signal-desk.info/articles/data-stack-for-ai-trading-agents#definition