FAQ
What is Nexus?
A research-driven quantitative trading platform: a hexagonal, event-driven
scalping engine for MetaTrader 5 (primary: XAUUSD M1) with causal features,
deep models, an invariant risk engine, deterministic research tooling and
forensic observability. See Vision.
Is this a live trading bot?
It can execute live trades on MT5 — but PAPER is the default mode, SHADOW
carries zero order authority, and LIVE requires explicit interactive
confirmation. The repository's own evidence shows rejected candidates; this is
a research platform with a runtime, not a money printer.
Can I run it without MT5?
Yes — PAPER mode and the full test suite run without a broker. Docker works
out of the box in PAPER mode. SHADOW and LIVE need an MT5 terminal (Windows
x64).
What is 70D?
The canonical research feature contract: 50 base dimensions + 10 news + 10
liquidity. It is not live — the live contract is 50D (scalp_v1). The 70D
candidate is rejected so far on OOS evidence. See
What is the difference between research and runtime?
Research produces falsifiable evidence about candidates (datasets →
walk-forward → OOS → shadow). Runtime executes decisions with hard clamps.
Research has zero order authority — the two never mix.
How is leakage (lookahead) prevented?
Purged + embargoed walk-forward, strictly causal features (confirmation bars,
completed HTF buckets), REPLACE+ALIGN history handling, replay bit-exactness
tests, and recorded effective purge/embargo per run (BUG-183). See
How are models identified?
Artifact-first manifests: dataset ID, feature-schema hash, scaler identity,
git commit — validated by the 10-gate load gate at every attach. A model
without provenance cannot attach.
How does replay differ from backtesting?
Backtest: score a strategy on history. Replay: prove the same code path as
live behaves identically on history (bit-exact vs dataset). See
How is a feature contract enforced?
Schema registry + SHA-256 hash over canonical feature JSON + inference
validator (dimension, bounds, finite, hash, scaler-dim match). Violations are
loud rejections, never silent padding.
What is certified?
See the Capability Matrix — each row names its
evidence. Certified ≈ formal forensic acceptance with reproducible artifacts
(e.g. release verification, provider-gate live smoke, OOS gate behavior).
Is it profitable?
No claim is made — that is the point. Published evidence includes negative
results (70D OOS rejection, counterfactual stratification). Judge from the
evidence, not from promises.
Why is the bug ledger public?
Because agents/bugs.md (root causes, evidence, regression guards) is the
engineering memory. Hiding it would destroy the property that makes the
platform trustworthy.