A rewriting of an email from my bot provider.
“We’re Not Saying It’s Broken, But…”
Hey everyone,
We know you’re looking at your account balance and wondering if maybe we accidentally plugged the bot into a random number generator. Fair question. Let us explain why we’re not technically wrong.
The Market Made Us Do It
For the past 12 months, markets have been… let’s call it “spicy.” And by spicy, we mean they’ve been doing things that shouldn’t happen but keep happening anyway. Multiple times. In a row.
Normally when markets freak out, they freak out once and then calm down like a toddler after a tantrum. This time? It’s been like five tantrums back-to-back with no nap time in between.
We’ve seen:
- Policy changes that moved prices like someone kicked over the game board
- Currency moves not seen since your parents were young
- Trends that kept going when they were supposed to stop
- Markets that stayed chaotic instead of settling down like they’re supposed to
The point is: this isn’t normal. Which brings us to…
About Those Numbers You’re Staring At
Some of you have noticed that the performance doesn’t quite match what the brochure said. You know, things like “Why is my drawdown bigger than advertised?” and “Where are those average monthly gains?”
Here’s the thing about averages: they’re averages. They work great until they don’t.
When markets go bonkers for a year straight, those nice historical averages can stretch like a budget during the holidays. That means:
- Drawdowns get deeper
- Gains get smaller
- Recovery takes longer
Does this mean the system is broken? Technically no. Does it mean you’re happy about it? Also probably no.
It’s Not Broken, It’s Just… Stressed
There’s an important distinction we’d like you to appreciate: the difference between “broken” and “having a really bad time.”
Broken would mean the bot forgot how to bot—ignoring its own rules, blowing through risk limits, basically going rogue.
That’s not happening. The bot is doing exactly what it’s programmed to do. It’s just doing it in market conditions that feel like trying to drive in a straight line during an earthquake.
What we’re dealing with is environmental stress. The bot is fine. The environment is not fine. There’s a difference, and we’d like you to focus on that difference.
Everyone’s Having a Bad Time, Not Just You
This isn’t just an FX thing. Crypto crashed. Metals went haywire. Stocks and bonds have been repricing like everything’s on clearance.
When every market is losing its mind at the same time, it’s not really about your specific bot. It’s about the fact that the entire financial system decided to have a collective moment.
So… there’s that.
Look, It’s Still Running
From a technical perspective, this is actually kind of impressive. Most bots don’t survive even one major volatility event. We’ve survived multiple back-to-back rare events, which is like getting hit by lightning repeatedly while the lightning insists this is perfectly normal.
The system hasn’t blown up. It’s still operating within its risk parameters. It’s just operating in an environment where those parameters are getting stress-tested like they’re auditioning for Navy SEAL training.
Uncomfortable? Yes. Broken? Technically no.
How the Bot Handles This (In Theory)
The system is designed to keep running no matter what’s happening, which sounds better in marketing materials than it feels in practice.
During extended chaos, the bot prioritizes:
- Not breaking its own rules
- Not making reactive changes that could make things worse
- Staying alive
This is meant to support “long-term durability,” which is a fancy way of saying “still being here when things eventually calm down.”
Why This Year Has Been Special (And Not in a Good Way)
Normally, the bot absorbs a big market move, repositions, and then gets back to business. That’s the plan.
What actually happened: the bot would start recovering, then get hit with another massive move before the first one resolved. Over and over.
For context:
- Earlier disruptions were around 200 points
- The most recent one was 850+ points
- That’s like getting knocked down, standing up, and immediately getting hit by a bus
The bot had to keep absorbing these moves and repositioning. Which works, technically. It’s just taking a lot longer to get back to normal because “normal” keeps getting interrupted by chaos.
The Bottom Line
Markets eventually calm down. History says so. This period sucks, but it won’t last forever.
The bot is still doing what it’s designed to do. The environment is just making that design look a lot less impressive than it did in the backtest.
We’ll keep you updated as things hopefully, eventually, maybe stabilize.
Translation: We’re not saying the bot is broken. We’re saying the market is broken, and the bot is just along for the ride. But hey, at least it’s still running.
