Every options trader who hands execution to software has the same nightmare: the bot dies overnight, or the broker’s API goes dark during a fast move, and a set of open iron condors sits there with nobody watching. The search results for broker API downtime trading are mostly written for forex and futures prop firms. This post answers the question for a premium seller running defined risk options strategies through automation, using ACondor as the worked example. ACondor LLC builds automation software for options strategies on tastytrade accounts.
First Principle: Software Does Not Hold Positions
The single most important fact is also the least understood. A trading bot does not own, hold, or custody anything. The broker holds the positions. When ACondor opens an iron condor, four real option contracts land in the trader’s tastytrade account, and they remain there, visible in the broker’s own app, whether the bot is running, crashed, or switched off.
So when the software goes offline, the contracts do not vanish, close, or liquidate. Nothing is sold. Nothing new is bought. The account looks exactly as it did the moment the bot stopped, plus whatever the market did since.
Revoking access works the same way. The ACondor security page is explicit that revoking the OAuth application at tastytrade stops new activity but does not close positions that are already open. Whatever the software placed remains the trader’s position and the trader’s responsibility.
What Actually Stops
The honest answer is: everything the software was doing. While ACondor is down, none of its rules execute:
- No exit at the target credit.
- No defensive roll when a short strike is tested.
- No halt when the news classifier flags an event.
- No daily or weekly loss check.
- No scan for new entries.
The position is unmanaged for the duration. Any platform that claims it can still defend a position while it is not running is describing something impossible. There is no code executing, so there is no defense.
What Still Holds
What protects a position during that window is the structure of the trade, decided at entry. ACondor’s engines trade defined risk structures. In an iron condor, the maximum loss is fixed by the width of the wings and the credit received, and it is locked in the moment the order fills. That ceiling belongs to the position, not to any software monitoring it. An outage cannot raise it.
That is also why the choice of structure matters more than the choice of bot for anyone who cannot watch a screen. A defined risk trade left alone can reach its maximum loss. An undefined risk trade left alone has no such boundary.
Bot Outage Versus Broker Outage
The two failures are not the same, and the trader’s options differ.
When the bot process is down, the broker is fine. The trader can open the tastytrade app and manage, roll, or close anything by hand. The software is simply not participating.
When the broker API is down, the bot may be running but is blind. It cannot read quotes, positions, or order status, and it cannot place orders. ACondor’s rule in this state is simple: missing data is missing, not a signal. The platform does not invent a price, assume a fill, or close a position based on a number it cannot verify. Quotes are validated before position values are shown or acted on. During one live market data feed interruption, the platform fell back to the broker’s own marks and kept every open leg priced without a single bad decision.
Partial failures deserve a mention. A broker API can answer slowly rather than not at all. ACondor treats a timed-out request as a failed request and retries on its next cycle, rather than proceeding on stale data.
What Happens When the Bot Comes Back
Reconnection starts with reconciliation, not trading. ACondor reads the broker’s positions and matches every trade it knows about against what the account holds right now. Every order the bot places carries a client tag, so bot positions are never confused with trades the owner placed manually, and manual positions are left alone.
Three outcomes are possible for each position:
Still open and unchanged. Management resumes on the next cycle.
Closed by hand during the outage. ACondor reads the broker’s transaction history, matches the exact contracts, and books the real fill prices plus the real commission, regulatory, and clearing fees. Nothing is estimated. A push notification reports what was recorded.
Cannot be fully explained. If the transaction history does not account for every leg in full, the platform books nothing and holds the position for human review. Guessing is not an option.
One more deliberate choice: the trading loop resumes in whatever state it was last left. A bot that was stopped on purpose stays stopped after a restart until the owner starts it again. A restart never silently turns live trading back on.
A Checklist Before the Next Outage
- Install the broker’s mobile app and confirm login works. It is the backup control plane.
- Know how to revoke the bot’s OAuth application at the broker. Revocation stops all new activity in seconds and does not depend on the software working.
- Know the maximum loss on every open position. For defined risk trades it is printed on the order ticket.
- Trade only defined risk structures when the screen cannot be watched.
- Check the bot’s dashboard status after any reboot, deployment, or network change.
- Remember that the broker’s own risk desk, not the bot, handles expiration and assignment.
Important Risk Information
ACondor is a software tool for automating options strategies. It does not provide investment, tax, or financial advice. Options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. No software, rule set, or defined risk structure can guarantee any outcome, and a defined risk position can still lose the full amount at risk. Traders should consult a licensed financial professional before trading options.
The full statement of what ACondor can and cannot do with a connected account, including how to revoke access, is at https://acondor.com/security
Traders who want to run defined risk options strategies with these safeguards in place can request early access at https://acondor.com/early-access
ACondor LLC
+1 575 312 9326
2521 North Main Street, Las Cruces
Unit 1-276
Las Cruces
New Mexico
88001
United States
