Speculative mandate: what it means

Speculative is the fifth posture on Strategy › Profile, after Preservation, Conservative, Moderate and Aggressive. It exists because the risk envelope is yours: "it's my money" is a legitimate instruction, and a book that wants to bet everything on a goal should be able to say so and get a desk that acts like it. It is also the one posture the desk will never suggest and never move a book onto by itself. You choose it, on a paper book, after reading what it means and typing that you accept it.

Where

Strategy › Profile › the Speculative tile, or say it on Strategy › Guidance ("bet the house", "go ham")

What it sets

Whole book invested (up to twice that on a margin account), one name up to 40% of the book, an order may be the whole intended position, up to five new names a session and 200 orders a day, the day halts at -10% of equity, the brake at -35% from the peak

What it tells the desk

Pursue your stated goal as an absolute return: every qualified setup is a full position today, add to winners the same session, stay at the top of the exposure band, no trimming for caution or macro prints

What it does not change

Every order still passes the risk engine against your numbers; the Critic still reviews; paper to live is never one click; the system never moves money

To apply

Type I ACCEPT THESE RISKS under the stated risks, then SPECULATIVE and your code (it loosens)

Availability

Paper books only until the real-money runbook covers it

What changes

The posture writes six limits at once, exactly like the other presets, through the same audited path: largest single position 40%, total exposure 100% of the book, order cap $4,000 floor and 40% of equity above that, daily loss halt $1,000 floor and 10% of equity above that, drawdown brake 35%, orders per day 200 (the machine's own ceiling, which is to say uncapped). Each still shows on Risk › Limits with where it comes from, and each is yours to move further in either direction: 100% is not a wall, an account with margin can take total exposure to 200% there, and every number down to the halts on Risk › Halts can be typed over. Loosening keeps the usual ceremony (the words MORE RISK, your code, an audit entry, and the consequence in dollars before you confirm); tightening is one click.

The PM's mandate becomes the return-targeting one. Its system context opens with your goal from Strategy › Guidance ("work toward 400% by Dec 31") and the instruction to treat idle cash while signals are positive as a failure, to size every qualified setup as a full position, to add to winners without waiting a session, and to state the odds plainly in every summary: a target is what it works toward, not what it expects. Day-trading days and flatten-by-the-close days come from your schedule entries, not from the posture.

What it does not change

• The Executor runs every order through the same risk checks; only the numbers are yours. A stop the Executor refuses is still refused.
• The Critic stays on and grades harder: leaning on the goal to skip a stop or size above the band is a finding, and so is citing your guidance for a trade it does not cover.
• The Quant never recommends Speculative and its automatic tuning never steps a Speculative book down a rung or tightens its limits quietly; it recommends, you decide.
• Paper to live is still a staged procedure, never a click, and a live book cannot take this posture yet.
• Nothing here lets any role touch money or broker credentials.

The risks it states, and why you type an acknowledgement

Before the Speculative tile (or a Guidance card that proposes it) can be confirmed, the console lists the risks in plain words and asks you to type I ACCEPT THESE RISKS under them. They are worth reading here too:

• The whole book may be invested, and up to twice that when the account has margin: a bad week can cost more than the cash you put in.
• One name may be 40% of the book: a single earnings miss or halt can take a large share of your equity in minutes.
• Trading only halts after a 10% loss in one day or 35% from the peak; until then the desk keeps trading toward your goal.
• The desk may open up to five new names a session and send up to 200 orders a day, and the PM is told to pursue an absolute return, so it will trade more, in less liquid moments, with wider stops.
• Most books run this way lose money; a stated goal is a target the desk works toward, not odds in your favour.

The acknowledgement is not a second password. It is there so the audit log records that the words were on the screen when you chose this, and so nobody sharing your screen can put a book on Speculative with one stray click. Going back to any other posture is one click and needs nothing typed.