How do I get it to trade?

You connected a broker and want to see it trade. Here is what happens on its own, what waits for you, and the four things you can do to make an order happen sooner. The Your first trade panel at the top of the Overview shows the same steps for your book, with times, until your first order has filled.

What happens on its own

1. 1Broker connected. The Executor tests your keys with Alpaca; it takes about half a minute.
2. 2Reading the market for your book. The Researcher writes a short brief on today's regime, the liquid names worth this book's attention and the events ahead. It is queued the moment the book is created, so it may already be running while you connect.
3. 3Opening plan. The PM (shown as Analyst on some screens) reads that brief and writes your book's first plan, with the core the code builds for your posture, the first candidates from today's ranking, and the levels it will watch. When the market is open it proposes its first orders in that same session; after hours it parks them for the first order window after the open. Steps 2 and 3 take about ten minutes together.
4. 4Your approval. A new book starts on Manual, so every order the desk proposes waits for your yes or no in the Inbox. Nothing is sent to the broker until you approve it.
5. 5First order placed. The Executor sends an approved order as a day limit order after every risk check; it fills when the price is touched, or expires unfilled at the close and the PM decides again next session.

After that the desk runs its daily schedule of a brief before the open, short checks during the day and a pass before the close. How Bellwether works has the rhythm.

Four ways to make something happen sooner

• Ask Consult to draft an order. Type the order in Consult in plain words ("buy 2 MSFT under 495, stop 486"). Consult cannot place it. It shows you a card with what the Executor would say about it right now, and the order is placed only when you confirm the card with your authenticator code; it then goes through every risk check like any other order. That means you chose the name and the size, not the desk; the PM adopts the position at its next session.
• Place one yourself from a symbol. Open any symbol from Markets (its quick look or its full page) and press Trade…, then fill in side, quantity, limit, and an optional stop and target. It takes the same path as the Consult card, with your code, every risk check and an audit row naming you as the author, and it means the same thing as above; see Markets and the symbol sheet.
• Raise autonomy so small orders do not wait. On Strategy › Profile › Autonomy choose Semi-automatic, and orders up to your approval line· Strategy › Profile › Autonomy (about 5% of the book, at least $100, always under the largest order your limits allow) go through on their own after every risk check; larger ones still wait in the Inbox. Raising it asks you to type MORE AUTONOMY and enter your code; lowering is one click. That means the desk's small orders are sent the moment they pass the checks, without your yes; every fill still notifies you and Halt stops everything instantly. The first-trade panel offers this once, with the line in dollars.
• Choose a bolder posture so the desk builds positions faster. On Strategy › Profile › Posture, Aggressive (or Speculative, paper only) raises how much of the book the desk aims to have invested and obliges it to open a few starter positions from its ranking when the book sits far under that band, even with nothing triggered. That means bigger positions, a bigger largest order and wider loss halts. Posture is how hard the desk pushes, not whether it asks you, so on Manual those orders still wait for you. Posture vs autonomy has the difference in one example.

What none of these do is bypass the Executor: every order, yours or the desk's, passes the same risk checks, and a paused or halted book sends nothing.

When a step says it is blocked

The panel never shows a spinner where it knows a reason. The ones you may see, in the panel's own words:

• Today's AI budget is used up (the platform's, not yours). The desk's sessions share a daily budget for the model, and it is the platform's, so there is nothing for you to pay. When it is used up, the market read, the opening plan and the day's remaining checks wait until midnight Central and then run; the panel says The desk starts again at midnight CT and the desk picks the book up again then. Open orders and stops stay protected by the Executor meanwhile, which does not use the model. Nothing is needed from you.
• Trading is paused for this book. You (or the setup) left trading off. The desk plans, but nothing is bought or sold until you start it; press Start trading at the top of the Overview when you are ready (it asks for your code).
• Broker connection needs attention. The keys were refused or could not be checked; the panel says which and Connect has the fix.
• The opening plan did not complete. A session failed or waited too long to run; the next scheduled session plans instead, and you can ask for a plan again from Consult.