Problem & Approach.
I wanted to test whether 5-minute PDH/PDL/PMH/PML breakouts with 2-bar close confirmation, a VWAP filter, and volume-as-confidence sizing could earn alpha on a small watchlist. SD-Bot is Python 3.12 + FastAPI + alpaca-py + SQLite, mirroring the trading-bot v2.0 pattern. Both directions (long + short, shorting enabled on the Alpaca paper account). Watchlist 14: 8 megacaps plus 6 volatility names — COIN, MSTR, PLTR, SMCI, RIVN, MARA. The dashboard mirrors the Stratomation aesthetic — KPI strip, equity chart, positions and signals tables, controls modal — and a WebSocket pushes live state. Hardened systemd service. 69 unit tests green at ship.
Outcome.
Shipped 2026-04-27. Traded its first session 2026-04-28 at 09:30 ET. Service running, equity_snapshots populating every 30s. Phase 6 paper validation (2 weeks) is underway; Phase 7 live flip is gated on a validation memo plus the issues documented in FOLLOWUPS.md.