Charles screens the market, reasons over each candidate with an AI brain, and places paper trades autonomously — on a server you control. Deploy it in 20 minutes, watch it from a live dashboard, and never babysit it.
Paper-trading mode by default — no real money at risk. Stripe-secured monthly subscription, cancel anytime.
No clicking, no chart-staring. Charles handles the full loop — screen, reason, decide, log, alert — and keeps doing it whether you're watching or not.
Every candidate is reasoned over by a Groq-hosted LLM, with a local Ollama model as automatic fallback. The bot explains why it acts, not just what.
Charles builds its own watchlist each session — no hand-fed tickers. It scans, ranks, and picks the strongest setups on its own.
Runs on Alpaca's paper API by default. Test strategies and watch real-time decisions with zero money on the line.
Every trade, every error, every morning routine pings your phone instantly. You always know what Charles is doing.
A Streamlit dashboard on port 8501 — open it from any device, anywhere, to see positions, P&L, and the decision log.
Installed as a systemd service: it auto-starts on reboot and restarts itself on crash. Set it once and forget it.
Your subscription unlocks an access key tied to your server's IP. The bot will only run while that key is active — billing and access stay perfectly in sync.
Pick a plan and pay through Stripe. Your account is created instantly.
Spin up a $24/mo DigitalOcean droplet and run one deploy script. Full walkthrough in the setup guide.
Charles registers your server's IP. As long as your subscription is active, the access whitelist lets it run.
charles-start — and it's live. Watch the dashboard or just read the Telegram alerts.
Charles is built around free and near-free infrastructure. Here's every line item — nothing hidden.
| Item | What it's for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean droplet | 4 GB / 2 vCPU server, runs 24/7 | $24/mo |
| Charles subscription | Access key + updates + support | $19/mo |
| Groq API | The AI brain | Free tier |
| Alpaca paper trading | Market data + order simulation | Free |
| Telegram alerts | Real-time notifications | Free |
| Total | Everything, all-in | $43/mo |
New DigitalOcean accounts get $200 in credit — the server is effectively free for your first ~8 months.
Cancel anytime. When your subscription lapses, your access key deactivates and the bot stops on its own — no commitment, no lock-in.
Everything you need to run Charles 24/7 on your own server.