# Best Practices

> Source: https://www.archr.bot/docs/best-practices
> Section: Security
> Last updated: 2026-07-27

Trading memecoins and low-cap tokens carries significant risk. These practices help you use ARCHR's features to manage that risk effectively.

---

## Getting Started

- **Start with small amounts.** Fund your wallet with an amount you can afford to lose while you learn the system.
- **Start in manual mode.** Leave auto-buy off until you have placed a few trades by hand and are comfortable with how buys, sells, and exits behave.
- **Explore the settings** before your first trade — understand buy amounts, slippage, and risk management options.

## Risk Management Settings

- **Set a Stop Loss** on every position, especially on auto-buys. A stop loss automatically sells if the price drops to your threshold, limiting downside.
- **Use Price Protection for auto-buys.** This 3-minute safety net auto-sells if the token price doesn't increase from entry within 3 minutes — catching dumps shortly after you buy.
- **Enable Auto-Buy Protection** to prevent duplicate purchases of tokens you already hold. This is on by default and blocks accidental repeat buys from multiple signals.
- **Keep enough SOL for sell fees.** Auto-buy soft-pauses when a new buy would leave too little SOL to exit open positions (~0.01 SOL reserved per position). Deposit or lower buy size so exits stay possible.
- **Apply filters** to control which signals can trigger auto-buys:
  - **Market cap filters** — set min/max market cap thresholds
  - **Holder count filters** — require a minimum number of holders
  - **Shield filters** — block tokens flagged with rug-pull or honeypot indicators

## Trading Plans

- **Choose a Trading Plan that matches your style.** Plans define multi-stage exit strategies (take profit levels, stop losses, trailing stops) that execute automatically.
- In **Basic Mode**, you set a single TP, SL, and optional trailing stop.
- In **Plan Mode**, you pick from pre-configured or custom multi-stage plans with escrow exits.
- **Apply a plan before your trade**, either per-signal or as a global default, so risk management is active from the moment you enter a position.

## Auto-Buy Configuration

- **Use the Auto-Buy Control Panel** (main menu **🤖 Auto**) before relying on auto-buy. Confirm the label shows **ACTIVE**, not just **SETUP**.
- **Run Diagnostics** if trades are not firing — signal auto-buy needs Global Auto-Trade + per-signal auto-buy + execution-wallet auto-buy; copy trade needs Global Auto-Trade + Copy Auto-Buy + per-wallet Copy Trade.
- **Set your buy amount conservatively.** You can use a fixed SOL amount or a percentage of your wallet balance.
- **Review your signal preferences** to control which signal types can trigger auto-buys independently from alerts.
- **Use the per-wallet buy amount** override if you want different allocation sizes across wallets. Changing the **global** buy amount with multiple wallets may prompt you to sync overrides to all wallets.

## Copy Trading

- **Only copy wallets you trust.** Copy trading mirrors another wallet's buys automatically — you are trusting their judgment with your funds.
- **Verify all three copy auto-buy gates** in **🤖 Auto → Diagnostics**: Global Auto-Trade, Copy Auto-Buy, and per-wallet Copy Trade.
- **Set the minimum buy threshold** (default: 0.25 SOL) to filter out test transactions and dust buys from tracked wallets.
- **Enable "Use Global Filters"** on tracked wallets so your market cap, holder, and shield filters still apply to copy trades.
- **Monitor copied positions** through the Positions screen and Live Dashboard just like any other trade.

## AI Agent Tips

- **Start with analysis, not trades.** Ask the agent to analyze tokens, check market data, or review your positions before asking it to execute trades.
- **Use confirmation mode** (Auto-Execute OFF, the default). Every trade the agent proposes will require your explicit approval before execution.
- **Agent safety limits:** max 10 agent-initiated trades per day with a 30-second cooldown between trades.
- Your API key is encrypted with AES-256 and only used to call the LLM — you pay your provider directly.

## Multi-Wallet Management

- **Back up every wallet's private key separately.** Each wallet has its own key — losing one means losing access to that wallet's funds.
- **Export keys from** Manage Wallets → Wallet Detail → Private Key.
- **Store backups** in an encrypted password manager and in at least one additional secure location.
- Your original signup wallet cannot be removed, but additional wallets can be deleted at any time.

## Active Monitoring

- **Use the Live Dashboard** (`/live`) to watch open positions with 3-second auto-refresh.
- **Check P&L History** (`/history`) regularly to review your closed trades and overall performance.
- **Use position sync** if your on-chain balances don't match the bot's tracking — this reconciles any discrepancies.

## General Security

- **Enable two-factor authentication** on your Telegram account.
- **Never share your private key** with anyone, including anyone claiming to be support.
- **Be cautious of phishing** — ARCHR will never DM you first or ask for keys outside the import flow.
- **Verify transaction details** before confirming any trade.