Frequently Asked Questions

Tasty Bot Tastic is a cloud-hosted automated options trading platform built for tastytrade® accounts. You choose which strategies to run, configure the parameters, and the bots handle everything else — entries, exits, stop-losses, and position management — 24/7, even when your computer is off.

No coding experience is required. The platform is fully point-and-click. That said, you should understand the basics of options trading — what a credit spread, iron condor, or butterfly is — before running any live bot. We strongly recommend paper trading first to get comfortable with each strategy's behavior.

All current strategies trade SPX (S&P 500 index) options and /ES (S&P 500 futures) options. SPX-based strategies also support XSP (Mini-SPX, 1/10th the size) for smaller accounts. We do not trade equities, ETFs, or other asset classes at this time.

The TBT AI Rank is our proprietary composite score for each strategy, calculated from historical backtest data using Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, and Calmar ratio. It's scored on a 0–5.0 scale where 1.0 means the strategy meets all three standard risk-adjusted return benchmarks and 5.0 is the theoretical maximum. It is for comparison and educational purposes only — not a guarantee of future performance.

You need three things: (1) a Tasty Bot Tastic account — sign up above; (2) a tastytrade® margin account with options trading enabled — a tastytrade account is required even for paper trading, since the bots pull live market data through your tastytrade connection; and (3) the appropriate options level for the strategies you want to run (Level 2 for spreads, Level 3 for naked puts). If you don't already have a tastytrade account, opening one is free.

We recommend a minimum of $5,000 for SPX-based strategies. SPX options require significant buying power per contract. If you have a smaller account, XSP (Mini-SPX) strategies use approximately 1/10th the capital. /ES futures strategies have their own margin requirements — check with tastytrade for current margin rates.

Most spread strategies (iron condors, credit spreads, butterflies) require a margin account with at least Level 2 options approval. The ES Naked Put strategy requires Level 3 (naked options). You can apply for higher approval levels in your tastytrade account settings — tastytrade is generally straightforward about approvals for experienced traders.

No — that's one of the core advantages of a cloud-hosted platform. Bots run on our servers 24/7, so you can close your browser or shut down your computer and they keep running. You can log in from any device — including your phone — to start or stop bots, review open positions, and check trade history. The bots handle all entries and exits according to their rules, but you are always responsible for monitoring your account and trades. Options positions can move quickly, and no automated system replaces your own awareness of what is open in your account.

Paper trading is completely free with no time limit. Live trading (connecting real brokerage accounts and placing real orders) requires a paid subscription: $97/month or $970/year (save 17%). Prices are in USD.

During our beta period, accepted beta testers receive 3 months of live access free, then 50% off for their first year. Outside of the beta program, the free tier includes full paper trading — which is functionally identical to live mode except orders are simulated. We encourage you to paper trade long enough to be confident in the strategy before upgrading.

Yes. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your dashboard. Your access continues until the end of the current billing period — no immediate cutoff. After cancellation you revert to the free paper trading tier; your account, bot configurations, and trade history are retained.

Subscription fees are non-refundable except in cases of documented technical failure on our end. We don't issue refunds for unused time within a billing period. If you're unsure whether the platform is right for you, use the free paper trading tier first — it's unlimited and gives you a complete picture of how the bots behave.

Paper trading simulates real bot behavior using live market prices but with no real orders placed and no real money at risk. The bots run exactly the same logic — entry signals, exit targets, stop-losses — on a simulated $100,000 account. It's the best way to validate a strategy's behavior before committing real capital. Note that paper fills assume mid-price execution, which may be slightly more favorable than real fills.

Yes. You can run as many bots simultaneously as your buying power allows. Each bot manages its own position independently. Keep in mind that running multiple strategies with correlated SPX exposure (multiple bots short delta, for example) concentrates your risk. The platform tracks aggregate buying power and will warn you before a trade would exceed available margin.

Each bot places a GTC (Good-Till-Cancelled) limit order for the take-profit target immediately after entry is confirmed. Stop-loss is handled internally — the bot monitors the position price every 15 seconds and triggers a closing order if the loss threshold is breached. This hybrid approach avoids the fill-price anchoring problem of traditional stop-limit orders on fast-moving 0DTE options.

Take-profit orders are resting GTC limit orders at tastytrade — they will fill even if our platform is temporarily offline. Stop-loss monitoring, however, requires our server to be running. For this reason we strongly recommend: (1) always having a mental stop in mind; (2) not running undefined-risk strategies unless you can monitor your account; (3) checking your tastytrade account directly if you suspect a platform issue.

Yes — we offer a custom bot development service. You provide the trading rules, parameters, and entry/exit logic, and we build the automated execution bot. We can also run your strategy through our backtest engine to help optimize entry timing, strike selection, take-profit targets, and other parameters before going live. Custom bots are private to your account — your edge stays yours and is never added to the public strategy library. Contact us at [email protected] to discuss your strategy and get a quote.

It depends on the strategy. Defined-risk strategies (iron condors, credit spreads, long butterflies) have a maximum loss that is fixed at entry — you cannot lose more than the spread width minus premium received. Undefined-risk strategies such as the ES Naked Put have theoretically unlimited downside and can result in losses far exceeding your initial margin. Always understand a strategy's risk profile before enabling it in a live account.

No. Past backtest or paper trading performance does not guarantee future results. Market conditions change, and any strategy can experience losing periods. The TBT AI Rank and historical statistics are provided for informational purposes only. You are solely responsible for your trading decisions, position sizing, and risk management.

No. Tasty Bot Tastic is an independent software company. We are not owned by, affiliated with, endorsed by, or a subsidiary of tastytrade, Inc. tastytrade® is a registered trademark of tastytrade, Inc. We integrate with tastytrade's API to route orders on your behalf, but your brokerage relationship and account are entirely separate from us.

Your tastytrade credentials are encrypted at rest and in transit. They are used solely to authenticate API requests to tastytrade on your behalf and are never shared with any third party. We recommend using a strong, unique password for your tastytrade account and enabling two-factor authentication directly in tastytrade's settings.